Development of climatic testing techniques for e-bikes, and cross-wind aerodynamic studies

通用汽车加拿大公司（或通用汽车）已经认识到，电动自行车作为未来城市交通不可分割的一部分的重要性不能再被忽视。为了促进电动自行车与汽车的集成的大规模采用，通用汽车已经确定需要解决不同气候条件下的舒适性、行驶稳定性、操纵性、风载、阻力、安全性、功率输出、效率等问题。该项目旨在解决上述问题，以促进电动自行车与汽车的融合。因此，拟议项目的目标是开发全尺寸气候风洞试验技术，以调查不同气候条件下侧风载荷对骑自行车者和人力输出的影响。此外，骑自行车的人在不同的侧风和气候条件下的稳定性和舒适性将被检查。到 为了实现这一目标，申请人计划在安大略理工大学的全尺寸气候风洞中进行研究，该风洞非常适合这类研究。该项目将首先集成高精度自行车测力计和自行车计算机以及压力和流量传感器，包括流量角度探头。将对系统进行校准和测试，以确保其对于研究准确可靠。它还将用于测量骑手的功率输出，心率和节奏，以及模拟不同的道路海拔。此外，压力和流量传感器，包括流量角探头，将用于精确测量压力，流速和方向;这可以用来估计骑自行车的人的风载荷。从拟议项目的见解将有助于改善和优化电动自行车的设计和骑自行车的舒适度。它还将促进电动自行车与汽车的整合，并在城市中大规模采用 未来的流动性。这反过来又可以减少交通污染，对加拿大人的健康、环境和经济状况产生积极影响。来自工业界和学术界的科学家/工程师之间的合作将提供一个额外的机会，培养学生与加拿大工业所需的基本技能。

General Motors Canada (or GM) has recognized that the significance of e-bike use as an integral part of the urban mobility of the future can no longer be ignored. To promote mass adoption of the integration of e-bikes with cars, GM has identified that issues of comfort, riding stability, handling, wind loads, drag, safety, power output, efficiency, etc. under different climatic conditions need to be addressed. This project intends to address the above issues in order to promote the integration of e-bikes with cars. The objective of the proposed project is therefore to develop full scale climatic wind tunnel test techniques to investigate the effects of cross-wind loads on cyclists and the human power output under different climatic conditions. Additionally, the ride stability and comfort of cyclists under different cross-wind and climatic conditions will be examined. To achieve this objective, the applicant plans to conduct the studies in the full scale climatic wind tunnel at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, which is well suited for these types of studies. The project will first integrate a high precision bicycle ergometer and bicycle computers as well as pressure and flow sensors including flow angle probes. The system will be calibrated and tested to ensure that it is accurate and reliable for the studies. It will also be used to measure a rider's power output, heart rate and cadence as well as simulate different road elevations. Furthermore, pressure, and flow sensors including flow angle probes will be used to accurately measure pressure, flow velocities and directions; which can be used to estimate wind loads on cyclists. The insight from the proposed project will help to improve and optimize the design of e-bikes and the comfort of cyclists. It will also promote the integration of e-bikes with cars and its mass adoption for the urban mobility of the future. This can in turn reduce traffic pollution with a positive impact on the health, environmental and economic conditions of Canadians. The collaboration between scientists/engineers from industry and academia will provide an additional opportunity to train students with the essential skills needed by Canadian industries.