Czech engineers have designed a bicycle that can take off from the ground and fly away. Czech engineers named it ‘Flying Bike’ or ‘FBike’. The engineers are planning to start making the the first prototype this week and to make a first flight test sometime in August.
The FBike project began in the autumn of 2011. Till now, FBike is in its early stages of development. The two-wheeler bicycle will have electrically driven propellers to a custom frame that will allow the rider to rise above the traffic for as long as the batteries hold out. According to the concept, FBike would operate exactly like a normal bicycle while on the ground, but would also be capable of vertical take-off, flying and landing. There will be four 10kW compact brushless electric motors for the 1300 mm (51-inch) diameter front and back twin propellers which will be surrounded by composite casing. There will be two 3.5kW stabilized motors also for the 650 mm (25.5-inch) blades at the side. These propellers and motors will help FBike for vertical lifting-off and flight. The bike needs about 1-watt power to lift a weight of 5-grams (0.17 ounces). FBike features a set of 50Ah Lithium-polymer batteries which are placed below the crossbar of the light alloy frame.
Though being a pedal bike, the side props and telescopic stabilizer of the bike will be capable of rotating 90 degrees. In this mode, the four main motors will be disconnected from the batteries. As soon as the rider pulls over to prepare for take-off, the side props are returned to the horizontal position to ensure maximum force is applied to lift the bike off the ground, and telescopic dampers are extended for balance. The gyroscopes and accelerometers housed in an on-board control unit will monitor the stability and automatically adjusts the speed of each propeller for a smooth and steady flight. Be noted, there are no mechanical parts for controlling the flight. The seat of the FBike will be made in a special way. The maximum speed of FBike will be 50 km/hour. It’s expected that the FBike will be able to fly 3-5 minutes.
If you guys are thinking about the price of this bike, then forget it as the FBike team said that the vehicle is not expected to ever go into mass production, rather it’s just being created for marketing purposes. For more information of the bike or this project, visit FBike
Source : FBike
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