1

Imagine an amateur cyclist could generate 100 watts of power (professional ones can do 200-300), would it be possible to put that to use in a glider to fly further?

For example you pedal for 15 minutes and it is stored in a battery, and then it is used for 2 minutes of propeller power.

I guess one concern is that the addition of [pedals, battery, motor] would outweigh any potential energy gains.

user1138184
  • 111
  • 1
  • The possible duplicate I linked to is about a different kind of craft, but the answer's solution and reference to the MIT Daedalus project is valid here as well. – AEhere supports Monica Oct 18 '19 at 10:03
  • Hmm i guess i need to look at the power output of a electric glider and compare to say 100 watts to figure out how much percent it is for gliders. – user1138184 Oct 18 '19 at 10:19
  • Looking at ls8-e it seems like the motor is 22kw, so about 0.5% of the power, I guess it's just as impossible. – user1138184 Oct 18 '19 at 10:22
  • Looking at wikipedia it confirms "Sustainer engines are typically two-stroke two-cylinder air-cooled engines in the range of 18–30 hp (14–22 kW)" – user1138184 Oct 18 '19 at 10:24
  • From this post, it appears like: 5 lb thrust = 1 horsepower – user1138184 Oct 18 '19 at 10:30
  • As you didn't clearly mentioned the spec. of the glider and the pilot/passenger inside it, then will be no exact answer. But, you may take a lesson from this Albatros Gossamer. It frew 22 miles (36km) in the early morning at 12 June 1979 by just pedal power of a 55kgs its pilot, crossing British Strait. It took 2 hours 49 minutes. https://youtu.be/FfD5epGswRw – AirCraft Lover Oct 18 '19 at 13:12
  • The linked answer is NOT a duplicate when it talks about autogyros. A 40:1 glider weighing 600lb makes 15 lbs of drag, requiring roughly 3hp to sustain level flight. If a human could produce 150 watts it works out to .2 hp, which is roughly 1lb of thrust. This would theoretically increase the glider's L:D to about 43:1, not allowing for the drag increase from the extra weight of a drive system and propeller and extra drag of a larger cockpit pod. So the glider could glide, at best, about 9% farther with the pilot pedaling furiously, and in reality with losses, probably closer to 4 or 5%. – John K Oct 18 '19 at 15:18
  • Shame I shouldn't have marked it as duplicate so early. There are now two sources - Albatros flew 36km appearing to have had no assistance at the start, and also a calculation that suggests an existing glider is capable of adding 4-5% extra range. – user1138184 Oct 19 '19 at 11:21
  • I would reconcile them by suggesting that the albatross was probably much lighter at 32kg without pilot, versus 270kg gliders. That would make the power much more efficiently used as lift since there's less weight to keep up. – user1138184 Oct 19 '19 at 11:25
  • Doing a youtube search, there are several projects in the past, eg Dash PA – user1138184 Oct 19 '19 at 11:44
  • Details of Daedalus 88 the record holder - 100km – user1138184 Oct 19 '19 at 11:51

0 Answers0