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Mini velomobile. Personal transport

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The mini-velomobile, which will be discussed, was born in the Kazan workshop of Eduard Stovbunsky, a designer of velomobiles and a great lover of traveling on them. Eduard is a participant in the festivals and reviews of velomobiles "Golden Ring", held by the Moscow Club of Biotransport Enthusiasts (KEB) twenty years ago. Since then, on various models with a muscular drive, created by himself, he drove along Russian and foreign roads a path almost equal to the Earth's equator.

This is the "youngest" velomobile he developed in collaboration with a graduate of the Kazan Aviation Institute (KAI) Denis Silantyev. Together they made two prototypes and ... brought them right behind them to Tushino to the festival "Veloekzotika-2006" because "Dendy" (or "DEN & EDI" - from the initial letters of the names of the authors), weighing only 19 kg, easily folds up to size 420x470x850 mm and is carried like a backpack.

And two months later, in September, Eduard again brought the already modified "Dandy" and took part in the anniversary test tour of velomobiles on it. A miniature pedal car ran 820 km along the Golden Ring of Russia on an equal footing with "adult" designs. Moreover, the speed of 25 - 30 km / h on the road was not the limit for her.

In addition to amazing compactness, the velomobile has another "zest" - the original suspension of the rear support wheels. As elastic elements, it uses rubber rings cut from old automobile chambers. And their number can be adjusted "softness" of the suspension.

I happened to drive a good two hundred kilometers on the "Dandy" in that run and experience the great pleasure of traveling on this mini-velomobile!

For the test tour of the Moscow club of biotransport enthusiasts "Golden Ring -2007", a small series of velomobiles, called "Dandy Tourist", was already ready. Now each of these mini-velomobiles could carry a small (up to 20 kg) load: a tent, camping equipment, food.

Of course, "Dandy" is intended mainly for roads with good coverage, small-diameter wheels dictate their conditions. On weekend trips on this mini-velomobile, you can drive more than a dozen kilometers along forest paths. He can always be with him: in a car, bus, train.

Mini-velomobile" "Dandy Tourist": 1 - front assembly (in the top view, the wing is conditionally but shown); 2 - rear assembly; 3 - seat

Front assembly (click to enlarge): 1 - connecting rod (2 pcs.); 2 - shield of the drive sprocket block; 3 - block of leading sprockets (z = 28, z2 = 38, z3=48); 4 - first stage circuit (t=12,7); 5 - gear switch; 6 - chain cover (polyethylene tube); 7 - chain damper; 8 - wing (plastic); 9 - front driving steered wheel (reinforced with 16 spokes, Ø 305); 10 - brake cable; 11 - hand brake lever, 12 - steering wheel (bicycle); 13 - shift lever; 14 - gear shift cable; 15 - intermediate shaft with sprockets z=18 and z=30; 16 - chain tensioner; 17 - chain tensioner bracket (steel, sheet s2 with flare); 18 - chain of the second stage; 19 - wheel hub with drive (driven) sprocket z=19; 20 - caliper brake; 21 - wing strut

Front semi-frame (click to enlarge): 1 - carriage bushing (pipe Ø 43x3); 2 - bearing 60104 (2 pcs.); 3 - removal of the carriage (pipe Ø 50x25x1,5); 4 - arc (pipe Ø 20x1,5, 2 pcs.); 5 - support (pipe 50x25x1: 5); 6 - a glass of a hinge assembly; 7 - terminal (bicycle); 8 - lodgment for installation and fastening of the steering wheel (steel sheet s2); 9 - steering wheel (bicycle); 10 - bushing of the intermediate shaft (pipe Ø 20x1,5); 11 - cheek (steel, s3, 2 pcs.); 12 - bracket for fastening the gear selector (steel, sheet s3); 13 - chain damper (steel, sheet s2); 14 - front wheel ("environment")

The design of the "Dandy" is based on a three-wheeled scheme with a "breaking" frame. The front wheel is driving, the rear ones are supporting. The "breaking" frame is two articulated semi-frames: front and rear. Due to its fracture, the velomobile is controlled. Frame material - steel thin-walled (1,5 mm) pipes: rectangular with a section of 50x25 mm and round - with a diameter of 22 to 30 mm. All elements of the semi-frames are connected by electric welding.

The velomobile consists of two main components: the front half-frame with a steering wheel, a drive and a drive wheel; rear semi-frame with support wheels and their suspensions and a seat. The seat can also be separated into a separate unit, since it is removable and foldable.

The front semi-frame is swivel, structurally integrated with the velomobile drive and steering wheel. It consists of two arcs, removal and support. A bracket-sleeve for the axle of the intermediate shaft (spacer) with sprockets and a drive chain damper are welded to one of the arcs.

A carriage body is welded to the front end of the stem, in which the bottom of the carriage with standard connecting rods is mounted on two radial bearings of the 104th series. A bracket for the speed switch is welded to it (the stem) and a mudguard support of the drive wheel is attached to it. The wheel itself is mounted in two cheeks, welded from below to the arcs.

A terminal and a lodgement are welded to the rear mountaineer of the front half-frame, fixing the steering wheel. On the steering wheel on the right is a shifter, and on the left is a caliper brake handle that compresses the rim of the front wheel when actuated.

Drive "Dandy" chain, two-stage Chain pitch - 12,7 mm. All wheels - with a diameter of 12 inches (305 mm) are assembled on conventional Torpedo-type bushings, from which the brake drums are removed. Only the front wheel is reinforced with an additional 16 spokes. On the right connecting rod with a shoulder of 170 mm there are three drive sprockets with a number of teeth 28, 38 and 48. They provide a change in gear ratio. The gearshift mechanism is from a bicycle of the Kharkov plant. Only it is divided into two parts: the tensioner remained near the drive wheel on the target of the first stage and is mounted on a bracket, and the switch is fixed on a stem near the carriage.

An intermediate shaft assembly with a pair of sprockets and a chain tensioner: 1 - frame arc; 2 - bushing; 3 - bolt; 4 - overlay; 5 - clamping sleeve of the inner race of the bearing; 6 - small asterisk; 7 - spacer-shaft; 8 - big asterisk; 9 - fifty dollars; 10 - nut; 11 - flange; 12 - cheek (2 pcs.); 13 - tensioner sprocket; 14 - tensioner bushing; 15 - spring; 16 - eccentric shaft; 17 - screw; 18 - chain tensioner bracket

Rear semi-frame: 1 - ridge (steel pipe of rectangular section 50x25x1,5 in size): 2 - column stand (bicycle); 3 - axis of subscription pendulums (pipe Ø 27x3); 4 - bushing of the elastic element (pipe Ø 30x1, 2 pcs.); 5 - holder of elastic elements (pipe Ø 22x2): 6 - sleeve (steel pipe 30); 7 - nut M20

Rear semi-frame with wheel suspension: 1 - ridge; 2 - racks of the hinge assembly; 3 - pendulum; 4 - elastic element

Pendulum: 1 - body (steel pipe 50x25x1,5, 2 pcs.); 2 - a glass for installing the pendulum on the axis (bicycle); 3 - bushing for mounting the rear wheel rod in the pendulum; 4 - nut M8 for the fixing screw of the rod; 5 - rod lock (M8 screw); 6 - hinge pin of the elastic element (pipe 18x1,5, 2 pcs.); 7 - plug (steel, sheet s2, 2 pcs.)

Rear wheel with bar and wing: 1 - wing; 2 - rear wheel; 3 - rear wheel bushing; 4 - wing strut mounting bracket; 5 - axis: 6 - rod; 7 - wing rack; 8 - wing clamp

Two speed-increasing sprockets (z = 18 and 30) are mounted on an intermediate shaft in the form of a spacer, which is seated on a tubular axle through an angular contact ball bearing 136104. The inner race of the bearing is clamped by the washer and nut of the bolt of the chain tensioner bracket, and the outer race is clamped by the sprockets themselves. The working branch of the chain is passed through the damper and through a protective plastic tube fixed in it.

The junction of the front and rear half-frames is similar to the steering column of the front fork of a conventional bicycle and consists of the same parts. It differs only in a shortened glass (welded into the front half-frame support) and a stand (screwed into the M20 welded nut of the rear half-frame spine).

The basis of the rear half-frame is a tubular ridge. It is welded from a rectangular pipe with dimensions of 50x25x1,5 mm and consists of three parts: front inclined, middle main and rear auxiliary. Between the last two parts, the axis of the suspension pendulums is welded. The front of the ridge is closed with a plug, and a tubular holder of elastic elements is welded to the end at the back.

On the ridge, through two independent pendulum suspensions with elastic elements, rods with support wheels are mounted.

In the body of each pendulum, made of the same pipe as the ridge, there is a glass for mounting it on the half-frame, and for sprinkling the support wheel rod into a boom and another finger for interacting with the elastic element.

The pendulum suspension unit on the frame is the same as the articulation unit of both half-frames. To fix the inner ball cone, a spacer sleeve is put on the pendulum axis with a clearance. An elastic element is pulled onto the same sleeve and holder, in the form of a set of rubber rings 40 mm wide, cut from old automobile chambers. The pendulum pin is wound under the lower branch and wrapped around the bottom with one outer ring to limit the free play of the suspension.

Rod - a pipe with a diameter of 26 mm and a length of 204 mm, in which the wheel axle is installed with a rear wing holder support welded to it. The axle is pressed into a tubular rod and additionally fixed with a screw. The wheel hub is mounted on the axle through the inner bearing No. 60203 (40x17x12 mm) and the cup on the outer bearing No. 60101 (28x12x8 mm).

The end of the wheel rod is inserted into the pendulum bushing and fixed in it with a locking screw, which is screwed into the nut welded to the casing and simultaneously inserted into the holes in the bushing and the rod.

The seat is the simplest and at the same time also quite original part of the velomobile. The arc of its back, stop and stop limiter form a triangle based on the frame. Since one of the sides of this triangle (stop limiter) always works only in tension, the designers made it from a light, but durable synthetic tape. This technical solution allows you to fold the seat with one hand movement!

The base of the seat is made of two pieces of 2 mm duralumin strip, fastened with overlays using rivets. It is mounted on the ridge of the rear half-frame by means of a curly brace and has the ability to move. Through the holes with a diameter of 16 mm in the cheeks of the bracket, an axis is passed, connected to the seat base with two clamps. Two pairs of spacer bushings are placed on the same axis.

Rear wheel assembly: 1 - staff (duralumin tube Ø 26x5, L=204), 2 - axle (steel, circle 20); 3 - bracket; 4 - wing rack; 5 - bearing 60203; 6 - wheel hub with spokes; 7 - bearing 60101; 8 - glass (aluminum, circle 40); 9 - clamping washer fastening; 10 - cork (rubber); 11 - pressure washer of the inner ring of the bearing (steel, sЗ); 12 - axis lock (M5 countersunk screw)

Hinged-swivel (docking) half-frame assembly: 1 - front half-frame; 2 - rear half-frame (ridge); 3 - hinge post (rear half-frame post); 4 - cone; 5 - balls (2 clips); 6 - bushing cone (2 pcs.); 7 - bushing; 8 - cone nut

Seat parts set: 1 - back arch (duralumin tube Ø 19x1,5); 2 - back rest (duralumin tube Ø 19x1,5); 3 - rod (duralumin pipe Ø 22x 1,5); 4 - braided line; 5 - Velcro tape; 6 - fastening the arc and rods to the axis (M4 screw with a figured washer); 7 - bracket (2 pcs., steel, sheet s2); 8 - axle (pipe Ø 18x1); 9 - seat base (duralumin, sheet s1,5); 10 - short spacer sleeve (pipe Ø 22x 1,5,2 pcs.); 11 - seat (foam rubber); 12 - long spacer sleeve (pipe Ø 22x1,5, 2 pcs.); 13 - bracket (steel, sheet s3); 14 - backing plate (duralumin, sheet s4): 15 - stop limiter; 16 - back (foam rubber)

Behind the back of the tourist is a folded velomobile

Seat to frame attachment

At the ends of the axle, with the help of bolts and shaped washers, rods are fixed, inside of which the ends of the arc of the seat back are inserted. A "braid" of sewn synthetic tapes is stretched over the arc. Along the axis of the back, it is sewn to the braid, and Velcro is glued to the base of the seat for attaching pillows. The pillows themselves are made of sheet foam rubber (for the base) and "foam" - a rug for tourists (for the back). Both are packed in artificial leather cases, which are also sewn with Velcro tapes. Their grip is just enough to keep the cushions in a comfortable position.

The seat is adjustable. It can be moved along the frame: it is enough to loosen the locking screw, and with it the stop plate. The height of the back also changes: the arc is fixed in the rods with screws in several positions. And the inclination of the backrest is set by changing the length of the stop limiter.

The "Dandy" velomobile has a very simple, but successful color combination: the rear of the frame, including the suspension elements, is powder-coated in black, and the drive and seat parts are metallic silver. A small touch - plastic decorative plugs are inserted into all open ends of the frame and drive tubes.

To fold the "Dandy" velomobile, it is enough to loosen the lock bolts of the rods of the support spikes, release the pendulum pins from the outer rubber rings of the suspension and sink the rods into the pendulums. After that, you need to turn the back of the frame 180 degrees - and the velomobile can be put into a backpack!

For the new "Test Tours", amateur designers want to improve the Dandy's cross-country ability through the use of larger wheels. But will it be possible to maintain the unique compactness of the velomobile in this case?

Author: V.Ulnovsky

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