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LEWD - Light Emitting Wheel Diodes

Context: Study at Beuth Hochschule, Embedded Systems with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Heinemann

Concept


I got the idea from some brilliant guys, who are developing this system right now and planning to sell this starting in March 2012. Check www.revolights.com for more information.

Figure: Concept drawing

The functionality is visualized in the following animation. Each wheel is mounted with 12 pairs of LEDs - front with white LEDs, rear with red LEDs. Due to the rotation of the wheels, it's necessary to calculate the right switching time for each pair.
The human eye is fooled and sees a static light frame to the front and to the back.

 Figure: Concept animation

Hardware


Schematics


First quick and dirty schematic for one controller/wheel.

Prototype 1


The first test run on a spare wheel with three LEDs switched on each side. I'll will change this to four LEDs. The software will be changed as well for better timing and a mode standing still.

Pictures


First test (Side)

First test (Front)

Second test (Street view)

Prototype installation on front wheel

Prototype installation on back wheel (1)

Prototype installation on back wheel (2)

Front wheel installation - Still prototype (1)

Front wheel installation - Still prototype (2)

eBike with front and rear wheel lights installation (1)

eBike with front and rear wheel lights installation (2)

eBike with front and rear wheel lights installation (3)

Videos


First test run

Second test run

Test run with rear wheel mounted to eBike

First test drive with front and rear wheel lights

Prototype 2


This is the second prototype. The LEDs are directly mounted on aluminium rims. The logic and power supply is located in a small box at the center of the wheel.

The next step is to improve the housing and to shrink the micro controller. A better power source would be nice well. I'm currently working on an induction based power supply for this project, but I'm not sure if it's working.

Check out the videos and pictures. I'm sorry about the rear wheel. It's equipped with the first prototype, which is still buggy. At the end of the day, when the videos were taken, it ran out of energy.

Pictures


Second Prototype - Mounting

Second Prototype - Spinning at daylight

Second Prototype - Spinning at night

Videos


First test of the second prototype at night (1)

First test of the second prototype at night (2)

Comments 


The gadget spec URL could not be found

Sources

ċ
4LEDs_front_2012-05-30.zip
(52k)
Alexander Wegner,
7 Jun 2012, 05:12
Comments