Bang Goes the Theory: The Human Power Station
Dunedin397
Posts: 149
There's an interesting programme on BBC 1 at the moment (Thursday 3rd December 2009). They've got 80 cyclists and their bikes on turbo trainers connected to dynamos to power a family of 4 in a house.
It's interesting to see how many watts each appliance takes and how many and how hard the cyclists need to work!
Dunedin
It's interesting to see how many watts each appliance takes and how many and how hard the cyclists need to work!
Dunedin
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im amazed with the cooking the chicken using just 2 light bulbs! will try and turn mine off in future0
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Yeah, quite interesting, although they have cyclists who can only put out 200 W in a sprint - they're really struggling!
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Don't be amazed - look at the insulation. And I'll bet they're using 100W bulbs. Since most of the output from the bulbs will be heat, that's >180W accumulting nicely. It'll be real hot inside before the escaping heat balances the heat generated.
It's a good practical science lesson though
- JimW0 -
Good show - I hope it helps get the point over.
-Spider-0 -
jimwin wrote:Don't be amazed - look at the insulation. And I'll bet they're using 100W bulbs. Since most of the output from the bulbs will be heat, that's >180W accumulting nicely. It'll be real hot inside before the escaping heat balances the heat generated.
It's a good practical science lesson though
- JimW
Does that mean the ovens we're using just now are very inefficient?
Dunedin0 -
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Does that mean the ovens we're using just now are very inefficient?
Dunedin[/quote]
More the light bulbswe use are inefficient
-Spider-0 -
I found it quite good. The chicken cooking could catch on, I guess it would be cheaper than using the oven. There seemed to be a wide range of cyclists and abilities being used and I liked the end with the power blip. When its gone its gone is the way I see it.
I tend to pop the oven on and go for a shower so its a good thing they wern't like that.fly like a mouse, run like a cushion be the small bookcase!0 -
thought it was good and well laid out
top shelf BBC fair
100watt/rider average is what they worked on... which foor a 12 hour day is still an ask for your average commuter types"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0 -
Don't know about the chicken, but the woman presenter was hot enough.Expertly coached by http://www.vitessecyclecoaching.co.uk/
http://vineristi.wordpress.com - the blog for Viner owners and lovers!0 -
Don't know the technicalities, but there must have been a lot of inefficiencies in the generation of electricity.
My turbo-trainer says I'm doing 100w easily when warming up, so I suspect there must be lots of losses in the system.
I was surprised the riders weren't using their own bikes, would have been more comfortable for long periods, and more efficient? At least a lot of them appeared to be using their cycling shoes, I couldn't imagine riding for that long on flats!0 -
One of the girls riding had short-shorts on. Me likey. 0
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I know a couple of the cyclists - they're decent riders - but there was clearly a range of real cyclists and some more leisurely riders.
12 hours on a bike is a long time by anyones standards.0 -
I know a few of them too as it was filmed only a few miles away from here. Some of the guys were from my cycling and running clubs. One did RAAM last year in a team of 4 and averaged 18mph, so some of them can clearly ride a bit. One of the club mates said it's one of the hardest days he's had in the saddle - 30 mins on a turbo is tough going let alone trying to go for 12 hours!
I was surprised when they were going through the chart at the distance covered, compared to KW/H - unless I was missing something I thought it looked like they hadn't ridden very far considering there was 80 of them cycling.
And the chicken thing was really impressive, although I do believe those bulbs have now been banned from sale in the UK. I think I'll be spending less time in the shower from now on, as my shower is almost identical to that one!
The OH teaches science and she said it was excellent at covering some of the points she needs to teach, and will probably try to use it in some of her lessons in future.0 -
Someone from my club was in it - he had "a very hot dynamo" which was apparently a good thing
Next time he gets dropped on the chaingang I'll just yell "Quick, they're turning the power shower on" - that should get him back to the bunch
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Interesting ides but not good viewing in my opinion - I switched over after 5 mins....'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0
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I thought there were significant flaws (lack of house heating etc) but it made a pleasant backdrop for an hour on the turbo.0
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we're all skating round the point that it would have been a lot eaiser on all of them if they were using better bikes, I'm pretty certain there was someone there on a folding bike!0
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Ollieda wrote:we're all skating round the point that it would have been a lot eaiser on all of them if they were using better bikes, I'm pretty certain there was someone there on a folding bike!
Why would it be easier using better bikes?
Also, the start of the program, kid playing on that 360, what game is he playing? Looks good.0 -
freehub wrote:Why would it be easier using better bikes?
Lighter weight and better aerodynamics. :roll:
Seriously though, they were using heavy knobbly tyres - a proper home trainer tyre with less rolling resistance would have given an improvement over 12+ hours. Clipless pedals or straps would have helped a lot too.0 -
I haven't got any facts and figures but i'm sure it would, think of things like energy transfer and rolling resistance (as bhima said) if you had a mountain bike next to a road bike both on turbo trainers im sure it would require less effort to reach a certain wattage on the roadie compared to mtb, or likewise for equal effort I would imagine a road bike generated more watts than a mtb.
I'm just guessing, I'm sure someone out there has some eveidence to prove / disprove what I said0 -
Also, doing it outside, where it's cooler, or pouring water over the riders every now and again to cool them down, would increase the power output quite a lot, especially over a long period like 12 hours.0
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freehub wrote:
And if you installed fans behind them, they'd have the benefit of a tailwind.0 -
I don't think you've thought that one out very much Bhima 0
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volvicspar wrote:I don't think you've thought that one out very much Bhima
You've got to bear in mind that Bhima's next words were ''Seriously though...''Lighter weight and better aerodynamics. Rolling Eyes
Seriously though,0 -
Ah... I just saw the quote from freehub without the rest :oops:
In that case we should attach the fan to the bike's generator for perpetual free energy powered by a tailwind 0 -
Wow, I can't believe you actually took me seriously. 0
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Just watched it now.
Interesting, but seemed to avoid giving us any real info. The whole standby thing is over
done IMO. Leaving the lights on would have cost tonnes more energy than leaving all
those things on standby (as long as they weren't built in the 60s).
They made a big deal on the shower, but didn't give any info on how this compares to
a gas boiler (on-demand, or old style).
No mention of heating, which is probably the biggest cost in the winter. That could have
led to showing the difference with insulated loft (a cheap and quick win)
The oil/coal they used for the whole day was tiny.
The advice seemed to be, don't leave things on standby and don't run the washing half
full. Does anyone still do a half full wash?
Agree on the light bulbs, although I hate the new ones.
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