Design and simulation of an intelligent bicycle transmission system

An intelligent bicycle transmission system provides a solution that enables a bicycle rider to keep pedaling in his comfort speed range regardless of the torque or the speed requirement. The cadence or the pedaling speed has a preferred range for every rider. However, a rider can exceed or fall below his preferred range when in need of a torque or a velocity more than what the cycle offers to him. The designed transmission system presented in the paper senses the requisites of the rider, and hence, changes gears automatically so that cyclist can keep pedaling in his preferred cadence range. This paper proposes an extremely cost effective and novel solution that improves upon the existing designs of automatic gear shifting arrangement in bicycles. It incorporates special built-in sensors, electronic control unit and specially designed state-of-the-art actuator mechanism that augment the derailleur mechanism. It keeps the cost of the transmission system within an acceptable range with an uncompromised accuracy. In designing the solution, the preferred cadence range of a given user shall be employed.