FBike Flying Bike (technology demonstrator)

Flying Bike (technology demonstrator)
FBike
Czech Republic
www.designyourdreams.eu

In 2012, four companies came together and designed a one person electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) bicycle technology demonstrator for urban air mobility. The companies and the team were Jan Cinert (Flying bike project manager, CAD); Jindřich Vítů (website and marketing) from Technodat; Martin Drštička (CAD, E-CAD), Michal Křivan and Filip Plešinger (conceptual design) from Evektor; Milan Duchek (CAD) from Duratec and Jozef Lajda (project review) from Dassault Systèmes

The Flying Bike is a one person eVTOL bicycle technology demonstrator roadable and flyable aircraft. The graphics of the Flying Bike concept design were created in 2012 and the technology demonstrator was successfully flown inside an auditorium in 2013. However, while there are videos of the technology demonstrator flying, there seems to be no still pictures of the technology demonstrator. The aircraft has a flight time from three to five minutes. In the future, the inventors realized that future advanced batteries will increase the range of the bicycle. The empty weight of the flying bicycle is 187 lb (84 kg), maximum payload is 187 lb (84 kg) and the maximum takeoff weight is 374 lb (168 kg).

There are four ducted propellers on the bicycle that encase eight propellers. There are two larger ducted propellers on the front and rear of the bicycle. There are two smaller ducted propellers on each side of the bicycle. The large front and rear ducted propellers provide VTOL flight. The two side ducted propellers rotate on an axis and are used for VTOL flight, forward flight and rearward flight.

The company foresees the new battery technology will increase the flight time of the Flying Bike and at the time, were hopeful the flying bicycle would eventually go into serial production.. No word has been mentioned as to whether the bicycle made it to production.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL bicycle concept design
• Piloting: 1 pilot (rider)
• Flight time: 3 to 5 minutes
• Empty weight: 187 lb (84 kg)
• Maximum payload: 187 lb (84 kg)
• Maximum takeoff weight: 374 lb (168 kg)
• Propellers: 8 propellers
• Electric motors: 8 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries and pedal power
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Cockpit: Bicycle seat (an open cockpit)
• Landing gear: Wide fat knobby bicycle tires (Big Fat Larry tires)
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers (or ducted fans) and motors on the aircraft so if one or more propellers (ducted fans) or motors fail, the other working propellers (or ducted fans) and motors can safely land the aircraft. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft.

Resources:

• FBike website
• Video: F-Bike_prezentace projektu__hd_video.mp4, Jindrich Vitu, May 23, 2012
• Video: flying bike: 3DVIA Composer, Jindrich Vitu, May 23, 2012
• Video: flying bike: CATIA V6, online data access, Jindrich Vitu, May 23, 2012
• Video: flying bike: CATIA V6, Jindrich Vitu, May 25, 2012
• Article: From Pedals to Propellers, Czech Flying Bike Takes Shape, Wired, June 22, 2012
• Video: Heliflix and F-bike model Maiden Flight, Heliflix.com, Sept. 6, 2012
• Video: Czech engineers design flying bicycle, News Direct, Sept. 10, 2012
• Video: Dreams can become reality, Jindrich Vitu, Sept. 16, 2012
• Video: Flying electric bicycle invented in Czech Republic, The Telegraph, June 12, 2013