Mysuru: The students of Mechanical Engineering Department, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru, participated in ‘SAE ISS Bicycle Design Challenge – 2019’ organised by SAEISS (Society of Automotive Engineers India Southern Section) at Kongu Engineering College, Erode, recently by designing, testing, fabricating and successfully performing with bicycle in the event. 

The objective of the event was to give a first-hand opportunity to students to conceive the design, implement and operate a product from scratch; and also to enable the student-members to build competency, which makes them as industry-ready engineers.

A team of five students GVN Selvavindhan Vaither (Captain), V.J. Charan Kumar, A.N. Kashyap, C.A. Gagan Kumar and R. Shashank formed the team ‘V-Cycle’ under the guidance of Prof. Arun C. Dixit and Prof. R. Shivashankar. 

The team has won the first place in ‘Overall Performance Award’ (Rs.50,000), ‘Best Presentation’ (Rs.10,000), ‘Best Manoeuvrability’ (Rs.10,000) and second place in ‘Best Design Report’ (Rs.7,500). They have bagged prize money worth Rs.80,000 in the event which saw participation of around 50 teams from various parts of the country. 

The team received appreciation from Dr. Shanmugam, Chairman, Society of Automotive Engineers, Southern Section, and Dr. Senthil Kumar, Convenor, Aero Design Challenge 2019 and Jury members for their efforts. 

The team has received special appreciation from P. Velmurugan, Deputy General Manager, Engineering Design, TI Cycles India Pvt. Ltd., Chennai. He lauded the efforts of the students and suggested them to file patent for their innovative space frame design.

‘X-structure frame’

The cycle, named ‘X-structure frame’ for its new look and X like web formation, has been designed using aluminium alloy material. A 20-inch wheel has been used, as lower the size of the wheel its moment of inertia will be high (easy to pedal with less effort). The overall cost incurred was Rs.19,500. If the design goes for mass production of 50,000 units, it would cost around Rs. 6,500 per cycle. The team has taken 38 days to Design, Analyse and Develop the first prototype. Before developing the design, the students have done a market survey and approached several regular and professional users, and also cycle serving stations.

Explaining the unique features of the bicycle, Selvavindhan said:  “We found that many are not happy with the existing design that is triangle like structure. They were looking for new structure similar ones to bikes, cars and also low-weight and low-cost vehicles. So, we decided to design a new structure and not to go with the conventional design. We concentrated more on the aesthetics part and gave a new look for the cycle.”