Department of Mechanical

Engineering
IC349 - Manufacturing Projects
Portable Electric Monocycle

Supervisor: Patrick Ng

Co-Supervisors:

Ivan Lam, Arda Fu

Group members:

Chan Chi Fat 11562630D

Cheung Chun Hin 11538561D

Cheung Kin Po 10189256D

Ho Siu Sing 10563492D

Huen Shuk Yee 09277278D

Hui Chun Hung 10117095D

Wong Siu Man 10023115D

Siu Chung Man 09153549D

Li Ka Hin 10240567D
 Content
Acknowledgement P.3

Introduction P.4

Objective P.4

Design P.5-10

- Customer requirements (QFD) P.5

- Division of labor P.6

- Engineering Specifications P.7

- Proposed Design P.7-8

- Final Design P.9-11

Manufacturing P.12-18

- Work Flow (Division of labor) P.12

- Techniques

o Sheet Metal P.14

o CNC P.14
o Machining P.15
o Welding P.16
o Surface finishing P.16
o Electrical system P.17
o Assembly P.17-18

Problems encountered P.19

- Problem statements

- Possible solutions

Financial aspect P.20

- BOM P.20-21

Conclusion P.22

Self-Reflection P.23-26
Acknowledgement

We would like to offer our special thanks to our supervisor, Patrick

Ng, with his guidance throughout the whole project. Advice given by
Ivan Lam has also been a great help during our progress for guiding
us to design and manufacture our product.

Special thanks must also be given to all the staff and assistants in
the Industrial Centre. With their teaching and help, we can finish our
project on time while learning new techniques at the same time.
Introduction

Green and sustainable transportation is the future trend of global development. Our project titled
‘Portable Electric Monocycle’ aims to design and fabricate a portable electric monocycle. The
Portable Electric Monocycle is expected to be a green-powered, light-weight personal transportation
device with lower energy consumption while maintaining high flexibility. It is designed to be a
flexible and good alternative to mono-rail or bicycle in car-free park or places having green
development such as the Park Island, Discovery Bay, or the West Kowloon Cultural District in
Hong Kong.

The target user of our monocycle ranged from teenagers to elderly with weight not exceeding
100kg. Our monocycle has a wheel-like shape with an outer diameter 20 inches, inner diameter 16
inches and a thickness 5.12 inches. It weighs about 12.5kg. It will be powered by long NiMH
battery and controlled by an S-shaped handle using an open-source electronics prototyping platform
‘Arduino’. It can go for a distance of 5 km continuously with the user standing still on the footstep
and recharged for later use.

Objectives

The objective of our project is to introduce an environmental and user-friendly design into the
monocycle market. In that case, we aim to design a rechargeable battery powered portable
monocycle which is light enough in weight that can be carried by a person easily. Moreover, the
monocycle has to be compact in size after folding up the footsteps and handle so that users can
carry it comfortably in a convenient way.
Design Stage

Relevant research has been conducted on similar products on the market. Design is carried out
based on the research result and brainstorm ideas of the team with the fabrication process are also
included with schedule.

QFD
Before we started to design our product, we have done some online research to understand more the
consumers’ concerns; A QFD was produced to find out what requirements the customers look more
important, so that we can design a user-friendly product:

Customer Customer Engineering characteristics

Requirement Rating (1:
s least size speed Material Moving Electrical
important, use mechanis system
10: most m
important)

Cost 8 6 6 9 3 1

User friendly 9 6 6 1 6 3

Light weight 4 9 1 6 1 3
Safety 9 3 6 6 9 6

Appearance 5 3 3 1

Reliability 7 1 3 9 9 6

Durability 6 1 6 9 6 9

Absolute importance 193 217 291 267 197

Relative importance % 16.6 18.6 25.0 22.9 16.9

Rating 5 3 1 2 4

From the QFD, we found that the choose of materials for the monocycle is the most important thing
we need to consider, as it may affect the safety aspect and the cost much, which are some of the
most important customer requirements. The moving mechanism and speed is also important for our
product to work smoothly and safely.
 Division of labor (Design Stage)

Exterior Design Huen Suek Yee Siu Chung Man Wong Siu Man

Electrical Design Hui Chun Hung Ho Siu Sing Li Ka Hin

Mechanism Design Cheung Chun Hin Chan Chi Fat Cheung Kin Po

Engineering Requirement and Specifications

1. Size and weight

Since the largest size of bearing provided in the market is only 16 inches which limited the choice
of diameter for the wheel, we decided to use wheel with diameter of 20 inches. In order to have a
good use of space, the handle can be folded with different joints and help its storage in a limited
space.

In order to be light weight, we use light material with reasonable strength in designing the product.
Aluminum is used for the handle and bearings. The motor and battery used are mini-size, which just
weigh 3.01 kg and 2.8 kg respectively. The wheel used is in medium size and weighs 0.5kg.

2. Safety

A handle is provided to accelerate or decelerate the monocycle and give a sense of confidence and
safety to the user. Moreover, the centre of gravity must be located in the lower part of monocycle in
order to prevent toggling which would hurt the user and so the motor, battery and footsteps which
contribute most of the weight would be put in the lower part of the monocycle.

3. Cost

A monocycle is used for short distance travel and thus its function is similar to that of a bike. As it is
an electrical product and so its cost must be higher than that of a bike just by considering its
electrical components and motor installed. The cost of the monocycle is expected to in the medium
range between a common bike and the motor bike.

4. Moving Speed

(1) OD of wheel = 500 mm

(2) Rotational speed of motor = 350 rpm
 (3) Radius of Rotor = 30 mm

Circumference of wheel = 2 * pi * OD of wheel/2 = 0.5 * pi = 1.57 m

Step down = Radius of Rotor / OD of wheel /2 = 30/250 = 0.12
Moving speed = 350 *0.12 *60 *1.57 = 4 km/h

5. Ideal travel distance

(1) Battery’s voltage = 36V

(2) Battery’s capacity = 12Ah
(3) Motor output power = 350 W
(4) Moving speed ~ 4 km/h

By P = IV

I = 350/36 = 9.7222 A

Total time = 12 / 9.72222 ~ 1.23 hour

Total distance = 1.23 * 4 = 4.96 ~ 5 km

Engineering Specifications

Outer Diameter of wheel 20”

Thickness 5.12 in

Speed ~4 km / hour

Torque of motor 1.11N.m

Battery power 5 km / full charge

Overall Weight 12.5 kg

Proposed Design
Design of the monocycle was divided into two parts: Outlook design and design of the
mechanism. We first designed these two parts separately in order to brainstorm more drafts, then
amendments are made based on each other’s restrictions to come out the final design.

Outlook design:
There were some basic criteria since the beginning of the design stage. For example, the handle
part and the footsteps should be foldable so that users and carry the monocycle on hand in a
more comfortable way; the wheel part should be large enough for the storage of motor and
battery, etc. Below are some of our first few drafts of our monocycle:

Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
Final Design

In the final design stage, we confirmed the material used and the monocycle assembly in the
design drawings. Most of the components are made of aluminum with some made of steel or
brass.

In order to maintain balance, the motor and the battery is placed at the bottom of the
monocycle to help lowering the center of gravity. The S-shaped handle is made up of two 3mm
thick sheet metal and both the handle and the footstep are foldable for easy carriage of the
monocycle.

Moving Mechanism: The wheel is moved by friction as the powered motor rotates and carries
two “O” rings which are attached on the roller to rub against the racing track of the wheel.
Roller assembly:

The roller assembly is supported to the monocycle by a shaft which is installed at the pivot and
the whole assembly can turn on a pivot. A motor is placed on the aft side of the assembly and
the roller is placed between the pivot and the motor and the “o” rings are contacted to the racing
track of the wheel. An action is act on the racing track from the roller. Due to the leverage, this
action is magnified around 1.5 times of the motor weight. That imply more friction can be acted
between the racing track of the wheel and the roller. So the efficiently of the transmission is
increased.