Design and Manufacturing of an Optimized Handbike

Challenges

• Improve the aerodynamic performance of the initial handbike designed by our team in 2020.
• Ensure the manufacturability and strength of the various chassis components while maximizing the stiffness-to-weight ratio.
• Minimize tooling costs and meet budget constraints while ensuring adequate mechanical properties.

Solutions

3D Scanning, Sub-D Modeling, and CFD

• Capture new bike components and integrate them into the existing digital model.
• Quickly generate concepts for the bike, foot support, and fairing behind the athlete's head using Altair Inspire Studio software.
• Perform CFD analysis to evaluate the impact of concepts on the total drag generated by the athlete and the bike.

Design and FEA Analysis

• Refine the design to ensure manufacturability and manage interfaces between different chassis parts.
• Develop components to form a one-piece chassis with selected materials (carbon/epoxy prepreg, unidirectional fibers, and twill fabrics).
• Optimize the laminate to define the shape of the ply flat patterns, the angle of the prepreg plies, and the thickness distribution using Altair's Hyperworks software.
• Perform FEA analysis to validate the structure and stiffness in torsion and bending, as well as resistance to impacts and pedaling forces.

Manufacturing

• Use machined fiberboard (MDF) molds to minimize costs while ensuring the quality of composite laminates.
• Select materials (out-of-autoclave prepreg) that comply with MDF mold limitations (molding temperature).
• Use vacuum compaction cycles to ensure optimal laminate quality.
• Precisely assemble components with reinforcement strips to complete the final chassis.

Résultats

Thanks to our expertise and customized solutions, Charles Moreau benefited from an improved handbike in terms of aerodynamics and structure. The results include:

• +101% torsional stiffness
• +56% bending stiffness
• -13% weight reduction

The project was efficiently completed in compliance with standards, ensuring client satisfaction and equipment safety.