HPV shows teamwork in motion, as engineers and bicycles become one

Mel Torre
ASME Public Information

For a cycling expert and enthusiast who is also a professor of mechanical engineering, the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge is more fun than work.

Eric Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada-Reno, has been involved with human powered vehicles since his undergraduate days at the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1980s.

Wang has been the faculty advisor for the HPV team at Nevada-Reno since 1995. He expresses his passion for cycling through mechanical and biomedical engineering, and he applies that knowledge to help students build a better bike.

It's been said that cyclists will spend as much time fixing and tinkering with their bike as they do riding it. "For a mechanical engineer," Wang said, "HPV is a dream come true."

Nevada-Reno hosted this year's ASME HPV Challenge, which took place last month.

Faculty advisor Eric Wang and senior Candice Bauer of the Nevada-Reno human powered vehicle team.

"Biomedical engineering is a relatively new multidisciplinary field of study dealing with a variety of biological and medical issues. I work mainly with biomechanics, which deals with mechanical engineering applied to biological systems," Wang said.

Having received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis, in 1995, Wang's disser-tation focused on the "Quantification and Optimization of Off-Road Bicycle Suspension Performance."

He has done cycling research in the areas of energy efficiency of off-road bicycle suspension systems, computer simulation of off-road cycling, tires, and cooling efficiency of bicycle helmets. He has also co-authored numerous refereed papers on various cycling topics.

Wang claims that all cycling research has the same underlying theme — performance, quantification and prediction.

"My aim is to either predict or measure the performance of bicycles and bicycle equipment. This helps us design a better bicycle, whether it be stronger, faster, lighter or more comfortable," he added.

How does all that translate into building a good human powered vehicle? According to Wang, creating a good design requires an understanding of dynamics and control, which determine the vehicle's overall handling.

He said that designers also need a strong background in fluid dynamics and aerodynamics to build an efficient fairing. Then come strength of materials and mechanical design when constructing the frame.

Designers need an understanding of the rider, Wang explained. For that, he added, "You also need to set a good training program — biomechanics, in a sense."

As an advisor, Wang said, "I always let the students run the show. My job is to oversee and motivate them, but never tell them what to build or how the event should be run. It's part of their educational experience to learn by making mistakes."

Another important link in the Nevada-Reno human powered vehicle team is Candice Bauer, a mechanical engineering senior, team rider and director of the student HPV committee.

Bauer said that the ASME human powered vehicle event challenges mechanical engineering students by taking them through the complete design process.

"The HPV projects teach everything. From aerodynamics to fluid flow, boundary layer, ergonomics, the effects of the drivetrain, strength analysis, material selection, and other things, all are components that go into the overall design," she explained.

More importantly, Bauer added, "Participants learn how to become a team. Engineering is teamwork. The most valuable skill the teams take with them after the event is a sense of teamwork, networking and communication."

Bauer learned the value of teamwork while working on her senior project with four other students. That team developed a prototype of a beeper/transmit module for the hearing impaired.

"When I realized that my team and I had invented something that could help people, it refreshed my enthusiasm for engineering," said Bauer.

Serving as a research assistant in the Heat Transfer Lab at Nevada-Reno, Bauer is also secretary of the ASME student section and vice president of the Engineering Honor Society of Tau Beta Pi.

Bauer co-authored a paper with R.A. Wirtz titled "Thermal Characteristics of a Compact, Passive Thermal Energy Storage Device" and won the ASME Old Guard Speech Contest at the 2000 IMECE in Orlando, Fla.

Graduating with highest honors next month, Bauer plans to attend graduate school in pursuit of her doctoral degree in mechanical engineering and microfabrication.

Several things led Bauer to mechanical engineering. At first, "I wanted to design roller coasters and work for Disney and then become CEO," she explained.

"I don't know exactly what it was that first attracted my interest," she added, "but I was once told that engineers make today's dreams become tomorrow's realities — it sounded good, so here I am."

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