Competition: Design and construction of an HPV

(HPV : Human Powered Vehicle) Organized by Grup10 - Magazines

An HPV is any vehicle whose sole power source is that provided by man.

An HPV can be airborne, a ground vehicle, or move on or under the water's surface. The present competition is limited to road vehicles. The best known example of an HPV is the bicycle, although generally bicycles are not allowed to compete without at least some type of fairing.

What sense does it make to try to improve something that seems as efficient as a bicycle?

-For its air resistance. At 30 km/h, (18.6 miles) 80% of our energy is spent on overcoming air resistance. Generally speaking, the goal of an HPV is to reduce this resistance. In broad terms this is obtained in two ways: first by using an operating position defined so that the frontal surface created by the combination of man and machine is smaller; and second by aerodynamic improvements designed specifically for the vehicle. Historically, improvements contributed by the HPV have never been admitted in official bicycle competitions. In 1912 Etienne Bunau-Varilla, France, patented a streamlined enclosure for a bicycle and its rider and descendants of this bicycle set speed records from then on. On the 18th of November 1933 in France, Marcel Berthet covered 31.06 miles (50 Km) in one hour, which was 5 km faster than the record at the time using a standard bicycle. This record was never recognized. The goal of this competition is to foment the development of talent and creativity as applied to the HPV, as well as to promote and use this facet of “green” technology. The motto of the competition is: "An intelligent choice.”

3. HPV competition guidelines

First section: Design and construction of a HPV.

Monday 1 of November 2004.

Limit date to register in the HPV – Grup10 competition (fill in and return the registration form found at: www.grup10.com/hpv/inscripcioENG.htm)

Each participant or group of participants will receive by return mail a number that must appear on all elements submitted to this competition.

Presentation requirements:

Presentation of 2D material on a maximum of four A3 sheets, individually mounted on a rigid and light support (such as foam board). The presentation can include text in Catalan, Spanish or English, concept sketches, and renderings. In reference to the A3 sheets, the participant's number must appear in the lower right hand corner. The participant's number must also appear on the wrapping of the scale model.

It' s considered compulsory:

The inclusion of technical plans composed at least of two elevations or sections and one plan view of the proposal drawn at a customary scale as well as the presentation of a scale model at 1/5 scale of the proposal.

Leitra

Who can participate:

An individual or a group (of up to 3 people) can participate. A base requirement is to be enrolled in a recognized design school of your country in the 2004-05 course. As indicated on the registration card, your school ID number is required. If you wish that the material you submitted be returned, you must so indicate on the registration form. Return packages will be sent at the participant's cost.

What Type of HPV?:

The general goal of any land HPV is to obtain a better operating position than is the case of a bicycle, and to reduce air resistance. These goals remain true for Grup10's HPV competition, however the end goal is not necessarily absolute speed, but much more new and ingenious interpretations of what an HPV could be. The vehicle to be presented should be designed with street use in mind, and should therefore be able to turn and brake as would be required in city streets or country roads. It should also be able to start and arrive at a full stop without falling over and without assistance from another person. In terms of headlamps, rear stop lights, position lighting or directional indication (lit or not), the vehicle/rider should meet the same minimum requirements as a city bicycle, or if the rider is completely enclosed, and therefore the design is more akin to a car, and for example, the rider cannot make hand signals, the vehicle should have some other type of directional indication device. The competition does not admit multiple riders operating the vehicle, but passengers are permitted in the design.

Wednesday 15 th of December 2004.

At this date, Grup10 will communicate the jury's composition.

The jury will be made up of 5 voting members and a moderator. The composition of the jury will be announced to the participants by letter or e-mail.

Monday 17 th of January 2005.

Last date for the reception of the projects at the address indicated on the inscription card.

Monday 31 st of January 2005 .

Official notification of the Jury's decision. This decision will be announced by e-mail and conventional letter. The jury's decision is final.

Saturday 12 th of February 2005.

Delivery of prizes.

This ceremony will be celebrated in Barcelona. If any of the first three prize winners is from abroad, a roundtrip ticket to Catalonia will be paid up to a maximum figure of 1000,00 Euros per person and to a maximum of 3 people in case of a group presentation.

Description of the prizes:

First prize: 3000,00 Euros

Second prize: 2000,00 Euros

Third prize: 1000,00 Euros

The competition's requirements and conditions:

It is advised to carefully read the annex information on the parameters and limitations for the design of an HPV for this competition. The goal of the competition is the promotion of new ideas, and therefore the uniqueness of the concept will be valued. Any design that has been previously presented/displayed or previously entered in other design competitions or that has participated in other HPV competitions will be immediately disqualified. For logo applications see: http://www.grup10.com/hpv/logos.htm

Promotional rights:

With the shipment of the proposal to Appec-GRUP10-Magazines, the student waves the rights of the design's promotion in the mass media as well as the right to organize exhibitions and events using the drawings, renderings or scale models of all projects presented to the competition during the course of 2004-05. In these promotional events the author of the project as well as the school's name and country will be mentioned. Grup10 magazines also reserves the right to include in the promotional events the names or logos of other sponsors of the HPV competition.

Return of the projects.

If the student has requested he return of the project, Grup10 will return the proposal, be it a winner or not, at the end of promotional actions, that are planned during the course of 2005. (Shipping costs are at the participants expense.)

4. And afterwards? The second phase

The intention of Grup10 – magazines is to support the most interesting proposals, including of course the winners, with a “development prize” to assist participants in the development of a full scale operational prototype.

With the acceptance of this prize, participants would acquire the commitment to really build their HPV full size. The participants would also acquire the commitment to loan their vehicle to Grup10 during the promotional activities that would be organized in Catalonia starting in Spring 2005.

The feasibility of this second part of the competition and the possibility of “development prizes” will be confirmed by mail to participants before the 15 th of December 2004.

In the event that the second phase becomes a reality, selected participants will receive an information pack detailing this phase of the competition, in particular with reference to the parameters of the operational prototype.

Annex information on the design parameters and limitations for an HPV

•  Vehicles must be driven solely by human power. Non-human power sources (batteries, solar cells, etc.) are permitted only for powering sensors, displays, communication equipment and lights. Control devices, cooling fans, powered aerodynamic devices, etc., may not be powered from non-human sources. 

•  No device which stores energy over more than one input power cycle (e.g., one leg stroke), or which releases energy under control of the operator, may be used in any event except the road race, or speed events longer than one mile. Energy storage devices are permitted in these events provided no energy is stored before the start of the event (this means absolutely no chemical, electrical, kinetic, potential, or other form of energy storage at the start.)

3. All vehicles must have a safe means of stopping.

4. All vehicles must be controlled by the rider

5. Vehicles with multiple riders or operators will not be admitted

6. No vehicle may discard any part after beginning motion.

7. The vehicle geometry may not be alterable during use except for steering purposes; i.e. sails or moving control surfaces specifically intended to enhance the sailing characteristics of the vehicle are not permitted.