MEE Seniors Surge On

It is the culmination of pretty much any undergraduate engineering degree. It defines whether or not a student has learned anything in their studies. It is…the SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT! This year’s seniors have got an interesting idea. They will be participating in the ’Live Green Expo’ in Plano, where they will introduce a bicycle-powered entertainment center. Included in the entertainment center will be an HD LCD 1080p television set and a Nintendo Wii console.

UNT’s exhibit will be made up of several stationary bicycles. Spectators will be encouraged to ride the bikes to contribute power to the entertainment center. Where does a mechanical engineering design project factor into all of this? The answer is that the seniors designed the bicycle racks (which are what keep the bike from moving) so that the back wheel of the tire will turn a generator shaft which will send energy into a battery. The energy that is stored in the batteries will power the television throughout the day. The underlying message here is that energy generation can come from other places other than just fossil fuel.

Apply this concept to a gym. In theory, if an engineer were to come up with a practical application for this type of technology, the members of a gym could provide the energy necessary to run all of the lights, TV’s, and computers that assist in the normal day-to-day operations of the business, just by doing their normal workout. Technology such as this will be hot in the near future, so it’s cool to see the seniors displaying their version of a cutting edge idea.

I’ve seen one example of their idea on the news. It was some all-female prison where the inmates had to ride a bike just to power the TV so they could watch it! No leg pumping = no Judge Joe Brown. If you would like to see the senior’s exhibit in action, attend the ‘Live Green Expo’ on April 17 from 9am-7pm.
Admission is FREE!