Improved cost-effective design of man-powered tricycle/rickshaw

Abstract

Paddle rickshaw/tricycle is still used widely in many parts of developing countries for small distance transportation of goods and passengers. The design of the paddle rickshaw is almost same everywhere, with minor variations largely focused on the appearance. The pedal rickshaw used are ergonomically not very efficient. They are mostly pulled by daily wage laborers who have to put large effort in pedaling the rickshaw due to its inefficient design. Subsequently very little research is available on the subject of the effort applied by rickshaw puller with respect to rpm and load of on paddle Rickshaw. In the current case, systematic experimental study has been performed to find out the effort applied by the rickshaw puller at various conditions of speed and load on paddle rickshaw. Based on these results, a two gear mechanism has been designed to reduce the effort of the rickshaw puller to almost 50% in the initial start condition, where maximum effort has to be applied by the puller. The result of this research work can have implication on the society by easing the life of these people.