New danger for cyclists?

Have a look at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4535408.stm

"Ramp creates power as cars pass "

"A road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power has been developed.
Dorset inventor Peter Hughes' Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp creates around 10kW
of power each time a car drives over its metal plates.
More than 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in ordering the
£25,000 ramps to power their traffic lights and road signs, Mr Hughes said.
Around 300 jobs are due to be created in Somerset for a production run of
2,000 ramps next year.
Plates in the ramp move up and down as vehicles pass over them, driving a
generator.
"The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles," Mr Hughes said. "

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the inventor has
considered cyclists at all? It looks positively dangerous. Of course, it may
not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat wrote:
Have a look at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4535408.stm

"Ramp creates power as cars pass "

"A road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power has been
developed. Dorset inventor Peter Hughes' Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp
creates around 10kW of power each time a car drives over its metal
plates.
More than 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in ordering
the £25,000 ramps to power their traffic lights and road signs, Mr
Hughes said. Around 300 jobs are due to be created in Somerset for a
production run of 2,000 ramps next year.
Plates in the ramp move up and down as vehicles pass over them,
driving a generator.
"The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles," Mr Hughes
said. "

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the
inventor has considered cyclists at all? It looks positively
dangerous. Of course, it may not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

Cheers, helen s

Saw this on the TV the other night.

They didn't look as if they stretched accross the whole carriageway so
cyclists could proceed down the side of them on the normal road I presume.

Of course I could be totally wrong.

Sam Salt

"Sam Salt" wrote in message
...


Saw this on the TV the other night.

They didn't look as if they stretched accross the whole carriageway so
cyclists could proceed down the side of them on the normal road I presume.

Of course I could be totally wrong.

Sam Salt



Another possible point of concern... how does the positioning affect the
cyclist who needs to position him/herself by taking the primary positin on
the road...

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat wrote:
Have a look at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4535408.stm

"Ramp creates power as cars pass "

Should be "ramp creates polution as cars pass" or "ramp makes cars less
efficient converting petrol to electrical energy". I can't see the idea
of powering electric street furniture by tapping into the energy created
by burning petrol[1] as a step forward for anyone but the shareholders
in the petrochemical industry. Why not just build a small petrol fueled
power station and up the tax on petrol to cover it. That would achieve
the same thing, but curiously I hear no calls to make that happen.

"A road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power has been developed.
Dorset inventor Peter Hughes' Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp creates around
10kW of power each time a car drives over its metal plates.

A useless figure unless you know how long it creates 10Kw for.

More than 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in ordering
the £25,000 ramps to power their traffic lights and road signs, Mr
Hughes said.

More council tax frittered away then.

Around 300 jobs are due to be created in Somerset for a production run
of 2,000 ramps next year.
Plates in the ramp move up and down as vehicles pass over them, driving
a generator.
"The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles," Mr Hughes said. "

I doubt it is as safe as the equivalent area of asphalt, especially if
there is what looks like a steel surface on it.

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the inventor
has considered cyclists at all? It looks positively dangerous. Of
course, it may not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

I agree, even though there is not really enough detail in this report to
make a final judgement. Its just another solution looking for a problem.

JimP
[1] For petrol read petrol, diesel, gas, hydrogen, coal or any other
fuel used to power motor vehicles.

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 13:19:39 +0000, wafflycat wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4535408.stm

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp...

Even worse, what happens to a cyclist crossing it at the same time that a
vehicle overtakes?


Mike

"wafflycat" wrote in message
...

Have a look at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4535408.stm

"Ramp creates power as cars pass "

"A road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power has been developed.
Dorset inventor Peter Hughes' Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp creates around
10kW of power each time a car drives over its metal plates.
More than 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in ordering the
£25,000 ramps to power their traffic lights and road signs, Mr Hughes
said.
Around 300 jobs are due to be created in Somerset for a production run of
2,000 ramps next year.
Plates in the ramp move up and down as vehicles pass over them, driving a
generator.
"The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles," Mr Hughes said. "

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the inventor
has considered cyclists at all? It looks positively dangerous. Of course,
it may not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

It looked like an early april fool to me - A set of traffic lights would
need to use a *vast* amount of electric before the cost of the ramp and the
install costs were recouped, and there would need to be some very expensive
electrical equipment to convert the short 10kw surge caused by each vehicle
into stored enery via an elaborate generator & battery system. Also if the
public are now providing power for traffic lights would they expect a
reduction in their council tax?

wafflycat wrote:

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the
inventor has considered cyclists at all? It looks positively
dangerous. Of course, it may not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

Judging from the photo, the leading 'step' looks to be about 1.5-2" high,
and, from the left-hand edge, there doesn't seem to be a gentle, rounded
lead-in. However, it looks double-ended - there seems to be a matching ramp
with the gentle slope pointing towards the traffic, the ramp having been
operated by the car.

If it is doubled ended, and doesn't yield to a cyclist's weight, then it
would be more like a sleeping policeman with what looks like smooth lead-in
and lead-out. However, it could still be encountered in a semi-operated
state - a vehicle in traffic could stop on the first plate, leaving the
second one up, filtering cyclist comes along and hits the 'kerb'.

I would also be concerned about how well it operates in winter. A bit of
snowfall, a bit of thaw, some more snow, and a night of freeze, could clog
up the works, preventing it from operating properly.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:13:59 +0000, Jim Price
wrote:

wafflycat wrote:
Should be "ramp creates polution as cars pass" or "ramp makes cars less
efficient converting petrol to electrical energy". I can't see the idea
of powering electric street furniture by tapping into the energy created
by burning petrol[1] as a step forward for anyone but the shareholders
in the petrochemical industry.

[1] For petrol read petrol, diesel, gas, hydrogen, coal or any other
fuel used to power motor vehicles.


They should make a version that just goes in cycle lanes, then it
would only be human power taken! enviromentally sound!

Jim.

Wally wrote:

Judging from the photo, the leading 'step' looks to be about 1.5-2" high,
and, from the left-hand edge, there doesn't seem to be a gentle, rounded
lead-in. However, it looks double-ended - there seems to be a matching ramp
with the gentle slope pointing towards the traffic, the ramp having been
operated by the car.


More detailed info and animations at
http://www.hughesresearch.co.uk/index.htm



--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:24:06 -0000, "Adrian Boliston"
wrote:

Have a look at the pictures, and, if the pics are accurate, imagine a
cyclist attempting to negotiate such a ramp... I wonder if the inventor
has considered cyclists at all? It looks positively dangerous. Of course,
it may not be, but it certainly looks suspect.

It looked like an early april fool to me - A set of traffic lights would
need to use a *vast* amount of electric before the cost of the ramp and the
install costs were recouped, and there would need to be some very expensive
electrical equipment to convert the short 10kw surge caused by each vehicle
into stored enery via an elaborate generator & battery system. Also if the
public are now providing power for traffic lights would they expect a
reduction in their council tax?

A friend of mine is the bus shelter guru for Transport for London,
employed to drive forward their bus shelter strategy.

He reliably informs me that most of the cost of the bus shelters which
display times for the next busses is laying the electricity and data
cables.

However, when questioned about using solar panels and mobile phone
technology to receive the information and power the display, he said
that it would be even more expensive.