Vol. 128, Issue 5, May 2011, pp.39-54

Wireless Crankarm Dynamometer for Cycling

Caetano Decian LAZZARI, Alexandre BALBINOT

Instrumentation Laboratory (IEE),

Department of Electrical Engineering (DELET),

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) – 90035-190, Brazil

Tel.: +55 0215133084440

E-mail: caetano.lazzari@ufrgs.br, alexandre.balbinot@ufrgs.br

Received: 30 March 2011   /Accepted: 20 May 2011   /Published: 28 May 2011

Abstract: This report describes a new crankarm dynamometer designed to evaluate the strength produced by cyclists in real conditions. The dynamometer was designed to be fitted on a conventional crankset while data were transmitted via wireless communication channels available on a Bluetooth^TM module. Some 3D solid models were created in the SolidsWorks2010TM development environment to analyze the static and dynamic characteristics, by using the finite elements technique. Each crankset arm was used as a load cell based on strain gages configured as two Wheatstone bridges. The signals were conditioned on a printed circuit board attached directly to the structure. As a result, the load cell shows a maximum nonlinearity error between 2.1 % and 2.8 %. Some tests were performed on a cycling trainer, allowing to evaluate the system's functionality and to determine the involved forces in the crankset.

Keywords: Load cell, Biomedical instrumentation, Load cells, Strain gages, Crankset, Cycling

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