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Forum Index : Other Stuff : Human powered treadmill

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jakestephenitch
Newbie

Joined: 09/10/2012
Location: United States
Posts: 2
Posted: 11:04am 09 Oct 2012
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Hey guys, first of all I'm not very handy with electronic, but more than willing to tear into an old treadmill. I'm a sports trainer and would like to get a treadmill and use it for running sprints with the motor turned off. When you turn the motor does it produce any power, the same way a generator does? If so what would be the best and easiest way to measure it? If possible I would love to be able to see how many kilowatts a paticular person could produce. Thank you for any help you guys could give.

Jake
 
Warpspeed
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Joined: 09/08/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 4406
Posted: 12:04pm 09 Oct 2012
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Don't know about treadmills, but some exercise bikes are able to indicate power output.

The best I have ever been able to do personally on an exercise bike was 0.5 Hp (0.37 Kw) for five minutes. That was under medical supervision in the Antarctic. I held the record among our particular expedition at that time, which is why I can still remember the figure.

I believe a competitive road racer (with legs like tree trunks) can develop 0.75 Hp for some surprising length of time.

The guy that pedaled the Gossamer Albatross (man powered flight machine) across the English Channel was supposed to be able to generate a peak of 1.0 Hp, and he was a skinny little guy !!

A treadmill would be far less efficient than an exercise bike, I don't think the power could be anywhere near that high.

James Watt once measured the power developed by a genuine hairy horse, and called it "one horsepower". Humans are very weak compared to horses.
While horse can develop 1 Hp all day, even a very fit human will struggle within a very short time to sustain that.Edited by Warpspeed 2012-10-10
Cheers,  Tony.
 
yahoo2

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Joined: 05/04/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 1166
Posted: 12:47pm 09 Oct 2012
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The moving tread simulates the bodies momentum so that it feels like you are actually running. Take that away and load the belt up and it would probably be like pushing a loaded wheelbarrow with a flat tire. That's more a test of brute strength and pain tolerance.

May work with a flywheel to keep things rolling along ???

I think it would definitely make my allergy to fitness equipment flare up
I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not...
 
Warpspeed
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Joined: 09/08/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 4406
Posted: 01:30pm 09 Oct 2012
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It should work with a flywheel and some kind of governor to hold the speed constant.

If you ran to total exhaustion over several minutes......
I bet half a dozen rechargeable AA batteries would beat you for power capacity.
Cheers,  Tony.
 
jakestephenitch
Newbie

Joined: 09/10/2012
Location: United States
Posts: 2
Posted: 02:15pm 09 Oct 2012
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Yeah I don't know if anyone else has tried it, but it's actually quite a good workout just turning that motor. Usually 20 second sprint intervals are more than enough to make you want to throw up. I'm not really looking to sustain a run for any longer than that. So any ideas how to actually measure it? Can I wire up somekind of meter to it? I would love to see how much power someone produces then get the other athletes to try and beat it.
 
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