December 30, 2011

FLO Cycling - Digital Radiography and Cycling Wheel Inspections

Posted by FLO Cycling at Friday, December 30, 2011 Labels: ,

Every time we head out for a ride, we inherently take risks.  Weather conditions, motorists, your buddy next to you, and the gear you ride, all play a factor in getting you home safe and sound.  At FLO Cycling we take safety seriously.  It's one of the reasons we changed factories late in the game.  To learn more about our factory change click here.

After finding the problems with our original prototypes, we knew we wanted to do more than simply inspect our products from the outside.  We wanted to see what was going on inside.  It's important that we deliver a high quality product that is also safe to ride.  That's why when we met up with the folks at Acuren we knew we had a winner.  Read below to learn about how we used digital radiography to inspect our wheels.  You'll find a bunch of cool x-rays along with a video.

Digital Radiography

Digital Radiography is a form of x-ray imaging, where digital sensors are used instead of photographic film.  It allows you to look inside the object to inspect what is really going on.  It is cost effective and the images are available immediately.  Have a look at the pictures below to see what the system looks like.


Digital radiography gun is mounted to a tripod above the specimen.


Sensor plate is placed in the field of the digital radiography gun with the specimen resting on top.

The sensor plate is connected via serial communication to the power supply/data converter.

The power supply/data converter is connected via USB to the computer where the x-ray images are displayed.


Once we were set up we inspected the various components of our wheels.  Take a look below to see what's going on inside and to learn more about what we were looking for.

Hubs

We first examined our hubs.  We wanted to ensure that we have uniform aluminum castings of the hub bodies.  When the hub is manufactured, stock aluminum is CNC'd and pressed into shape of the hub body.  (You can check out our component series which focuses on our hubs here.)  Taking the x-ray allows us to see if there are any imperfections in the aluminum.  The hubs showed no problems.

We also inspected the seating of the bearings.  In the x-rays below you are able to see that the bearings sit square and that they are spaced evenly about the center of the front hub.  You can also see the internal workings of the free hub body on the rear hub.

Finally, we inspected the thread engagement of the axles and the free hub body.  We were very impressed with what we found when inspecting the craftsmanship of our FLO VORTEX hubs.


X-Ray of Front FLO VORTEX Hub which shows uniform aluminum body, flush bearing seating, and proper thread engagement of the axle.


X-Ray of Rear FLO VORTEX Hub.  Shows uniform aluminum body, flush bearing seating, internal components of the free hub body and proper thread engagement of the axle.

Rim Welds

We also wanted to inspect the quality of the weld on our FLO WIDE RIDE rims.  (You can learn more about our rims in the following component series here.)  When a rim is welded you want to see a solid weld down both sides of the brake track.  In the pictures below it shows up as the light material.  You will also notice there is an insert where the weld takes place.  In the welding world this is know as a back up bar.  It provides a better environment to ensure a solid weld is made.  We were happy with what we saw in the x-ray.

Once the weld is made the rim is then CNC'd to smooth out the brake track.  We also took a look to ensure the CNC process did not affect the weld.  Take a look at the pictures below to get a look at the welds on our rims.

Weld section of a FLO WIDE RIDE Rim.  The x-ray shows the back-up bar and an even weld through the brake track area.

Weld section of a FLO WIDE RIDE Rim.  The x-ray shows a quality weld through the brake tack area which is unaffected by the CNC process.

Spoke Twist and Nipple Seating

When you build a faired wheel the spoke goes through the carbon and into the rim.  This means there is a section of spoke which is covered by the carbon.  When we first built prototypes we learned that a bladed spoke has the potential to twist inside the carbon when you tighten the spoke.  The reason this happens is because you can't hold the lowest section of the bladed spoke when truing the wheel since it is covered by the carbon fiber fairing.  Working with Sapim, we designed a custom spokes to eliminate the potential of spoke twist inside the carbon fiber.  Our spokes shorten the bladed section by lengthening the "X" dimension which can be seen in the picture below.  This allows the bladed section to start just outside of the carbon fiber.  When hand building a wheel, the builder is now able to grab the lowest section of the blade to ensure spoke twist does not occur.  Take a look at the pictures below which show the spoke twist we discovered on some of our early prototypes.


The bladed section is shortened by lengthening the "X" dimension.

Twisted spoke inside the carbon section of our early prototype FLO 60.

Twisted spokes that were removed from the early prototype wheels.

The x-ray below shows one of our prototype wheels.  This particular version has a pinned rim and the spoke's bladed section extends into the carbon fiber.  Luckily, we were able to build this prototype without spoke twist, but it was a chore to say the least.  Ultimately, we learned a valuable lesson and the production models of our FLO Wheels (with the custom Sapim CX-Ray spokes) will be easier to build, keep true and maintain. 

X-Ray of a prototype version of the FLO 90.  Shows a pinned rim and a standard Sapim CX-Ray spoke, with the bladed section extending inside the carbon fiber fairing.

In the picture above you will also notice that the nipples are seated properly and that our thread engagement is at a proper depth.  When building a wheel you want to make sure the thread engagement on the spoke is not too shallow or deep.  When a wheel has nipples that are seated to shallow, you do not have enough thread engagement to properly hold the spoke.  When the nipples are seated to deep, the spoke tensions can be inaccurate and the nipples can damage the spokes.  The picture below shows the three types of thread engagement.  The spoke in the center is seated at an optimal depth.

Three thread engagement depths on a spoke and nipple.  From left to right, the nipple is seated to shallow, the nipple is seated correctly and the nipple is seated to deep.

Just a Few Cool Shots and a Video


Since we had the equipment we took a bunch of shots.  I have added them below just because we thought they were really cool.  There is also a video recap of the day.






Front FLO VORTEX Hub standing on its end.  The bearings are staggered for clarity.

Front FLO VORTEX Hub laced with spokes.

This shot shows the tire, tube (notice it's deflated), valve stem, valve core and bonding of our prototype FLO 60.

Detailed shot of a valve core.  Pretty cool!

Cool section shot of the FLO CLIMBER.

Conclusion

Well, we hope you enjoyed this as much as we did.  We learned a great deal about our wheels though this process.  When we get our production models we will conduct further inspections.  Testing has now become part of our design process.  It ensures we deliver a quality product that is safe to ride.  

Next week we will post an interview we conducted with the folks at Acuren where we discuss Digital Radiography's use in the cycling industry.

We hope you liked the article.  For more great content, please register for our free monthly newsletter at the top of the column on the right.  We send links to all the articles we post during the month.  Please tell us what you think below.

Take care,

Jon
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December 17, 2011

FLO Cycling - How CFD is Changing the Cycling Industry: A Bill Clark Interview

Posted by FLO Cycling at Saturday, December 17, 2011 Labels: ,

I was recently able to sit down with Bill Clark, the Vice President of Global Operations for CD-adapco, to discuss how Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is revolutionizing the cycling industry.  At FLO Cycling we used CD-adapco's STAR-CCM+ CFD software.  For us it was a game changer.  It allowed us to drastically lower our R&D cost, reduce time to market, and most importantly improve our aerodynamics.  It's our firm belief that CFD aided design is the way of the future and Bill helps explain why.


During this interview you'll learn about CFD software, how it's shaping the cycling products we use today, and how it will affect the products we enjoy in the future.
Here's a little background on our expert Bill Clark.


Bill Clark - VP of Global Operations
Bill Clark graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and from Duke University with a MS and Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering with a specific concentration in the simulation of unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelasticity of gas turbine engines. Since joining CD-adapco in 2000 as a consulting engineer, Bill has moved on to become the Senior Vice President of Global Operations.
FLO Cycling: What exactly is Computational Fluid Dynamics Software? 
Bill Clark: Simply put, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Software is a tool that allows an engineer to simulate or predict, on a computer, how a system (perhaps a full bicycle and rider) will perform once built. The beauty of CFD software, is that prior to going into the wind tunnel for final validation, multiple design configurations subject to a variety of operating conditions (headwinds, tail winds, multiple riders, etc.) can be assessed to hone in on an optimal design. This obviously reduces cost and time associated with building multiple prototypes and ultimately results in a superior product as more of the available design space has been explored. 
FLO Cycling: How did CD-adapco get its start in the CFD industry with STAR-CCM+? 
Bill Clark: CD-adapco has been developing and using simulation software for more than 25 years. Our original product, STAR-CD has been used extensively in the automotive, aerospace and energy sectors since the late 80's. Around 2001 we realized that we needed to "go back to the drawing board" and create a new tool that would take advantage of our prior experience as well as new technologies in hardware (computer chips and architecture) and software (programming languages) that were previously unavailable. While a costly investment, the result was that CD-adapco could not only more effectively incorporate more physics into the simulation tool itself but also bring simulation to a new community of engineers and designers that had previously considered CFD out of reach. STAR-CCM+ has proven to be a fantastic investment that was quickly adopted by the user community and is now heavily responsible for shaping the CFD simulation industry of tomorrow. 
FLO Cycling: How does Computational Fluid Dynamics Software compare to designing products in a wind tunnel/real world application? 
Bill Clark: As I previously mentioned, CFD is generally used in conjunction with wind tunnels and real world testing. I believe that the most successful and innovative companies find ways to leverage the speed and detailed information provided by high fidelity CFD simulation and their testing programs. Dozens (if not hundreds) of permutations can be tested in a "virtual wind tunnel" using CFD and a computer. Only the best candidates need to be physically prototyped for "real world" testing in the wind tunnel. One thing to understand is that in physical testing, the engineer only gets a limited set of information based on how the component is instrumented (drag, pressure loads, etc). In simulation, the engineer can see not only this limited information, but flow details that would not even be possible to capture or visualize with physical testing. It is precisely this difference that makes simulation an invaluable asset to any product development team pursuing innovative designs. 
FLO Cycling: What is the accuracy of STAR-CCM+ data output when compared to real world results? 
Bill Clark: I wish I could say that it is always 100% consistent with experimental results but unfortunately that is not the case (yet!). This is why there needs to be a two pronged approach which couples simulation to experimentation. In many cases, simulation results are in near perfect agreement with information obtained from the wind tunnel or other physical testing. In other cases, depending on the physics being modeled (detailed chemistry, complex flows with phase changes, or exotic operating conditions for example) the mathematical models are not 100% faithful at predicting reality. But even in these cases, while simulation may not provide an accurate, absolute value, the trends associated with design changes are often correctly predicted. This is of tremendous value when considering design permutations. Our job is to minimize the differences between mathematical models and reality. Fortunately, CD-adapco has a great team of mathematicians, physicists and engineers dedicated to just that activity. 
FLO Cycling: What differences in time to market do you see when using STAR-CCM+? 
Bill Clark: It really depends on the product being developed. For example, an aircraft engine has a design cycle that spans years. Proper use of simulation could easily shorten the time to market by 6-12 months and result in a more optimal product once it reaches the consumer. My understanding is that the design cycle in the bicycle industry is quite a bit shorter, so the impact on time to market may be measured in weeks or perhaps a few months. Even this, however, can be the difference in being viewed by consumers as a flight leader or a follower. 
FLO Cycling: How has CD-adapco/STAR-CCM+ helped the cycling industry make advances in aerodynamics? 
Bill Clark: I think CD-adapco's contribution is that we enabled the creative and hard working engineers that are out there designing the next generation cycling products to explore design space that they had neither the time nor resource to consider. As a result, the products on the market are better today than they have ever been. We strongly believe that our technology and people facilitate innovation while simultaneously reducing the associated development costs and time. We understand our role in this process is to be supportive. I guess you should think of us as the engineers' domestique. We are truly grateful to be able to participate in this exciting arena. 
FLO Cycling: What cycling specific projects has CD-adapco's software been a part of? 
Bill Clark: I am aware of three specific projects [in addition to FLO Cycling] (there are probably more) where our technology was used to improve cycling products. These are: Felt's development of their DA and AR lines of TT and road bikes, respectively; Optimization studies carried out on Zipp aero wheels; and most recently, the development of Cervélo's next generation S and R series aero bikes (http://www.cd-adapco.com/downloads/videos/cervelo.html). While the real kudos must go to the engineers who applied simulation technology to make their products the flight leaders they are, we are very excited to be able to support these initiatives. In fact, Phil White, co-founder of Cervélo, has recently agreed to being a keynote speaker at the upcoming STAR Global Conference 2012 (http://www.cd-adapco.com/minisites/global12/) to address the importance of simulation in the design process. Additionally, Cervélo has agreed to provide an R5 bike as a giveaway for those in attendance! 
FLO Cycling: What trends are you seeing in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics Software? 
Bill Clark: As applied to the cycling industry, I see three trends. First, there is the general acceptance of simulation by the designers and their management and as a result, simulation is the norm rather than the exception. Second, the organizations that we have had the pleasure to work with are now performing automated optimization studies that efficiently and intelligently search the design space for the "best" design. No longer does the designer just submit one job at a time, evaluate the results, make a design change and repeat until the time runs out. Instead, multiple simulations are set up at once and all the results can be reviewed and used to construct a viable design space. This space can then be explored quite quickly to approach a true optimum design more rapidly. Finally, I see that the model complexity itself has increased. Early on, designers would only look at their component in isolation - the wheel without the frame, or the bike without the rider. Now, because the computer and software are relatively inexpensive the designer can analyze the complete system - which is what we should really be trying to optimize anyway. 
FLO Cycling: Where is CFD software headed in the future and how will these advances in technology affect the cycling industry? 
Bill Clark: This is a great question as there is so much change presently going on within the industry. My belief is that we are well on our way to making CFD accessible to people who are not "classically trained" in CFD or simulation. In the past, these types of tools (CFD, FEA, CAD) were reserved for engineers with graduate degrees or people with masochistic tendencies. While we must always be looking to incorporate new physics models to extend the applicability of our tools, our biggest push is in advancing the user experience. We need ANY engineer to feel comfortable and confident when reaching for STAR-CCM+. This means that how the user interacts with the software and, of equal or perhaps greater importance, how our company supports the user needs to be continuously assessed and improved. We have some very exciting things to report in this regard, but that is another story. 
FLO Cycling: What advice would you give your peers when it comes to utilizing CFD software when designing aerodynamic cycling products? 
Bill Clark: If you aren't using CFD routinely now, you are behind. Often times the optimal design is not the most robust design (i.e. heavily impacted by variations in manufacturing) so one needs to not only maximize performance but minimize the impact of variability. This can only be accomplished through the application of simulation. This is an exciting time to be developing aerodynamic cycling products. While it is our hope to have an opportunity to work with you directly, but even if you aren't using our solution, as a cycling enthusiast it is clear - the market will demand products that have benefited from aggressive and innovative design studies that rely heavily on simulation. I always look forward to my next trip to the local cycle shop to see how the engineers have advanced the state of the art. I'm never disappointed. 
We hope you enjoyed the interview. We want to thank Bill Clark and Lauren Gautier over at CD-adapco for taking the time out of their busy schedules to help put this interview together. To learn more about CD-adapco and STAR-CCM+ you can visit there site at http://www.cd-adapco.com/.  For more great content, please register for our free monthly newsletter at the top of the column on the right.  We send links to all the articles we post during the month.  Post your comments below to get the conversation started. 
Take care, 
Jon
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December 11, 2011

FLO Cycling - Knog Boomer Review

Posted by FLO Cycling at Sunday, December 11, 2011 Labels: ,

I have a confession to make.  I haven't been a responsible cyclist and I'm happy to say that I have just recently corrected that.  It's not too often that I ride in the dark, but on the occasional early morning or late night ride, I inevitably find myself doing so.  Every time I find myself in that situation, I'm upset with myself for "being that guy" who rides his bike in the dark without a light.  It's simply not safe and I like to think I'm smarter than that ;)

When my REI refund check arrived this year I fought the urge to look at a nice new jersey or jacket and went directly to the lights section of their website.  After reviewing my options I decided upon the Knog Boomer Rechargeable lights.  Below is my review of the lighting system.

Knog Boomer Overview

Knog Boomer Rechargeable Light Set


The Knog Boomer is a super slim waterproof light that is housed in a flexible silicone body.  The light is easily removed from the silicone body and has a USB connection that can be plugged into any computer for a quick and easy recharge of the batteries.  

Knog Boomer Specifications

Below are the Knog Boomer specifications taken from their website http://www.knog.com.au/.

Front Light

Burn Time: Up to 3.5hrs (steady), up to 12hrs (flashing)
Dimensions: 62 x 33 x 30 mm
Weight: 42 grams
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion polymer 
LED Specs: Super-bright HIGH powered white LED
LED Light Output: up to 55 Lumens

Rear Light

Burn Time: Up to 3.5hrs (steady), up to 12hrs (flashing)
Dimensions: 68 x 41 x 30 mm
Weight: 46 grams
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion polymer 
LED Specs: Super-bright HIGH powered central red LED + 2 High powered peripheral flash LEDs
LED Light Output: up to 55 Lumens

Lighting Modes

Both the front and rear Knog Boomer lights come with 5 lighting modes.  They are as follows:
  1. Strobe Flash
  2. Strobe Pulse
  3. Random Strobe
  4. Steady
  5. Storage Mode*
Storage mode is added to the lights to help optimize battery life longevity.  Knog recommends you turn on Storage Mode when you plan on not using the light for more than 1 month.  

Additional Features and Options

The Knog Boomer lights come in a variety of colors (blue, pink, translucent, white, red and black) to ensure your sense of style isn't ruined. Finally, they have a convenient low battery indicator light.  

Video

I put together this video to show you the features of the light, how it is installed, and what the lighting modes look like in the dark.


Conclusion

All in all I think the Knog Boomer is a great lighting system and I would definitely recommend it to others.  I would give it  4 out of 5 stars.  I did not give it 5 out of 5 stars because of the fitting issue I mentioned in the video.  Here are my overall pros and cons...

Pros
  • Small
  • Lightweight,
  • Easy to Install
  • Rechargeable Batteries
  • Waterproof
  • Multiple Lighting Modes
  • Good Light Quality
  • Price is pretty good at $39.99 for each light.
Cons
  • Front light does not fit 31.8mm handlebars very well.  You can get it on there, but it's a hassle.  
  • Once the rechargeable batteries loose their longevity, you will have to replace the whole light.
I hope you have enjoyed this review.  Do any of you use the Knog Boomer?  What are your thoughts?  Do you recommend any other lights?

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.  For more great content, please register for our free monthly newsletter at the top of the column on the right.  We send links to all the articles we post during the month.

All the best,

Chris Thornham
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