Who doesn’t know about Royal Enfield bike? It is an epitome of Indian tryst with adventure and a part of culture similar to what The Harley Davidson is for the US. In our project we, the B.Tech 4th year mechanical engineering students (2010-2014) did the unthinkable by disassembling the bike and peeked under the hood to know about the components.
Later the students designed the whole Suspension system and the gear box with the help of the Designing software. The whole bike was re-assembled and the new modified bike was designed with all engine and transmission system.
The under the hood findings enlightened us as we share the details below. We were able to study various detail of each subsystem and how they were operating in conjunction with other systems.
Braking system:
After opening the bike, we encountered anti-lock braking system which doesn’t lock the wheels when the brakes are applied. On minute observation, students were able to analyse the sensor that not only determines the wheel speed but also the time when it locks itself. ABS plays an important role in balancing the bike when the brakes are applied suddenly on the road.
A powerful suspension system:
Enfield is blessed with a front and rear suspension making it perfectly capable of being driven on hills. They are designed in such a manner that the spring is compressed in spite of being fully extended. Rear suspension is made of damping components while the spring provides adequate support to the body and the rider. Fork systems consist of light and heavy springs that are connected to each other.
Transmission system:
Like automobiles, the transmission system of the motorbike delivers huge power to wheels with the help of the gear sets, clutch and the drive. The system consists of four gears that are controlled by the levers used to shift the forks for transmission. On detailed observation, we also analysed the clutch deployed to stop or release the power from the crankshaft to the transmission. It consists of numerous spring-loaded plates that initiate a connection to the transmission when pressed by the rider. For transmitting the power to the wheels, chain fine drive system is used in the Enfield bike. We noticed a small sprocket mounted on the output shaft connected to its rear cousin.
Fuel tank and supply system of Enfield:
A fuel tank as the name suggests stocks the petrol needed to fire up the engine of the bike. It consists of a petcock that helps the rider to switch to the reserve fuel supply when enough fuel is not available in the tank. The petcock is equipped with two pipes of which one is connected to the fuel tank. The majority of bikes such as Enfield now contain fuel gauge to optimise the efficiency of the machine.
Tachometer and Speedometer:
After disassembling the bike we checked the instrument panel to find the tachometer that indicates the rotation speed of the shaft responsible for transferring power to the rear wheels. We encountered the display providing information in RPM.
In order to simulate the working of the bike, we used computer-aided design software to create suspension system and gear boxes in the virtual world. By mimicking the actual attribute, the whole system provided the real look and feel for an optimal learning experience. We were enlightened with the functionalities of the subsystems and understood the working of the bike in detail.
The project of customizing the Royal Enfield bike into a custom made bike was successfully accomplished by the following students, S.S. Hammad Rasool, Akhilesh Singh, Anil Kumar, Ankit Sharma, Fauzan Hashim, Gaurav Srivastava, Pankaj Verma, Prabhar Rawat.
Through this project we demonstrated our welding skills, team working skill, time management skill and achieved optimal levels of personal performance and accomplishment.
