First Post - unusual request

[gyro-brs]

Greetings all here at Electric Unicycle,

This is my first post.  I am not (yet) an electric unicycle rider but see it happening sometime soon.  What brought me to your forum is an affection for private aviation and things mechanical.  I was recently speaking to a friend (Nate at RevRides), who sells electric scooters, about mobility that I can put in the back of a small airplane to get me the 'last mile' after landing.  His response was the electric unicycles are popular because of their compact size and portability.  So I'm still deciding whether it will be a scooter or an electric unicycle.   Pushing 60 I'm a bit nervous about the idea of a unicycle crash as they seem to be a bit worse than crashing on a scooter.

So onto my 'unusual request'.  Explanation: One of the aircraft that I fly is a gyroplane (pictured).  In the gyroplane world we have long looked for an electric solution to pre-rotate the rotor.  Rotor blades on a gyroplane are driven by the wind but the must be started spinning before take off by some mechanical means.  In the picture below there is a vertical shaft attached to a ring-gear just below the rotor-blades.  After looking at the electric unicycles I realized that the large diameter stator/rotor motors might be a good solution for replacing the ring-gear.
Request:  I'm looking for a higher wattage  (2000W?) electric unicycle stater/rotor for experimental purposes.  No doubt there are some worn-out wheels out there that are of little value because of no batteries and or shot electronics.   Let me know.

Oh, and if there is anyone near Vancouver/Portland who has a demo unicycle I'd love to try one out (used to ride a pedal version years ago).

Regards,
-brs

[meepmeepmayer]

Hi. There are a lot of aviation enthusiasts here. Paging Dr. @Rehab1 e.g.

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You can use any suitable electric motor. Doesn't have to be an electric unicycle motor So you can ask a general electric stuff/electric motor community for a much wider range of views what would be the best motor for you.

EUC motors are heavy (5kg/10lbs minimum) and I assume saving weight is rather high on the list, also they are big (disk shaped) and I assume a smaller diameter motor is better for your purposes (less of a disk and more of a thick cylinder shape, for less windage).

As for EUCs, the MCM5 has a 1500W motor (10 inch outer diameter) and 2000W motors can be found in the Gotway Tesla for example (12 inch outer diameter). Contact @Jason McNeil at ewheels.com, he stocks a lot of parts and can sell you one (if you consider them overpriced, only the manufacturers are to blame for this price-gounging - $200+ is possible) and give you more info. You can also buy such parts on AliExpress. If you need help finding them, we can help.

As for used motors, these wheels are too new to find many powerful motors, but you can try.

But I'd look for a more suitable motor somewhere else tbh. Electric motors aren't rocket sience, there has to be a smaller, high power motor somewhere. In fact, scooter motors have a smaller diameter and are quite powerful, too. Jason sells scooters as well, and (presumably) stocks parts for them, so again, ask him. A scooter motor seems to make much more sense looking at your photo. Maybe a powerful motor from one of the Dualtrons.

Also, do you have an estimate what power requirement you actually need? Also, stated motor powers are nominal (without overheating). Max power is around twice as much. Since you only run the motor for a short time and have great airflow afterwards, a 1200W motor might be considered a 2500W motor for your purposes.

(I'm not an expert!)

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Regarding a ridable, of course here we will argue for a EUC over a scooter, for the joy factor Safety on a EUC is a matter of wearing some safety gear and knowing what you're doing and the limitations of the machine (probably not a problem if you fly such small planes). There are a ton of older riders here. The lightest EUC is the IPS i5 (12 miles at 12mph, <8kg) and then comes the Inmotion V5F. If you have more weight to spare, any wheel you like.

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[Rehab1]

Welcome @gyro-brs. One thing nice about experimental aircraft is that you can modify the ship since you are both builder and mechanic, I flew helicopters, two of which were experimental. I never deviated from the original specs during my construction phase other than modifications to the avionic’s console. 

My past friend scratch built gyroplanes from his own plans. He was always working on methods  to enhance the efficiency of the pre-rotor to accomplish shorter distance takeoffs. Unfortunately he crashed and died in one of his experimental ships. FAA ruled that he failed to secure the Jesus pin before flight (highly suspicious as he was an excellent mechanic) and the entire rotor system came off at 200 feet.

Your idea sounds plausible. Unfortunately I am only familiar with Enstroms, Bell 47s, Rotorways and the Safari. Best wishes and fly safe!

[esaj]

I'd be guessing that a high-power e-bike motor might be better, I've seen kits going up to 15kW (guess it's the peak power though). No need for so many magnets / coils as with an EUC, as the motor doesn't need as precise control...