I have certain ideas about building/constructing/fabricating a specific solar-powered, pedal-assist or self-operating bicycle designed to operate without a battery. Really mostly just wanting some help to work out things involving questions of 'how much energy' and 'how efficient solar panels are.' I'm not looking for another subreddit but would kindly repost this elsewhere if it's inappropriate here, or would be more appropriate elsewhere.
I was trying to come up with this idea because thinking about a pedal-assist bicycle that can reduce its weight, and ultimately be only mildly heavier than a regular bicycle with similar size, shape, characteristics, etc. My idea was that if you had a solar feed, you might be able to potentially accumulate enough energy continuously such that a direct feed takes that energy and runs a small electric motor. Idk much about these things, so I theorize something like a motor that would add 5-10 mph on flat ground with a person weighing 150-200 pounds? and, in a similar vein, could help the person push up hills, etc., because it would add what is an admittedly small, though still pertinent, amount of useful energy.
I'd thought about this because on flat ground you could get some serious speed advantage if you're riding a bike that (in the sun) moves 5-10 mph automatically; and also, because going up hill, the bicycle's own transmission (the gears that you change while riding the bicycle) would, or I imagine could, effectively if engineered correctly, provide useful torque toward climbing the hill. (I.e. when you're riding uphill in a higher gear you could theoretically take advantage of that gear and work really hard, use the higher torque to climb the hill faster, and ultimately, more easily. However high gears under stress on a bicycle will have the tendency to damage components, and my ideal vision was that the electric motor wouldn't provide forces in traumatic ways that might injure the machinery.)
Not looking for design help or for you to 'design this for me'; I'm interested in designing such a machine myself. But I've worked within off-grid, solar-powered communities where you have to trickle charge a massive battery; and I'm unsure about whether or not these design principles about battery/trickle charges could be worked around (no batteries, less weight), i.e. say that you have solar-panels on a helmet or on a backpack, etc.
tl;dr: can somebody show me how to measure how effectively solar energy will work for this sort of thing, and at least give me some tips on how these sorts of questions are answered by *real* engineers. Thanks a lot! ~Peace
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