Tricycles are vehicles with a lot of individuality, but the one that stands out from the rest is the Dragonfly Tricycle. It features a novel drivetrain layout that is claimed to improve traction and stability, among other selling points.
Dragonfly, currently in the functional prototype stage, was designed and built by a team led by American mechanical engineer Greg Kunsch. Previously, he worked at Northrop Grumman and its spinoff company, Huntington Ingalls Industries, where he helped design aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
As you can see in the photo, his three-wheeled, road-legal “automatic bicycle” boasts a full steel body in a classic tadpole configuration with two wheels in the front and one wheel in the back.
This design allows two occupants to sit side by side in the widest part of the vehicle (between the two front wheels), lowering the center of gravity and maximizing stability when cornering at high speeds. .
dragonfly
In the majority of tadpole tricycles, the rear wheels are powered. Some electric tadpoles are front-wheel drive, with hub motors on the two front wheels. However, the Dragonfly is claimed to be the world’s first mid/rear engine front-wheel drive three-wheeler.
According to Kunsch, powering the two front wheels doubles the traction needed for vehicles with higher-output engines. The current Dragonfly is equipped with a 200 horsepower, 2.4-liter DOHC gas power plant.
Placing the engine in the rear end, rather than closer to it, reportedly distributes weight more evenly, improving handling and stability. Greg adds that most tadpoles are rear-wheel drive simply because they are easier to design and cheaper to manufacture.
dragonfly
In addition to the unique drivetrain, Dragonfly’s other features include a manual 5-speed transmission, an electrically raised front canopy (instead of doors), a removable roof, an 8-point roll bar, power steering, Self-leveling adjustment features and more. -Height air suspension system.
Kunsch said the vehicle’s non-aerodynamic, sharp-lined design is a result of keeping costs down on the current prototype. And yes, he has plans to make electric models, perhaps a whole EV family, but they won’t use hub motors because there are two big problems.
“The first is unsprung weight,” he says. “These motors weigh around 40 pounds (18 kg), which means both a very harsh ride and handling shock. The thing is that to this day no one has actually used them on a large scale in production cars. ”
dragonfly
Gregg has no plans to sell directly to consumers, but he hopes to license the technology to partner manufacturers. If you are interested, please contact him through the Dragonfly website.
You can see the prototype rolling down the road in the video below.
dragonfly tricycle
Source: Tombo
