Being an eco-conscious citizen, how would you react to the idea of reducing air pollution while cycling? While we all know that riding a bicycle is already an eco-friendly way to commute, it could certainly be improved according to Kristen Tapping – an industrial design graduate from London Southbank University.
She has designed an innovative bicycle wheel prototype called GoRolloe, which comes integrated with pollution filters to actively suck pollution out of the air using the movement of the cycle. This wheel won’t need any extra energy for operating, as it makes use of the kinetic energy of a moving cycle. Unlike other outdoor air purifiers, this bike wheel captures polluted air from the source itself. Hence, it offers higher impact and efficiency.
How she came up with the idea of developing GoRolloe?
Kristen came up with the creation of this pollution-eradicating wheel while cycling across London streets. When in the traffic, she thought about the pollution, gases, and heat all around. With this, she came up with the idea to use air purifiers to use wheel movements to catch pollution while releasing clean air into the environment.
How does it work?
The air purifying bike wheel includes three parts – a tri-wheel, as well as two circles, which hold together circular and washable air filters. When this bike wheel rotates, it forms a centrifugal fan to suck put pollution from the air into the wheel’s center, passes it to a set of filters, and further expels out pollution-free air into the surrounding environment. The more a biker pedals, the more amount of particulates are caught into the wheel’s filter for releasing purified air.
Is the prototype effective?
For now, this particular bike wheel prototype can capture around 0.665m³ of air per km. According to Kristen, if 10-percent of cyclists in London use this bike wheel, they could filter around 266,865m³ of air that’s 20 times Trafalgar Square’s size.
She further wants to improve this design and create a rear-wheel as well to double those numbers. Meanwhile, she is even working on 3D printing a part of the three-spoke mag wheel with the help of sustainable and weatherproof material. This indicates that GoRolloe is a wise step to reduce air pollution while becoming a part of our routine life.
Kristen even bagged the Design Innovation in Polymer 2020 award for GoRolloe bicycle wheel concept. This project is still under development and we can expect it to come out commercially in 2022.
