Development of a modular recumbent trike

Abstract

Today recumbent trikes manufacturers are producing high quality products with several models to choose from. However most of them are developed to run in particular scenarios, generally on road, causing the disuse of the trike when the conditions are inappropriate. This master thesis presents the design process of the TTRIKE, a modular motorized recumbent trike. This product enables multiple configurations switching between the developed modules, to obtain different characteristics to overcome situations that would not have been possible before. Even though the objective of our work is to focus on the modularity of the TTRIKE product family, in order to accomplish this task, we have created a basic recumbent trike from the very beginning. The final product consists on the main trike structure and 7 modules gathered in three blocks: Front, suspension and traction. In addition, 3 assemblies are proposed to covet all the scenarios. Our work shows that modularization can be applied to recumbent trikes with only some small changes and that the TTRIKE adaptability benefits both the companies and the riders, the first ones because can reach the necessities of more users and the second ones because can use it on much more situations.