BicycleCinema.org
Typographic panel summarising two UK university pedal-cinema reference builds and their documented costs and loads
University and DIY reference builds (Leicester 2016; Sheffield/EWB c. 2011) — Sheffield/EWB £475 build with a BenQ GP1 60 W projector; Leicester 2016 project1 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus

University Reference Builds — Leicester and Sheffield/EWB

United Kingdom, Leicester · Research or reference build

Historical last verified 2026-09 Two one-off university/student reference builds (Sheffield/EWB c. 2011; Leicester 2016); neither describes an ongoing operation.
Battery-buffered AC
1 bicycle per build (Sheffield/EWB c. 2011; Leicester 2016)Documented
  • Split from an aggregated directory row
  • Historical only

Websitehttps://le.ac.uk/news/2016/july/leicester-students-produce-pedal-powered-cinema

Two English university teams built single-bike pedal-powered projector rigs five years apart, at Sheffield around 2011 and at Leicester in 2016.

Key facts

  • Leicester build

    250 W motor, 55 W projector, 20161

    Documented

  • Sheffield/EWB build

    £475 total, BenQ GP1 60 W projector, c. 20111

    Documented

  • Documentation limit

    The Sheffield poster itself is not in this site's source registry; only the summary the report carries is reproduced1

    Documented

“The students connected a bike to a 250 watt motor via a belt. When a rider pedals at a comfortable pace of 60 revolutions per minute, it provides enough current to charge a battery. The battery then supplies energy to a square wave inverter circuit, which converts the DC voltage produced from the bike to AC voltage which then powers a 55 watt projector for enough time to watch a movie.”

University of Leicester press release, 5 July 20161

University of Leicester engineering students led by Hanqing Lyu publicised their battery-buffered rig in July 2016 1. The University of Sheffield team, working with Engineers Without Borders, itemised its complete build in a poster, "Building a Pedal-Powered Cinema" 1.

Specifications

What do these labels mean?

FieldValueConfidenceSources
Leicester generator motor250 W (belt-driven)Documented1
Leicester pedal cadence60 rpm (comfortable pace)Documented1
Leicester projector draw55 WDocumented1
Sheffield/EWB total build cost475 £ (c. 2011)Documented1
Sheffield/EWB projectorBenQ GP1 mini-projector, 60 WDocumented1
Sheffield/EWB generator, buffer and rider outputnot disclosedThe build's own poster is not in this site's source registry, so only the cost and projector figures the report carries are reproduced here; the poster's component list and rider-output claim are not restated.Not disclosed1
Line diagram of a budget single-bike cinema build feeding a sixty-watt LED projector
Budget pedal-cinema build with a 60 W LED projector1 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus
Map of the English Midlands marking Leicester and Sheffield
Leicester and Sheffield1 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus

Sources

  1. [1]University of Leicester 2016le.ac.uk

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