Cedric Lynch Electric Motorcycle: Improving the Axial Flux Electric Motor.

“As EV batteries get higher at electricity storage, I fear that producers will spend much less time on making electric powered vehicles extra green and architects making their vehicles extra aerodynamic.”

_{CEDRIC Lynch Chief TECHNICAL ADVISOR}

Cedric Lynch

Cedric Lynch, the inventor of Lynch Motor, a highly efficient axial flux electric motor, is today engaging with the challenges and opportunities of electric mobility as he built the simple electric motors with the help of Ladybird’s book as a child.  On the subject.

He works as an inventor in his home, where, with his calm intensity, ponytail, loose dress and bare feet, he seems to be every inch the inventor of Central Casting, a glimpse into his daily commute, a confirmed impression: an enclosed electric motorcycle.

Cedric Designed and Built

Cedric designed and built it for the competition in 1991 and has 100,000 miles on it.  It is carved with folded hand-painted laminate foil over a tubular-steel space frame.  The nose, which features a central headlight and is removable, rises to the Perspex canopy, brushed by a single wiper blade.  It extends over the rider to the stubborn rear portion that has the lower half like a boat.  The wheels, which have narrow tires and cover covers to reduce drag, are not visible, making the bike look like a projectile if it is in smooth, rugged style.

“The bike only needs 2hp to make 60mph, precisely because it’s streamlined,” Cedric says.  “Tesla alone appreciates the benefits of streamlining in terms of improving the scope and efficiency of today’s electric car manufacturers.”

The bike’s sophisticated power electronics search around the globe like AA batteries with a tight bundle of 58 capacitors.  At the base of the bike is a tough case with the bike’s 13kWh battery which includes 742 lithium-ion cells.  On one side of the case are 14 red lights that glow brightly when the groups of cells connected to each are at four volts. The motor motorcycle has more than a few 500 miles.

It is powered by a fire motor, originally a version of the revolutionary axial flux motor designed and built by Cedric nearly 40 years ago and now manufactured by an Indian based company of the same name, owned by his longtime friend Arvind Rabadia.  .  It is mounted on the bike’s rear swingarm and turns the wheel of the road through a dental rubber belt.

Axial flux motor

In the axial flux motor the magnetism flows in the direction parallel to the rotating shaft.  It was one of the earliest designs of electric motor but development ceased in the 1960s, in 1983 Cedric decided to make his own.  In doing so, they made a couple important progress.

The first is when they realise that the copper can be made of the armature, and second, that there are identical magnets on each side of the armature, allowing the magnet to pass uninterrupted, but in the case of different magnets to reverse and rotate.

Another big step is that when they acquire some grain-based steel for use in the armature, it loses less power in the rapid cycles of magnetism and demagnetization.  The result of these advances is a more powerful electric motor with lower friction losses and a lower winding speed of a particular winding – in short, a torque twice but half a second.

This is a fantastic story

This is a fantastic story, and I was amazed when Cedric dropped a bombshell that he was completely self-taught.  He says he left school at age 12, after teachers were disciplined for picking up a bottle of empty milk from the playground and returning it to the crate.  “It changed towards the regulations of the school. It was a blow on the whistle and what you were doing and you should fall in line. I saw the bottle and thought it was reasonable to take it.”

His parents (during World War II, his father helped build the world’s first electronic, programmable computer colossus for codebreakers at Bletchley Park) tried in vain to convince Cedric to return, but he was too much fun making electricity.  Motors.

At the age of 19, he enrolled in Mechanical Engineering Crafts Course at Welwyn Garden City College, where he learned to use laths and machine parts.  Three years later he appealed to young engineers to compete in the ‘How far can you go’ competition for battery-powered vehicles from electrical accessories company Lucas.

 “I designed and built an electric motor from baked bean tins to metal,” Cedric recalls.  “I’ve just moved 50 miles on it and competed  second out of 50 competitors.”

Soon after, he joined the Battery Vehicle Society, winning many of his races in the 1980s and 90s, making money by repairing motorcycles and home appliances.  He worked part-time in the newsroom. In the odds of a lucky life, one of the newspaper delivery boys was 10-year-old Arvind Rabadia, then a close friend and leading man.

In 1984, after Cedric finished designing and creating his axial flux motor – known as Lynch Motor – he approached the London Innovation Network for development support.  It accepted his proposal and also arranged a small scale production.  Cedric’s use of motors was an early victory in the successful record attempt of Countess of Arran, who piloted his boat, the 15-foot hydroplane known as The Spark, achieving a maximum speed of 50.825mph.

Arvind’s new company, Agni Motors,

Following the final cancellation of LIN, Cedric helped to build his own automobile company, but after a controversy, he left to work with his former news colleague, Arvind Rabadia, in 2002, now an emerging entrepreneur with an interest in electronics.  With Arvind’s new company, Agni Motors, the pair began developing and manufacturing Cedric’s motors for a variety of applications, from student projects to auto rickshaws, from karts to golf buggies, to solar power to agriculture.

In 2009, the two friends enjoyed further success when they entered a competition that was no less than the Isle of Man TT;  In particular, the Tourist Trophy is a new class of zero-emission motorcycles known as the Extreme Grand Prix.  Against 21 competitors around the world, many motorcycle manufacturers, including Team Agni, fielded the Suzuki GSX-R powered by Cedric’s two motors and Robert Barber rode, winning hands down with 25 minutes, 53.5 seconds and one lap time.  The average speed is 87.43mph.

After staying with motorcycles, he found that he supplied hundreds of motors to Zero Motorcycles when the US electric bike company developed its own motorcycle.

To date, Cedric is looking forward to returning to India and resuming with Arvind to develop plans to design and manufacture a new range of small and large motors and new multi-stage motors.

Their clients include Formula Student race teams around the world, but demand from students involved in research projects in South Korea is strong and growing.

When we say our goodbyes and Cedric follows me to my car, carefully picking his way over the gravel at his bare feet, I am not proud of this pioneer of electric mobility.  It takes courage, intelligence, and resilience to devise new paths but as Cedric proves, there is no need for formal education.

 By John Evans / Agni Motors & Lynch motor