Power Generatio Using Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Project Title

Power Generatio Using Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

The production of electric power from the footstep of the people’s movement and the pressure exerted during walking, using piezoelectric material is the main purpose of this project. Piezoelectricity is a property for some materials which lies in generating an electrical voltage when mechanical force is subjected to it and vice versa.  These phenomena were discovered by the Curie brothers in 1880, they discovered a relation between electricity and pressure in different materials. This process can be done using the principle of energy harvesting.  Energy harvesting is defined as capturing finite amounts of energy from one or more of the surrounding energy sources. The mechanical energy converted into electrical energy as the pressure exerted by the footstep and by using transducers is basically called a “Footstep power generation system”.

Power is produced by the power generating floor and it is basically the production of electrical energy from kinetic energy. As today electricity demand is increasing due to the increase in population. The demand and supply gap is the major issue of the energy crisis. The main theme is to overcome the electrical energy crisis throughout the world although it is not enough to fulfill the excessive demand for electrical energy it will be able to change and decrease reliance on the old methods of generating electricity. We can install this setup on the roadside footpaths, parks, jogging tracks, and many other public places, airports, etc, and have a great impact on this and will create a great difference in the electrical power generation system.

Project Objectives

The main objective of designing this project is to overcome the energy crises that are increasing day by day and save the wasting energy by movements of human beings and vehicles on roads. The purpose of this project is to build a setup for the generation of a reliable amount of power by using the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy using piezoelectric materials. The aim is to find a suitable and efficient source of electrical energy by using our surroundings, I’ve used the mechanical energy produced from our footsteps in order to produce a sufficient and reliable amount of energy. The power will be generated in form of electric current by the striking of a piezo plate on the floor. This power can be used for additional features like lights or street lights used in the place of pedestrians. Credit is given to the pedestrian for the energy which they produced.

Project Implementation Method

This project can be implemented easily at different places in our surroundings with minimum cost. For implementation, we have to make the proper connections of piezoelectric plates used for energy harvesting. For the arrangement of footsteps, we can use wooden or glass boards according to the desired size. Then we have to implement a circuit to maintain the electrical power produced by a piezoelectric plate that is fluctuating. Then we can boost it up by using a boost converter and then we have to store energy produced in batteries for future use. Some of the key points that help in the installation of this project;

• Select the material w.r.t its temperature effect, pressure bearing ability, and electrical charge generation.
• Select the place to install the project where pressure is exerted like stairs, side-walking, airports, etc.
• Check each component properly and remove the damaged plates.
• Use each component that can be placed for a long time.

Benefits of the Project

The piezoelectric power generation equipment has many other advantages, i.e. simple structure, lightweight, low cost, large energy density, long service life, and easy integration. All these advantages overcome the shortcomings of wind power generation and solar power generation. Piezoelectric power generation is more suitable for use in cities, and because it is almost unaffected by climate and weather, it can be applied throughout a whole nation without any regional limitations. Piezoelectric power generation equipment can be integrated with buildings or facilities, not affecting the landscape and not occupying extra area and space. For example, if integrated with floor tile or pavement, piezoelectric material can generate electricity when pedestrians or vehicles pass by; if integrated with a high-rise building, billboard, or traffic light, piezoelectric material can recover the energy of wind or noise, to generate electricity. Provided that these distributed piezoelectric power generation equipment can be integrated into a piezoelectric power generation system and then connected to the electric power grid, in cities the closely-packed buildings, crowded streets, and countless facilities can all be turned into huge, intangible electric power plants. Not only can these electric power plants recover the biomass energy of men, but also recover the kinetic energies of vehicles and wind. As a result, this not only generates electricity but also damps vibration, reduces noise, and thus improves the city environment indirectly.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Considering that the charges generated by piezoelectric vibrator during each vibration period are finite, the design of high efficient charge collector and energy storage equipment is also very important for promoting efficiency and reducing energy loss. In addition, because the output of a piezoelectric vibrator is an alternating current with small current and high voltage, in order to ensure the high efficient transmission of electrical energy from the piezoelectric vibrator to energy storage equipment, the charge collector should not only decrease the output voltage and increase the output current, but also match the equivalent load of energy storage equipment. AC-DC converter (rectifier) or AC-DC-DC converter (rectifier + chopper) can be adopted to realize the charge collector having the two functions above. The synchronous charge collecting technology, which synchronizes the charge collecting period with the vibration period of the piezoelectric vibrator, can reduce the damping brought by the inverse piezoelectric effect and promote the efficiency of piezoelectric power generation equipment by 4 - 9 times. It is verified by the experiment that the output power of the AC-DC-DC converter is almost 3 times greater than the AC-DC converter. Electrolytic capacitors, supercapacitors, memory-free rechargeable batteries, and many other devices can all serve as energy storage equipment. It is necessary to comprehensively assess these energy storage devices from experiments, determining their advantages and disadvantages.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Energy , Transportation Core Technology Clean TechOther Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	11550
Arduino Board	Equipment	1	1000	1000
Capicators	Equipment	20	10	200
PCB	Equipment	3	1000	3000
Diodes and other led's	Equipment	70	5	350
Rectifiers	Equipment	60	10	600
Piezo Plates	Equipment	60	30	1800
DC-DC Converter	Equipment	1	300	300
Wooden Board	Miscellaneous	3	600	1800
Glue and Glue Gun	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000
Soldering Iron and soldering Materials and flexible wires	Miscellaneous	1	1500	1500