Members
John Pohovey, jpohov2
Kai Loh, kailoh2
Kevin Sha. ksha3
Sid Sharma, sharma62
Introduction:
a. Statement of purpose
Our project idea is to make a device that can take the kinetic energy of someone walking over it and use it to power lights or to store energy into batteries. The goal of this project is to develop something that could save energy cost and reduce the use of other sources of energy in busy areas such as a college campus or city by utilizing the high amounts of foot traffic in such places.
b. Background research
We are doing this project because we are interested in working on a renewable source of energy. From our research we were able to find that there are a few different ways to generate power from the kinetic energy of a person walking. One way includes piezoelectric sensors or piezoelectric materials to generate power. The other method was using gears, springs, and a DC motor.
Design Details:
a. Block Diagram
b. System Overview:
The first step of the block diagram is the foot. The foot presses on the top layer of the tile that covers the piezoelectric sensors that we will use. When the foot places pressure on the top layer of the sensor and therefore the piezoelectric sensor, the sensors will generate a charge. This charge will be sent to an AC to DC rectifier that will convert the AC to DC in order to allow the current to be stored in the battery. This battery stores the energy that is created by the piezoelectric sensors and can then send it to an LED light to power it.
c. Parts:
| Part | Cost | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Piezoelectric sensors | ~$13 for 5 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UC4S6A0/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=electron0f21e-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00UC4S6A0&linkId=aba4d38bdb376844d54438d2baa3507a |
| Rectifier | ~$6 for 20 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079KD43YG/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=electron0f21e-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B079KD43YG&linkId=fb611fa3be92e1e1bdfd2efa49266bd5 |
| Capacitor | Provided | |
Wood | Free | |
| Wires and resistors, etc | Provided | |
| LED |
Possible Challenges:
One challenge that we are likely to encounter is the generation of enough power from small numbers of people walking to power things such as lights. While there have been a few projects that have attempted to make efficient and renewable sources of energy through footsteps or cars, almost all of them that we have found have issues with generating a sizeable amount of energy. Another issue is actually building a device that can withstand the force of a human walking on it without breaking while also keeping the cost of the plate low enough.
References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331591891_Design_of_a_pavement_using_piezoelectric_materials
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610217322117
https://www.piceramic.com/en/piezo-technology/fundamentals/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878522015000958
Posted by jamesw10 at Feb 15, 2020 20:17