Design and experimental studies of an energy harvesting backpack with mechanical motion rectification

Abstract

In this short paper, we report a design of an energy harvesting backpack with a mechanical motion rectifier (MMR). Also, we report the experiment studies conducted on two male subjects who carry two types of energy harvesting backpacks, including the MMR-based and traditional energy harvesting backpack, while walking on a treadmill at 3 and 3.5 mph. The harvested power of the backpacks shunted with different resistors are reported with each walking speed to demonstrate the high efficiency of the MMR-based backpack harvester. During the tests, the MMR-based backpack harvest generated more power regardless of walking speeds and resistor values. Finally, a maximum average power of 4.8 Watts and instant power of 12.8 Watts were obtained by one subject, carrying the MMR-based backpack harvester and walking at 3.5 mph.