Abstract
Alternative energy generated from people’s footsteps in a crowded area is sufficient to power smart electronic devices with low consumption. This paper aims to present the development of an energy harvesting floor—called Genpath—using a rotational electromagnetic (EM) technique to generate electricity from human footsteps. The dynamic models of the electro-mechanical systems were developed using MATLAB®/Simulink to predict the energy performances of Genpath and help fine-tune the design parameters. The system in Genpath comprises two main parts: the EM generator and the Power Management and Storage (PMS) circuit. For the EM generator, the conversion mechanism for linear translation to rotation was designed by using the rack-pinion and lead-screw mechanism. Based on the simulation analysis, the averaged energy of the lead-screw model is greater than that of the rack-pinion model. Thus, prototype-II of Genpath with 12-V-DC generator, lead-screw mechanism was recently built. It shows better performance when compared to the previous prototype-I of Genpath with 24-V-DC-generator, rack-pinion mechanism. Both prototypes have an allowable displacement of 15 mm. The Genpath prototype-II produces an average energy of up to 702 mJ (or average power of 520 mW) per footstep. The energy provided by Genpath prototype-II is increased by approximately 184% when compared to that of the prototype-I. The efficiency of the EM-generator system is ~26% based on the 2-W power generation from the heel strike of a human’s walk in one step. Then, the PMS circuit was developed to harvest energy into the batteries and to supply the other part to specific loads. The experiment showed that the designed PMS circuit has the overall efficiency of 74.72%. The benefit of the design system is for a lot of applications, such as a wireless sensor and Internet of Thing applications.
Highlights
The smart internet of things (IoT) has been brought to the world’s attention lately
The results mainly show that the designedgenerate systems an averaged of electrical energy per footstep, or the averaged power of
The paper presented a design of an energy harvesting floor capable of converting mechanical The paper presented a design of an energy harvesting floor capable of converting mechanical energy from people’s footsteps to electrical energy
Summary
The smart internet of things (IoT) has been brought to the world’s attention lately. The smartIoT-devices, e.g., Radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor, Global Positioning System (GPS)tracking, etc., are widely used in the crowded areas such as airports and public stations, commercial buildings, and department stores [1,2]. Seeking an alternative energy for such devices, it was noticeable that a large population can generate power from their footsteps, grabbing the authors’. The ultimate goal was to develop an affordable Vibration Energy Harvesting (VEH) system—called Genpath—the smart floor capable of conversing kinetic energy from thousands. Energy harvesting from human motions is an interesting and applicable issue, thanks to the ultra-low power consumption of electronic devices lately [3]. Pavegen and Energy Floors have produced a commercial system that generates power from footsteps [6,7]. The Pavegen system, using electromagnetic generators, can produce 2 to 4 joules, or around 5 watts of power of off-grid electrical energy per step. The Energy Floors focuses on harvesting energy from humans dancing and playing games. Few technical details of those products are published far
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