Abstract
Capturing the unused energy is the challenging aspect in the harvesting process. Since one potentially important component for energy harvesting in the transportation sector is pavement, successful energy harvesting from roadway pavements can lead to sustainable transportation infrastructure systems. Asphalt pavement surface temperature can reach up to 70˚C in summer because of solar radiation. This paper presents a development of novel set of road thermoelectric generator system and describes the operation, design, and performance of the system installed within pavement that captures the heat energy from the temperature differential between the pavement surface and the subgrade soil. Designed prototype encompasses of thermoelectric generator, coolant module, heat collector and conductor. The efficiency and performance of the designed system were evaluated through the experiments and finite element modeling. Based on the results, the generated electrical power from the asphalt pavement could be a key source for providing off-grid power supply for sensors used in smart infrastructure, structural health monitoring, and environment sensing.
Highlights
Energy harvesting stands alone as one of the most promising approaches to mitigate the fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation
Solar radiation can be absorbed by asphalt pavement causing an increase in the temperature of asphalt pavements
Q = aITc + K(Th – Tc) – 1/2I2Rl where I is the current, R is the internal resistance of Thermoelectric generators (TEGs), RL is the Load resistance, (Qh – Qc) is the heat flux due to temperature gradient, Q is the total quantity of heat, and K is the heat transfer coefficient
Summary
Energy harvesting stands alone as one of the most promising approaches to mitigate the fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. Energy harvesting is a process that captures unused ambient energy that would otherwise be lost as heat, light, sound, vibration, stress or movement. Solar energy is undoubtedly recognized as the unlimited and environment friendly energy resource. Pavement infrastructures have drawn attention to be used as a renewable source for energy harvesting purposes. Solar radiation can be absorbed by asphalt pavement causing an increase in the temperature of asphalt pavements. Roadways are widely used in the transportation sector to connect communities and moving people and goods around the world. Pavements have been built over billions of kilometers long worldwide, among which over 6 million kilometers are allotted to the United States [1, 2]
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