Harvesting energy from vehicle transportation on highways using piezoelectric and thermoelectric technologies

Abstract

For many years, the rate of energy consumption has been higher than the rate at which natural resources are being generated. Green energy is a major solution to achieve a sustainable future and mitigate carbon footprints. Today, the transport sector highly relies on fossil fuel, consuming nearly one-quarter of the total energy in developed countries and represents a massive environmental burden. Hence, the fate of future energy security does not solely lie in the efficient use of existing green energies but also in the development of new energy sources. This study proposed the design of thermoelectric and piezoelectric energy harvesting systems to make use of the huge thermal energy due to solar radiation and mechanical strain due to moving vehicles to generate electricity. Both systems were built at an experimental scale model and tested. The thermoelectric system produced an output power of 1.06 mW and an open-circuit voltage of 118.2 mV at a temperature difference of 14.8 °C. A maximum average power output of 1.55 mW is achieved over a period of 6h per day. The Piezoelectric generated a peak DC voltage of 9.83 V, under normal stress of 235.04 kPa. The results also showed that the piezoelectric system could provide a consistent output voltage as long as the system experience normal stress. The system could produce an output power of 0.2 mW.