Abstract
Ethiopia has a small percentage of its population accessing electricity with some power utilized by its transportation sector; there are frequent power outages that slow down economic activities such as trade and railway transportation. From this previous statement, it is clear that the demand for energy is significantly increasing and there is too much dependability on the current energy source. With the development of sustainable energy technology in the world today, this problem can be alleviated, while utilizing component vibration in railway infrastructure. The aim of this study was to estimate energy generation potential from the vibration of a railway track induced by a passing train using a two degree of freedom oscillator. Data was collected; energy harvesting system was modeled and simulated. Based on the result, the system produces enough energy to power communication and signaling equipment on the track. The optimum parameters: mass of 1 kg, a spring stiffness of 6 N/m and a damping coefficient of 4 Ns/m of the energy harvester were determined using sensitivity analysis. The cumulative mechanical power harvested by the inter-city-125 train at a speed of 195 km/h was calculated to be 224.56 W. Therefore, the energy demand of the communication and signaling equipment of the train track can be achieved using vibration energy harvesting system by installing the number that meets the demand.
Highlights
Energy is the main driver of the economy of one country and living without access to energy is very challenging
Ethiopia is a country with approximately 110 Million population and Electricity is available for 41% of the population, but only 17% of households are connected to the central grid, all in major towns and cities [1]
Based on the 2016 Energy Statistics yearbook data published by united nation, the net installed capacity of electricity in Ethiopia is 4.238 GW out of which 99 MW is generated from combustible fuel, 3.808
Summary
Energy is the main driver of the economy of one country and living without access to energy is very challenging. Ethiopia is endowed with vast energy resources, only 5% of Hydropower, less than 1% of Solar energy, about 3.24% of Wind Energy potential and about 50% of Biomass potential has been exploited [2, 3]. In September 2015, Ethiopian introduced the first light rail transits system at Addis Ababa city (ALART). The light rail transit system, the 750 kilometers Ethio-Djibouti standard gauge Railway, which was built jointly by Ethiopia and Djibouti started operation on January 1, 2018 and is accelerating its impact on economy [5]. The light rail transit system in Addis Ababa and the Ethio-Djibouti railway lines consumes huge amount of energy of the installed 4.238 GW of net installed capacity of electricity
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