In this day and age surrounded with technology and innovation, electricity has
become an important part of people’s daily life, from running appliances at home to running
machineries in the industry. Globally, electricity consumption is rising rapidly as new major
economies develop in places such as China and India. Thus, electricity generation is one of
the essential factors in supporting 21st century society and economy. Based on the statistical
data of Internal Energy Agency (2018), the world’s total electricity consumption totaled
20,863 TWh in 2016, which is 3.2% higher than 2015. Much of this electricity is generated
from combustible fuels accounting for 67.3% of total world gross electricity production
(Internal Energy Agency, 2018). Combustible fuels include coal, oil, natural gas, biofuels
including solid biomass and animal products, gas/liquids from biomass, industrial waste and
municipal waste.
This way of electricity generation through fossil fuel power plants, burns the fuels to
generate steam that drives large turbines that produce electricity reliably over long periods of
time, hence, the huge percentage of electricity production. However, by doing so they produce
large amounts carbon dioxide, which causes climate change and other pollutants, such as
sulphurous oxides, which cause acid rain (World Nuclear Association, 2013).
generation also exist, such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear and geothermal electricity
generation. These alternatives are designed to produce considerable amounts of electricity using
Moreover, scientists still continue to find more ways to produce electricity, be it small or
large scale electricity generation. Also called as micro energy harvesting, small scale electricity
generation focuses on mechanical vibration, mechanical stress and strain, thermal energy from
sun light, human body, chemical or biological sources, which can generate mW or μW level
power (Yildiz, 2009). Correspondingly, the need for micro power supply is increasing with time
as today’s technology is moving to the micro and nano production levels. An example of a micro
energy harvesting device is the application of inductors which induces a voltage through the use
of magnets, and the interaction of electric and magnetic fields. Another is through
additional method on producing electricity and storing it into a power storage. The developed
system makes use of both the concept of Faraday’s Law of Induction and piezoelectricity to
produce electric energy. By incorporating it into a portable power bank, hand-held device users
are able to recharge their electronic devices, such as cell phones, mp3 players and tablets, via a
USB cable. In essence, the goal of this project is to design an environmental and user friendly
portable rechargeable battery capable of recharging electronic devices, serving as a substitute for
AC power plugs.
The study aims to produce an alternative electric generator capable of recharging a power
bank, providing battery power for various hand-held devices. Specifically, the study seeks to
a. Without piezoelectricity?
b. With piezoelectricity?
2. How long does the system take to charge the power storage to a particular
percentage?
3. What are other efficient ways of powering the system aside from shaking it by hand?
electromagnetic induction via inductors to produce the electricity needed to recharge the power
storage. The application of piezoelectric as a power generator can be extended to operate daily
low power electrical appliances such as tuner, light bulb, mobile phone and so on. A
piezoelectricity power generator or harvester can convert impact energy from various mechanical
vibrations of daily life into electrical energy. It is an environmentally friendly power generating
system and it was said that piezoelectric energy harvesting is a new and innovative step in the
direction of energy harvesting (Kumar,2015). However, the technology of currently available
piezoelectric materials and methods is unable to produce a sufficient amount of energy because
of their poor source characteristics – high voltage, low current, high impedance – and relatively
low power output (Glynne-Jones, Beeby, & White, 2001). In detail, Piezoelectricity or the
piezoelectric effect, is the capability of crystals to transform mechanical energy into electrical
energy, and vice versa (Howells, 2009). This gives piezoelectric materials a wide range of
potential applications from sensors used in acoustic-electric guitars to actuators used in inkjet
printers.
On applying of force over the piezoelectric material, it slightly deforms and disturbs the
lattice structure of the material resulting in the generation of electric potential. The electrical
charge is accumulated over the crystal surface that can be extracted using wires (Gohite &
Gohite, 2014).
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Piezoelectricity also comes in two types: direct piezoelectric effect and converse
piezoelectric effect. The direct piezoelectric effect is related to generating electric energy when
mechanical stress is applied while the converse piezoelectric effect is related to the deformation
of the material when an electric field is applied (Lam, 2019). The system in this study uses the
energy, (b) Converse piezoelectric effect; electrical energy causes deformation in the
Previous works have been published that provide sources of vibration for piezoelectric
energy harvesting. This includes the power generating sidewalk by a company, Pavegen
Systems, wherein piezoelectric arrays are laid underneath pavements, sidewalks and other high
traffic areas for maximum voltage generation (Grose, 2012).The voltage generated from the
system can be used to charge the chargeable Lithium batteries and capacitors.
Another practical application of piezoelectric sensors is the power generating shoes. In a
project initiated by United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA),
The other component used in this research is an inductor from Faraday’s law of
electromagnetic induction. This method uses a magnetic field to convert mechanical energy to
electrical energy. A coil of wire wrapped around to the oscillating mass is made to passthrough a
magnetic field, which is established by a stationary magnet, to produce electric energy. The coil
travels through a varying amount of magnetic flux, inducing a voltage according to Faraday's law
(Sari, Balkan, & Kulah, 2009). In some applications of inductors, the system is set up the other
way around. Also used in this study, the magnet would be the object oscillating inside the coil of
common of which are toroidal and solenoid inductors. A toroidal inductor, or toroid, is a donut-
shaped coil closely wound with one continuous wire while a solenoid inductor, or solenoid, a
coil wound into a tightly packed helix (Urone, 2018). In this study, the researchers employed the
‘faraday flashlight’ that coverts mechanical energy of human muscles into electrical energy. A
study stated that the output voltage of a shake flashlight range from 1 to 5 V (Gieras,
battery system using an inductor by integrating it to a bicycle’s rim however failed to obtain
desired results as the rim’s spokes are magneztized. Despite that, Gasper and Omsberg (2016)
3.6V.
Methodology
A. Materials or Equipment
The first thing to consider for the design of the product is the correct type of material for the
input of the whole device. The device consists of three main input points, from the magnet,
For the first input area, the chosen magnet for the device is a neodymium magnet since the
intensity of the magnetic field is considered as one of the factors that affects the output of
induction states that if a magnetic field is applied to a coil of wire, an EMF will be produced
across the coil. The coil chosen would be a made out of copper wire since copper allows
electric current to flow without much loss of energy. Given the law of Faraday, the surface
area of the coil is directly proportional to the EMF generated. Therefore the area allotted for
the coil to be wrapped would be filled up to ensure maximum efficiency in terms of the coils’
surface area.
For the second input area, the piezoelectric circuit, a standard piezoelectric sensor made up of
quartz would be used. Quartz is made up of silicon and oxygen which has opposite charges,
once the quartz crystal receives force, the symmetry of positive and negative charges still
remains which then generates electrical energy as the crystal bounces back. Since the energy
released highly depends on the retraction of the crystal, the current produced is limited as an
AC. Since AC is produced, a full wave bridge rectifier is needed for it to be converted into
Lastly, the third input is simply the power storage device to be used, when the device is not
in need to be used the power storage can simply be charged by a regular wall charger.
B. Treatment