PIEZOELECTRIC HARVESTING

ENERGY

PRESENTED BY: TANUSHREE ROY

 WHAT IS PIEZOELECTRICITY AND HOW DOES
IT WORK?
Piezoelectricity is electrical energy harvested from mechanical pressure such as
walking motion. When pressure is applied on an object, a negative charge is
created on the expanded side and a positive charge is created on the compressed
side. As this pressure is relieved, electric current flows across the substance.

Using piezoelectrics to harvest vibration energy from humans walking,

machinery vibrating, or cars moving on a roadway

The ability to capture this energy cheaply would be a significant advancement

toward greater efficiency and cleaner energy production
PREVIOUS STUDIES

Piezo energy harvesting has been investigated only since the late 1990s

Piezoelectric electricity sources produce power [11-12] on the order of milliwatts,

too small for system application

Enough for hand-held devices such as some commercially available self-winding

wristwatches

The first application of piezoelectricity was SONAR, i.e ultrasonic submarine

detector in WW-I

The global demand for piezoelectric devices was valued at the approximately
US$14.8 billion in 2010
TEN YEAR FORECASTS 2013-2023
 PIEZOELECTRIC FLOOR TILES

Piezoelectric floors are designed to capture the wasted energy and resources, and
store or redistribute them where they are needed. Energy is generated when a
person steps on tiles that feature piezoelectric attributes. The amount of energy
generated depends upon the weight of the person, maximum deflection, and type
of movement. This kinetic energy is converted into electricity.
APPLICATION OF PIEZOELECTRIC FLOORS

Piezoelectric flooring is ideal for places that receive heavy foot traffic.

It can be installed at tourist attractions, town halls, schools, stadiums, or dance

floors.

The firm Energy Floors has a product called the Sustainable Dance Floor
especially designed for clubs.

Piezoelectric flooring can also be installed in other busy places such as subway
stations, airports, universities, and malls.
APPLICATIONS OF PIEZOELECTRICITY

In Japan, near the Tokyo Railway Station, there is a Piezoelectric Material Tile
placed on the road near to the station. Daily, many people walk through it to
generate electricity. Tokyo subway station to autonomously self-produce its
energy needs since each step can generate up to 7 watts of power.

In UAE (United Arab Emirates), there is an experiment conducted to generate

electricity from the Piezoelectric Roads. The experiment was successfully
conducted and now the practical roads are on the way of construction.

In USA (United States of America) in certain schools, electricity is generated

from Piezoelectric Tiles in the passage when students walk through them.
ADVANTAGES OF PIEZOELECTRICITY

Cheap source of electricity generation.

Generates a large amount of electricity.

Does not require any special kind of power plant or another similar setup.

It does not require a large space as a Nuclear Power Plant.

It does not create any type of pollution.

It does not require any operating system for generation of electricity.

PIEZOELECTRIC ENERGY
HARVESTING DEMONSTRATIONS
 INNOWATTECH

The Israeli test was conducted in 2009.

It is projected that increasing the system size to 1 km would produce 200 kWh
while a four lane highway would produce about one MWh
 INNOWATTECH

Innowattech has also developed an efficient storage system to collect and store
the electricity produced by these generators

The accumulated energy can be used to power traffic lights or street lamps and in
the future could be routed into the grid

Innowattech Piezoelectric Electric Generators had been planted 6cm under the
road level and at a distance of 30cm apart

The projected production of electricity from the half mile is expected to be about
100 kw of electricity, enough to power about 40 houses
INNOWATTECH DEVELOPS PADS TO HARVEST
ENERGY FROM PASSING TRAINS
INNOWATTECH DEVELOPS PADS TO HARVEST
ENERGY FROM PASSING TRAINS

Similar to producing renewable energy from passing cars on highways, the

Israels Innowattech has now moved to trains with similar production produce the
piezoelectric energy

The company states that areas of railway track that get between 10and 20 ten-car
trains an hour can be used to produce up to 120KWh of renewable electricity per
hour, which can be used by the railways or transferred to the grid.
 PIEZOPOWER
London Club Surya and Rotterdam Watt have piezo floors to harvest energy from
dancers

In the clubs, this can supply up to 60 percent of the clubs energy needs.

Each person can produce between 5 20W

The piezoelectric material is Rochelle salt

 POWERLEAP INC.
POWERleap Inc. is located in San Francisco, California, and is in a partnership
with Treevolt located in Columbia.

The manufacturers literature on the devices indicates that a 1.0 km length of

roadway with 600 vehicles per hour and 6,000 Treevolt harvesters can yield
approximately 720 kW.
FUTURE SCOPES
 PIEZOELECTRICS - A POTENTIAL ELECTRIC
SOURCE FOR AIRCRAFTS
ADVANTAGES
On-board continuous generation of electricity.
Continuous and Self-Charging of batteries
Highly durable, reliable and clean approach for harvesting energy.
Use of piezoelectric ceramics in engine cowl will aid vibration dampers will use
vibrations to produce electricity.
LIMITATIONS
Stability issues, -
Loss of polarization of piezoelectric material
Aging might reduce the material performance.
Strong temperature dependence of electromechanical properties
Brittleness- Careful handling of material is required.
 CONCLUSION

Piezoelectric materials have the ability to transform mechanical strain energy into
electrical charge. The amount of energy generated depends on the number of
passing vehicles and the number of piezoelectric elements on the road. Vehicles that
are moving slowly appears to generate slightly more energy than faster moving
vehicles, but further research is needed to confirm this piezoelectric power
generation system works successfully. It has tremendous scope for future energy/
power solution towards sustainability
REFERENCES

Ali, et al. Analysis of Energy Harvesters for Highway Bridges. Journal of

Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 22(16) 19291938. 2011.
Anton. Multifunctional Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Concepts. Doctor of
Philosophy Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, April
2011.
Innowattech: Harvesting Mechanical Energy from Roadways to Produce
Electricity. Kurzweil, Accelerating Intelligence. October 25, 2011.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/innowattechharvestsmechanicalenergyfromroadwa
ys Accessed 12/10/2012
Innowattech Website. www.innowattech.com. Accessed 1/3/2013.
THANK YOU