Piezoelectric Floor Energy Harvester: A Prototype for Renewable Urban Power Generation

Abstract

This capstone project focuses on a new approach to sustainably generating energy that uses the mechanical energy from people's feet to create electrical energy. The primary goal of the project is to design, develop and assess a prototype tile system that incorporates either piezoelectric or electromechanical system to convert kinetic energy into electricity during foot traffic. The energy will be held in a storage system since the storage devices will be lithium-ion battery or supercapacitors. The prototype energy tile system will either power low energy systems such as LEDs, or sensors, or full charge an array in smaller-scale applications. In this project, I am addressing an important aspect of the context of the problem of utilizing the mechanical energy in people with high foot traffic in urban areas such as sidewalks, malls, and stadiums with a possible solution. The project also would act on an important aspect of the problem which is to decrease additional reliance on fossil fuels, and work to educate the users about a possible renewable energy approach.Durable design, slip-resistant surface, efficient energy conversion, and a sensor/ microcontroller for monitoring and controlling the energy tile system are my main design consideration in a new energy tile system design. The project will develop and test a working prototype to test performance relative to energy output, robustness of the system, and practicality in the real world. Major conclusions are anticipated to show the feasibility of deploying such systems on a larger scale - a scalable, low- cost solution for generating energy locally. Success of the prototype will be determined by the ability to generate at least a minimum amount of power per footstep, sustain that performance over time, and demonstrate potential for low-cost deployment.