ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM SPEED BREAKERS

ABSTRACT
In the present scenario power becomes major need for human life. Due to day-to-day
increase in population and lessen of the conventional sources, it becomes necessary that
we must depend on non-conventional sources for power generation. While moving, the
vehicles posses some kinetic energy and it is being wasted. This kinetic energy can be
utilized to produce power by using a special arrangement called POWER HUMP.
The Kinetic energy of moving vehicles can be converted into mechanical energy of the
shaft through rack and pinion mechanism. This shaft is connected to the electric dynamo
and it produces electrical energy proportional to traffic density. This generated power can
be regulated by using Zener diode for continuous supply .All this mechanism can be
housed under the dome like speed breaker, which is called hump. The generated power
can be used for general purpose like streetlights, traffic signals. The electrical output can
be improved by arranging these power humps in series
this generated power can be amplified and stored by using different electric devices. The
maintenance cost of hump is almost nullified. By adopting this arrangement, we can
satisfy the future demands to some extent.
KEY WORDS:
Non-conventional sources, kinetic energy, Electro-mechanical unit, Speed breaker,
magnetic field.

INTRODUCTION:
In the present scenario power becomes the major need for human life .The
availability and its per capita consumptions is regarded as the index of national standard
of living in the present day civilization. Energy is an important input in all the sectors of
any countries economy. Energy crisis is due to two reasons, firstly the population of the
world has been increased rapidly and secondly standard of living of human beings has
increased. India is the country, which majorly suffers with lack of sufficient power
generation. The capital energy consumption of U.S.A. is about 8000 K.W.H., whereas per
INDIA is only 150 K.W.H. U.S.A. with 7% of world population consumes 32% of total
power generation where as INDIA as developing country with 20% of world population
consumes only 1% of total energy consumed in the world. The availability of regular
conventional fossil fuels will be the main sources for power generation, but there is a fear
that they will get exhausted eventually by the next few decades. Therefore, we have to
investigate some approximate, alternative, new sources for the power generation, which
is not depleted by the very few years. Another major problem, which is becoming the
exiting topic for today is the pollution. It suffers all the living organisms of all kinds as on
the land, in aqua and in air. Power stations and automobiles are the major pollution
producing places. Therefore, we have to investigate other types of renewable sources,
which produce electricity without using any commercial fossil fuels, which is not
producing any harmful products. There are already is existing such systems using
renewable energy such as solar wind), OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversions) etc
for power generation. The latest technology which is used to generate the power by such
renewable energy POWER HUMP.

WORKING PRINCIPLE:
While moving, the vehicles possess some kinetic energy and it is being wasted.
This kinetic energy can be utilized to produce power by using a special arrangement
called POWER HUMP. It is an Electro-Mechanical unit. It utilizes both mechanical
technologies and electrical techniques for the power generation and its storage. POWER
HUMP is a dome like device likely to be speed breaker. Whenever the vehicle is allowed
to pass over the dome it gets pressed downwards then the springs are attached to the
dome are compressed and the rack which is attached to the bottom of the dome moves
downward in reciprocating motion. Since the rack has teeth connected to gears, there
exists conversion of reciprocating motion of rack into rotary motion of gears but the two
gears rotate in opposite direction. A flywheel is mounted on the shaft whose function is to
regulate the fluctuation in the energy and to make the energy uniform. So that the shafts
will rotate with certain R.P.M. these shafts are connected through a belt drive to the
dynamos, which converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. The conversion
will be proportional to traffic density.
Whenever an armature rotates between the magnetic fields of south and north poles, an
E.M.F (electro motive force) is induced in it. So, for inducing the E.M.F.armature coil has
to rotate, for rotating this armature it is connected to a long shaft. By rotating same e.m.f
is induced, for this rotation kinetic energy of moving vehicles is utilized. The power is
generated in both the directions; to convert this power into one way, a special
component is used called zener diode for continuous supply. All this mechanism can be
housed under the dome, like speed breaker, which is called HUMP. The electrical output
can be improved by arranging these POWER HUMPS in series. This generated power
can be amplified and stored by using different electrical devices.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS:
The various machine elements used in the construction of power hump are:
1. RACK
2. PINION
3. WHEEL
4. CAST IRON
5. SHAFT
6. SPRINGS

Rack and pinion:

A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which
convert rotational motion into linear motion. The circular pinion engages teeth on a linear
"gear" bar the rack. Rotational motion applied to the pinion will cause the rack to move
to the side, up to the limit of its travel. For example, in a rack railway, the rotation of a
pinion mounted on a locomotive or a railcar engages a rack between the rails and pulls a
train along a steep slope.
The rack and pinion arrangement is commonly found in the steering mechanism of cars
or other wheeled, steered vehicles. This arrangement provides a lesser mechanical
advantage than other mechanisms such as recirculating ball, but much less backlash and
greater feedback, or steering "feel". The use of a variable rack (still using a normal
pinion) was invented by Arthur E Bishop, so as to improve vehicle response and steering
"feel" especially at high speeds, and that has been fitted to many new vehicles, after he
created a specialised version of a net-shape warm press forging process to manufacture
the racks to their final form, thus eliminating any subsequent need to machine the gear
teeth.

Enclosed steering rack in an automobile. For every pair of

A generating rack is a rack outline used to indicate tooth details and dimensions for the
design of a generating tool, such as a hob or a gear shaper cutter.

Dynamo:

A dynamo, originally another name for an electrical generator, now means a generator
that produces direct current with the use of a commutator. Dynamos were the first
electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundation upon
which many other later electric-power conversion devices were based, including the
electric motor, the alternating-current alternator, and the rotary converter. They are rarely
used for power generation now because of the dominance of alternating current, the
disadvantages of the commutator, and the ease of converting alternating to direct current
using solid state methods.

The word still has some regional usage as a replacement for the word generator. A small
electrical generator built into the hub of a bicycle wheel to power lights is called a Hub
dynamo, although these are invariably AC devices.

Description:
The dynamo uses rotating coils of wire and magnetic fields to convert mechanical
rotation into a pulsing direct electric current through Faraday's law. A dynamo machine
consists of a stationary structure, called the stator, which provides a constant magnetic
field, and a set of rotating windings called the armature which turn within that field. The
motion of the wire within the magnetic field causes the field to push on the electrons in
the metal, creating an electric current in the wire. On small machines the constant
magnetic field may be provided by one or more permanent magnets; larger machines
have the constant magnetic field provided by one or more electromagnets, which are
usually called field coils.

The commutator was needed to produce direct current. When a loop of wire rotates in a
magnetic field, the potential induced in it reverses with each half turn, generating an
alternating current. However, in the early days of electric experimentation, alternating
current generally had no known use. The few uses for electricity, such as electroplating,
used direct current provided by messy liquid batteries. Dynamos were invented as a
replacement for batteries. The commutator is an essentially a rotary switch capable of an
extremely large number of make and break operations. It consists of a set of contacts
mounted on the machine's shaft, combined with graphite-block stationary contacts, called
"brushes", because the earliest such fixed contacts were metal brushes. The commutator
reverses the connection of the windings to the external circuit when the potential
reverses, so instead of alternating current, a pulsing direct current is produced.

CALCULATIONS:
It is also feasible from the customer point of view as follows. The total
installation cost of the hump is 6000 rupees. Total cost = 6000 rupees Say with
improvements in design it can glow 5 streetlights of 40-watt capacity, which will
consume 2.7 K.W.H. per day. For t years electricity bill will be 2986.5*t .for ex:
T=2years i.e. the consumer will be repaid his investment within 2 years period. From this
onwards, there will be no investment and free of cost.
 ADVANTAGES:
1. We can generate more amount of electricity.
2. We can lighten our street lamps.
3. Extra electricity can be send to villages also.

DISADVANTAGES:
1. We have to check mechanism from time ot time .
2. It can get rusted in rainy season.
3. It will not work with light weight vehicle

CONCLUSION:
Energy is an important input to sustain industrial growth and standard of living
of a country and can be directly related to per-capita energy consumption. The
conventional sources energy like coal, oil, uranium etc are depleting very fast and by
the turn of the century man will have to depend upon non conventional sources of energy
for power generation. The various types of non-conventional sources of energy are solar
energy, wind energy, biogas etc now by developing POWER HUMP we can generate
power without utilizing any external sources mentioned earlier. Now, vehicular traffic in
big cities is more, causing a problem to human being. But this vehicular traffic can also
be utilized for power generation by means of new technique called POWER HUMP. If
it is placed in heavy traffic roads, the weight and kinetic energy of the vehicles can be
used to produce mechanical power in shafts and this mechanical power is once again
converted into electrical energy. As it does not utilize any external source, and traffic will
never be reduced, these power humps are more reliable, and have more life than any
other power source.
The life of POWER HUMP is estimated to be 6 years. So the customer will get free
power generation for 4 years period. But the major drawback of this POWER HUMP is
design of springs. When we have less traffic and there is difficulty in design of springs
also the generation of power is intermittent, we have to smooth out this variations with
proper improvements in design and installation, we can produce 240v/230v with 5-10A
power smoothly and can be used for public use like streetlights or traffic signals.

REFERENCES:
1. www.indianenvironmentportal.com
2. www.wikipedia.org