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    Chapter One: 1.1 Project Background

    Uploaded by

    Chimzy Iwumune
    This document provides an introduction to a project that aims to harvest electrical energy from piezoelectric materials. It discusses how piezoelectric generators could help address the problem of high electricity costs and reliance on the power grid in developing nations by harnessing energy from foot traffic. The document describes how piezoelectric crystals produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical pressure, and how a circuit uses a piezoelectric sensor to convert footstep energy into stored electrical power. Connecting multiple sensors could potentially scale up the generated power. The expected result is a non-polluting alternative energy source to charge batteries and power small devices.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Chapter One: 1.1 Project Background

    Uploaded by

    Chimzy Iwumune
    42 views5 pages
    This document provides an introduction to a project that aims to harvest electrical energy from piezoelectric materials. It discusses how piezoelectric generators could help address the problem of high electricity costs and reliance on the power grid in developing nations by harnessing energy from foot traffic. The document describes how piezoelectric crystals produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical pressure, and how a circuit uses a piezoelectric sensor to convert footstep energy into stored electrical power. Connecting multiple sensors could potentially scale up the generated power. The expected result is a non-polluting alternative energy source to charge batteries and power small devices.

    Original Description:

    project introduction on footstep power generator

    Original Title

    Project Introduction by Iwumune

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    This document provides an introduction to a project that aims to harvest electrical energy from piezoelectric materials. It discusses how piezoelectric generators could help address the problem of high electricity costs and reliance on the power grid in developing nations by harnessing energy from foot traffic. The document describes how piezoelectric crystals produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical pressure, and how a circuit uses a piezoelectric sensor to convert footstep energy into stored electrical power. Connecting multiple sensors could potentially scale up the generated power. The expected result is a non-polluting alternative energy source to charge batteries and power small devices.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    42 views5 pages

    Chapter One: 1.1 Project Background

    Uploaded by

    Chimzy Iwumune
    This document provides an introduction to a project that aims to harvest electrical energy from piezoelectric materials. It discusses how piezoelectric generators could help address the problem of high electricity costs and reliance on the power grid in developing nations by harnessing energy from foot traffic. The document describes how piezoelectric crystals produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical pressure, and how a circuit uses a piezoelectric sensor to convert footstep energy into stored electrical power. Connecting multiple sensors could potentially scale up the generated power. The expected result is a non-polluting alternative energy source to charge batteries and power small devices.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    CHAPTER ONE

    INTRODUCTION

    1.1 Project Background

    Electrical power is a very important and essential aspect of any


    nation or economy, a nation that has enough electric power to serve
    the nation always progress, as it is directly proportional to the rate of
    industrialization in any nation.
    Despite the importance of electrical power to a nation, the cost of
    achieving adequate and sustainable power in the economy is
    expensive. So this arises the need of developing new ways in which
    electrical energy can be effectively harnessed with a reduce cost and
    less pollution to the environment. since the usual ways of power
    generation has become increasingly expensive and causing depletion
    of the ozone layer.
    This need has led to the development of piezoelectric elements
    through which energy can be harvested.
    Energy harvesting has been a topic of discussion and research since
    three decades. With the ever increasing and demanding energy
    needs, unearthing and exploiting more and more energy sources has
    become a need of the day. Energy harvesting is the process by which
    energy is derived from external sources and utilized to drive the
    machines directly, or the energy is captured and stored for future use.
    With the advent of technology, utilization of energy sources has
    increased by leaps and bounds. Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting is a
    new and innovative step in the direction of energy harvesting. Not
    many researches have been carried out till now in this field, hence it
    is a challenging job to extract energy from piezo-crystals. In this
    research paper, description of the basic working of a piezoelectric
    crystal and how they are used to generate electricity in a
    phenomenon known as piezoelectric effect is mentioned.
    Piezoelectric effect is the ability of certain materials (notable
    crystals and certain ceramics) to generate an electric charge in
    response to applied mechanical stress. The piezoelectric crystals
    exhibit the piezoelectric effect. This effect having two properties. First
    one is the direct piezoelectric effect, which means that the material
    has ability to convert mechanical strain into electrical charge. Second
    one is the converse effect, in which the applied electrical potential is
    converted into mechanical strain energy.
    In this project, we are using direct piezoelectric effect to generate
    electricity.
    1.2 Problem statement

    Electricity is a major problem in most developing nations, this


    project can help to reduce the cost and over dependence on the
    electric power supply from the national grid, if power from
    piezoelectric materials can be harvested in large quantities.
    This generator can be installed in not only rural areas but also in
    urban areas, considering the fact that the fuel required for generating
    this electricity is purely dependent on mechanical pressure from
    human footstep, the piezoelectric sensor of the generator can be
    placed in areas with large concentration of people walking about, this
    enables the battery of the generator to be continuously charged,
    thereby producing continuous power supply.

    1.3. Description of the project

    A piezoelectric material is made up of both positively and


    negatively charged particles arranged in such a way that all the
    positively-charged particles and all the negatively-charged particles
    are grouped about the same central point. If two opposite faces of a
    crystal are placed under pressure, the crystal can be slightly flattened
    and distorted, and the charged particles making up the crystals are
    pushed together and spread out sideways. The change is such that
    the average position of the negatively-charged particles shifts slightly
    with respect to the average position of the positively-charged
    particles. This means there is, in effect, a separation of positive and
    negative charges and a potential difference is therefore created
    between two faces of the crystal causing the Output voltage and
    power which is directly proportional to the pressure applied or in other
    words the weight of the person walking on it and the time the person
    is standing on it.
    The output voltage obtained from a single piezoelectric crystal is in
    millivolts range, which is different for different crystals. And the
    wattage is in microwatt range. So in order to achieve higher voltages,
    the piezoelectric crystals can be arranged in cascading manner, that
    is, in series. The energy thus obtained is stored in lithium batteries or
    capacitors.

    A SIMPLE FOOTSTEP ELECTRICITY GENERATION CIRCUIT DIAGRAM


    In the diagram above, the piezoelectric sensor is made of quartz, it
    converts the mechanical stress into electrical charge, the output of the
    piezoelectric sensor in AC, therefore a bridge rectifier is used to convert it
    into DC. The output of the rectifier is connected across a capacitor (it could
    also be a lithium ion battery). The voltage generated by the piezoelectric
    sensor gets stored in the capacitor or battery. And when the switch is
    turned on the LED bulb will glow indicating that current is flowing in the
    circuit.

    We can generate more electrical energy by connecting more


    piezoelectric sensors in series and also increase the energy stored in the
    capacitor or battery by connecting a capacitor with higher rating.

    1.4 Expected Result


    A non-conventional, non-polluting form of energy can be harvested,
    maintaining the economic standards of the middle class. The electricity is
    produced from the mechanical stress on the crystals due to piezoelectric
    effect and thus it generates the energy needed for charging battery to light
    streetlights at night, to charge phones, laptops etc.

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