International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 5 Issue 5, July-August 2021 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Harvesting Renewable Energy by Using Human Foot Step

Vinod Kumar Jaiswal1, H. P. S. Kang2
1
M Tech (Instrumentation), 2Associate Professor,
1,2
UCIM, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Vinod Kumar

Man has used tremendous amount of energy for his daily needs. Due Jaiswal | H. P. S. Kang "Harvesting
to this a lot of energy resources have been exhausted and wasted. Renewable Energy by Using Human
Proposal for the utilization of waste energy of foot power with human Foot Step"
locomotion is very much relevant and important for highly populated Published in
International Journal
countries like India where the railway station, temples etc., are
of Trend in
overcrowded all round the clock. In this paper the force energy is Scientific Research
produced by human footsteps and the force energy is converted into and Development
mechanical energy by rack and pinion mechanism, electricity is (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456- IJTSRD44983
produced by dc generator. And this power source has many 6470, Volume-5 |
applications as in agriculture, home application and street lighting Issue-5, August 2021, pp.991-996, URL:
and as energy source for sensors in remote locations. This thesis is all www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd44983.pdf
about generating electricity when people walk on the Floor. Think
about the forces you exert which is wasted when a person walks by. Copyright © 2021 by author (s) and
The idea is to convert the weight energy to electrical energy The International Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research and Development
Power generating floor intends to translate the kinetic energy to the
Journal. This is an
electrical power. Energy Crisis is the main issue of world these days. Open Access article
The motto of this research work is to face this crisis somehow. distributed under the
Though it won’t meet the requirement of electricity but as a matter of terms of the Creative Commons
fact if we are able to design a power generating floor that can Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
produce 100W on just 12 steps, then for 120 steps we can produce (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
1000 Watt and if we install such type of 100 floors with this system
then it can produce 1MegaWatt. Which itself is an achievement to
make it significant.
KEYWORDS: Energy Resource, Human Footstep, Weight Energy,
Electrical Energy

1. INTRODUCTION
Since the human beings came to earth a few million kinetic energy. This kinetic energy can be tapped and
years ago, their needs and use of electrical energy is converted in to useable form such as in electrical
growing very fast for their sustenance and comfort. form[2].
Embryonic man needs energy mostly in the form of
2. LITRATURE REVIEW
diet. Over time, man began farming the land for
Method The burning of coal, wood, diesel
agriculture and cultivating the land for farming. With
(generators) and so forth are used for traditional
an additional demand for energy, man began using
power generation method, which is continuously
wind for sailboats and to drive windmills but now
depleting our natural resources such as fossil fuels[3].
these methods are also not completely fulfilling the
The demand for power rises with the increase in
demands. So, we need to look upon other
population. Besides, the traditional methods cause
nonconventional sources to acquire energy[1].
pollution and encourage deforestation (cutting of
Footstep energy generation can be an effective trees). Therefore, this results to consequences such as
method to generate electricity. Walking is the most global warming, power shortage just like what we are
common activity in human life. When a person walks, facing in India.
he loses some energy to road surface in the form of
Global warming indicates an average rise of the
impact, vibration and sounds etc. due to transfer of
temperature in the atmosphere near the Earth’s
his weight on to the road surface, through foots falls
surface. The global surface temperature increased
on the ground during every step result in losing

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0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 100 years greenhouse gas. Solar variation, volcanoes, and
ending in 2005. Since the mid-twentieth century, the cooling effect contributes to the entropy rise frompre-
temperature rises with the intensity of anthropogenic industrial age to nowadays[4].
Table 1 Papers Studied
S. no Paper title Author Idea
Design and analysis of a
TR Converting Human Foot Pressure into
1. Mechanical Device to harvest
Deshmukh Linear Motion by Rack and Pinion
energy from human footstep motion
An Investigation on Generation of Sasank Based on crank shaft; fly wheel, and gear
2.
Electricity Using Foot Step Shekhar Panda arrangement
Foot Step Power Generation Using Miss Mathane
3. Based on Piezoelectric Materials
Piezoelectric Material Nitashree V
Simple drive mechanism which includes
Jose Ananth
4. Power Generation Using Foot Step rack and pinion assembly and chain drive
Vino.
mechanism
Modification and implementation Modified and combine existing methods of
of foot step power generation A.R. Kotadiya, foot step power generation that are rack
5.
System in weighting scale of the B.D. Parmar and pinion arrangement and piezoelectric
gym crystals.

3. METHODOLOGY rotation. In the upper iron block (Wooden floor) a

Basically, we are designing and fabricating a foot step Rack is welded and in same line of rack in the lower
power generation using unidirectional mechanism part a pinion is fitted in one shaft. When upper
prototype to overcome the problem related to Power wooden floor will be pressed by human foot then this
shortage and Environmental Pollution. Our Model Rack and Pinion will move and rotate the shaft. The
will be capable of generating Electricity by human two shafts are connected with chain drive. Two shafts
foot work during downward motion of Rack and are also connected with two spur gears of same teeth
upward motion of rack. This generated electricity will and one gear has unidirectional mechanism which
be stored in Lead storage Battery that can be further enables shafts rotation in both direction motion of
used for any electric load purpose using invertor. rack and pinion. On the Second shaft two spur gears
It is just a model to let us understand the basic idea of 38 teeth is fitted which mess with two 25 teeth DC
and principle, with the help of which a prototype motor. DC motors can generate voltage up to 12 Volt
Floors can be fabricated accordingly with specific and 300 mA current. This generated current will be
manipulation. So, coming on its design, Project can stored in a 12 Volt battery. On the battery a diode is
be seen into mainly hardware part. Hardware part linked which only allows the one direction flow of
contains Helical Springs, Rack and Pinion current only from dc motor. An inverter is also
Arrangement, two main shafts, Ball Bearings, Gears, connected with battery which takes AC loads. A
Unidirectional Gear System, Chain Drive multimeter is also installed by which we can check
Mechanism, two DC Motors, Multimeter, Diode, the battery charging status and can also directly check
Battery, Invertor. the voltage generated during foot step.
Here we have used Unidirectional Mechanism so that
we can generate electricity when it is pressed by
human foot and also when it returns in its normal
position. So, this system will generate more
electricity in a single human foot step.
This model is mainly consisting of hardware part
only. We have made a wooden floor with help of iron
blocks. This wooden floor each corner has a helical
spring connected by welding process. The other end
of helical spring is also connected with same type of
iron blocks. In between both iron blocks all the gears
and chain drive are installed.
In the lower iron block, we have installed two main
shafts each end has ball bearing for their smooth Figure 1: Block diagram of scheme of the project

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4. DESIGN AND TESTING 4.5. Chain Drive
The whole module is composed of many Mechanical, A chain is a series of connected links which are
Electrical and Electronics components. Each typically made of metal. A chain may consist of two
component is specific in its work and performs or more links.
dedicated function intelligently. Each component Those designed for lifting, such as when used with a
used in the module, contributes to make a complete hoist; for pulling; or for securing, such as with a
system. The complete system consists of hardware bicycle lock, have links that are torus shaped, which
framework. DC motor which is connected with spur make the chain flexible in two dimensions (The fixed
gears to main shaft of model generates electricity by third dimension being a chain's length.)
human footwork. That electricity can be stored in
Lead Storage Battery. This stored energy can be 4.6. Dynamo
further used in any Load work. A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct
current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first
HARDWARE FRAMEWORK electrical generators capable of delivering power for
4.1. Rack and Pinion industry, and the foundation upon which many other
A rack and pinion are a type of linear actuator that later electric-power conversion devices were based,
comprises a circular gear (the pinion) engaging a
including the electric motor, the alternating-
linear gear (the rack), which operate to translate current alternator, and the converter.
rotational motion into linear motion. In our model we
have used Rack of 22 teeth and pinion 24 teeth. Two DC Motors are used in our model to generate
DC current which is further stored in battery. These
4.2. Unidirectional Gear System DC motor can generate voltage 1.5V – 12V.
A mechanical assembly applicable to convert
500mAmp current at maximum rpm.
bidirectional motion of an input shaft into
unidirectional motion of an output shaft comprising 4.7. Battery
input shaft, intermediate shaft and output shaft, Battery (electricity), an array of electrochemical cells
wherein two sets of gearing arranged one after the for electricity storage, either individually linked or
other, in combination with ratchet and pawl individually linked and housed in a single unit. An
mechanisms driven in opposite directions, with two electrical battery is a combination of one or more
opposing ratchet wheels fitted to input shaft, each electrochemical cells, used to convert stored chemical
accompanied by a gearwheel driven on bearings on energy into electrical energy.
the same shaft with protruded flanges integral to 4.8. Inverter
aforesaid gear wheel, carrying spring loaded pawls on A power inverter, or inverter, is a power
flanges to engage with accompanied ratchet wheel. electronic device or circuitry that changes direct
The output shaft is coupled to input shaft by aforesaid current (DC) to alternating current (AC) The resulting
gearings, so that the rotary movement performed AC frequency obtained depends on the particular
either on clock wise or counterclockwise direction on device employed. In our model we have used 18W
input shaft will result unidirectional motion on output Mini Inverter (12V DC to 220V AC).It is a premium
shaft. quality 18w mini-inverter circuit PCB board suitable
4.3. Springs for LED bulbs, CFL, Mobile charging, homemade
Spring is an elastic machine element that can deflect mini-DIY inverter, etc.
under the application of load. When the load is Specification of 18W mini-Inverter:
removed, it regains its original position. In our model Type: Voltage converter
we have used four helical compression spring on the Input voltage: DC 6V-12V
four corners of wooden floor. Input current: 1A-2.5A
4.4. Shafts Power output: AC220V 0.1W-18W
A shaft is a rotating machine element, usually circular 4.9. Multimeter
in cross section, which is used to transmit power from A Multimeter is an electronic instrument, every
one part to another, or from a machine which electronic technician and engineer’s widely used
produces power to a machine which absorbs power. piece of test equipment. A multimeter is mainly used
In our model we have used two shafts for rotation of to measure the three basic electrical characteristics of
dynamo. One shaft directly connected by rack and voltage, current, and resistance. It can also be used to
pinon arrangement with the upper wooden floor. Both test continuity between two points in an electrical
shaft mesh with two spur gears and also connected circuit.
with chain drive.

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Table 2 Theoretical Energy generated per Step
by Each Person
Theoretical
Mass Force Deflection Energy per
Person
(Kg) () (cm) Step
(Joule)
A 56 549.36 2.3 12.63
B 66 647.46 2.9 18.77
C 78 765.18 3.2 24.48
D 87 853.47 3.6 30.72
EXPERIMENTAL ENERGY OUTPUT:
Calculation of Energy per Step for 100-foot counts
by Person A:
Step Counts- 100
Battery Voltage before Foot Counts- 11.65 V
Battery Voltage after Foot Counts- 11.75 V
Duration of Lightning of 5-Watt bulb- 40 Seconds
Energy consumed by 5-Watt bulb by Battery- 40x5=
200 Joule
Average Energy per Step by Person A- (Energy
consumed by 5-Watt bulb by Battery/Foot Counts)
= 200/100= 2 Joule/ Step.
Figure 2: Flow Chart of the project
Model of Project:

Figure 3: Side view of complete Project

4.10. Testing of Project
THEORETICAL ENERGY OUTPUT:
Calculation of Energy per Step by Person A:
To determine the output power, it is essential to
determine the force applied on the model. Let the
force applied be calculated as,
Force=Weight of the Body= m. g
Work done =Force x Displacement
The weight applied by the Person A is 56 kg, then the
Figure 4: Battery Voltage before and after Foot
Maximum displacement of the spring can be noted as- Count of Person A
0.036m
Calculation of energy per step for each person at
Force =56 x 9.81=549.36 N different foot counts is same as shown above.
Work done per Step =549.36 x0.036 =12.63 Similarly, I have taken data for different step counts
Joule/Step which are 200,300,400 respectively for each Person.

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Table 3 Experimental Energy generated per for the decrease in energy is frictional losses
Step by Person A (56 Kg) which also increases as the step counts increases.
Duration of 4. From the above graph of comparison between
Total
Step Lightning of 5- Energy per theoretical and experimental energy produced per
Energy
Counts Watt Bulb Step(J/step) step we can clearly see that only on an average 16
(Joule)
(Seconds) percent of the input energy is harnessed by our
100 40 200 2 project. These losses of energy are due to two
200 75 375 1.875 main reasons:
300 110 550 1.83
400 145 725 1.81 As there are many mechanical moving parts
which have relative motion with respect to each
Table 4 Experimental Energy generated per other so this leads to increasing frictional losses.
Step by Person B (66 Kg)
Duration of As there is no controller like PID to maintain the
Total top of the project floor in horizontal direction, due
Step Lightning of 5- Energy per
Energy to this the force applied by human foot in vertical
Counts Watt Bulb Step(J/step)
(Joule) direction is not completely get converted in
(Seconds)
100 60 300 3 rotational motion.
200 126 630 3.15
300 185 925 3.08
400 230 1150 2.875
Table 5 Experimental Energy generated per
Step by Person C (78 Kg)
Duration of
Total
Step Lightning of Energy per
Energy
Counts 5-Watt Bulb Step(J/step)
(Joule)
(Seconds)
100 80 400 4
200 155 775 3.875
300 230 1150 3.83
400 300 1500 3.75
Table 6 Experimental Energy generated per
Step by Person D (87 Kg)
Duration of
Total
Step Lightning of 5- Energy per
Energy
Counts Watt Bulb Step(J/step)
(Joule)
(Seconds)
100 96 480 4.8
200 170 850 4.25
300 250 1250 4.16
400 330 1650 4.125
5. RESULT AND CONCLUSION
From the above data taken during testing following
results and conclusions are drawn.
1. By the below Graph of Comparison between
Theoretical and Experimental Energy per Step we
can calculate the average Energy harness to be ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
about 16 percent of input energy by human foot I would like to give thanks to all members of the
count. Department UCIM, Panjab University for the
2. As the weight of person is increasing energy assistance especially Associate Professor H.P.S Kang
generated per step is also increasing. Sir for his guidance on every step. He always helps
me when I had problem related to the project as well
3. As step counts are increasing energy generated as studies.
per step is decreasing slightly. The main reason

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[4] A. R. Kotadiya and B. D. Parmar,
3/Issue 10/IJEIT1412201404_51.pdf. “Modification and implementation of foot step
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