Electricity has become an important necessity for human beings and it was important for me to try and provide my community with a solution that is harmless to the environment and uses the most natural activity which is walking and by so doing harvesting the reusable energy from human movement using an energy floor.
This project provides affordable and clean energy by giving an alternative means for cleaner and more efficient and renewable electrical energy without emitting pollution into the air and to provide electricity as some communities still lack this basic need.
This project reveals the technique of energy harvesting by means of converting kinetic energy into electrical energy, by use of an energy floor. This utilizes power through footsteps as a source of renewable energy that can be obtained while walking on densely populated areas. The basic principle is based on piezoelectric sensors which convert the pressure applied to them into electrical energy.
The source pressure is from the weight of people walking over the piezoelectric sensors; to demonstrate this, a weight machine (to represent the floor) will be used, with the piezoelectric sensors connected to it in a series-parallel connection. The conversion takes place when the weight machine has been pressed on, putting stress on the sensors allowing them to convert the applied force into electrical energy which produces voltage. The output of the generated DC voltage is stored in a rechargeable battery. To be able to provision provide for the AC load, an inverter is connected to the battery to drive the AC load. The output voltage can be seen on a LCD and for this purpose the ARDUINO UNO will be used. The integration with the SigFox technology will allow for remote monitoring to determine how much electrical energy has been generated at place deployment and whether that electrical energy will be put into use immediately or stored for later use.
The results will be to effectively produce enough electrical energy to be able to charge a rechargeable battery which in turn will be used as a mobile phone charger as well as to light up LEDs which will determine the sustainability of the produced electrical energy.
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