Title: Harvesting energy from human traffic

Authors: Dazzle Johnson; Mikhael Sayat; Kean Aw

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand ' Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand ' Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

Abstract: This brief report investigates a mechanically simple pavement energy harvester using a linear electromagnetic solenoid. This energy harvester will harvest energy from human foot traffic and the design is unique in the sense that it has a very limited vertical displacement of only 1.5 mm and hence minimal effect on the walking gait. This prototype can generate output energy of 164 mW and 833 mW for a single step across a 27 Ω load when a person makes a single step and jump on the pavement respectively. Using a rectifier, the charging of a capacitor with each foot step has been demonstrated. The energy can be increased by having more electromagnetic solenoids.

Keywords: energy harvester; electromagnet solenoid; pavement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBBR.2022.128675

International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics, 2022 Vol.4 No.1, pp.13 - 16

Received: 11 Aug 2022
Accepted: 30 Sep 2022
Published online: 01 Feb 2023 *

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