Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)

Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124

Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]

Harvesting Electrical Energy via Vibration

Energy and its Applications
Vijay Laxmi Kalyani, Anjali Piaus, Preksha Vyas
Vijay Laxmi Kalyani, Assistant professor, ECE department, Govt. Women Engineering College, Ajmer
([email protected])
Anjali Piaus, B.Tech Student IV year, ECE branch, Govt. Women Engineering College, Ajmer
([email protected])
Preksha Vyas, B.Tech Student III year, ECE branch, Govt. Women Engineering College, Ajmer
([email protected])

tall buildings, machines, pumps, road vehicle, railway tracks,

Abstract: In present days electronic equipments are human motion and ocean waves etc. it becomes a good
charged by Solar Cells, Batteries etc., but the power alternative energy source.
consumed is very large in such devices and moreover they
have a limited life span. So there is a need of renewable
sources of energy. Many conventional sources of energy
are being developed which are both efficient as well as
eco-friendly. Nowadays, harvesting energy from
vibration is one of the most promising technologies.
Human body produces 5 volts of energy; these vibrations
produced in the human body during various activities can
be harvested. Similarly vibration produced by a large
crowd or by a large traffic on the road, vibrations of tall
buildings, long bridges, vehicle systems, railroads, ocean
waves can also be harvested efficiently. The vibration
energy can be converted into electric energy and can be
stored which can be used efficiently in giving power to
many low power electronic appliances and the large
vibration energy harvesting obtain 1 W to 100 kW or
Fig.1: Sources of generation of vibrational energy
more .
Source: http://vibpower.w3.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/about-e.html
So in this paper we are trying to focus on some methods
which will convert the vibration energy to electric energy. Basically what we intend to talk about here is what we call as
We will try to discuss various types of power harvesting ‘Power Harvesting’. It is collecting the wasted power from
techniques which will ultimately give us electrical energy the environment and in this paper specifically we are talking
that can be used as a source of power for many electronic about the vibration energy which is largely produced in our
appliances. In this paper we also discuss the relevant day to day lives and is often taken into no use. If this vibration
applications include vibration energy harvesting from energy is used and is converted into electrical energy which
human motion, road vehicles, transportations, and civil can then be further utilized in low power electronic
structures. appliances and in this way we can save power which will
ultimately lead to economic sustainability of any nation. The
Keywords: - Vibration energy, Transducer, piezoelectric human waste foot energy is being used to produce electricity
materials, Electromagnetic induction, applications. this would be a great evolution in electricity generation. The
average human can take 3,000 -5,000 steps a day [1].
I. INTRODUCTION There are many approaches which can be used to harness the
electrical energy from vibration energy. The vibration energy
Let us start with the key meaning of vibration energy. harvesting system basically consists of a mechanical system
According to a theory, everything in the world vibrates at one with external excitation, a transducer that converts the
speed or the other. Nobody is complete stationary. The vibration energy into electric energy, two of the most popular
vibration frequencies are sometimes so high that it becomes
transducers are piezoelectric materials and electromagnetic
impossible for the human eye to detect them. So here we are
using the vibration energies which often remain unnoticed to transducer. mechanisms for motion transmission and
give power to the electronic appliances. magnification which plays important roles in large-scale
vibration energy harvesting, power electronics and energy
With the global energy crisis and environment concerns, storage elements, and energy management and control
many conventional sources of energies like wind energy, strategies, as shown in Figure 2.
solar power, Thermal Energy, Hydro Energy, Atomic Energy
In this paper we are going to discuss the main three
etc. have been developed. It is only in the recent years that
approaches which we have considered to be important.
the utility of vibration energy has been discovered. Since
vibration exists everywhere like vibration of floor and wall,

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 Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)
Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124
Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]
I.I. VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING source:http://me.eng.sunysb.edu/~lzuo/Large-
scale%20vibration%20energy%20harvesting.pdf
Vibration energy harvesting method can use one of two types I.I.II. PIEZOELECTRICITY
of technologies: electromagnetic induction where energy is
harvested from the magnetic field produced within an AC Piezoelectric crystals change the mechanical vibrations into
inductive motor and piezoelectric energy harvesting from electric energy. Various researches have proved that such
mechanical vibration. harvested energy is excellent in scalability, capability, high
energy density and compatibility with standard electronic
I.I.I. TRANSDUCERS technologies. Piezoelectric crystals can produce the required
voltage which can be used for giving power to many devices.
They have a crystalline structure with the help of which they
A transducer is an electronic device which converts one form
can produce electrical energy when mechanical stress is
of energy to another. Such as electrical energy, mechanical
applied.
energy , electromagnetic energy , chemical energy , acoustic
energy , and thermal energy etc. Traditionally, the vibration For converting the mechanical vibrations into electrical
energy is dissipated into heat waste by the damping elements energy, there are two steps-firstly the mechanical energy has
of the systems. Rather than dissipating the vibration energy to be converted into ac voltages and then these irregular ac
into heat waste by damping elements, the transducers in voltages are converted into dc voltage. Piezoelectricity was
vibration energy harvesting system can convert the investigated in late 1990s.This technology is very useful
mechanical energy into electric energy. Various transducers which is constantly emerging. When electronic charge
have been investigated for the vibration energy harvesting, accumulates in certain solid materials (like crystals, some
including piezoelectric materials (Galhardi et al.,2008; ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and
Sodano and Inman, 2004), linear and rotational certain proteins) which is produced in response to the
electromagnetic motors (Rome et al., 2005), electrostatic mechanical stress that is applied. In other words we can say
generators (Mitcheson et al., 2004), and dielectric generators that when certain crystals such as quartz or ceramics are
(Kornbluh et al., 2002). Among these transducers, the exposed to mechanical strain then electrical polarization
piezoelectric materials and electromagnetic machines have takes place inside them and the degree of polarization is
more potential for large-scale vibration energy harvesting. In directly proportional to the strain applied.
some situations, where the vibration mitigation of the
primary structure is concerned,
Piezoelectric materials and electromagnetic motors can also
serve as actuators simultaneously for the purpose of active or
regenerative vibration control, and thus, the power flow is
bidirectional, as shown in Figure 2.

Although both piezoelectric materials and electromagnetic

motors have been used in vibration energy harvesting, they
have different features. Piezo electric material is a force- or
Fig. 3: Principle of direct piezoelectric effect
stress-induced transducer, while electromagnetic motor is a
velocity-induced transducer.
Hence, piezoelectric material is more suitable for vibration
with large force and small deformation (due to limited strain
range). Electromagnetic motor is preferred
in the situations where vibration has large velocity or
amplitude. So far, electromagnetic motors have been found
more as the transducers for large-scale energy
harvesting. They have been used to harvest energy from
vehicle suspension and buildings. On the other hand,
piezoelectric materials have larger energy density (Chenet
al., 2006) and are more suitable for the applications where
the space or weight is a concern. In addition, Electromagnetic
motor usually produces a low voltage, while piezoelectric Fig. 4 Structure of piezoelectric element
materials normally generate a very high voltage, so they have Vibrations are vectors of mechanical energy which can be
different requirements on power electronic circuits [2]. converted into electrical energy via electromechanical
transducers, which are actually piezoelectric materials,

There are two types of modes in a piezoelectric material

which are known as coupling modes. These modes are
important for their efficient working.

Direct mode, in which it acts as a sensor and indirect mode,

in which the material acts as an actuator.

The properties of piezoelectric materials are similar to that of

ferromagnets in which molecules are oriented in such a way
that positive and negative charges are separated from each
Fig.2: Block diagram of a vibration energy harvesting system
other which are known as electric dipole. When the materials

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 Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)
Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124
Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]
are heated above the certain level known as Curie
temperature than a strong electric field is induced and all the
dipoles arrange themselves relative to this electric field. After
the cooling of the materials the dipoles maintain their
orientation and the process is said to be poled. After this the
piezoelectric Effect starts. Lead zirconatetitanate,
piezoelectric ceramic, or Piezo ceramic also known as PZT
are the common type of piezoelectric materials which are
used in power harvesting. When the pressure is applied on
the piezoelectric crystal, the separation of charges take place
which results in the potential difference ultimately leading to
generation of electricity.
Fig.6: Piezoelectric energy harvester
Source:http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/functional-
materials/research/vibrational-energy-harvesting

Energy harvesting is used to describe the scavenging of

ambient energy in the environment that would otherwise be
wasted. This energy could be in the form of heat, vibration,
electromagnetic, or even acoustic, where typically the aim is
to locally power autonomous devices such as wireless
sensors. Generally, power levels are low and the
environmental benefit of the technology is to replace
batteries rather than saving energy.Piezoelectric vibrational
energy harvesters are usually inertial mass based devices,
where a cantilever with a piezoelectric outer layer is excited
Fig.5: Generation of Electricity when pressure is applied on into resonance by a vibration source at the root of the
piezoelectric crystal cantilever. The vibration could come from a number of
sources for instance a pump in an oil refinery, or a rotating
With the use of piezoelectric crystal energy can be harvested
tyre etc.
while walking, running. It can be also used to harvest the
energy produced by the traffic on the road and also in many
other cases. The rectified energy is stored by an electronic I.I.III. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION
switch which decides the charging and discharging level.
Vibrational energy can be utilized efficiently to produce
The piezoelectric system we are talking about also has two electrical energy. For most of the part, vibrations are
parts, first is a transducer which is basically a piezoelectric considered unnecessary, whereas there are many fields in
crystal and it converts mechanical vibrations into an irregular which this kind of energy has been utilized in a more positive
ac voltage and then with the help of a rectifier we can convert direction.
this irregular ac voltage into dc voltage. This is done with the help of the basic principle of
Piezo electricity is derived from a Greek word,’piezin’ which electromagnetic induction. A spring acts as a power
means to press and ‘piezo’ meaning to push. generating medium. when vibrations are produced in the
In 1880, it was found by pierre Curie and Jacques that if presence of external agents like students entering the college
particular crystals when given pressure or mechanical strain, gate, traffic moving on a busy road, military troops passing
they become electrically polarized and this polarization is over a bridge, etc.
proportional to the applied strain and they named it as The spring vibrates and expands or contracts, in such
‘piezoelectricity’. The piezoelectric effect is the linear situations, an electric flux is generated. This in turn creates
electromechanical interaction between the mechanical and electromagnetic induction resulting in electric voltage. the
the electrical state in crystalline materials with no inversion mechanical strength of the spring is very high, such that it
symmetry . Basically there is a sensor which senses the
does not break or collapse during the whole operation period
mechanical vibration and the sensor used here is piezoelectric despite oscillating for continuously lengthy periods.
crystal. In 1881 the same people were also able to find that Moreover it is made very sensitive to small vibrations. Such
the reverse of piezoelectricity was also possible which means springs are called Vibration Amplification Springs. They
when these materials were exposed to electrical variations, exhibit sensitive sympathetic vibrations towards external
they underwent deformations. Here, the Piezoelectric crystal oscillations.
acts as an actuator.
The vibration amplification spring is used to encircle a
magnet and moved fastidiously in an upward movement and
downward motion. This in turn creates electromagnetic
induction resulting in electricity. This is the mechanism for
vibration power generation utilizing sensor movements.

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 Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)
Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124
Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]
I.I.IV. MOTION TRANSMISSION AND The top plate returns back to its original position because
MAGNIFICATION of the negating springs provided in the device. At the output
of the alternator a bulb is connected. The glowing of the bulb
This mechanism can be used to increase the efficiency of the indicates the electric output when the foot load is applied.
electromagnetic motor based energy harvesting system [2].

I.I.V. POWER ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS

In energy harvesting system, the power electronic circuits

plays the very important role. It regulate the AC harvested
power to DC with a voltage suitable for the load or energy
storage device. It enhance the harvesting efficiency. In most
situations, the vibration level always varies, resulting in the
low efficiency of circuit with fixed parameters optimized for
certain vibration level. Power electronic circuits with
controllable parameters are able to improve the energy
efficiency by adaptively changing certain parameters
according to the vibration level or external load. It control the Fig.9: footstep electric converter device
vibration, which is a special issue when semi-active or active Source: http://www.barc.gov.in/publications/nl/2010/20100304.pdf
control is adopted and it manage the power flow [4]. The
power electronic circuits in vibration energy harvesting Finally the power generated is stored in an energy storing
system consist of rectifier, DC–DC converter, and energy device. The duration of lightening of bulb for the number of
storage device as shown in fig.7. footsteps and the energy stored is given as follows:-

No. of Duration of Total Energy

Footsteps lighting a energy /step (J)
100 watt (J)
230 Volt
bulb (s)
250 6 600 2.4
500 12 1200 2.4
Fig.7: Typical power electronic circuit in vibration energy
harvesting. 750 18 1800 2.4
source:http://me.eng.sunysb.edu/~lzuo/Large-
scale%20vibration%20energy%20harvesting.pdf 1000 25 2500 2.5

II. ELECTRICITY GENERATING DEVICE Fig.10: Table-The duration of lightening of bulb for the number of
footsteps and the energy stored
Reactor Control Division BARC invented an electricity Source: http://www.barc.gov.in/publications/nl/2010/20100304.pdf
generating device [3]. Basically this device was designed to
generate electricity from the vibrations produced by This device can be used in a railway station or an airport
footsteps. This device can be embedded in the road can where large crowd keeps on entering. This type of power
convert foot impact energy to electric energy. This device harvesting technique can be used wherever large crowds are
works on the principle that when a pedestrian walks he steps attracted.
on the top plate of the device, the plate will go down slightly • Vibration Energy can be extracted from the large
due to the weight. As the plate goes down the rotation of shaft crowd of children entering the school or college.
of an electric alternator takes place which generates electrical • This technique can be used in airports or railway
energy. station where large gathering enters.
• It can be also used in a Marathon race where large
amount of people walk or run.
• This can be effectively used on a highway where
large traffic is there.
• It can also be applied where military parade takes
place.
• It can be also used in sports stadium where large
vibrations are produced.

Thus using electromagnetic induction the vibration

amplification spring was developed. This spring exhibits
sensitive sympathetic vibration towards external oscillations.
It is made up of a strong durable material such that there is
no fear of its breakage during operation. As a train moves on
the railway track, the vibration due to its movement also
vibrates the spring. The spring is placed inside a magnetic
Fig.8: footstep electric converter device
field such that when it expands or contracts, the flux linking
Source: http://www.barc.gov.in/publications/nl/2010/20100304.pdf

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 Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)
Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124
Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]
with it changes and hence voltage is generated. This in turn
results in electromagnetic induction producing electricity.
Another approach is piezoelectricity. Materials like quartz,
lead zirconate provide a transducer effect between electrical
and mechanical oscillations. Piezoelectric materials can be
fitted into the roads and as the vehicles pass by, they can be
reoriented and large amount of electrical energy can be
harvested. There is a huge scope of its applications in both
manufacturing and automobile industries. The global
demand for piezoelectric devices was valued at the
approximately US$14 billion in 2010.This method can be
used in road lights, traffic signals, display boards, without the Fig.12: Piezoelectric crystals used inside the shoe
use of long electrical wires. It is an in- exhaustive form of http://www.ijarcce.com/upload/2014/october/IJARCCE4F%20a%2
energy which can be produced almost everywhere. 0alok%20A%20Unique%20Step%20towards%20Generation%20of
. %20Electricity%20via%20New%20Methodology.pdf
III. APPLICATIONS
4. Embedding It Under The Floors
1. To Light The Street Lights On The Roads

This can be achieved by embedding small crystals of

piezoelectric materials inside the roads. When vehicles pass
over such crystals. they create vibration which is sensed by
such crystals and they deform thereafter converting the
deformations into electricity.

2. Using On Dance Floors Fig.13:-Special flooring of tiles in japan with piezo electric
materials to harness the vibration energy.
Many countries have started using piezoelectric crystals on
the dance floors.The vibrations caused by the dancer’s foot Piezoelectric crystals can be laid under the floors of the
produces mechanical strain and thereby producing crowd attracting places such as railway stations, airports, city
electricity. malls so that the vibrations produced by the footsteps of the
crowd can be harnessed and converted into electricity. Japan
has already started experimenting use of piezoelectric effect
for energy generation by installing special flooring tiles at its
capitals’ two busiest stations. Tiles are installed in front of
ticket turnstiles. Thus every time a passenger steps on mats,
they trigger a small vibration that can be stored as energy [4].

5. At Railway Tracks

Fig.11: -Piezoelectric crystal used under the dance floors

Source:http://www.ijarcce.com/upload/2014/october/IJARCCE4F
%20a%20alok%20A%20Unique%20Step%20towards%20Generati
on%20of%20Electricity%20via%20New%20Methodology.pdf

Fig.14: At railway tracks

3. Using It Inside The Footwear source:http://www.proftec.com/eco-gizmo/award-winning-device-
harvests-energy-from-railway-track-vibrations/
Piezoelectric crystals can be used in our foot wears, so that
whenever we walk, run or jump the vibrations can be sensed Piezoelectricity has its application in the railway tracks.
When a train passes over the track the vibrations produced by
by the piezoelectric crystal and can be converted into
the moving train can be sensed and the material produces
electricity. Thus we can generate enough energy to power
voltage.
cell phones, mp3 players etc.
6. Airport Runways

Certain materials can be installed on the runways at the

airports such that when the fast moving airplanes pass over
them they sense the movement and accordingly deform to
produce electrical energy.

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 Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology (JMEIT)
Volume -2, Issue- 4, Aug. 2015, ISSN: 2394 - 8124
Website: www.jmeit.com | E-mail: [email protected]|[email protected]
Author’s Details
7. Vibration Energy Harvesting from Human and Vehicle
Motion Vijay Laxmi Kalyani is currently working as Assistant
Professor in the department of ECE in GWEC, Ajmer. She
has attended various workshops, conferences, FDP, STC etc.
and also published many research papers in Various
International Journals, National Journals and Conferences,
Member-IAENG.

Anjali Piaus is pursuing B.Tech (IV-year) in Electronics and

Communication Engineering in GWEC, Ajmer.

Preksha Vyas is pursuing B.Tech (III-year) in Electronics

and Communication Engineering in GWEC, Ajmer.

Fig.15 energy harvesting proliferates in Land Vehicles

Source:http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com/articles/7483/ener
gy-harvesting-proliferates-in-land-vehicles

IV. CONCLUSION

Through this paper we have made efforts to draw the

attention towards the need and uses of new and improved
techniques of generating and using power. Since the
resources on the earth are limited or exhaustible, it is the need
of the hour to bring into light new alternative power
generating sources which are both efficient and effective. By
using the energy sources generated on the earth on a daily
basis the problem of lack of resources for power generation
can be solved to a large extent.
One such innovative method, which is converting the
vibration energy produced by the daily activities on the earth
into usable electrical energy, can be a huge step into the field
of development of conventional sources of energy. It can be
employed in almost every area and the circuitry required is
both cost effective and easy. Through this technique, the
place where the energy is generated can use the converted
electrical energy at the same time.
Although, today there is lack of skills and knowledge to
utilize the vibrational energy to its maximum potential, but
with time and use more and more methods can be developed
which can be used to harvest the best out of this inexhaustible
form of energy and convert it into electrical form which can
later be used in future when needed.

V. REFERENCES

[1] Monika Jain, Mohit Dev Sharma, Niti Rana, Nitish Gupta,
“Vidyut Generation via Walking: Analysis”, International journal of
engineering sciences and research technology, [Jain,2(2): Feb.,
2013], ISSN: 2277-9655

[2] Lei Zuo and Xiudong, ''TangLarge-scale vibration energy

harvesting'' journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures,
24(11) 1405–1430Ó, The Author(s) 2013

[3] S.S.Taliyan, B.B. Biswas, R.K. Patil and G. P. Srivastava,''

Electricity From Footsteps'' Reactor Control Division, Electronics &
Instrumentation Group and T.K. Basu IPR, Gandhinagar

[4] Pramathesh.T, Ankur.S “Piezoelectric Crystals : Future Source

of Electricity” International Journal of Scientific Engineering
and(ISSN : 2277-1581),Volume 2 Issue 4, pp: 260-2621 April2013

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