Energy Harvesting By Using

Piezoelectric Material Placed in

Footwear
Project Synopsis

Bachelor of Technology

Electrical Engineering

Submitted By:
Charu Kandpal (110970105019)
Akash kaintura (110910105006)
Rahul Singh (110970105049)
Abhishek (110970105002)

Under The Guidance of, Mr. Ajay Swaroop Raturi , Assistant

Professor
THDC Institute of Hydropower Engineering and
Technology

Uttarakhand Technical University

Introduction: Energy harvesting is process of acquiring energy
from surrounding and converts it into useful electric energy. We
had used a piezoelectric material to convert ambient waste
energy into electric power. The piezoelectric effect describes the
relation between a mechanical stress and an electrical voltage in
solids.

Feasibility Study: The goal of this technology is to provide

remote sources of electric power and/or to recharge storage
devices, such as batteries and capacitors. This area of research
has emerged in recent years with the increase in number of low
power electronic devices. As low power and wearable electronic
devices are more and more present in our every-day life, there is
a growing need for the delivery of power to different points of the
human body. Table 1 shows the approximate energy consumption
for one hour of operation of some portable devices that can be
considered as possible applications of the energy generated by
our system.

Device
Heart rate meter
Respiratory rate meter
MP3 Player
Mobile phone (conversation)
Mobile phone (standby)

Energy
3J
3J
350 J
2800 J
150 J

Table 1: Approximated Energy Consumption for One Hour of Operation of

some

Portable devices

Methodology and Planning of Work:

The idea to use footwear to produce energy has been
pursued for a long time. Several patents based either on
electrical, mechanical and piezoelectric systems have been
registered.
We try to figure an integrated way to include the
piezoelectric material into a sole, its geometry and harvesting of
the energy. The proposed piezoelectric films to be used for the
energy generation are constituted by a polymeric material coated
in both sides by a conducting material, which form the electrodes.
The main advantages of using polymeric films instead
piezoceramics, PZT (lead zirconate titanate) or single crystals are
that polymer films are flexible and can be fabricated in the
desired shapes and sizes through simple processing processes.
In order to maximize the energy transfer to a charge or to a
battery, in the case of energy storage, it is necessary a rectifying
circuit in order to obtain a single polarity voltage. This circuit
consists of a rectifier bridge based on four Schottky barrier
diodes. These diodes have a forward bias voltage drop near 0.33
V, which is an advantage for this application, as it means that for
potential values larger than 0.66V (two diodes) it is possible to
use the full wave configuration. With p-n junction diodes, this
value would be approximately 1.4V. The circuit board of the full
wave rectifier is then connected to the piezoelectric element
placed in the sole.

Ambien
t
vibratio
n
energy
from

Piezoele
ctric
energy
harvest
er

AC-DC Converter
and regulator
circuit

Low
power
electronic
device

Schematic Representation of the Proposed Piezoelectric Energy

Harvesting System