Power Generation Using Piezoelectric Materials

By Placing It Beneath The Sleepers Of Railway

Tracks
Om Prakash Sharma , Parikshit Balpande, Mayur Wanjari , Nitesh Charpe

dept. of Electrical Engineering

Yeshwantrao Chavan College Of Engineering
Nagpur, India
Sharmaom99311@gmail.com

Abstract – Science means constantly walking a
tightrope between blind faith and curiosity; between
expertise and creativity; between bias and openness;
between experience and epiphany; between ambition
and passion; and between arrogance and conviction - in
short, between an old today and a new tomorrow. So,
from the perspective of better tomorrow our project is
based on power generation with the help of piezoelectric
material by placing it beneath the railway sleeper
track,so converting abundance of mechanical energy
into electrical energy. India being a country whose sole
& most important method of transportation is railway
can reduce its dependency on oil and fossils for meeting
its energy requirements by adopting these smart energy
generation technologies. Hence, we are planning to set
up power generation mechanism alongside railway so
that our dependency on oil imports and non-renewable
sources can be reduced which will not only make India a
green abode but will also boost its economy significantly
So, from the wisdom of our research related to this
project we can assure that if this methodology of power
generation is adopted and implemented successfully then
the electricity rates in our country will be thrashed to
significantly low value.
Keywords- [1].Piezoelectric materials
[2].Piezoelectricity [3].Boost converter [4].Cf l
inverter[5] Railway sleepers & tracks.
I. INTRODUCTION
Now a day’s energy is one of the most important issue
around the world. The rate of population growth of India
is much higher as compare to other countries (1.1%
annual change in India, 0.6% annual change in
China).With the increase in population the load demand
increases. To overcome this energy demand we need to
implement the methods of optimal utilization of energy
sources and use of nonconventional resources. But such
sources require high financial investments and low
power output. Railway stations are one of such places
which need electricity for the working of various
appliances. The utilization of waste energy from
railways locomotive and coaches is very much relevant
in form of vibration, it will be very useful energy source.
The power generated will be very much useful for the
nearby railway stations thus eliminating the stations
dependence on the other sources. In recent trends, there
has been more focus in harnessing mechanical vibrations
to generate power. So here we are using piezoelectric
effect which converts mechanical vibrations into
equivalent electrical energy which can be stored in
batteries and used further.
II. PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS:
Piezoelectric materials are materials that can produce
electricity due to mechanical stress, such as
compression. All piezoelectric materials are non
conductive in order for the piezoelectric effect to occur
and work. They can be separated into two groups:
Crystals and Ceramics. Some examples of piezoelectric
material are PZT(also known as lead zirconate titanate),
barium titanate, and lithium niobate. These manmade
materials have more pronounced effect than quartz and
other natural piezoelectric materials. Compare PZT to
quartz. PZT can produce more voltage for the same
amount of applied mechanical stress. Conversely,
applying voltage to PZT instead of quartz provides more
movement. Quartz, a well-known piezoelectric material,
is also the first known piezoelectric material. The Piezo
electric material used is circular piezo dics of PZT (Lead

1
Zirconate Titanate).Disc dimensios are of diameter
35mm and thickness is 1.1mm.The discs are connected
in parallel to increase the current generated.Output
voltage of each disc is 3.5 volts.
Fig: Piezo discs
III. PIEZOELECTRICITY:
The Phenomenon of generation of a voltage under
Mechanical stress or Vibrations ie pressure is known as
Piezoelectric effect (Mechanical stress may include
touch, vibrations, pressure change, magnetic fields etc).
Piezoelectric materials have the ability to produce
electrical energy from mechanical energy like vibrations
into electricity.
Direct Piezoelectric Effect : The piezoelectric effect
occurs through compression of a piezoelectric material.
Piezoceramic material non conductive piezoelectric
ceramic or crystal is placed between the two metal
plates. For piezoelectricity to be generated, it needs that
material to be compressed or squeezed. Mechanical
stress applied to piezoelectric ceramic material generates
electricity. As shown in figure above, there is voltage
potential across the material .The two metal plates
sandwitch the piezo crystal. The metal plates collect the
charges which produces voltage i.e. piezoelectricity. In
this way, the piezoelectric effect acts like a miniature
battery, because its produces electricity. This is direct
piezoelectric effect.
2
IV. BLOCK DIAGRAM
PIEZOELECTRIC
BLOCKING DIODE BOOST CONVERTER
SENSOR
LOAD INVERTER BATTERY
Piezoelectric Sensor:
A piezoelectric sensor is a device that uses the
piezoelectric effect, to measure changes in pressure,
acceleration, temperature, strain, or force by converting
them to an electrical charge.
Blocking Diode:
A blocking diode is a diode placed in an electrical
circuit for the purpose of preventing electrical current
from flowing in a specific direction. By function, all
diodes block electrical current; however, blocking diodes
are used specifically to prevent a reverse flow of
electrical power in order to protect batteries, charging
systems, or power generation systems. Blocking diodes
are used heavily in green-energy systems such as solar or
wind-powered electrical generators.we are using this
diode to prevent battery from getting discharge.
Boost converter:
A boost converter is a DC-to-DC power converter that
steps up voltage (while stepping down current) from its
input (supply) to its output (load). It is a class of
switched-mode power supply (SMPS) containing at least
two semiconductors (a diode and a transistor) and at
least one energy storage element: a capacitor, inductor,
or the two in combination. To reduce voltage ripple,
filters made of capacitors (sometimes in combination
with inductors) are normally added to such a converter's
output (load-side filter) and input (supply-side filter).
Inverter: This is a small power inverter circuit that
produce 230v ac at the output through transformer. This
can be used as the emergency CFL lighting , CFL need
AC input for operate and this circuit provides the AC to
CFL . This cfl inverter circuit is operated using the 12v
Lead acid battery which is mostly used in all homes.
CFL inverter is a mini inverter that converts 12 v dc to
230 v ac. The 12 v dc from battery first passes to the 330
uH choke that eliminates the noise from the circuit
during the switching of the inverter transformer. The
transformer used is a step_up transformer. CFL inverters
are small, have switchover efficiency over 80%,and
offer adjustable output of light.
Battery: An electric battery is a device consisting of one
or more electrochemical cells with external connections
provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights,
smartphones, and electric cars. When a battery is
supplying electric power, its positive terminal is the
cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. We are
using 6v, 5A battery.
MODEL DESCRIPTION:
SR.NO COMPONENTS DIMENSIONS
1 Railway track Length=6feets
Width=0.5feets
2 Circular disc Diameter=33mm
V. WORKING:
A Piezoelectric material is placed by digging hole inside
a wooden platform such that it comes in middle of the
railway sleepers track. When train starts moving , a force
is generated along with mechanical vibration and this
force acts upon the piezoelectric material which results
in inducing an emf on the material. Thereafter, this emf
is passed through a blocking diode which ensures
unidirectional flow of current and restricts backward
flow. Then this voltage is made to pass through a boost
converter which increases the output voltage to a
significant level. After that this generated voltage is
stored in battery (lithium ion battery) .Finally this
generated DC voltage is converted into AC with help of
CFL inverter and utilized by different non-critical load.
CALCULATIONS:
1.Size of Crystals=
Diameter=2.54cm,Thickness=1.1mm
2.Force/Pressure on Crystals=2.3psi=15.857 KN/𝑚2
3.Area of Crystals=5.067 𝐶𝑚2
4.Types of Crystals= PZT
5.Emf induced/generated= p*g*t =3.5 V
Where p=pressure on the material

Thickness=1.1mm charge sensitivity

g=voltage sensitivity =
Ɛ0∗Ɛ𝑟
3 Train Length=0.5feets
t=thickness of the material
Width=0.5feets
6.Crystal Position=0.2feet

SR.NO COMPONENTS RATINGS 7.Sleeper bed dimension=2.6m*10′′ *5.6′′

8.Weight of train=
1 DC Battery(for 6V, 5A
storage) Speed of train= 10rpm
12V, A.3 Ah/20
Lead Acid Hr Length of the train=0.5feet
Battery(For
Running Train) Time period of train=0.166sec

2 Circular Piezo Output=3 V DC Frequency = 6 Hz

3 CFL Inverter Input=12 V dc 9.Life period of Crystal=10-15 years

Output=230V dc 10.Maximum pressure/Force accepted by Crystal= 5psi

4 DC Motor for 12V, 10 RPM
Train

3
 TYPES OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS:
1)Wooden Sleepers:
These are commonly 254mm wide by 127mm thick in
cross section by 2600 mm long. The sleepers are first
seasoned (drying for up to 12 months so that to remove
the juice/sap) and treated with preservative. Problems
with wooden sleepers include rot, splitting, insect
infestation, plate-cutting .Their useful life is short about
12 to 15 years.
2)Steel Sleepers:
Steel sleepers are more often used because of stronger
than wood and economical than concrete. They also have
good life span. They are molded in trough shape and
placed on ballast in inversed trough shape.
3)Cast Iron Sleepers:
Cast iron sleepers are widely used in the world
especially in Indian railways. CST 9 type sleepers more
famous in Indian railways. Cast iron is expensive in
market when compared to some other sleeper materials.
Hence it is uneconomical.
4
4)Concrete Sleepers:
They have design life of up to 40 years. They can easily
be moulded into the required/design shape to withstand
stresses induced by fast and heavy traffic. The weight of
concrete sleepers is about 2.5 to 3 time the wooden
sleepers. Pre-tensioned concrete sleepers are usually
preferred now days. Concrete sleepers have become
more common mainly due to greater economy and better
support of the rails under high speed and heavy traffic
than wooden sleepers.
RECENT TRENDS :
With the development of wireless technology and micro-
electro-mechanical technology, the flaws of
electrochemical batteries as power sources have
gradually appeared. On the contrary, piezoelectric
vibration energy harvesters receive more attention
because of their advantages of simple structure, no
pollution .Beginning with the piezoelectric materials and
their piezoelectricity, the piezoelectric vibration energy
harvesters were reviewed on the aspects of structure
design and energy harvesting circuit design. Based on
the directivity and response band of the piezoelectric
vibration energy harvesters, the improvements on the
structure design were introduced in detail. In view of the
energy harvesting efficiency, the improvements of the
energy harvesting circuit design were also introduced.
The development perspective of the piezoelectric
vibration energy harvesters was summarized. The study
will be helpful for the researchers who are engaged in
the studying on the piezoelectric vibration energy
harvesting.
 FUTURE SCOPE: 3. Wafi Danesh, Sandip Bhowmick, Nomir
Muktadir, Md. Shamaul Amal “ A proposal for
1.Security of railway tracks.
large scale electricity generation from high
2.Maintainence of tracks. pressure applications using piezoelectric
3.Minimizing electricity bill. materials,” International Journal of Science and
Advanced Technology, Vol 1 March 2011
4.Helpful in RF Communication.
4. Young-Ku Jin, Subrata Sarker, Ki-Seong Lee,
5.Helpful in Shifting focus from conventional towards
Hyun Woo Seo, Dong Min Kim, Piezoelectric
non conventional.
materials for high performance energy
harvesting devices”, IEEE Transactions on
2015
ADVANTAGES OF PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT:
 High frequency response 5. Xiaoguang Yang, Yuanyuan Wang, Yingying
 Energy will be generated throughout the year without Cao, Shan Liu, Zhenghan Zhao, and Guoya
depending on other factors. Dong, “A New Hybrid Piezoelectric-
 Self generating ,so no need of external source Electromagnetic Vibration-Powered Generator
 To Store the electricity in DC rechargeable source and Its Model and Experiment Research,”408
IEEE Transactions On Applied
 During power generation, no man power is required.
Superconductivity, vol.24, no. 3, pp. 5000204-
 Economical as generation cost is less.
5000207, June 2014.

6. Arpita Mukherjee and Uma Datta ,

CONCLUSION:
In this paper, an effective and efficient vibration has
introduced which can be used as a suitable renewable
energy source. An effective and efficient new
mechanical force and vibration has introduced which
can be used as a suitable renewable energy source. Thus
we can conclude that we can generate energy from
vibrations on sleepers beneath the railway tracks with
the proper usage of piezoelectric crystals.
A lot of energy required by railway stations is now been
generated by the sleepers itself. This energy thus can be
used in nearby railway stations for working of various
electrical appliances. The energy created is at cheaper
rate and is pollutant free. The electricity which is
generated will not be sufficient to make a station
completely self-energy dependent. There is a future
scope to work on the improvement of our described
methodologies.
REFERENCES:
“Comparative Study of Piezoelectric Materials
Properties for Green Energy Harvesting
fromVibration” ,2010 Annual IEEE India
Conference (INDICON)
7. Na Kong, and Dong Sam Ha, “Low-Power
Design of a Self-Powered Piezoelectric Energy
Harvesting System With Maximum Power
PointTracking,” IEEE Transaction On Power
Electronics, vol.27, no.5,pp.2298-2308, May
2012.
8. Valentine Bolborici, Francis P. Dawson, and
Mary C. Pugh, “Modeling of Composite
Piezoelectric Structures With the Finite Volume
Method,”IEEE Transactions On Ultrasonics,
Ferroelectrics, And FrequencyControl, vol.59,
no.1, pp.156-162, January 2012.

1. Sajid P Kunhabdulla , Praveen Merala ,

Ashutosh Sahoo, “ Power Generation from
Vibrations on the Sleepers Beneath
Railwaytracks for Railway Stations” , IJIRST-
vol-1,August 2014

2. P. Aswal, J. Dave And P. Ansari, “Electricity

Generation By Vibrating Piezoelectric Crystal
in Roadway Using Simulink,” American
International Journal of Research in Science ,
Technology, Engineering & Mathematics,
vol.4,pp. 64-70, September- November,2013

5
6