Using Piezoelectric Elements as Footsteps Energy Harvester: an Investigation

Abstract

This paper presents the result of a preliminary investigation to evaluate the possibility of using piezoelectric element to harvest energy from footsteps. A prototype piezoelectric floor tile was built to study the amount of energy that could be harvested. Using this prototype, the energy harvested was recorded and discussed. After the energy had been harvested, methods to store the energy were looked into. Two experiments were conducted to investigate harvesting performance. In the first experiment, connection between each piezoelectric element was varied and in the second experiment the distance between each column of piezoelectric element was varied. Rechargeable batteries were used as storage, where the energy harvested from the piezoelectric array will charge the battery. By conducting these experiments, it was found that the prototype floor mat produced the highest current of 48.5μA, when the piezoelectric array was connected in parallel, with a distance that matches the average foot size.