Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting From Roadways Based on Pavement Compatible Package

Abstract

Scavenging mechanical energy from the deformation of roadways using piezoelectric energy transformers has been intensively explored and exhibits a promising potential for engineering applications. We propose here a new packaging method that exploits MC nylon and epoxy resin as the main protective materials for the piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) device. Wheel tracking tests are performed, and an electromechanical model is developed to double evaluate the efficiency of the PEH device. Results indicate that reducing the embedded depth of the piezoelectric chips may enhance the output power of the PEH device. A simple scaling law is established to show that the normalized output power of the energy harvesting system relies on two combined parameters, i.e., the normalized electrical resistive load and normalized embedded depth. It suggests that the output power of the system may be maximized by properly selecting the geometrical, material, and circuit parameters in a combined manner. This strategy might also provide a useful guideline for optimization of piezoelectric energy harvesting system in practical roadway applications.

Detection of Moving Load on Pavement Using Piezoelectric Sensors

“…Figure 1b describes the distribution of piezoelectric sensors that are encapsulated between two MC nylon plates, where the diameter of the circle equals the MTS loading punch. The wheel tracking test was performed according to the previous research work on energy harvesting [33] from the same group, and, hence, the details of the test are not repeated here for brevity.…”

Piezoelectric energy harvesting from roadway deformation under various traffic flow conditions

“…Wheel tracking test is initially designed to assess asphaltic materials by simulating the effect of traffic. Here, this test was performed to evaluate the output power of PEHs by our research group (Zhang et al, 2019a). The L P = L C = 20 mm and L w = L S = 275 mm in this experiment.…”

“…by many researchers (Ahmad et al, 2019; Erturk and Inman, 2011; Pei et al, 2019; Zhao et al, 2012). Finite-element simulations (Jasim et al, 2017, 2018; Papagiannakis et al, 2017; Sun et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2010, 2015), theoretical analyses (Chen et al, 2018; Jiang et al, 2014; Xiang et al, 2013; Zhang et al, 2016), laboratory tests (Chen et al, 2016; Guo and Lu, 2017; Jasim et al, 2017, 2018; Jiang et al, 2014; Jung et al, 2017; Kim et al, 2017; Moure et al, 2016; Roshani et al, 2016, 2018; Wang et al, 2018a, 2018b; Wang and Shi, 2017; Yang et al, 2017a; Yao et al, 2012), and in situ measurements (Xiao et al, 2017; Xiong and Wang, 2016; Yang et al, 2017b, 2018) were conducted to study the influencing factors, including the structure types (Roshani et al, 2018; Zhao et al, 2012), geometric parameters (Moure et al, 2016; Wang et al, 2018a, 2018b; Zhao et al, 2014), packaging methods (Zhang et al, 2019a), series-parallel connections (Wang et al, 2018b; Yang et al, 2018), embedded depth of the PEHs (Lv et al, 2015; Xiao et al, 2017; Zhang et al, 2019a), amplitude and frequency of the load (Wang et al, 2018b), weight and speed of vehicles (Xiong and Wang, 2016; Yang et al, 2018), and energy harvesting interface circuits (Kong et al, 2010; …”

A Contact-Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting from Marine Pipe Vibrations

“…A self-powered system may operate sustainably by scavenging electrical energy from the ambient environment. The technologies of piezoelectric generators [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] and triboelectric generators (TENG) [ 11 , 12 , 13 ] represent the most popular technologies for harvesting energy from environmental mechanical motions. Piezoelectric generators have been proposed as a good energy harvesting strategy using the vibrations of pipelines [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ] with a power conversion efficiency of more than 50% [ 18 ].…”