Harvesting vibration energy by employing piezoelectricity and electromagnetism

Abstract

Many energy technologies have their environmental footprint. However, energy from renewable sources does not. Venturing into green ways of producing energy is the order of the day. This project aims at generating energy from vibrations created in pedestrian movement through the joint application of piezoelectricity and electro-magnetism. Harvesting vibration energy through these two methods would be to harness what would otherwise be a largely unharnessed energy source. Piezoelectricity offers an advantage over other generation schemes by generating electricity “intrinsically,” obviating the need for moving parts and mechanical complexity. Electro-magnetism, on the other hand, does involve moving parts but is much less complex compared to other renewable energy technologies. This project dwells deeply into weighing the pros and cons of employing these two technologies and assessing whether, together, they would be a good contender to other existing renewable energy sources in the context of being a feasible micro-power generator.