Energy Harvesting system for smart shoes

The aim of Energy Harvesting is to capture free energy, available without costs, from the environment. The development of advanced techniques allowed to capture, to store and to manage amounts of natural energy, transforming them into electrical energy. Moreover, advancements in microprocessor technology have increased power efficiency, effectively reducing power consumption requirements. From the point of view of wearable electronics devices, the most efficient Energy Harvesting system for energy capturing is that to use devices inserted into the shoes. These devices are situated into the soles where, during the movement, a force is exerted. Using piezoelectric elements and electromagnetic induction systems, this force allows recovering a high quantity of electrical energy useful for sensor supply and complex monitoring systems. In this paper, four different solutions of smart shoes that use Energy Harvesting systems are presented, with the aim to recover energy to supply a GPS device. Preliminary comparative results of 4 different solutions are compared on the bases of costs, production feasibility and energy harvesting capabilities.