Pressure Simulation for Footstep Energy Harvesting Paver

Amongst all the energy sources from human motion, footstep has the potential of producing electrical energy as an alternative source to non-conventional renewable energy. Researchers have shown that human footstep kinetic energy can be converted to electrical energy by devised mechanism for low power application such as powering lights, radio and charging phones. Eventually, a novel fluid based energy harvesting paver was developed and tested to contribute towards sustainable development. The paver uses mini hydro generators to produce energy as fluid is forced through these mini hydro generators upon human stepping. This paper presents the pressure simulation of fluid bag system when subjected to an applied human force and the quarter ellipsoid shaped proved to be the best performer which can produce upto 1.4J per step. The pressure simulation provides a relation between pressure and output power.