Evaluation of piezoelectric energy harvester outcomes in road traffic applications

This paper evaluates the probability of piezoelectric approach as energy scavenging devices for roadway applications using Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2DOF) electromechanical model. The main energy source of the scavenging device is generated from the passing vehicles. As per linear theory of piezo elasticity, a Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2DOF) electromechanical model for the piezoelectric harvesting unit is used in describing the harvester performance in single-lane and two-lane road. In this paper, the APC piezoelectric ceramic (APC 855) has been chosen as the favoured piezoelectric material as it had a high piezoelectric charge constant and high piezoelectric constant values. Also, a Cellular Automata (CA) model has been utilised in traffic model. Single circle-shaped Piezoelectric Cymbal Transducer (PCT) has been applied in a single-lane and two-lane traffic models in which the generated power in both cases are 35 mW and 51 mW, respectively. With respect to these outcomes, a total of 170 kW/ km of power could be generated if a multiple PCT arrays are laid along the highway road. Hence, it has been shown that the proposed electromechanical-traffic model possesses a great potential to be used in the applications of the macro-scale roadway electric power generation systems.