Human Muscle Energy Harvesting: Models and Application for Low Power Loads

This paper presents models for human muscle power which can be harvested and utilized for low power applications. The low power application considered in this paper is the case of off-grid rural electrification, where a person in a rural area uses a bicycle-based human power generating system to charge a battery for the purpose of lighting his home with a few low-wattage LED lamps during periods of necessity. In this regard, two methods to convert energy from human muscle activity into useful electricity by utilizing the commonly available bicycle are proposed and presented with hardware results. The presented hardware results prove that power of the order of 50 W can be successfully generated using these methods. Another important feature is that, the methodology involved in generating useful electricity is carbon-free and power can be generated at any given point of time regardless of location or the associated climatic condition.