Scalable Electricity Generator for Off-grid Application using Pressure Plate Tiles as Electrical Energy Harvester

Footsteps are an unexplored source of electrical energy that can power small devices like LED illumination, sensors, and other low-power gadgets. The study aims to convert the kinetic energy from our footsteps into useful electrical energy for low voltage, and low power devices and store the generated by using a translation to rotation mechanism to generate electricity with six 12V generators configured in series and designing the Footstep to Electricity Charge Controller (FTE Charge Controller) which contains supercapacitors, Under Voltage Lockout plus hysteresis circuit (UVLO+H circuit), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT module). The researchers were able to achieve maximum power from a single footstep of 2.98W with a load of 5 ohms. The maximum efficiency for the pressure plate tile by dropping a 7kg weight on it at 10cm was 8.24% and the FTE Charge Controller’s maximum efficiency was 86% which was able to charge the 7.4Wh battery inside the FTE Charge Controller. The prototype was able to demonstrate that it can power lower-powered devices such as a 1W LED for up to 6 hours. In addition, the cost of the prototype was the lowest, and the power output was one of the highest compared to other prototypes and products.