A Technical Seminar Report

On
GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY USING YOUR FOOT
STEPS
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY IN
ELECRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
BY
MACHANI SUMEDHA DEVI - 20251A0284
Under the guidance of
Mrs B. NARMADA REDDI
(Assistant Professor, EEE)

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

G. NARAYANAMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND

SCIENCE (FOR WOMEN)
(ISO Certified, NAAC Accredited Institution)
(Autonomous)
Hyderabad-500104
March,2023
 G. NARAYANAMMA INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY AND
SCIENCE (For Women)

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the seminar report on “GENERATION OF
ELECTRICITY USING YOUR FOOT STEPS” is submitted by Machani
Sumedha devi - 20251A0284 in the partial fulfilment for the award of B.
Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering to the Jawaharlal Nehru
technological university Hyderabad is a record of bonafide work carried
out under our guidance and supervision. This seminar has not been
submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree
or diploma

Mrs B. Narmada Reddi, Mr. G. Ramana Reddy,

Assistant Professor, Associate Professor,
Seminar Guide. Seminar Coordinator.

Dr. N. Malla Reddy,

Professor and HOD,
EEE Department.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my regards to my seminar guide Mrs. B. Narmada Reddi., EEE
department for this continuous guidance and encouragement.

I express my deep sense of thankfulness to my seminar coordinator Mr.G. Ramana

Reddy Asst. Prof., EEE for her suggestions.

I would like to thank Dr. N. Malla Reddy, HOD (EEE) GNITS who was my leading light
and me in the right directions.

With immense pleasure, I also thank our principal Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy GNITS.

I am obliged to the staff members of the EEE department (both teaching and non-
teaching members) for the moral support. I am grateful for their cooperation.

- Machani Sumedha Devi

20251A0284

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 ABSTRACT

These days as a result of increasing population we are facing many issues of

electricity. Solar energy comes with a condition, like it creates energy only in the
presence of sun rays, it requires heat to generate kinetic energy and same with wind
energy it requires wind to be blown all the time to generate kinetic energy. This energy
can be used in particular places only.

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion and can therefore be found in every
object that moves. So, in this power generating tiles are used to generate electricity.
Generating off-grid electricity just by walking around or powering streetlights with your
footsteps. It consists of spring, gears, two rack and pinion and three generators. The
system makes use of rack and pinion arrangement coupled with efficient gearing
mechanism to drive mini generators that produce energy when pressed. Kinetic energy
generated through vertical press foot movement is used to harvest power These tiles
are designed to slightly displace vertically when someone walks on them. This vertical
movement results in a rotatory motion that generates electrical energy.

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 INDEX

CONTENTS PAGE NO
Abstract iv

List of figures vi

1. Introduction 1-2
2. Concept about piezoelectricity 3
3. Principle of operation 4
4. Working & Simulation 5-7
5. Designing the prototype of piezoelectric ceramic tiles 8
6. Analysis on the electric tile 9-10
7. Economics of kinetic tiles 11
8. Applications 12
9. Advantages 13

10. Drawbacks 14

11. Conclusion 15

12. Bibliography 16

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LIST OF FIGURES PAGE NO:
Fig 1: Man walking on tiles and charging the battery 2

Fig 2: Voltage build up due to external pressure 3

Fig 3.1: Piezoelectric elect block diagram 4

Fig 3.2: Pressure and Performance on separate

points of piezo crystal 4

Fig 4.1: Generation flow chart 6

Fig 4.2:AC to DC Rectifier circuit 7

Fig 4.3: Step by step representation of the system 7

Fig 5: Schematic illustration of Designing the Prototype

of Piezoelectric Ceramic Tiles 8

Fig 6.1: Statistical data of voltage production 9

Fig 6.1: Tile containing piezoelectric transducers 10

Fig 6.2: Model of tile with 6 cell tiles 10

vi
 1. INTRODUCTION
Throughout time, man’s prime source of energy generation was through fossils. As
these non-renewable resources are depleting at a high rate, it has become a necessity
to look for other sources of generating power that are highly compatible with the need
of our advanced society. Therefore, we are moving towards renewable and
environment friendly technologies. Due to use of millions of gadgets and technologies,
the modern era has revolutionized all obsolete and traditional means of fulfilling basic
necessities, and has introduced many portable low-powered electronic gadgets used
mainly for networking, communication, geolocalization and domestic purposes, which
could not be powered by traditional means. These include laptops, cell phones, internet
devices and many more. There has always been a predominant demand to power such
devices. To power such devices, numerous methods were taken into consideration, of
which many susceptible to inefficiency and inadaptability, until the concept of
piezoelectricity sparked some great minds. The lifetime and capability of battery
sources can be increased or augmented using energy harvesters. To start with,
piezoelectricity is the generation of electricity by means of mechanical vibration or in
other words the generation of electrical energy through mechanical energy. This is an
ambient source of energy generation. This method of generation is done with the help
of an electromechanical converter, called the piezoelectric transducers. The energy
generated is then manipulated through numerous tries of bridge rectification circuits,
until we got an arrangement that harvests the maximum electrical energy. This process
by which energy is derived from external, captured and stored for small, wireless
autonomous devices, like those used in wearable electronics, remote systems and
wireless sensor networks, is known as energy harvesting technology. In this research
paper, we proposed an idea of using the vibrations produced by human motion of
walking as a mean of generating mechanical motion as it is the cheapest source
available in the surrounding. So, we replaced the normal tiles with arrangement of
piezoelectric materials and the vibrations produced were converted into electrical
signals. We used lead zirconate titanate crystals as our piezoelectric material.
Conclusively, harvesting energy from human motions is an attractive approach for
obtaining clean and sustainable energy. In the coming sections, the concept of
piezoelectricity, principle of operation, research methodology, system working,
simulation results, uses, recommendations and conclusion will be incorporated.
1
Fig 1: Man walking on tiles and charging the battery

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 2. CONCEPT OF PIEZOELECTRICITY
Piezoelectricity is generated by the help of piezoelectric materials that have a special
property of converting mechanical energy in the form of vibrations into electrical energy
in the form of current or a potential difference. Piezoelectric transducers are used as
electromechanical converters that are widely considered as low power generators for
electronic equipment having lesser power consumption and the most popular of them
is the lead zirconate titanate crystals. So, when an external pressure is applied, the
strain causes a change in the electric polarization that in turns produces a charge and
a voltage across the piezoelectric material. The medical equipment also utilizes power
which can be provided by motions of heart, lungs and other body parts. Also this
solution have been proposed using piezoelectric energy. Some researches like John
J.Wang et.al. proposed electromagnetic energy harvesting from train induced
vibrations. These piezoelectric materials are considered as long-life micro-generators
for low power wireless electronic generators. A piezoelectric generator electrically
behaves as a capacitive AC source with a variable amplitude whereas electronic
devices require a fixed DC voltage to operator. The fixed DC voltage obtained from
sources can be converted into productive tasks and useful forms. Thus, an energy
harvesting circuitry consists of an AC-DC rectifier and a power management setup is
needed to deliver the extracted power of the piezoelectric element at a desired DC
voltage level.

Fig 2: Voltage build up due to external pressure

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 3. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
Initially, the piezoelectric crystal is electrically neutral by means of the distribution of
charges that is there are equal number of positive and negative charges. Due to this
symmetric distribution of charges, the net electric dipole is zero. The application of
pressure or an external load on the crystal disturbs the symmetry, and net polarization
is created, resulting in the generation of an electrical pulse. Analytically for maximum
power extraction, the rectified voltage should be one half of the no-load voltage in a
full bridge rectification configuration with capacitor attached for filtration. This can result
two effects of piezo, the direct effect and the converse effect. The direct effect explains
its crystalline material such as quartz and Rochelle salt that gives electricity as output
on application of load or pressure. The former in which electrical signal is produced
allows us to use it as sensor while the latter makes it an actuator means their
deformation state on application of electrical signal. Two linear consecutive equations
given below can model both the effects (direct and converse) easily.

Fig 3.1: Piezoelectric elect block diagram Fig 3.2: Pressure and Performance on separate points of piezo crystal

The piezo plate should be pressed in the right manner for the generation of AC pulse.
The maximum output pulse is achieved only when it is pressed in the centre, we have
tested the pressure on crystal at different points of the circle.

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 4. WORKING AND SIMULATION
When a person wearing shoes walk on floor, the exerted stress is converted into
electrical energy through piezoelectric transducers. The generated energy by the
piezoelectric disk in the in tile is directly proportional to the mechanical vibration, that
is the more the pressure (weight) or force exerted onto the disk at one time, the higher
the output. So, research was done to find out which parts of the floor tile receives the
greatest amount of applied mechanical pressure. When a person walks and it was
seen that those parts were the front and the back parts of the tile planted on the floor.
When the pressure is applied on the piezoelectric disks from inside the foot,
mechanical energy is generated. This mechanical energy is converted into electrical
impulses by the piezoelectric transducers. The electric voltage generated due to a
potential difference of the charges, is an AC voltage (due to variations in vibrations
resulting due to different amount of pressure applied), therefore a bridge rectifier circuit
is used which converts the AC voltage into DC voltage so that it could be used in
electronic devices. A direct connection of a battery to a rectifier results in a constant
VREC and that is an inefficient energy harvester. So, to increase the harvesting power
of the circuit, a DC-DC power converter if added to the circuit to adaptively adjust the
rectified voltage with respect to the piezoelectric open-circuit voltage (VOC). A
structural outline of all the processes occurring in our setup is splendidly shown in
Fig4.1.

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 Fig 4.1: Generation flow chart

Generating electricity by using piezoelectric ceramic tile has three main stages:

1. Piezoelectric ceramic tile as electrical energy generation module, which performs

the conversion of vibration energy into electrical energy.

2. Rectifier Module as part of the conversion to electrical energy into DC power supply.

3. Functioning amplifier module comprising a voltage amplifier and voltage regulator.

Output voltage generated can be used as a source of electrical energy or can be stored
in the battery.

So that, the principal on the prototype consists of :

1. Piezoelectric ceramic tile as converter the pressure into electrical energy.

2. The pressure generated by the foot put pressure on ceramic tile which contains
piezoelectric materials.

3. AC-DC voltage rectifier circuit

6
 Fig 4.2:AC to DC Rectifier circuit

4. DC-DC voltage booster using the Joule Thief circuit schematic or Buck Boost.

Fig 4.3: Step by step representation of the system

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 5. DESIGNING THE PROTOTYPE OF PIEZOELECTRIC
CERAMIC TILES
The Volcanic dust, kaolin (xAl2O3.ySiO2.zH2O), feldspar (X(Al, Si)Si2O8), and quartz
(Mg2SiO4) are mixed with distillated water for 24 hours. Then, the mixture is dried at
temperature of 1000 C for 24 hours. After drying, the mixture is ground thoroughly to
obtain homogenous distribution of components and to maintain uniform particle size,
the mixture is sieved with sieve 200 mesh. The next step, the mixture is formed at
pressure of 50 MPa using hydraulic press to optimum size (optimum surface area and
thickness). Finally, the sample is sintered at temperature of 11000 C for 2 hours.

Fig 5: Schematic illustration of Designing the Prototype of Piezoelectric Ceramic Tiles

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 6. ANALYSIS ON THE ELECTRIC TILE
The electric tile is used for foot press or pumping activates in order to collect the
voltage. The 6 cells of electric transducers are placed between the upper and lower of
this electric tile. This electric tile is design in a square shape with wood block. This tile
is screw at its four edges and combines with the spring to make the upper tile bounce
back after the person step on it. The electric transducer is placed between the gaps of
the two tiles. The subjects are asked to do the foot press or pumping activities on this
electric tile to collect the voltage produced by the 6 cell electric transducers during
those activities.

The Weight and the Voltage Taken based on the jump on the tile

Subject Weight (Kg) Time (Sec) Time (Sec) Time (Sec) Time (Sec)

5 sec 10 sec 15 sec 20 sec

Subject 1 45 1.98 V 2.15 V 2.80 V 3.78 V

Subject 2 50 0.83 V 1.23 V 2.38 V 3.12 V

Subject 3 55 1.76 V 2.73 V 4.66 V 5.65 V

Subject 4 60 2.75 V 4.59 V 5.31 V 6.06 V

Fig 6.1: Statistical data of voltage production

Study using foot press or pumping is conducted to determine the voltage output of a 6
cell of the electric transducer that connected in series-parallel connection. Table shows
subject with 45 kg, 50 kg, 55 kg and 60 kg body weight are used to test the electric tile.
They are asked to step on the tiles to do the foot press or pumping activities to test the
voltage generating capacity of the electric tile. The voltage generated is based on the
different times recorded, which are 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. The relation
between the time taken and the voltage being generated is plotted in the graph for
each weight. From graph, it can be seen that maximum voltage is generated when the
person pumps about 20 seconds on the electric tile. It also can be concluded that the
force that is applied by every subject are variant. The voltage generated depends on
the force that being applied to the electric tile. In theory when a bigger person pumps

9
on this electric tile, the voltage that is generated is higher compared to the smaller
person. There is a linear relation between the force and the voltage generated. The
weight of subject 4 is bigger than other subjects so it the voltage that generates by this
subject is the highest when the subject pumps on the tile.

Fig 6.2: Tile containing piezoelectric transducers

Fig 6.3: Model of tile with 6 cell tiles

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 7. ECONOMICS OF KINETIC TILES
Like all cutting-edge technologies, kinetic tiles are relatively expensive. Today, they
cost ₹7888 per square foot which means that installing the tiles in the average
kitchen would come close to ₹590000. Kinetic tiles also currently have a lifespan of
just five years, making it difficult to recoup the cost. Even if you are repaving
Trafalgar Square or the O2 Arena before a U2 concert, you wouldn’t come close to
breaking even for the time being. We believe that it is possible for Pavegen to get it to
under a fiver per square foot by the end of the next decade, giving that laminate your
dad put down in the extension a run for its money. Once the cost price has reached a
realistic number, kinetic tiling would represent a far more worthwhile investment and
a viable option for many public spaces.

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 8. APPLICATIONS

This model of harvesting piezoelectric energy can be implemented in floor, so

that exerted pressure through walking on the floor produces enough electrical
energy.

It can be used in sensors on electric guitars like pick-ups and contact

microphones, ultrasound machines, sonar wave detection and generation
devices, engine management systems in cars, loudspeakers, fuel injectors for
diesel engines and quartz clocks.

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 9. ADVANTAGES

1. The tile also can overcome the electricity problem as the survival electricity
generation when such disaster or extreme weather causes power loss.

2. The piezoelectric ceramic tile is not only renewable electricity source but also
unique, safe, reliable, geographically, and economically.

3. When the tiles are installed in locations where large crowd movements are
expected, like in the railway, bus stations, airports, malls, and a person steps
on them, then by piezoelectric effect, small charge is built up on surface of
crystals.

4. A nonconventional, non-polluting form of energy can be harvested,

maintaining the economic standards of common laymen due to the electricity
is produced from the mechanical stress on the piezoelectric ceramic tile.

5. It is very encouraging to get a good voltage and current at such a low cost at
the same time utilizing the waste energy. Piezoelectric materials are the
future of electric power generation.

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 10. DRAWBACKS

1. As the piezoelectric transducers are temperature sensitive, at higher

temperatures the tiles might fail to work efficiently.
2. The lifespan of these tiles is very less which is about 5 years.
3. Regular and proper maintaince must be done to avoid unwanted heat losses.
4. As the tiles are not economical right now, people across the world would not
show the interest to buy and install them is large scale.
5. The amount of electricity generated for 1 step is less.
6. The maximum voltage that can be generated per tile at its 100% efficiency is
39 volts.

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 11. CONCLUSION
An electric tile is capable of generating more voltage when longer the time taken. The
longer the time taken means more footstep/force are applied on the tile. The linear
relation is found between the voltage generated and the time taken. This electric is
specifically suitable for the implementation in the crowded area such as pavement
street, train ticket counter, stairs and dance floor. The electric tile is also suited for the
exercise tile such as for skipping or on the treadmill. The power that is generated from
this electric tile can be used to power up the light street, light along the stairs and also
low power appliances. The piezoelectric ceramic tile is the promising option to
overcome the greater demand of electricity as well as the lack access of electricity for
small scale purposes which utilise the power instantaneously.

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 12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] A. Patil, M. Jadhav, S. Joshi, E. Britto, and A. Vasaikar, “Energy harvesting using
piezoelectricity,” Int. Conf. Energy Syst. Appl. ICESA 2015, no. Icesa, pp. 517–521,
2016.

[2] D. Kumar, P. Chaturvedi, and N. Jejurikar, “Piezoelectric energy harvester design

and power conditioning,” 2014 IEEE Students’ Conf. Electr. Electron. Comput. Sci.
SCEECS 2014, no. March, 2014.

[3] A. Gutierrez, N. I. Dopico, C. Gonzalez, S. Zazo, J. JimenezLeube, and I. Raos,

“Cattle-powered node experience in a heterogeneous network for localization of
herds,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 60, no. 8, pp. 3176–3184, 2013.

[4] D. Vatansever, E. Siores, and T. Shah. (2012) ‘Alternative Resources for

Renewable Energy:
PIezoelectric and Photovoltaic Smart Strustures’, Intech [Internet]. Available from:
http://www.intechopen.com/books/global-warming-impacts-and-future-
perspective/alternative-
resources-for-renewable-energy-piezoelectric-and-photovoltaic-smart-structures

[5] Arun, P. and Mehta D. (2013) ‘Eco-Friendly Electricity Generator Using

Scintillating Piezo’,
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 3 (5),478-482.
Available from:
http://www.ijera.com/papers/Vol3_issue5/CI35478482.pdf [Accessed 26 February
2014].

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