IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering

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Piezo Electric Rainfall Energy Harvester with Proactive Protection

Mechanism with Integrated IOT device
To cite this article: S Bhuvaneswari et al 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 1084 012105

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

Piezo Electric Rainfall Energy Harvester with Proactive

Protection Mechanism with Integrated IOT device

S Bhuvaneswari1, K T Maheswari2 Chandraprakash K3, Deepak S4

1, 2, Assistant Professor, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Tamilnadu, India.

3,4 UG scholar, EEE department, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. The main objective of this paper is to generate solar power and also monitor the power
harvested from the rain fall and to protect the energy harvesting device from natural elements. It is
done using solar and piezoelectric panels. The energy from solar and piezoelectric panels are
stored in a battery. The data regarding the operation of the solar and piezoelectric panel is
transmitted via NodeMCU. This data regarding the amount of energy generated and duration of
rainfall can then be viewed from anywhere

Keywords: — Piezoelectric, Energy, Solar Panel and Current Sensor

Introduction

Sunlight and rainfall has been harnessed by humans since the advent of civilizations and even before that.
While the fossil fuels are the major source of energy today, exponential depletion of the fossil fuels and
global warming and other effects caused due to increasing pollution has forced us to look for other non-
conventional sources of energy.[1] Though power generation from sunlight proved initially inefficient and
costly initially, various techniques have been developed and implemented to generate electric power from
solar energy with increased efficiency and economic feasibility to a considerable extent. But solar energy
cannot be efficient at all times, as the sunlight is very minimum during rainy days. Hence to generate power
at all times we are making use of solar and piezoelectric panels to harness both sunlight and rainfall. Even
though number of studies on generating electricity from rainfall, quantity measurement during rainfall and
protection of devices are still absence [2].
The implementation and performance analysis of rainfall energy harvesting with the help of an IOT based
measuring system along with a piezoelectric transducer to generate power using solar panels is investigated
in this paper[3]. The measurement of energy produced from a rain and sunlight is controlled with an IOT-
based measuring system. The electrical energy produced by piezoelectric transducer is computed by IOT
based measuring system. There is also a mechanism provided to protect the harvester from natural elements
and other birds and animals [4].

1. Transduction Principle

When mechanical stress is applied to a piezoelectric material it converts the mechanical stress into
electricity [5]. This principle is called as piezoelectric effect. The working principle of piezoelectric effect
is based on the fundamental structure of the crystal lattice. In this paper crystal symmetry and their

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

piezoelectricity is very closely investigated. Piezoelectric effect is not observed in all types of crystals.
Only crystals without center of symmetry exhibit this property. This can be clearly explained with
monocrystal and polycrystalline structures. The basic structure of a monocrystalline crystal can be seen in
the figure 1. [6] Even when these crystals are split into pieces, the polar axes would lie unidirectional
throughout the crystal [6]. This shows that the polar axes all charge carriers exhibit unidirectional
characteristics [4].

Figure 1. Structure of a Monocrystalline crystal.

Piezoelectricity is given by the following expression in terms of electric field, the strain, the electrical
induction and the stress.

(1)

(2)

Related to each other as follows

(3)

(4)

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

(5)

Where, k is the coupling factor and Q is known as the quality factor.

2. Implementation

Figure 2.Block Diagram of NODEMCU

From the above figure we can see that the power generated from solar and piezoelectric panels are
charged using a battery and the charge is controlled using a wifi enabled NodeMCU. A DC motor is used
to harness the generated power. Rainfall energy harvesting with the help of IOT based measuring system
along with a piezoelectric transducer and their performance is explained in this paper [8].

Though power generation from sunlight proved initially inefficient and costly initially, various techniques
have been developed and implemented to generate electric power from solar energy with increased
efficiency and economic feasibility to a considerable extent. But solar energy cannot be efficient at all
times, as the sunlight is very less during rainy days [9]. Hence to generate power at all times we are
making use of solar and piezoelectric panels to harness both sunlight and rainfall. The measurement of
energy produced from a rain and sunlight is controlled with an IOT-based measuring system which is
pointed towards measuring the actual amount of energy produced by the piezoelectric transducer which is
exposed in rainfall at variable durations and the solar panel [10]. The piezoelectric panel being very
delicate and sensitive in nature requires safety mechanism to protect it from natural elements such as
birds. Hence, an obstacle sensor is used to scare off the birds and animals that go near the energy
harvesting device. Further there is an auto open-close mechanism inside which the piezoelectric panel is
placed. The rainfall sensor on detecting the rainfall sends signal to the microcontroller. The controller
then sends signal to the drive. The driver mechanism which can be controlled in both forward and reverse
direction opens the cover so as to expose the piezoelectric panel to the rainfall. Once rain stops the
microcontroller again receives signal from the rainfall sensor and makes the drive to cover the
piezoelectric panel. This is done to avoid direct exposure of piezoelectric panel to the harsh environment,
thereby increasing its lifetime. The plates of the piezoelectric panel are connected in parallel, so as to
minimise the voltage drop. [11]

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

The voltage generated from the piezoelectric panel is impulse in nature due to irregular fall of rain drops.
Hence a capacitor is used to store the charge and filter the harmonics, to give out a uniform dc voltage.
The power generated from the solar panels undergoes a similar procedure of filter rectifier circuit.
Voltage from both the sources is stored in a battery, which can then be used later. The total energy
generated can be measured physically across the two terminals of the battery. A diode is used in order to
prevent the reverse currents from flowing in the circuit.
NodeMCU, a system on chip consisting of Wi-Fi enabled microcontroller ESP8266 is used to control the
entire process. It is powered by a 230V-12V step down transformer. The 12V ac supply is rectified before
being stepped down to 5V DC to power the controller. The NodeMCU is used here for the purpose of data
transmission using IOT.

The voltage generated from the solar and piezoelectric panel is passed through voltage divider circuit
before being fed into the controller, for the data regarding the amount of energy stored. [12] But the
controller has only one analog pin. So to receive two analogy inputs from the solar and piezoelectric
panel, we are using a multiplexer. The duration of the rainfall is calculated using rainfall sensor. This data
is also fed to the controller, for efficient tracking of energy generated. [13]
All the generated data are then transmitted via wifi using NodeMCU and is displayed in a web page
created for the purpose of displaying energy generated. The webpage is created using PHP and program is
fed into the NodeMCU in embedded C using arduino software. [14]
The screen displays the data about the amount of energy generated from rainfall each time and the
cumulative energy generated from the solar and piezoelectric panel and the rainfall duration each time.
[15]

3. Software Tools

1. Development Device -PC with Windows 7 OS

2. Target Device - NODE MCU

3. C Variant - Embedded 'C'

4. IDE - Arduino

5. Compiler - Arduino Inbuilt

6. Simulation - Proteus

4. Hardware Tools

1. Osilloscope - Tektronix DSO

2. Soldering Iron - Soldron 25W

3. Multimeter - Mastech Digital Multimeter

5. Applications

 Rural areas where it is not efficient to bring transmission lines for power supply.

 Tropical and subtropical countries with monsoons.

 For research equipments in dense forests with heavy rainfall.

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

6. Experimental Setup

The Figure 3 shows the OFF state condition of piezoelectric panel.

Figure 3.OFF STATE

The Figure 4 shows the ON state condition of piezoelectric panel.

Figure 4.ON State

Figure 5. In the presence of an obstacle

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ICCSSS 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

Output Results

Figure 6. Data Display

7. Conclusion

The implementation of rainfall energy harvesting with the help of a piezoelectric transducer with
use of an IOT-based measuring system is done. The measurement of energy produced from a rain and
sunlight is controlled with an IOT-based measuring system which is designed in a way so that it will
measure the actual amount of electrical energy that is produced by the piezoelectric transducer that is
exposed to rainfall of variable durations and the solar panel. There is also a mechanism provided to
protect the harvester from natural elements and other birds and animals.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1084 (2021) 012105 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1084/1/012105

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