ELECTRICITY GENERATION

USING STAIRCASE
INTRODUCTION
 Due to soaring energy prices and an increased environmental awareness there
is a growing need for sustainable designs. The world around us has embraced
this concept by incorporating solar panels, wind turbines, and promoting shared
transportation via zip cars. Instead of looking for new ways to generate energy,
we must focus on harvesting energy from everyday activities that would
otherwise be lost. A person exerts lots of force when they walk down the stairs.
The staircase power harvesting system intends to turn this energy into electrical
power using a piezo-electric generator.
Current scenario of electricity In India
The power generation shortfall in India is estimated at 11% of the total energy, and
15% of the peak capacity requirements and these figures are likely to increase. This is
despite the fact that the country is already consuming more than 2 million barrels of
imported oil a day - a figure that is growing by about 10 percent annually.

The Planning Commission of India estimates that the country will have to increase its
capacity for power generation by about seven times its present capacity to sustain its
growth. In the absence of feasible renewable energy options, this will mean more
fossil-fuel based power plants. This is neither a sustainable proposition nor a climate
friendly one.

The way forward is to use conventional energy efficiently while simultaneously

building the country's renewable energy capabilities.

The Power Programmed, therefore, prioritises key cross-cutting policy themes –

investments in utility-led energy efficiency, mainstreaming renewable energy and
energy access.
Railway platforms of India
IDEATION
PZT material
 When the material is deformed or stressed an electric voltage can be recovered
along any surface of the material (via electrodes). Therefore, the piezoelectric
must contain a sign convention to facilitate this ability to recover electric
potential in three directions.
 The vibrations energy harvesting principle using piezoelectric materials is
illustrated. The conversion chain starts with a mechanical energy source:
Staircase Movement on the stairs produces vibrations and they are converted
into electicity via piezoelectric element. The electricity produced is thereafter
formated by a static converter before supplying a storage system or the load
(electrical device). Before developing staircase piezoelectric generator, it was
essential to begin with mechanical vibrations sources identification that means
carrying out vibrations accelerations and frequencies measurement and
analysis. So we will have to carry out measurement on an experimental
Staircase to identify the situation where harvesting more energy is possible. We
will develop a piezoelectric generator adapted to the identified natural mode of
vibration of the stair thread.
Proposed electric design
 The actual circuitry of our device is quite simple. We will rectify the output of
the Piezo Electric generator and then send it to a small battery for storage.
From here, the energy can be used in any the user desires. It would be ideal to
power LED lights which consume small amounts of power.
 For the battery we have chosen to use AAA sized NiMH batteries. They are
safe and relatively easy to work with. These batteries will be able to hold a
significant amount of energy.
 The batteries can be charged quickly or slowly depending upon the current that
is provided to them.
Design of proposed staircase
Future Work
 We aim to finish the initial Stage of our design as quickly as possible. This will
give us another month to implement some improvements to our project which
would expand the scope.
 Stage 2 of the project involves a microcontroller and a lighting system. We will
put sensors on the stair steps to get signal of people walking on the stairs. A good
way to incorporate the lighting system into the stairs is that when people are
walking up or down the stairs, LEDs for the next two or three steps will light up.
 Another marketable system is to put advertisements on the front panel of the
stairs and they will light up as people are walking up the stairs. These ideas will
be implemented with LEDs as output from the sensors and the microcontroller.
 We also considered making a display that could be placed besides the stairs to
inform users how much power they were generating. This would help promote
the idea of “Green Design” by showing users that they really were generating
energy. For this we would need a small microcontroller and some form of
display. We would measure the voltage and current output of the generator.
Why design is important for every
project.
 Project outcomes are heavily influenced by the quality of the
front end development and project controls in place.  The ability
to influence the final outcomes of a project is highest during the
early stages of design development and execution planning but
rapidly diminishes through FEED as plans and design become
definitive.  Conversely the cost impact of change grows
exponentially through the life of the project. Hence, a good
design of the prototype will ensure a perfect building of the
prototype in the stipulated time.
DESIGN OF STAIRCASE
IN AUTOCAD-2013
FRONT VIEW (FV)
ISOMETRIC VIEW (IV)
BACK VIEW (BV)
RIGHT HAND SIDE VIEW (RHSV)
Why material selection is important?
Material selection is a process which is performed to select
the best materials which may have the potential to perform
well both in industrially and commercially. Today selection of
materials is an important part of industrial designs because
the competition in the market is heavy.
Failures arising from bad material selection are not
uncommon in many industries. In an application that demands
a high tensile strength, a material with higher tensile strength
must be selected. If a proper material selection is not done,
the product life tends to be highly unpredictable. Therefore
the material selection process is quite important for the long
term success of engineering applications.
What is Weightage Approach Method
(WAM)?
Weighted average is a mean calculated by giving
values in a data set more influence according to some
attribute of the data. It is an average in which each
quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight, and these
weightings determine the relative importance of each
quantity on the average. Weightings are the equivalent
of having that many like items with the same value
involved in the average.
The weighted average method is used to assign the
average cost of production to a product. Weighted
average costing is commonly used in situations where:
Inventory items are so intermingled that it is impossible
to assign a specific cost to an individual unit.
The accounting system is not sufficiently sophisticated
to track FIFO or LIFO inventory layers.
Inventory items are so commoditized (i.e., identical to
each other) that there is no way to assign a cost to an
individual unit
Material Properties used for
calculation:
 Compressive strength:- Compressive strength or compression
strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand
loads tending to reduce size.
 Hardness:- Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is
to various kinds of permanent shape change when a
compressive force is applied. Some materials (e.g. metals) are
harder than others (e.g. plastics).
 Density:- Material density, more often referred to simply
as density, is a quantitative expression of the amount of mass
contained per unit volume.
 Fracture toughness:- is a property which describes the ability of a
material containing a crack to resist fracture.
Why bricks shouldn’t be used for
making stairs?
Time consuming construction
Cannot be used in high seismic zones
Since bricks absorb water easily, therefore, it causes
fluorescence when not exposed to air
Very Less tensile strength
Rough surfaces of bricks may cause mold growth if
not properly cleaned
Cleaning brick surfaces is a hard job
Color of low quality brick changes when exposed to
sun for a long period of time
SO, THE NEXT BEST SOLUTION AFTER
BRICKS WHICH SHOULD BE USED FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF STAIRCASE
MUST BE RCC (REINFORCED CEMENT
CONCRETE)
Advantages of using RCC
 Reinforced concrete has a high compressive strength compared
to other building materials.
 Fire and weather resistance of reinforced concrete is fair.
 The reinforced concrete building system is more durable than
any other building system.
 Reinforced concrete, as a fluid material in the beginning, can be
economically molded into a nearly limitless range of shapes.
 The maintenance cost of reinforced concrete is very low.
 In structure like footings, dams, piers etc. reinforced concrete is
the most economical construction material.
 It acts like a rigid member with minimum deflection.
 Compared to the use of steel in structure, reinforced concrete
requires less skilled labor for the erection of structure.
WORK PLAN
PATENTS REFERRED
Self-electricity-generation lighting device for stairs 
(CN 202118787 U)
Multipurpose staircase capable of emitting light
and generating power when being trodden 
(CN 203722514 U)
Force-activated, piezoelectric, electricity
generation, storage, conditioning and supply
apparatus and methods 
(US 6737789 B2)
REFERENCES
www.matweb.com
www.cidraprecisionservices.com
www.gordonengland.co.uk
smallbusiness.chron.com
www.aboutcivil.org
en.wikipedia.org
www.wood-database.com
http://www.designyourinteriors.com/staircase-materials/
Manual for Standards and specifications for railway
stations (Vol 1- Main Report)