Energy harvesting with piezoelectric

Harnessing the energy of the human footprints

Silvia Carolina Chacón (Author) Gerardo Guzmán (Author)

Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas” Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas”
Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador
scarolina.chacon@gmail.com ger.guz0@gmail.com

II. OBJECTIVES

Abstract— This article aims to provide a device capable of
harnessing the energy of the human steps, i.e., the force exerted on
the ground when walking is used to generate voltage and current
by piezoelectric plates being deformed mechanically. Firstly,
theory related to piezoelectric materials is presented. Later on as
proof of concept, an experiment was conducted with a shoe insole
and an electronic circuit embedded; power signal is rectified and
then the energy is stored in a battery. Successful results were
presented by lighting up a handheld lamp.
Keywords—piezoelectric, harvesting, efficiency, battery
 Take advantage of the mechanical energy produced
when walking, to charge a battery.
 Use the characteristics of piezoelectric materials to
convert mechanical energy into electrical.
III. METHODOLOGY
The circuit made for the project is based on 4 basic
aspects necessary to fulfill the energy collection through the
piezoelectric effect, these are summarized in the following
figure:

I. INTRODUCTION

With the advancement of technology, the demand for

energy also increases, which is why the methods of obtaining it
grow by exploiting the renewable resources that are around,
since today's society continues to depend heavily on fossil fuels.
Due to this, it is necessary to look for new sources of energy Fig. 1: Process of collecting and regulating the output voltage of the integrated
LTC3588. [1]
production. The piezoelectric effect is a very innovative
solution, since it makes use of materials that have unique A. Selection of the energy collector
properties such as transforming a mechanical deformation into
voltage, as well as being very resistant and having great Through an exhaustive amount of tests with circuits,
durability, this in conjunction with its low cost in construction. using the piezoelectric plates shown in figure 2, in order to
achieve the energy collection procedure, it was found that the
best way to achieve this is using the integrated LTC3588-1
contained in the created plate by the company Sparkfun called
The research aims to show the use and efficiency that is
obtained in the use of piezoelectric elements, this by means of "Sparkfun Energy Harvester Breakout" that complies with this
a circuit of collection, rectification, storage and regulation of process without large losses, this is shown in Figure 3 together
the integrated LTC3588-1. In order to demonstrate the with the internal circuit and pins of the integrated in question.
possibility of energy collection through the piezoelectric effect, This plate is designed to provide 3.3V with at least 100mA.
a template was made for the foot that takes advantage of the
pressure exerted by a person when walking, mechanically
deforming the piezoelectric disks in that template and then
generating a voltage and currents significant, this energy
produced is stored in a battery that is charged by means of the
transmission of power packets from the input of the circuit to
the output, this battery can be used later to the charging process
in any device that needs batteries of type AAA rechargeable
Fig. 2: Piezoelectrics used for energy collectio