Footstep Power Generation

1. INTRODUCTION

Man has needed and used energy at an increasing rate for his sustenance and well-
being ever since he came on the earth a few million years ago. Primitive man required
energy primarily in the form of food. He derived this by eating plants or animals,
which he hunted. Subsequently he discovered fire and his energy needs increased as
he started to make use of wood and other bio mass to supply the energy needs for
cooking as well as for keeping himself warm. With the passage of time, man started to
cultivate land for agriculture. He added a new dimension to the use of energy by
domesticating and training animals to work for him. With further demand for energy,
man began to use the wind for sailing ships and for driving windmills, and the force
of falling water to turn water wheels.

Energy is the ability to do work. While energy surrounds us in all aspects of life, the
ability to harness it and use it for constructive ends as economically as possible is the
challenge before mankind. Alternative energy refers to energy sources which are not
based on the burning of fossil fuels or the splitting of atoms. The renewed interest in
this field of study comes from the undesirable effects of pollution (as witnessed
today) both from burning fossil fuels and from nuclear waste byproducts. Fortunately
there are many means of harnessing energy which have less damaging impacts on our
environment. The alternatives are solar energy, Wind Power Geothermal, Tides and
Hydroelectric. In addition to these we have developed a new methodology of
generating power using human energy and the name of this alternative is a foot step
power generation.
In footstep power generation, a method is proposed for harnessing the human power
to generate electricity using non-conventional ways by empowering human energy
which is generally wasted. This process involves number of simple setup that is
installed under the walking platform. System works on the principle of converting the
linear motion due to pressure of footsteps into rotary motion. This rotary motion is
utilized to rotate a power generating device like dc permanent magnet generator. The
power generated is stored using dry battery. The amount of rotation depends upon the
weight of the person walking over the platform and the tension of the spring used,
lever to step up the displacement. Depending upon the power generator used, the
power output can be increased. Numbers of units of this system are connected
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together to work as a staircase or platforms .The usage of steps in every building is

increasing day by day, since even every small building has some floors. A large
amount of energy is wasted when we are stepping on the floors or moving over the
platforms. This is due to the dissipation of heat and friction, every time a man steps up
using stairs. There is great possibility of tapping this energy and generating power by
making every staircase or a platform as a power generation unit. The generated power
can be stored by batteries, and it can be used for further application.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Mohanty et. al proposed for the utilization of waste energy of foot power with human
locomotion is very much relevant and important. Man has needed and used energy at
an increasing rate for his sustenance and well-being ever since he came on the earth a
few million years ago. With further demand for energy, man began to use the wind for
sailing ships and for driving windmills, and the force of falling water to turn water for
sailing ships and for driving windmills, and the force of falling water to turn water
wheels. Till this time, it would not be wrong to say that the sun was supplying all the
energy needs of man either directly or indirectly and that man was using only
renewable sources of energy [1].

Adhithan et al studied operation of a combustion engine and in urban areas, there is a

large amount of electromagnetic energy in the environment because of radio and
television broadcasting. Over the past two decades, there has been significant interest
in converting mechanical energy from human motion into electrical energy. This
electrical energy can then be used to Recharge batteries in electronic devices or
directly power small scale, Low-power circuits. A number of commercial devices use
human power to produce Electricity such as hand-crank generators (for powering
Flashlights, radios, and recharging mobile devices), and pedal Generators (that can be
used to power larger electrical devices typically generating between 100 and 1000W
and can be as high As 1000 W) [2].

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3. METHODOLOGY/ WORKING

3.1 Foot Step Power Generation Resources

Footstep power generation can be done through various techniques and methods like
piezoelectric sensors, through mechanical arrangement like fly wheel and gear wheel,
rack & pinion and chain sprocket arrangement. Pedal and springs type arrangement,
staircase energy generating system by rotating the generator, then also by
implementing the faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction by moving magnet into
the coil through wheel and gear arrangement .This type of footsteps power generation
system are eligible to be installed in crowded places and rural areas cities in the places
like railway stations, airports, footpaths where there is a rush of pedestrians.

3.2 Footstep Power Generation Using Rack And Pinion Arrangement

Figure 1: Block diagram of footstep power generation

3.2.1 Description
A) Top Plate:
This is the upper portion of the setup. This portion is usually an iron plate. It can be
built with other materials too. The main condition of this plate is to sustain the weight
of any person walking along it. Footsteps will work as mechanical force.
B) Rack and Pinion Arrangement
This part of the device is attached with the top plate. The mechanical force is
converted into a rotational force with the help of rack and pinion. Starting point of
rack is welded with the iron plate and the bottom is attached with a pinion along with
a shaft.

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 Footstep Power Generation

Figure 2: Rack and Pinion

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4. WORKING PRINCIPLE
Working principle of footstep power generation is based on the law of conservation of
energy i.e. energy is neither created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed
from one form into another. In this setup mechanical energy is converted in to
electrical energy by using rack and pinion arrangement.
The General design of the foot step power generation is given in figure 8. In this setup
the rack & pinion arrangement is fixed below the footstep arrangement. Four springs
are used for each step. This spring are used to return the step to its original position
after the releasing of load.
The rack is attached to the base of footstep plate. This rack meshes with the pinion
which is mounted on the shaft supported between two bearings. When a person walks
over the footstep plate, due to the weight of the person rack moves linearly in
downward direction. This downward motion of rack results into rotation of pinion and
thereby rotation the shaft.
On this same shaft a large sprocket is installed which also rotates with the rotation of
shaft. To the large sprocket, a small sprocket installed on another shaft is coupled by
means of a chain drive. Thus transmitting the rotary motion to other shaft. The small
sprocket runs in same direction for the forward and reverse direction of rotational
movement of the large sprocket (this action looks like a bicycle pedalling action). On
the same shaft a flywheel and gear drives are also mounted which is further coupled
with the dynamo (dynamo basically is an electric DC generator which generates
electricity when the rotor rotates in the magnetic field produced by the stator) which
coverts this mechanical rotational energy into electrical energy.
The electricity produced is further stored in battery. The stored voltage is DC. In order
to convert this Dc voltage into AC voltage rectifiers are used and this electricity is
given to inverters where it can be used for other applications.

Figure 8: Schematic Diagram of Footstep Power Generation

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5. SUMMARY

In this seminar presented the design of small size, low power generation system by
using human as a power generation source. The energy lost during walking, running
and dancing can be converted into electrical form which can be used for other
applications. By building an electro-mechanical setup we can convert these energy
losses into electrical form. This is a low cost power generation system with acceptable
production

MET’s Institute of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering