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Review
A review of vibration energy
harvesting in rail transportation field
Lingfei Qi,1,2 Hongye Pan,1 Yajia Pan,1 Dabing Luo,1 Jinyue Yan,2,* and Zutao Zhang1,*

SUMMARY
In this paper, we review, compare, and analyze previous studies on vibration
energy harvesting and related technologies. First, the paper introduces the basic
aspects of vibration energy acquisition in the railway environment, including
vibration frequency, train speed, energy flow in the train, and vibration energy
harvesting potential. Generally, the methods for scavenging vibration energy
caused by passing trains can be divided into four categories: electromagnetic
harvesters, piezoelectric harvesters, triboelectric harvesters, and hydraulic har-
vesters. The structure, output performance, merits, and disadvantages of
different energy harvesting strategies are summarized and compared. The appli-
cation of vibration energy harvesters is explained as supplying power to moni-
toring sensors on the line side and the vehicle side. Finally, the paper addresses
the challenges and difficulties that have not been completely resolved in the cur-
rent research literature, including system stability, durability, and economy.
Some recommendations to fill these research gaps are put forward for further
investigation.

INTRODUCTION
Railways have huge passenger and cargo capacity, and low-level economic cost, making this the main
mode of transportation in various countries (Lapidus et al., 2019). Especially in certain developing and
developed countries, including China, Japan, and Germany, high-speed railways are regarded as the
core of transportation development because they provide passengers with a fast and convenient way of
travel (Kang et al., 2018; Li et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2019a, 2019b). As the speed of trains, the number of pas-
sengers carried, and the volume of goods increase, the health monitoring of the railway system plays an
increasingly important role (Asada et al., 2013; Oukhellou et al., 2008; Entezami et al., 2016). In general,
the condition monitoring of the railway system is divided into line-side monitoring (Li et al., 2021; Yüksel
et al., 2018; Leone et al., 2016; Alexakis et al., 2019) and on-board monitoring (Bernal et al., 2018; Grudén
et al., 2009). Regarding the power supply to these two kinds of monitoring, the traditional method is to use
batteries that cause electrochemical pollution or to connect to the grid via a complicated wired system. In
the past 20 years, self-powered technologies with ambient energy harvesting systems have attracted
tremendous attention as promising directions in transportation research filed because of their potential
to achieve environmental protection, energy saving, and real-time monitoring of sensor nodes (Fu et al.,
2021; Chen and Wang, 2017; Lewis et al., 2014).

Ambient energy harvesting in the railway environment is the key technology to achieve the self-powering of moni-
toring systems (González-Gil et al., 2013; Bosso et al., 2021). There are considerable wind resources around mov-
ing trains, hence wind energy harvesting is considered a promising approach in the railway field (Sindhuja, 2014; 1School of Mechanical
Oñederra et al., 2020; Kumar et al., 2016; Nurmanova et al., 2018). Especially in tunnels, slipstream generated by Engineering, Southwest
passing trains has a huge potential to produce energy for powering monitoring sensors (Pan et al., 2019a, 2019b, Jiaotong University,
Chengdu 610031, PR China
2019c; Guo et al., 2020; Laws et al., 2020). Some other ambient energy resources, such as thermal (Gao et al., 2019;
2School of Business, Society
Ahn and Choi, 2018), solar (Ruscelli et al., 2017), acoustic (Kralov et al., 2011; Noh, 2018; Wang et al., 2018a, 2018b),
and Energy, Mälardalen
braking (Jiang et al., 2014; Kaleybar et al., 2017), and radio wave energy (Li et al., 2020b), have been harvested for University, 72123 Västerås,
applications in railway systems. In addition, railroad track joints, wheel-rail wear, and wind forces cause continuous Sweden
vibrations in trains, tracks, and other infrastructure. Vibration energy harvesting (VEH) technologies in the railway *Correspondence:
zzt@swjtu.edu.cn (Z.Z.),
field, both on the line side and on board, have been widely studied in recent years. Generally, VEH technology in jinyue.yan@mdh.se (J.Y.)
railway systems can be divided into the following categories: electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.
hydraulic (Duarte and Ferreira, 2017). 2022.103849

iScience 25, 103849, March 18, 2022 ª 2022 The Author(s). 1

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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5% 3%
33%
59%

Figure 1. Share of publication for each VEH in railway system

Electromagnetic energy harvesters have been conceptualized and prototyped in various transportation
fields, such as vehicle suspension (Azam et al., 2021a, 2021b; Bai and Liu, 2021; Kireev et al., 2017) and
speed-bump (Wang et al., 2016; Todaria, 2016; Azam et al., 2021a, 2021b) energy harvesters, owing to their
high energy harvesting efficiency and strong controllability. Electromagnetic-based vibration energy har-
vesting systems in the railway field mainly include linear (Gao et al., 2017; Cleante, 2015; Ghandchi Tehrani
et al., 2013) and rotary (Pourghodrat et al., 2011; Kalaagi and Seetharamdoo, 2019; Costanzo et al., 2019)
generators. Both line-side and on-board linear generators absorb ambient vibration to drive permanent
magnets to reciprocate linearly between coils to generate electrical energy (Gao et al., 2018; De Pasquale
et al., 2012a, 2012b). Linear electromagnetic generators have the advantages of simple mechanism and
structure, so they are easy to implement on the track side and on board. As for rotary electromagnetic
VEH, these generators usually utilize a mechanical vibration rectifier (MVR) that converts linear vibration
into rotational motion. The output performance of a rotary electromagnetic VEH is mainly affected by
the structure of the MVR. In order to obtain considerable energy harvesting efficiency, MVR has been
continuously updated by various research projects in recent years, yielding rack-pinion mechanisms
(Mi et al., 2020; Pan et al., 2018), ball-screw mechanisms (O’Connor et al., 2017; Pan et al., 2019b), and other
mechanisms (Kaufman, 2002; Dotti and Sosa, 2019). Compared with linear electromagnetic harvesters,
rotary electromagnetic VEH generators have a more complex structure and higher energy density and
can be more compact (Abdelkareem et al., 2018).

Piezoelectric mechanism-based vibration energy harvesting is the second most common energy regener-
ative strategy for application in rail transit systems (Song, 2019; Li et al., 2013; Li et al., 2012). According
to the previous literature, the environmental vibrations in the environment of heavy-duty railways
and high-speed railways both have millimeter-level amplitudes and wide frequencies from 30 to
650 Hz (Zhai et al., 2015; Petriaev, 2016). In addition, in order to improve the safety and comfort of
railway systems, the vibration caused by trains is mitigated (Li et al., 2020c). In this kind of wide-frequency
and low-amplitude vibration environment, piezoelectric generators are a promising technology
for acquiring vibration energy. Nelson (2008) and Mouapi (2016), respectively, proved that line-
side and on-board piezoelectric VEHs are effective solutions to supply power for low-wattage sensor
nodes.

Electromagnetic and piezoelectric VEH are the two most popular regenerative vibration strategies in
railway systems. In addition, triboelectric and hydraulic mechanism-based VEH have been studied by a
small number of researchers (Geng et al., 2017; Mi et al., 2017; Nelson et al., 2011). Usually, triboelectric
VEHs need to introduce a nanogenerator to convert the micro-vibration of the rail into electricity for
monitoring sensors. Nanogenerator technology is a new technology that has emerged in recent years
(Wu et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2019b; Wang et al., 2017b). This emerging technology itself has high require-
ments for materials and power control, hence VEH triboelectric mechanism-based VEH has not been
investigated much. Similarly, owing to the high sealing requirements, complicated control, and structure

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Figure 2. Architecture of review paper

of hydraulic systems (Shen et al., 2017; Gong et al., 2019; Shi et al., 2020), research on hydraulic
mechanism-based VEH is not the current mainstream. The number of publications on VEH in railway
systems in the past two decades, categorized by electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and
hydraulic principles are obtained by Google Scholar statistics and the share of publication for each
VEH is illustrated in Figure 1.

Although there are several literature reviews dealing with energy harvesting technologies in the railway
field, these studies cover quite a broad range of the issues, including solar energy harvesting, wind en-
ergy harvesting, heat energy harvesting, and vibration energy harvesting in railway environment. In
recent years, vibration energy sources in railway transportation are considered to have considerable
regenerative potential and various energy harvesting technologies are developed to scavenge the vibra-
tion energy existing in the railway system. Conducting a comprehensive review focusing on the specific
vibration energy harvesting technologies in railway environment is of great significance to the further
exploration and development of this field. Therefore, the novelty and driving motivation behind this re-
view is to survey the state of the art concerning vibration energy harvesting in the railway environment,
including the line side and on board. The architecture of this review is shown in Figure 2, which demon-
strates that the vibration energy from the railway system can be converted to electricity by energy con-
version mechanisms, and the harvested energy is capable of being stored in power storage module after
the circuit processing, and then the storage module can be served as backup power of some low-watt
electrical facilities like sensor nodes, monitors, and traffic lights. In the future, some technical difficulties
like efficiency, stability, economy, and forecasting of the vibration energy harvesting technology should
be focused on.

GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING IN RAILWAY

With the rapid development of information society, big data is a basic element of ensuring the healthy and safe
operation of various industries. Wireless network sensor (WSN) nodes are the backbone of achieving massive data
collection (Rani et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2019). Therefore, in recent years, tremendous numbers of WSN nodes have
spread in various fields, including vehicles, roads, bridges, buildings, and even humans. Considering energy
saving and real-time monitoring, many researchers have studied advanced power supply systems based on envi-
ronmental waste energy harvesting to replace traditional chemical batteries and wired power supplies that power
WSN nodes (Qian et al., 2018; Alavi et al., 2017; Lin et al., 2017; Cahill et al., 2014). Especially in the railway industry,
various line-side and on-board condition monitoring WSN nodes are employed to monitor trains, rails, and other
infrastructure. Developing alternative energy technologies based on railway waste energy is a promising strategy
for powering condition monitoring WSN nodes.

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Figure 3. Typical energy flow in rail systems

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from González-Gil et al., 2014. Copyright [2010] Elsevier.)

Source of vibration energy in rail systems

A prerequisite for establishing a waste energy harvesting system is to grasp the energy flow in the railway
system. According to measured and calculated energy consumption data within Europe, González-Gil
proposed a typical energy flow in rail systems, depicted in Figure 3 (González-Gil et al., 2014). From this
figure, we can see that the gross energy supplied by the public network flows to infrastructure loss and
net traction energy, which contains auxiliary load, traction loss, motion resistance, and braking loss. It
can be obtained that the total energy loss consists of infrastructure loss, traction loss, and braking loss.
The energy wasted in infrastructure and braking can be reclaimed through regeneration energy transfer
and control strategies (Domı́nguez et al., 2012; Ceraolo et al., 2018). Regarding the energy loss in traction,
González-Gil has indicated that it includes inefficiencies in the electric motors, the converters, and the
transmission system. Alberto once pointed out the efficiencies of converters, DC motors, induction motors,
and transmission systems are 98.5%–99.5%, 90%–94%, 93%–95%, and 96%–98%, respectively (de los
Ferrocarriles Españoles, 2008). The energy loss of the motor and the transmission system is dissipated in
the form of heat and vibration, which will be transmitted to the vehicle body and track. Such low-grade
heat energy is difficult to recover and utilize, but mechanical vibration energy can be effectively
harvested by external devices, such as electromagnetic, electrostatic, variable reluctance generators,
and piezoelectric sheets (Dı́ez et al., 2019). This paper presents a taxonomy of the state of the art of vibra-
tion energy harvesting technologies in rail transportation.

How much train-induced vibration energy can be harvested?

A moving train causes vibrations that flow into the rail track and its own vehicle body, mainly in the
suspension. Whether vibrations are on line or on board, it is necessary to evaluate the energy recovery
potential before considering harvesting and converting into usable electricity. A preliminary theoretical
evaluation is capable of providing fundamental guidance for subsequent mechanical design. It is well
known that, when there is resonance between two objects, their vibration amplitude will be the largest.
Therefore, in order to evaluate as accurately as possible the vibration energy harvesting potential caused
by the train, the energy harvester needs to be tuned to a specific frequency. The dominant source of track
vibration is the quasi-static trainload (Triepaischajonsak et al., 2011). Ju and his team have established a
mathematical model to evaluate the dominant frequency of train-induced vibration, which can be
expressed as (Ju et al., 2009):
,  
XNw 

i2npSk =L 
Rf = nV L = Nc Paxle  e  (Equation 1)
 k=1 

where Nc, Nw, Sk, L, V, Paxle, and n are the number of carriages of one train, the number of wheel pairs of one
carriage, the distance between the beginning of the carriage and the kth wheel, the distance between two

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Figure 4. Energy harvested by train-induced vibration, given train speeds from 190 to 200 km/h
(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Cleante et al., 2016 under a CC BY license.)

carriage centers, the train speed, the load of a pair of wheels, and a positive integer. Through theoretical
and experimental investigation, the results show that trainload vibration plays the most important role in
the railway environment, and the largest kinetic energy exists at the trainload dominant frequencies
nV/L. Through five case studies, Cleante demonstrated that the maximum amplitude of the track occurs
at the seventh trainload frequency (Cleante et al., 2019). In addition, Cleante has investigated the effect
of speed variability on the amount of vibration energy harvested; the results are shown in Figure 4 (Cleante
et al., 2016). Based on the experimental data, Cleante found that only when the train speed changes within
1% will the energy harvester exhibit excellent performance.

Gatti has investigated how much energy can be acquired by train-induced vibration based on numerical
study and analytical study (Gatti et al., 2016). A simple single-degree-of-freedom oscillator and a
moving train with speed of 195 km/h are introduced to develop the analysis as shown in Figure 5.
Through numerical investigation, the motion and energy harvested at te by the harvester can be calcu-
lated by:

z = x
y (Equation 2)
mz€ + c z_ + kz =
my€ (Equation 3)
Z te
Eðte Þ = c z_2 dt (Eqaution 4)
0

where x, y, z, m, c, and k are mass location, casing location, relative displacement, mass, damping,
and stiffness, respectively, and the over dot represents the differentiation with respect to time. The
simulation results show that the maximum amount of energy harvested does not occur under the largest
relative displacement. When the energy harvesting device has a frequency of 17 Hz, damping ratio of
0.0045, and maximum relative displacement of 5 mm, it can harvest the maximum energy. Under such
an optimal condition, this energy harvester can generate about 0.25 J/kg of oscillator mass.

Through analytical study, the optimum energy harvested by the device can be obtained by:

Eðte Þ
z0:0475Y€ te2
2
(Equation 5)
m
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
which te = 2pn/u0 and u0 = k=m. n is the number of vibration cycles, Y€ is the amplitude of the base ac-
celeration, and te is the input duration. Therefore, according to Equation 5, it can be concluded that the
harvested energy is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the base acceleration and to the square
of the input duration.

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Figure 5. Schematic of the train-induced vibration energy harvester

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Gatti et al., 2016. Copyright [2015] Elsevier.)

ENERGY HARVESTING MECHANISM FOR TRAIN-INDUCED VIBRATION

It is well known that vibration is accompanied by the generation of kinetic energy, which can be trans-
formed into electrical energy through certain conversion mechanisms. Currently, research about convert-
ing train-induced vibration energy into electricity focus mainly on line-side and on-board mechanisms.
According to a review of the literature, the conversion mechanisms for acquiring vibration energy from
passing trains include electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and hydraulic types. Regardless of
line side or vehicle side, electromagnetic energy conversion mechanisms are one of the most popular
technologies for vibration energy harvesting in railway systems (Perez et al., 2018; Ung et al., 2015; Kim,
2020). The electromagnetic VEH strategy has the advantages of high energy harvesting efficiency, strong
controllability, quick response, and easy compactness (Montazeri-Gh and Kavianipour, 2012). Commonly,
the electromagnetic VEH strategy can be divided into linear harvester-based and rotary harvester-based
methods. Piezoelectric energy harvesters are the second most attractive train-induced VEH technology,
which boast simple structure and high voltage output (Sun et al., 2019). Lastly, there is a small part of
the literature that studies train-induced VEH technology using triboelectric and hydraulic mechanisms.

This section taxonomizes the existing VEH technologies for application in railway systems and their working
principles and mechanisms. In addition, this section summarizes and compares the findings of research
projects on train-induced vibration energy harvesting.

Electromagnetic energy harvesting systems

The electromagnetic method mainly consists of two approaches to harvest train-induced vibration energy.
The first solution is based on a linear electromagnetic generator with simple structure and working
principle to convert vibration energy into electrical energy (Wang et al., 2019b). The second type is based
on a rotary electromagnetic generator that converts vibration into rotation of the shaft and then drives the
generator to generate electricity (Zuo et al., 2014; Liang et al., 2015; Costanzo et al., 2020).

Electromagnetic linear harvesters

Electromagnetic linear generators generally include two core components: permanent magnets and coils.
The vibration caused by the train can drive relative movement between the permanent magnet and the coil,
so that the magnetic flux of the coil changes with the relative movement and then a current is generated in
the coil. Currently, many studies have been performed on using electromagnetic linear generators as a
carrier to harvest vibration energy from the line side and vehicle side.

Guo and his team proposed an electromagnetic railway vehicle-induced vibration energy harvester
(EM-VEH), which is connected to the track slab as shown in Figure 6 (Hou et al., 2018). This proposed
line-side EM-VEH is mainly composed of spring, mass, permanent magnets, and coils. When the train

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Figure 6. EM-VEH schematic diagram

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Hou et al., 2018. Copyright [2018] Elsevier.)
(A) EM-VEH.
(B) Components of the EM-VEH.
(C) Layout of EM-VEH on the bridge.

passes the EM-VEH, the track slab vibrates, driving the coil and the mass to reciprocate in the vertical di-
rection. Because there are permanent magnets on both sides, the coils can generate electromotive force
energy with their own up and down movement. The spring can increase the duration of the coil movement,
thereby improving the energy harvesting efficiency of the harvester. The simulation results show that the
power density of the proposed energy harvester can reach up to 176.5 mW/cm3, which is enough to supply
power for GPS and strain detection units. In fact, the vibration caused by the train is random and variable, so
a single-frequency linear energy harvester cannot efficiently absorb the vibration of various frequencies.
Therefore, Guo proposed three efficient multi-frequency EM-VEHs to harvest train-induced vibration
with different frequencies (Hou et al., 2020). As presented in Figure 7, the proposed multi-frequency
EM-VEHs contain four submodules, corresponding to four natural frequencies. The results show that the
power density for these improved EM-VEHs can reach 112.4, 253.6, and 267.2 mW/cm3, with corresponding
output power of 0.84, 0.91, and 1.41 W, respectively. All these outputs can meet the power demand of
monitoring sensors used in railway systems.

In addition to harvesting vibration energy from the line side, on-board VEH technology is also attractive for
powering vehicle-mounted monitoring sensors (Bradai et al., 2018; Brignole et al., 2016). Perez et al. have
presented an innovative electromagnetic vibration energy harvester with two degrees of freedom installed
on the tram (Perez et al., 2020). As shown in Figure 8, the structure of the VEH is very simple, including only
permanent magnet and coils. The simplification of the structure can greatly reduce the weight of the
harvester (the weights of the permanent magnet and the coil are 469 and 195 g, respectively), so that its
impact on the energy consumption of the train can be ignored. Based on numerical simulation and
experimental data, the results show that the presented energy harvester is able to output an average

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Figure 7. Multi-frequency ME-VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Hou et al., 2020. Copyright [2019] Elsevier.)

electrical power of 6.5 mW. Ma and his team also proposed a similar VEH with simple structure mounted on
a railway wagon (He et al., 2020). The experiment results show that the proposed electromagnetic energy
harvester can output a voltage of 3.3 V, which can drive the circuit system of monitoring sensors.

In general, the structure of single degree of freedom vibration energy harvesting system is simple, and the
energy loss caused by intermediate motion transfer is small. The two-degree-of-freedom solution can
realize multi-steady-state energy harvesting and broaden the energy harvesting frequency. In addition,
because the coils are connected to other parts of the system, including external circuit components, mov-
ing the coil may affect the stability of other parts. Therefore, compared with moving the coil, moving the
magnet is easier and does not affect other parts of the system.

Figure 8. The two degrees of freedom linear electromagnetic VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Perez et al., 2020. Copyright [2020] Elsevier.)
(A) The permanent magnet stack,
(B) The coils.
(C) The complete assembly.
(D) Installation location of the harvester.

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Figure 9. Double shaft gear transmission system-based electromagnetic VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Zhang et al., 2016. Copyright [2016] Elsevier.)
(A) Overview.
(B) Components.
(C) Rack moves downward.
(D) Prototype.
(E) Installation.
(F) Rack moves upward.

Electromagnetic rotary harvesters

Rotary electromagnetic energy harvesters have been favored by a large number of researchers owing to
their high energy conversion efficiency and easy packaging (Lin et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2012; Wang
et al., 2018a). Usually, an MVR is introduced to convert the bidirectional linear vibration into unidirec-
tional rotation. Different rotary electromagnetic VEHs using various MVR mechanisms have been
designed, prototyped, and investigated extensively. The two most common MVRs are based on a
rack-pinion mechanism and a nut-screw mechanism. Zhang et al. (2016) presented a portable rotary
electromagnetic VEH for applications in railroads. The proposed VEH is connected to the rail track
and uses a single rack and double gear set transmission system as the MVR presented in Figure 9.
The key component of a one-way bearing is utilized to convert the up and down movement of the
rack into unidirectional rotation of the generator shaft. The proposed energy harvester is validated by
dynamic simulation and bench test, which show that it has rapid response and high efficiency of
55.5%. In order to obtain higher energy output and a more compact structure, Zhang also proposed
another optimized rotary electromagnetic VEH (Zhang et al., 2017). In this VEH, a single shaft gear
transmission system is introduced to replace the previous double shaft gear transmission system,
resulting in a more compact and simple structure, as shown in Figure 10. The bench test results show
that the updated energy harvester can output a high voltage of 58 V, which is capable of competing
with the previous version with 6.45 V output voltage.

Zuo et al. (Lin et al., 2018a) proposed an anchorless mounting-based rotary electromagnetic VEH installed
on rail tires. Compared with VEHs fixed to the rail track, the proposed VEH can avoid affecting the safety of
the moving train and changing the track foundation. The MVR of this energy harvester uses double racks
combined with two one-way clutches to output the two-way vibration caused by the train as one-way

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Figure 10. Single shaft gear transmission system-based electromagnetic energy harvester
(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Zhang et al., 2017. Copyright [2017] Elsevier.)
(A) Rack upward.
(B) Rack downward.
(C) Prototype of MVR.
(D) Installation.

rotation of the gear set, as depicted in Figure 11. In addition, a mechanical energy storage device like
flywheel is introduced to store the energy produced by the VEH system. Field test results show that the
proposed energy harvester can generate an average power of 7 W and peak power of 56 W given a train
speed of 64 km/h and track deflection of 5.7 mm. In the same year, via bench test, Zuo indicated the
excellent performance of the energy harvester: 10–100 W of output power and 74% energy conversion
efficiency can be obtained (Lin et al., 2018b). By comparing different MVR structures, the author pointed
out that the simpler the motion transmission system, the better the performance of the VEH. The above
two VEHs proposed by Zuo are based on a rack-pinion MVR mechanism, which has a high possibility of
backlash. In order to reduce the backlash during the motion process, Zuo (Pan et al., 2019b) designed
another track-side-mounted VEH based on a nut-screw mechanical motion rectification mechanism, as
shown in Figure 12. Laboratory bench test results show that the proposed VEH can obtain a peak output
power of 114.98 W and an average output power of 17.5 W, given a freight train speed of 64 km/h. In
addition, a field test has been conducted by the authors, and the results show that the proposed VEH
can output an average power of 2.24 W given a vehicle speed of 30 km/h.

Previous VEH technologies on the track-side require additional devices to acquire vibration energy. This
year, Wu et al. (2021) proposed a line-side VEH with nut-screw vibration rectification mechanism based
on an existing Dowty retarder, as presented in Figure 13. The proposed energy harvester is embedded
in the retarder, which not only can provide braking assistance for the train but also can harvest kinetic
energy to achieve the self-powered monitoring of the retarder. A novel MVR based on a nut-screw
mechanism is employed to convert the two-way linear movement into unidirectional rotation. Simulation
results show that the proposed regenerative retarder possesses high-quality output performance, with
250 W of peak power and 55.4% energy conversion efficiency. In addition, the author made an assessment
finding that, if all the traditional retarders in China are replaced with regenerative retarders, the total annual
power generation will reach 360 MWh.

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Figure 11. Double rack-based rotary electromagnetic VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Lin et al., 2018a. Copyright [2018] Elsevier.)

Some on-board vibration energy harvesters have also been designed as power supply equipment for train con-
dition monitoring sensors. Zuo et al. (Pan et al., 2019c) have investigated a regenerative shock absorber installed
on the train suspension. As demonstrated in Figure 14, a rack-pinion mechanism and one-way clutches are uti-
lized cooperatively to convert bidirectional vibration into unidirectional rotation. The proposed energy harvester
is wrapped in a cylindrical shell, which makes it easy to integrate into the train suspension. Field test results show
that the proposed energy harvester can obtain a single-phase peak output power of 73.2 W and a three-phase
average power of 1.3 W. The authors found that, after increasing the transmission ratio of the gear set, the
output power can also be increased. Li et al. (2020a) also proposed a train suspension-mounted regenerative
shock absorber based on twin slider-crank mechanisms, as presented in Figure 15. The laboratory test results
show that the shock absorber is capable of output average power of 4.8 W under harmonic excitation with a
frequency of 3 Hz and an amplitude of 12.5 mm. Wang et al. (Gao et al., 2020) developed a pendulum-based
vibration energy harvester fixed on railway freight wagons. The structure of the proposed harvester is shown
in Figure 16, mainly consisting of an inertial pendulum, a gear ring, a gear, and other auxiliary parts. The motion
transmission process can be described as follows: the pendulum swings, driven by train vibration, thereby
driving the gear ring, pinion, and motor shaft to rotate. Although the structure of this harvester is highly compact,
it cannot convert the two-way swing of the pendulum into one-way rotation of the shaft. A comparison of
different electromagnetic train-induced VEHs is listed in Table 1, which includes harvester type, MVR type, instal-
lation position, input, load, output, and maximum conversion efficiency. From this table, we can see that the en-
ergy output of rotary energy harvesters is generally higher than that of linear-type harvesters. Most VEHs are
verified by simulation and laboratory tests, whereas only a small portion are validated by field tests.

Piezoelectric energy harvesting systems

Owing to their simple structure and energy recovery, piezoelectric materials-based VEHs are considered to
be a feasible method to scavenge vibration energy caused by trains (Cahill, Hazra, Karoumi, Mathewson, &
Pakrashi, 2018a, 2018b; Amoroso et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2017a). Corresponding to different installation
locations, various piezoelectric train-induced VEH systems with different structures have been developed.
The structures of piezoelectric energy harvesters on the line side are mainly divided into cantilever type

Figure 12. Track-side VEH based on nut-screw mechanism

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Pan et al., 2019b. Copyright [2019] Elsevier.)
(A) System design.
(B) Prototype.

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Figure 13. Dowty retarder-based kinetic energy harvester on line side

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Wu et al., 2021. Copyright [2018] Elsevier.)
(A) Overview.
(B) Sectional view.
(C) Prototype.
(D) Inner components.

(Yang et al., 2021), stacked type (Abramovich et al., 2010), bilateral fixed type (Wischke et al., 2010), and
circular type (Wang et al., 2014).

Piezoelectric VEHs based on a cantilever mechanism are the simplest way to harvest vibration energy in the rail-
way environment. Cahill et al. (2018) proposed a cantilever beam-based piezoelectric energy harvester to
harness the bridge vibration energy produced by passing trains. As shown in Figure 17, the proposed piezoelec-
tric harvester has a simple structure only possessing three parts: mass, piezoelectric film, and fixed plate. Test
results show that the maximum voltage output can reach 99 mV and the natural frequency can match the esti-
mated frequency of the bridge. Gao et al. (2016a, 2016b) also proposed a cantilever-based piezoelectric trans-
ducer connected to the track for harnessing vibration energy, as presented in Figure 18. The results indicate that
the proposed transducer has the capability to harvest energy at small track vibration (0.2–0.4 mm) and low fre-
quency (5–7 Hz). The open circuit voltage can reach up to 24.4 V, and the output power is 4.9 mW. Li studied the
output performance of cantilever-based piezoelectric VEHs under different resistors and frequencies (Li et al.,
2014). Experiment and field test results show that each piezoelectric harvester has the same optimal working
resistors. As for the optimal working frequency, it depends on the natural frequency of the harvester. At the reso-
nance point of the piezoelectric harvester, its power output performance reaches the optimal state.

Wang et al. (2015) analyzed the performance of an energy harvesting method based on a piezoelectric stack
device connected to the rail track. The research results indicate that the proposed piezoelectric energy harvest-
ing approach has the potential to supply power for wireless sensors utilized in railway systems. Hou et al. (2020)
proposed a stacked structure-based piezoelectric VEH installed on the rail transit bridge, as depicted in Fig-
ure 19. Simulation results show that the peak output voltage and current can reach up to 195.8 V and 5.6
mA, and the corresponding peak output power is 1.09 W. The average power density of the studied piezoelec-
tric energy harvester can reach 0.048 mW/cm3, which is twice that of existing low-frequency piezoelectric VEHs.
And the total energy produced by 144 arranged piezoelectric energy harvesters can reach 31.4 kJ.

Wischke et al. (2010) proposed a bilateral fixed piezoelectric energy harvester, which is connected to the
rail track. Experiment results show that the proposed harvester can obtain an average output energy of
260 mWs when a train passes by.

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Figure 14. On-board rotary electromagnetic energy harvester

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Pan et al., 2019c. Copyright [2019] Elsevier.)
(A) Electromagnetic energy harvester.
(B) Installation.

Yuan et al. (Tianchen et al., 2014) presented a circular drum array-based piezoelectric energy harvester to
scavenge the track vibrations produced by running vehicles. The prototype, installation, and schematic di-
agram of location of the proposed harvester is presented in Figure 20 and has a total of 16 drum transducer
units. The simulation results show that 50–70 V of peak open-circuit voltage and 100 mW of average power
can be generated under a real running train scenario. After reviewing the literature, track-side piezoelectric
VEHs include the four types presented above. On the train side, only bilateral fixed and cantilever piezo-
electric energy harvesters have been studied.

Fu et al. (2019) developed a double-side fixed piezoelectric vibration energy harvester installed on an un-
derground train, as demonstrated in Figure 21. The results show that the proposed energy harvester can
output considerable voltage within a broad range of frequencies and the maximum voltage can reach
up to 60 V.

Pasquale and his team proposed a cantilever structured piezoelectric VEH deployed on a railway vehicle
(De Pasquale et al., 2012a, 2012b). A scaled railway bogie was employed to test the output performance
of the proposed energy harvester. The results show that the output power generated by the harvester
reaches 4.12 mW. Song et al. investigated a cantilever structure-based piezoelectric VEH installed on
a superconducting Maglev train (Song et al., 2013). The experiment results indicate that, as the vibration
frequency increased, the output voltage of the harvester also increased and the maximum voltage can
exceed 6 V. Cho et al. (2016) also proposed a piezoelectric energy harvester based on a cantilever mech-
anism for supplying power to safety monitoring sensors of trains. A magnetic pendulum is utilized to
excite the cantilever piezoelectric plate to vibrate, as shown in Figure 22. A comparison of different
piezoelectric train-induced vibration energy harvesters is listed in Table 2, including structure, installation
position, input, load, and output. From this table, it can be seen that the output power level of piezo-
electric train-induced VEHs is in the microwatt to milliwatt range. A comparison of Tables 1 and 2 indi-
cates that the output of electromagnetic VEHs is higher than that of piezoelectric VEHs. In general, the

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Figure 15. Twin slider-crank mechanisms-based regenerative shock absorber mounted on train suspension
(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Li et al., 2020a. Copyright [2021] IOP Publishing.)
(A) The twin slider-crank mechanism.
(B) Motion diagram.

four piezoelectric energy harvesting systems with different structures have different advantages and dis-
advantages. Figure 23 demonstrates the structure and characteristics of the proposed four-type piezo-
electric energy harvesting systems.

Triboelectric and hydraulic energy harvesting systems

In addition to the most common electromagnetic and piezoelectric methods, there are a few other tech-
nologies for harnessing train-induced vibration energy, such as triboelectric harvesters and hydraulic har-
vesters. Zhao et al. (2017) proposed a nano VEH based on a triboelectric mechanism (VEH-TE) for railway
condition and health monitoring. As shown in Figure 24, the proposed energy harvester contains four
components: PMMA, aluminum, aluminum nano structure, and Kapton nano structure. Experiment

Figure 16. Pendulum-based vibration energy harvester

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Gao et al., 2020. Copyright [2020] Elsevier.)
(A) Overview.
(B) Section view.

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Table 1. Comparisons of electromagnetic train-induced vibration energy harvesters
b
Output Maximum
Linear or Mechanical Installation conversion
a
No Reference rotary vibration rectifier position Input Load Simulation Lab testing Field testing efficiency
1 Gao et al., 2017 Linear Line side 6 Hz 1.2 mm 44.6 U 2.32 V 119 mW
2 Cleante, 2015; Linear Line side 16.67 Hz 1.110 J
Gatti et al., 2016 196 km/h
3 Ghandchi Tehrani Linear On board 16.6 Hz 0.15 J/kg
et al., 2013
4 Pourghodrat Rotary Single rack-pinion Line side 60 mph 306.277 W
et al., 2011 Double gear set
5 Gao et al., 2018 Linear Line side 7–500 Hz Average: 45.5 mW 60%
Maximum: 550 mW
6 De Pasquale et al., Linear On board 80 km/h 2.5 V, 50 mA
2012a, 2012b 100 mW
7 Pan et al., 2018 Rotary Single rack-pinion On board 100 km/h 180 W
Double bevel gear set
8 Pan et al., 2018 Rotary Nut-screw Double Line side 30 km/h 8U Peak: 114.98 W 2.24W
bevel gear set 60 km/h Average: 17.5 W
9 Dotti and Sosa, 2019 Rotary Pendulum Line side 0.5 kg 5–6 W
10 Wang et al., 2019b Linear Line side 4 mm 6.4 V
11 Ung et al., 2015 Linear On board 4.16 ms
2 Average:
0.874 mW
Maximum:
1.71 mW
12 Zuo et al., 2014 Rotary Double rack-pinion Line side 4 Hz 3 mm 2U 6.4 V 21.7 w 46.7%
Single gear set
13 Hou et al., 2018 Linear Line side 5.5 Hz 35.3 W
176.5 mW/cm3
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14 Hou et al., 2020 Linear Line side 5.6 Hz 39.1 W

112.4 mW/cm3
15 Bradai et al., 2018 Linear On board 27 Hz 1.7 V 10 mW
16 Brignole et al., 2016 Linear On board 75 km/h 2.7 mW
17 Perez et al., 2020 Linear On board 28 Hz, 40 Hz 6.5 mW
18 He et al., 2020 Linear On board Over 50 km/h 3.3 V

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19 Lin et al., 2015 Rotary Double rack-pinion Line side 5 mm 70 km/h 2-3 kW
Single gear set

ll
20 Wang et al., 2012 Rotary Double rack-pinion Line side 0.5 inch 1 Hz 6.2, 12, 24 U 5 V 1.4 W 16.9%
Double gear set

(Continued on next page)

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Table 1. Continued
b
Output Maximum
Linear or Mechanical Installation conversion
a
No Reference rotary vibration rectifier position Input Load Simulation Lab testing Field testing efficiency
21 Wang et al., 2018a Rotary On board 300 U 7.07 V 28.4 mW 67.6%
22 Zhang et al., 2016 Rotary Single rack-pinion Line side 2 Hz 6 mm 6.45 V 55.5%
Double gear set
23 Zhang et al., 2017 Rotary Single rack-pinion Line side 1 Hz 2.5 mm 3U 35.4 V 58 V
single gear set 86.67 W
24 Lin et al., 2018a Rotary Double rack-pinion Line side 4 Hz 96 km/h 8U8U 196.5 W 80.4 W 56.2 W
Single gear set 64 km/h 50 U
25 Lin et al., 2018b Rotary Double rack-pinion Line side 1 Hz 5 mm 28 W 62%
Single gear set
26 Wu et al., 2021 Rotary Nut-screw Closed Line side 2 Hz 7.5 mm 3U 4 V 5.3 W 55.4%
bevel gear set
27 Pan et al., 2019c Rotary Single rack-pinion On board 30 km/h 4U Maximum: 73.2 W
Double bevel gear set Average: 1.3 W
28 Li et al., 2020a Rotary Twin slider-crank On board 3 Hz 12.5 mm 3U Maximum: 56.4%
mechanisms 24.6 W
Average:
4.8 W
29 Gao et al., 2020 Rotary Pendulum On board 80 km/h 4.7 V 263 mW 65%
a
Input: Input data include frequency, amplitude, acceleration, and train speed.
b
Output: Output data include voltage, power, and power density.

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Figure 17. Design and prototype of cantilever-based piezoelectric VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Cahill et al., 2018a, 2018b. Copyright [2018] Elsevier.)

results show that the peak voltage generated by the triboelectric energy harvester can reach 3.3 V given
a frequency of 10 Hz and the output peak voltage has positive linear correlation to the vibration accel-
eration and vibration frequency. In addition, the results indicate that the output voltage regulated by the
circuit is 3.3 V, which can meet the power requirement of the Zigbee module. Mi et al. (2017) studied a
hydraulic-electromagnetic mechanism-based train regenerative shock absorber, as shown in Figure 25.
The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed energy harvester can output high power. When
the speed of the train is 180 km/h, the output power of the first vertical hydraulic-electromagnetic shock
absorber bogie can reach 7 kW and the second lateral one can maintain output power between 300 and
500 W. Information regarding triboelectric and hydraulic train-induced VEHs is listed in Table 3, including
principle, installation position, input, load, and output. Owing to the limited number of research papers
on these two types of VEH, it is difficult to compare their performance.

Characteristics of different energy harvesting mechanisms

By comprehensively comparing the four aforementioned energy harvesting mechanisms, we found that
each has its merits and disadvantages, as demonstrated in Figure 26. Electromagnetic mechanisms have
the advantages of high output power, high energy density, and good compactness, which can make the
energy harvester easy to connect to the vehicle suspension and track. However, electromagnetic mecha-
nisms have the shortcomings of complex structure, heavy weight, and large size, which can cause additional
energy consumption on the vehicle side. Unlike electromagnetic mechanisms, piezoelectric energy har-
vesting mechanisms have the merits of simple structure, light weight, small size, and high adaptability to
wide-frequency and low-amplitude vibration. On the other hand, piezoelectric mechanism performance
is not very satisfactory in terms of output power and cost. Therefore, considering the merits and shortcom-
ings, piezoelectric mechanisms are suitable for use in low-power devices such as sensors. Similar to piezo-
electric mechanisms, the triboelectric strategy also has the advantage of high adaptability to low or even
ultra-low-level vibration energy. However, the triboelectric mechanism has some weak points hindering its
popularization in train-induced vibration energy harvesting, such as high cost, demand for materials, and
complicated power control. Regarding hydraulic vibration energy harvesting mechanisms, which have
been studied by a few researchers, this type has excellent performance in output power, but its shortcom-
ings include complex structure, strict sealing, and complicated power control.

Figure 18. Cantilever-based piezoelectric VEH connected to the track

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Gao et al., 2016a, 2016b. Copyright [2016] JVE International Ltd under a CC BY
license.)

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Figure 19. Six multilayer piezoelectric stacks-based VEH

(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Hou et al., 2020. Copyright [2020] Elsevier.)

APPLICATIONS OF THE TRAIN-INDUCED VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING

The safe and stable operation of railway systems is inseparable from the monitoring of wireless network
sensor nodes (WSNs). Both on the railway side and the vehicle side, various sensors are needed to monitor
the status of the rail system in real time. The power supply technology of WSNs has been the focus of
research in recent years. Traditionally, there are two ways to power WSNs: inserting lithium batteries
and connecting to the grid. Lithium battery power supply has the inconvenience of manual battery replace-
ment and electrochemical pollution, especially in remote areas and harsh environments. Grid power supply
has inevitable energy loss due to long-distance power transmission. According to the literature (Wu et al.,
2021; Gao et al., 2018), the parameters of the sensors used for railway environmental monitoring are listed

Figure 20. Circular drum-based piezoelectric VEH

(A) Prototype, (B) Installation, (C) Location of schematic diagram of location.
(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Tianchen et al., 2014. Copyright [2014] IOP.)
(A) Prototype.
(B) Installation.
(C) Installation position diagram.

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Figure 21. Double side fixed piezoelectric VEH installed on the train bogie (Fu et al., 2020).

in Table 4. From this table, we can see that the power consumption of sensors is in the microwatt to milliwatt
range. Comparing this with Tables 1, 2, and 3, which show that the power output of most VEHs is in the
milliwatt to watt range, it can be indicated that VEHs are capable of satisfying the power requirement of
WSNs. Therefore, self-powered WSN technology driven by train vibration is a promising method to pro-
mote the sustainable development of railway systems in a green, smart, and safe manner.

There are already some studies about using VEHs to supply power for sensors on the train-side and the
track-side.

Gao et al. (2018) proposed a self-powered Zigbee WSN technology based on a magnetic levitation energy
harvester for monitoring railway conditions. The field test results indicate that it is feasible to use the pro-
posed VEH to power Zigbee WSNs. Hadas et al. (2018) also presented an energy harvesting technology for
powering track-side objects. The simulation results show that the average output power produced by the
proposed harvester can reach 200 mW given a train speed of 130 km/h, indicating that the VEH can meet
the power requirement of microwatt and milliwatt sensors.

In addition to the self-powered strategy on the track side, a maglev porous nanogenerator (MPNG) to har-
vest vibration energy for powering the monitoring sensors on high-speed trains was developed by Jin et al.
(2017). The results demonstrate that the energy produced by the proposed MPNG is enough to power 400
commercial light-emitting diodes and charge a supercapacitor from 0 to 3V. Wang et al. (2019a) proposed
a piezoelectric VEH for self-powered application in train container monitoring. The simulation and exper-
iment results show that the two proposed energy harvesters in series style can effectively power humidity
and temperature WSNs in the frequency of 8.7–22.0 Hz.

In the remote rail transit environment, in addition to the monitoring system, there are other electrical facil-
ities with greater power consumption, such as traffic lights, tunnel lighting, and ventilation equipment. Ac-
cording to Table 1, we find that the power output of the energy harvesters can reach 306 W, indicating that

Figure 22. Cantilever-based piezoelectric VEH with pendulum installed on the train body
(Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Cho et al., 2016. Copyright [2016] Elsevier.)

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Table 2. Comparisons of piezoelectric train-induced vibration energy harvesters

b
Output
Installation
a
No Reference Structure position Input Load Simulation Lab testing Field testing
1 Song, 2019 Cantilever Line side 330 km/h 44.6 U 1.855–161.4 V
49.3 mJ–287 mJ
2 Li et al., 2013; 2012 Cantilever Line side 2.06 m/s2 50 Hz 15.1 kU 1.843 mW
3 Nelson et al., 2008 Cantilever Line side 10–12 mph 7.7 U 4 mW
4 Mouapi et al., 2016 Cantilever On board 26 Hz 0.13 m/s2 11 kU Average: 3 mW
Maximum: 10 mW
5 Wang et al., 2017; Cantilever On board 7 Hz 0.2 mm 100 kU 24.4 V
Gao et al., 2016a, 2016b
6 Yang et al., 2021 Cantilever Line side 350 km/h 55.24 kU 1.03 mW
7 Wischke et al., 2010 Bilateral fixed On board 10 m/s 2
300 mW
8 Wang et al., 2014 Circular Line side 150 Hz 11 kU 21.4 mW
9 Cahill et al., 2018a, 2018b Cantilever Line side 16.6 Hz 0.144 V
10 Li et al., 2014 Cantilever Line side 55 and 75 Hz 9.9 kU 0.2 mW
11 Wang et al., 2015 Stack Line side 30 m/s 211 kU 0.19 mW 4.82 V
12 Hou et al., 2020 Stack Line side 1.8 Hz 1.43 mm 1.09 mW
0.25 mW/cm3
13 Tianchen et al., 2014 Circular drum Line side 0.5 km/h 4 MU 50–70 V 0.1 mW 50–70 V 0.1 mW
14 Fu et al., 2020 Bilateral fixed On board 50 Hz 1 MU 4 V 16 mW
15 De Pasquale Cantilever On board 5.71 Hz 4.12 mW
et al., 2012a, 2012b
16 Song et al., 2013 Cantilever On board 28 Hz 4.3 V
17 Cho et al., 2016 Cantilever On board 3–6 Hz 200 kU 40.24 mW/cm3
a
Input: Input data include frequency, amplitude, acceleration, and train speed.
b
Output: Output data include voltage, power, energy amount, and power density.

train-induced VEHs have the potential to supply power for these higher-power consumption electrical fa-
cilities along the railway. Different types of train-induced vibration energy harvesters produce different
levels of energy output, so the application scenarios are not exactly the same, as demonstrated in Figure 27.
From this figure, we can see that the electromagnetic and hydraulic VEHs can be used to power the heating
devices and auxiliary load on the rail side, such as traffic light, speed measuring radar, lamp, ventilation,
and traffic lift gate; piezoelectric and triboelectric VEHs are suitable for powering the detection sensors
like temperature sensor, pressure sensor, force sensor, accelerometer, and IOT sensor.

RESEARCH CHALLENGES, TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, AND RESEARCH GAPS

Although there have been many studies on train-induced vibration energy harvesting, there are still some chal-
lenges and difficulties that must be overcome in order to achieve practical applications. We have summarized
the top five concerns (related to train-induced VEH) that have been researched and need to be further inves-
tigated, as shown in Table 5. Most of the previous studies focused on the principles and mechanisms of energy
harvesters, exploring the process from vibration to electrical energy. Generally, the energy collected from envi-
ronmental vibration is messy, disorderly, and cannot be directly utilized by the load (Lan and Qin, 2017; Fu
et al., 2019a, 2019b; Pereira et al., 2019). The stability of electric power is a crucial factor for whether an energy
harvester can actually be put into use. The first challenge that urgently needs to be tackled is how to convert
harnessed vibration energy into stable electricity that can supply power to the load. As we all know, the circuit
is the bridge between the initial disordered current and the load terminal. In the future, feasible circuit design
and electrical control strategies should be critical research directions in the field of train-induced VEH.

The durability of power supply is also a crucial research point that needs to be considered in depth for
these emerging energy harvesters. The ability to provide long-term continuous power to the load is a deci-
sive aspect in order for train-induced VEHs to compete with traditional lithium batteries and power grids.

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Figure 23. Structure and characteristics of the four-type piezoelectric energy harvesting systems

Since the vibration caused by the train does not exist all the time, the power generation of the energy
harvester is intermittent. Efficient energy storage methods need to be introduced to store the electricity
generated by VEHs. Supercapacitors have fast charging speed, high energy conversion efficiency, and
low power transmission loss, hence supercapacitors can be a green and environmentally friendly power
storage device for VEHs (Luta and Raji, 2019; Yang, 2019; Ibanez, 2017). In addition, flywheels have the ad-
vantages of high energy density, high energy conversion efficiency, small size, light weight, wide operating

Figure 24. Triboelectric mechanism-based VEH in railway system

(A) VEH-TE structure; (B) springs are utilized to build mass vibration; (C) nano structure on the Kapton surface; (D)
prototype. (Reprinted [adapted] with permission from Zhao et al., 2017. Copyright [2017] Elsevier.)
(A) Three-dimensional drawing.
(B) Dynamical model.
(C) Material micrograph.
(D) Prototype.

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Figure 25. Hydraulic-electromagnetic mechanism-based train regenerative shock absorber

(Mi et al., 2017).

temperature range, long service life, low power loss, and low maintenance (Arani et al., 2017; Rupp et al.,
2016; Yulong et al., 2017), hence flywheels can also be a feasible strategy for storing electricity generated by
VEHs, especially in cold, harsh environments.

Economy is an important factor in the popularization and application of products. Although VEH can bring
economic benefits in terms of energy saving, it will incur additional material and manufacturing costs. Most
previous studies only focused on the technical side of VEHs, ignoring economic performance. For piezo-
electric and triboelectric VEH, the material cost is relatively high. For electromagnetic and hydraulic
VEH, the device manufacturing cost is large owing to the relatively complex structure. Therefore, in future
research, the technical and economic performances of train-induced VEHs should be considered compre-
hensively in order to obtain the optimal solution.

The amount of energy harvested on the time scale should be evaluated, not just considering the power
output, voltage, and efficiency. A power supply system not only should have an output power matching
the demand of the load but also needs to possess enough energy to power the load for a long time. It
is easy to understand that the lesser the traffic on the line, the lesser the energy a single VEH can accumu-
late. On lines with low traffic volume, the electric energy accumulated by the VEH over time may not be able
to support the long-term operation of the load. In order not to require too many VEHs, it is necessary to
carry out real case studies to evaluate how much traffic is suitable for the deployment of VEHs.

The power output needs to be increased to meet the power needs of electrical facilities along the railway
with greater power requirements, such as traffic lights and tunnel lighting equipment. Previous research
has used methods such as frequency adjustment and mechanical vibration rectification to improve the en-
ergy output of VEHs. In addition, the vibration amplitude on both the vehicle side and the track side is be-
tween the micron level and the millimeter level. It is possible to further increase the power output by using a
motion amplification mechanism to amplify the vibration amplitude. For piezoelectric VEHs, increasing the
amplitude of the piezoelectric sheet can increase its output voltage. For electromagnetic VEHs, under sce-
narios with constant frequency, enlarging the displacement input of reciprocating motion can increase the
rate of magnetic flux change (in linear VEH) and the rotation of the generator (in rotary VEH).

Table 3. Information regarding triboelectric and hydraulic train-induced vibration energy harvesters
b
Output
a
No Reference Principle Installation position Input Load Simulation Lab testing Field testing
1 Geng et al., 2017 Triboelectric Line side 16.667 Hz 100 MU 60 V 2.45 mJ
2 Nelson et al., 2011 Hydraulic Line side 3.75 mm 131 U 11.078 W
3 Mi et al., 2017 Hydraulic On board 180 km/h 13.2 mm Average: 3.5 kW
20.52 Hz Maximum: 5 kW
2
4 Zhao et al., 2017 Triboelectric Line side 1.07–1.25 m/s 11 kU 1.5–3.1 V
a
Input: Input data include frequency, amplitude, acceleration, and train speed.
b
Output: Output data include voltage, power, energy amount, and power density.

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Figure 26. Characteristics of the four energy harvesting mechanisms

CONCLUSIONS
The driving motivation behind this paper is to present the state of the art of vibration energy harvesting
technology in the field of rail transit and its related research points, including rail vibration characteristics,
energy harvesting potential, mechanism, and design. The principles, structures, and output performances
of different types of vibration energy harvesters are introduced, compared, and discussed in detail.

Table 4. Parameters of the sensors used for railway environmental monitoring (Wu et al., 2021; Gao et al., 2018)

No Sensor name Size Function Power consumption Manufacturer

1 KTC-50mm / Displacement sensor 120 mW MILONT
2 MIK-P300 / Pressure sensor 480 mW MEACON
3 AB-SU309C / Signal light 400 mW STARS PLASTIC
4 VL53L0 / Distance measuring sensor 20 mW TELESKY
5 VS100.A 8.9mm*8.9mm*3.24mm Accelerometer 9.9 mW Colibrys
6 TS1000T 8.9mm*8.9mm*3.24mm Inclinometer 9.9 mW Colibrys
7 Z4D-C01 35.5mm*16mm*15mm Displacement sensor 70 mW Omron
8 VY1 13.5mm*13.5mm Strain measuring 200 mW HBM
9 RDS20 28mm*25mm Crack propagation measuring 200 mW HBM
10 CFT/120 454mm*60mm Force measuring / HBM
11 TT-3/100 6.6mm*4.7mm Temperature measuring / HBM
12 P15RVA1 440mm*72mm Pressure measuring 720 mW HBM
13 ADXL345 3mm*5mm*1mm Accelerometer 350 mW Analog Devices
14 HC-SR04 45mm*20mm*15mm Ultrasonic telemeter 65 mW Jieshen
15 HC-SR501 32mm*24mm Infrared detector 235mW /
16 DHT11 32mm*14mm Humidity/Temperature 12.5 mW Ylelectronic

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Table 5. Comparison between studied and to-be-studied concerns on train-induced VEH

Concerns studied Concerns to be studied

Keywords Explanation
Efficiency Energy conversion efficiency
of vibration mechanical energy
into electrical energy. The existing
literature focuses on how to improve
the energy conversion efficiency
Output power/ The power/voltage output of the
voltage energy harvester. Many researchers
have paid much attention to obtain
high output power and voltage
Mechanical Transform vibration into a form
vibration of motion that is conducive to the
rectifier (MVR) generation of electrical energy,
such as linear movement and
rotation. Various MVRs have
been designed, manufactured,
and verified
Self-power Many studies have focused on
embedding vibration energy
harvesters into electronic
devices (such as sensors)
to achieve their self-powered
functions
Bidirectional In order to improve energy output,
vibration to the mechanism of bidirectional
unidirectional vibration to unidirectional rotation
rotation has been studied a lot in
electromagnetic vibration energy
harvester
Keywords Explanation
Stability Rectify irregular electricity
produced by the VEH into
regular current, which can
be used by the electrical devices
Durability Train-induced vibration does
not always exist. How to
ensure that the vibration
energy harvester supplies
power to the load for a
long time?
Economy Good economy is a crucial
factor for the implementation
and popularization of the
energy harvester. Future
work should pay much
attention to the economic
aspects of energy harvesters,
such as life cycle cost, net profit,
and return on investment
Amount of energy In addition to the output
generated power, it is also important
to study how much electricity
the energy harvester can generate
Motion amplification Conceive a mechanism that
mechanism can amplify the vibration
amplitude of the rail to
obtain greater energy output

Thereafter, based on the shortcomings of existing technologies, we point out challenges and difficulties in
successfully implementing train-induced vibration energy harvesting, as well as corresponding future work.

Train-induced VEH mainly includes four categories: electromagnetic type, piezoelectric type, triboelectric
type, and hydraulic type. Electromagnetic and piezoelectric harvesters are currently the two most popular
technologies used in rail transportation. Through our survey on the existing literature, we have summarized
the key characteristics of different types of vibration energy harvesters as follows: (1) electromagnetic type
has large power output, reaching up to 196.5 W, high energy conversion efficiency, and complex structure;
(2) piezoelectric type has simple structure, sensitive vibration response, and low power output, from
4.12 mW to 10 mW; (3) triboelectric type has high output voltage and low energy yield; (4) hydraulic type
has high output power, complex structure, and strict sealing requirements.

In addition, the power supply and demand matching between the energy supply side and the energy con-
sumption side is critical for practical applications of train-induced VEH. The power demand of monitoring
sensors mounted on track side and vehicle side has large variation, from 235 mW to 72 mW. Comprehen-
sively considering power output, system structure, and embeddedness, electromagnetic harvesters are
more promising for powering monitoring sensors with milliwatt-level to watt-level power. Owing to their
simple structure and easy embedding, piezoelectric harvesters are a promising solution for powering sen-
sors with microwatt-level power.

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Figure 27. Applications of VEHs with different mechanisms

Although many studies have successfully proved that train-induced VEHs have good output perfor-
mance, there are still some challenges and ignored concerns for real application: (1) stability: how
to convert harvested vibration energy into stable electricity that can supply power to the load; (2)
durability: how to provide long-term continuous power to the loads; (3) economy: analyze the costs
and benefits brought by the energy harvester; (4) amount of energy: pay attention to the energy
amount acquired by the VEH, not only the output power; (5) motion amplification mechanism: before
converting vibration energy into electrical energy, consider using mechanisms to amplify the
amplitude of vibration to increase energy output. The above five difficulties that have not been solved
or even focused on in the current literature should arouse great attention in future train-induced VEH
studies.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the National Natural Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51975490 and
5177424; the Science and Technology Projects of Sichuan under Grant Nos. 2021JDRC0118 and
2021JDRC0096; and the Sichuan Science and Technology Program under Grant No. 2020JDTD0027; Z.Z.
and J.Y. are co-corresponding authors.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
L.Q.: Data curation, writing-original draft preparation; H.P.: methodology and analysis; Y.P.: reviewing and
editing; D.L.: reviewing and editing; J.Y.: supervision, reviewing and editing; Z.Z.: supervision, reviewing
and editing.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
The authors declare no competing interests.

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