KINETIC ROADS

CIVIL ENGINEERING

EPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ABSTRACT

Energy is the basic need for the development of the modern world. For meeting up the

regular demand of energy we need to design a system that will produce electricity

without destroying the nature. This paper attempts to show how man has been utilizing

and optimizing kinetic energy. Researches show that the world has already had its

enough shares of its energy resources. Fossil fuels pollute the environment. Nuclear

energy requires careful handling of both raw as well as waste material. The focus now is

shifting more and more towards the renewable sources of energy, which are essentially,

non-polluting. This paper attempts to show how energy can be produced, stored and

used using the road transport. Using road transportation energy can be produced, stored,

where the ramp is used for tapping the energy and generating power as a power

generating unit. In which we can get 24x7 supply of electricity without harming and

polluting the environment. The pressure plate is main mechanism used for generating

the electricity.

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Contents Page No.

1: Introduction.........................................................................1-3

2: Uses .....................................................................................4

3: Advantages...........................................................................5

4: Methodology......................................................................6-13

5: Conclusion...........................................................................14

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 INTRODUCTION

Amongst the all form of energy the electricity is most widely used form of energy. There

is great lack of electricity in today's world, which we have to overcome. As we know the vehicles

on road are increasing very fastly in the world. As these vehicle are moving on the road they

possess some kinetic energy, which can be used for generating rotational motion of generator and

then we can produce considerable amount of electricity. As we know that the resources to

generate the electricity are lasting very rapidly and there is great increase in population which

uses the electricity for their day to day requirements. These has generated the problem of energy

crisis in the world. So we need to bring such ideas which can generate the electricity from the

things which we can uses in day to day life. So from the vehicles we can generate the electricity

by using their kinetic energy as these vehicles passes over the ramp.

The ramp was invented by peter Hughes, an electrical and mechanical engineer who is

employed by Highway Energy System Ltd. This company says that under normal traffic

conditions, the apparatus will produce 30 KW of electricity. Other proposed applications for the

road ramps include powering streets and traffic lights, heating roads in the winter to prevent ice

from forming and ventilating tunnels to reduce pollution. First of all we need to know about the

concept of this technique. If we want to use the kinetic energy which is to be converted in

electrical energy, we have to make a mechanical mechanism to rotate a generator. And kinetic

energy will come from the vehicles of the road.

The electricity produced from ramp is said to be "clean" because its production produces

no pollution. As both health and environmental concerns are on the rise, clean energy sources are

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a growing demand. We are proud to present the energy ramp which is made to deploy on roads

and that can produce electrical energy with out any cost when a vehicle passes over it.

These generated energy can be utilised for many purpose like street lights, lighting of

signals, toll plazas villages where the lack of electricity is more.

Figure no.1 Energy ramp structure

The ramp is not like usual speed-breaker.It is not harmful for the vehicles or cannot

become the cause of waste petrol when a carpasses over it. The speed ramp is not dangerous for

vehicles at all. It does not only generate free energy, but the energy that has been generated is

environment friendly with almost no pollution. On the whole the energy ramp system consist of

two parts hardware and software model

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 The India has second largest road network in the world, which contributes of over

5472144 km as on 31st march 2015. Amongst which 1455 km of expressway are operational

now a day in India. An additional 18637 km of expressway is aim to be constructed by

government of India by the year 2022. National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) which is

responsible for development and management of the network of over 50000 km of a national

highway out of 115000 km in India. The 148000 km of a state highway are operational in India

and the Maharashtra state has 33705 km of state highway which is largest of state highway as

compare to other states. So using these road network and vehicles we can generate electricity

using “Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp” installed on road.

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USES

• To create electrical energy for running our appliances which are used in day to day

activities.

• To utilize freely available renewable resources for generating energy rather than using

exhaustible nonrenewable resources.

• Such ramps can be designed at every highway as an alternative source of energy to meet

the increasing demand of energy.

• This energy can be used for the lights on the either sides of the roads and thus much

power that is consumed by these lights can be utilized to send power to these villages.

• No external source is needed for power generation.

• Electricity generated from one vehicle around 8.175Watt which can be used for various

purpose

• Simple construction, mature technology and easy maintenance.

• Energy scarcity is the main problem in our country,so this may solve the problem to

some extent.

• This technique is used to produce electricity which can be used in traffic lights and
powering streets.

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ADVANTAGES
• Generation of power without polluting the environment.

• Simple construction, mature technology and easy maintenance.

• No fuel transportation required.

• No consumption of any fossil fuel which is non-renewable source of energy.

• No external source is needed for power generation.

• Energy scarcity is the main problem in our country,so this may solve the problem to

some extent.

• Electricity generated from one vehicle around 8.175Watt which can be used for various

purpose.

• Energy produced from this ramp is pollution free and maintenance of ramp is more, so it

can be used in Toll plaza street lights etc.

• We can get 24x7 supply of electricity without harming and polluting the environment.

• Electro-kinetic road ramp is the method of generating electricity by harnessing the kinetic

energy of automobiles that drive over ramp.

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 METHODOLOGY

Working model :

• Road Power Generation (RPG) is a system design to capture waste and kinetic energy

from all vehicles. This device converts the kinetic energy of the vehicles into electric

energy. This is done by pressure plates installed on the ramp.

• First moving car pass over the ramp. Due to vehicle load pressure plates present on the

ramp will be pressed down.

• All pressure plates are connected to shaft using Rack and Pinion mechanism.

• Rack and Pinion mechanism convert the linear motion of pressure plate into angular

motion and rotates shaft.

• Shaft is connected to Gearbox. This Gear Box is connected to flywheel and DC

alternator.

• Alternator converts the rotational energy to electrical energy

• As a result, it produces electricity. And it stored in batteries.

• Whenever needed DC energy is converted into AC energy with the help of inverter and

passed on.

• On the whole, the overall Energy Ramp system is a combination of both software as well

as hardware model. The information given below will describe the features of both the

models.

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 Figure no.2 System implemented at ground

Hardware model :

The Ramp consists of gear box, flywheel, drive system and alternator. It consist of a slab

that is press down by the vehicle which produces translation motion. In addition to this a battery

isattached to alternator. Inverter is placed with the battery and a load is attached.

Relays are attached for the purpose of controlling. First one is attached between

Alternator & Battery and second is between Battery and Inverter that break the connection.

The third relay is placed between the inverter and the load which indicates the completion of

process i.e. when inverter passes 220V it energies the relay and a connection is produced

between the Inverter and the Load Bank.

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 Figure no.3 System block diagram

A rotation reader circuit is placed in front of Flywheel. Relays are attached for the

purpose of controlling. First one is attached between Alternator & Battery and second is between

Battery and Inverter that break the connection. The third relay is placed between the inverter and

the load which indicates the completion of process i.e. when inverter passes 220V it energies the

relay and a connection is produced between the Inverter and the Load Bank.

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 A Limit switch is placed below the slab for the counting of the cars. When a car passes

over the slab, the limit switch is pressed then the limit switch signals sends to the digital input

(1746-IB16) module.

Figure no.4 Internal hardware arrangement

Software Model :

A Limit switch is placed below the slab for the counting of the cars. When a car passes

over the slab, the limit switch is pressed then the limit switch signals sends to the digital input

(1746-IB16) module.Allen Bradley SLC 5/03 PLC is used for monitoring & controlling of the

system and a PC-Based HMI is connected with it for displaying the process.

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 Whole system is fully automated with programmable logic controller PLC.When a car

passes over the slab, the limit switch is pressed then the limit switch signals sends to the digital

input (1746-IB16) module of PLC.

Finally number of cars displayed on the PC-Based HMI.The Software’s that are used for

Automation are listed below:

R SLinx Classic : Diver installer

RSLogix 500 : Ladder Programmer

The Modules that are used in SLC 5/03 are listed below: 1747-L532 (SLC 5/03 Processor)

1746-IB16 (Digital dc Input Modules)

1746-OB16 (Digital dc Output Modules)

The rotation reader provided pulses that are the digital input of the 1746-IB16 module.

PLC is programmed that the pulses is converted into rpm and are displayed on the PC-Based

HMI.

When a car passes over the slab, thelimitswitch is pressed thenthe limit switch signals

sends to the digital input (1746IB16) module of PLC.

Finally number of cars displayed on the PC-Based HMI. Relays are attached for the

purpose of controlling.

The output module (1746-OB16) of PLC controls the relaysandthe indication is displayed

in the circuit.

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 Figure no.6 Flowchart of the whole system operation

Drainage specification :

Highway drainage according to IRC

Height : 1-1.2 Below the sub-grade

Slope : 2H-1V

Ramp drainage

Height : 1m

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Slope: According to ground level

Method 1 : By using electric motor

Method 2 : By using pipe

Working principle:

Thus, system design for RPG to capture the kinetic energy from every vehicle in this

process kinetic converts into electrical energy. These is done by installing the pressure plate on

the road ramp.

Future Enhancement :

In future, we can increase the efficiency of this system by following ways:

• If we use more than one crank in the system, we can drive more alternators.

• The crank can be design in such a way that it gives more rotation per push.

• By using more effective alternators and inverters, we can get less Power losses.

• For costeffectiveness, microcontroller can replace the control unit.

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CONCLUSION

• It has been analyzed that currently alternate energy produces approximately 11% to our

primary energy.

• It has been determined that by using coal, oil and gas sources at the current rate,may

cause the global temperature raised by 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2020.

• For this reason, it is assumed that by the year 2070, 60% of the total energy will be

generated from alternate energy sources.

• Deploying such changes earlier may approach these results to 80%.

• Now 5 % yearly increase in the use of energy produce by fuel, and cause increase in

pollution level and related disasters

• Our energy ramp which is the combination of both mechanical and electrical circuitry is

an innovative approach in order to decrease the energy crisis globally and to take a step

forward to achieve better results.

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