APPLICATION OF

PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCER
IN ENERGY HARVESTING IN
PAVEMENT
UJWAL JOSHI 1RV18CV117
UJWAL 1RV18CV118
UMAR BASHIR 1RV18CV119
UTKARSH KUMAR 1RV18CV120
PEIZOELCTRIC MATERIAL

• Piezoelectric materials are at the core of piezoelectric sensors,

transducers, SAW devices, etc., which are important for SHM in
aerospace structuresPiezoelectric and ferroelectric materials find usage
in myriad applications, ranging from resonators for timekeeping
instruments to ultrasound transducers to low-power nonvolatile
memory elements, among many others. As a result of the vast
application space, there is a drive to discover new materials with
improved performance, lower cost, easier manufacturing possibilities,
and reduced environmental impact
CONCRETE INTEGRATED WITH PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS

• Piezoelectric materials can be classified in three categories:

piezoelectric ceramics (PZT), piezoelectric polymers, and piezoelectric
composites [58–60]. Piezoelectric materials exhibit the sensing ability
resulting from piezoelectric effect i.e., a surface charge is generated in
response to an applied mechanical stress (direct effect) and
conversely, a mechanical strain is produced in response to an 
applied electric field (converse effect) [61]. The piezoelectric materials
are very sensitive in detecting stress, temperature, and cracks of
concrete. Wen et al. successfully monitor the temperature and stress of
concrete under static or quasi-static states by embedding piezoelectric
materials into concrete
TRANSDUCERS

• Transducers are defined as an element that converts a change in some physical

variable into a related change in some other physical variable.
•  A useful design perspective is that a transducer and/or model has a three ports:
two acoustic and one electric. The modeling of a transducer includes its functions
as both a transmitter and a receiver from reciprocity arguments and also as a 
bandpass filter whose characteristics and corresponding pulse shape can be
designed. At the heart of a transducer is a piezoelectric material or an
electroacoustic transduction principle. The main piezoelectric materials, lead 
zirconium titanate (PZT), composites, and domain-engineered single crystals are
compared in terms of design trade-offs.
ENERGY HARVESTING

• Energy harvesting (EH) can be defined as a process wherein the sources such as
mechanical load, vibrations, temperature gradients and light, etc., are scavenged
and converted to obtain relatively small levels of power in the nW-mW range [1–
3].
• Energy harvesting, the collection of small amounts of ambient energy to power
wireless devices, is a very promising technology for applications where batteries
are impractical, such as body sensor networks and inaccessible remote systems.
The performance and potential of energy-harvesting devices depend strongly on
the performance and specific properties of materials.
ABSTRACT

• Mechanical energy appears everywhere in the nature, road vibration

energy created by the vehicle will not only do damage to pavement
structure, but also is difficult to collect. Utilizing electromechanical
conversion characteristics of piezoelectric material, gather the
vibration energy when vehicle passing on the pavement, and design
the piezoelectric transducer package box, for traffic lights along the
roads, signs, and so on. Save the cost of laying long distance
transmission line, also take full advantage of the loss of energy.
Experiments of piezoelectric boxes has been conducted in pavement to
prove the effectiveness of this product. This study shows that utilize
piezoelectric technology in road energy harvesting is feasible and has a
bright future.
1. OBJECTIVE
• With the social and economic development, along with the continued depletion of fossil
energy, declining environmental quality, combined with our sustainable development
strategy, how to efficiently collect and facilitate clean energy has been the focus of
energy research [1]. Road as a national critical infrastructure, undertakes the
transportation of people, goods, and other important functions [2]. On the road,
millions of vehicles generate vibration on the roads, which is very considerable, vehicle
vibration can not only cause damage to road, but also lead to a waste of energy [3].
How to collect vibration energy, turning it into the energy available for people to use is
the problem that need to be solved [4]. At present, based on the conversion
mechanism, collecting environmental vibration energy devices can be divided into
three types: electromagnetic, piezoelectric and electrostatic [5]
• Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology utilize the characteristic of
electromechanical coupling of piezoelectric materials, directly convert mechanical
energy to electrical energy, compared to electromagnetic and electrostatic
generating, piezoelectric power generation with original small size, does not need an
external power supply-driven and so on [6]. Based on these advantages, the
piezoelectric technology has developed rapidly, but most piezoelectric devices are
used to collect fixed mechanical equipment vibration energy, tidal and wind power,
the application of piezoelectric technology in the road is still in the research stage 
[7]. Both at homeland and abroad, piezoelectric road in theoretical research has
achieved certain results, but on the whole is still in its initial stages [8] (See Table 1).
TABLE 1. DIFFERENT PIEZOELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF 
PIEZOELECTRIC CERAMICS MATERIAL.

Component ε33/ε0 d33 (pC/N) g33 (Vm/N) d33 * g33 (m2/N)

PZT 701 425 153 0.041 6273 * 10−15

PZT 703 1100 340 0.03 10,200 * 10−15

PZT 502 1950 450 0.025 11,250 * 10−15

PZT 507 3900 700 0.02 14,000 * 10−15

• Through practical design, piezoelectric transducers are integrated in
packaging boxes, boxes are buried in the road, vehicle rolling on the
boxed is able to generate electricity, collect power and can be used in
traffic lights and other equipment.
2. INTRODUCTION TO PIEZOELECTRIC ENERGY HARVESTING

• Piezoelectric energy harvesting is mainly for mechanical vibration, it’s

widespread in everyday life, such as refrigerators, washing machines,
industrial equipment, vehicles caused by vibration [10]. Highway
carries the main road traffic demands, mechanical vibration energy of
highway vehicles can be enormous.
• Piezoelectric materials are electrically charged when stressed, and how
much it is electrically charged is determined by the force,
characteristics, electromechanical coupling of piezoelectric material
performance and structure [11]. Piezoelectric materials are core
components of piezoelectric energy harvesting, advances in materials
research determines the energy collection efficiency. The energy
density of the material parameters of piezoelectric voltage (g) and the
piezoelectric strain coefficient (d) multiplied by (d * g). The condition to
get maximum (d * g) is |d| = ε2, ε is the dielectric constant of the
material (See Table 2).
TABLE 2. COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST
DATA.
Size Thicknes Failure Compres Initial Damage Failure
s load sive displace displace deforma
strength ment ment tion

External Inner Area mm KN MPa mm mm mm

diamete diamete (mm2)
r (mm) r (mm)

20.00 6.00 285.885 5 51 196.999 1.70 2.48 0.78

• Piezoelectric energy harvesting devices are commonly used in two
modes: 33-mode and 31-mode. As Fig. 1 shows, in 33-mode, the
external stress direction and generate a voltage in the same direction,
in 31-mode, the applied stress is axial and perpendicular to the
direction of the voltage generated (See Fig. 2).

Fig. 1. Piezoelectric 33-model. Fig. 2. Piezoelectric 31-mode.

Fig. Fig. 4. Cantilever beam
 structure. Fig. 5. Cymbal-type structure.
3. Stacked
structures.
• Common piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting structures are stacked, cantilevered beam, cymbals.
As Fig. 3 shows, Multiple stacked piezoelectric structure containing more than two layers of wafer
structure, this structure is capable of improving the current and voltage, and the working status is
always d33-mode, suitable for low frequency single axial stress condition, easy to assemble. As Fig. 4
 shows, bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam is assembled by beam material and two layers of
Piezoelectric ceramic composition, conductive adhesive, two piezoelectric films by series or parallel
connection, a block is set at the end of cantilever, which can increase the cantilever beam amplitude
and adjust the frequency to increase the output power to apply to real needs. As Fig. 5 shows, Cymbal-
type structure consists of two concave metal lid sandwiched a Piezoelectric ceramic composition in the
middle, which consists of two lid 0.3–0.5 mm thick and is made of steel, which convert vertical
displacement of the ceramic lid to lateral displacement. Its ceramic is protected by a metal cap, which
can be applied to conditions of high stress, stress amplification generates more power, the size and
material of cap can be adjusted to change the resonance frequency (See Fig. 6).
FIG. 6. PZT COMPRESSIVE CURVES.
• In 2008, Israel claimed they have invented the road energy harvesting
system based on piezoelectric transducer. It is reported that when the
traffic on a single-line is 500/h, 250 kw electricity can be harvested per
kilometer.
• In Japan, piezoelectric floor has been in use in different locations. It is
usually set in the office as a inducing light, when stepping on, the
pressure power transduce to electricity and light the LED up.
  PZT GENERATING CAPACITY TEST
PZT MATERIAL: PZT-4/PZT-8/PZT-5H

Voltage in 300 N/500 N/1000 N peak loading

condition.
ROAD LAYING EXPERIMENTS OF THE
PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCER BOXES
• When laying on the road, the laying methods of piezoelectric boxes
need to been considered first. We experimented with the laying type of
burying in the construction period road and grooving on the completed
road.