Advance in Electronic and Electric Engineering.

ISSN 2231-1297, Volume 3, Number 6 (2013), pp. 747-754

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/aeee.htm

Staircase Power Generation Using Piezo-Electric

Transducers
V. Prasannabalaji, R. Rakesh, S. Sairam and S. Mahesh
Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering,
Sri SaiRam Engg College, Chennai.

Abstract:
With the decrease in energy consumption of portable electronic
devices, the concept of harvesting renewable energy in human
surrounding arouses a renewed interest. In this context, we are
proposing the prototype of a piezoelectric generator that harvests
mechanical vibrations energy available on a Staircase. Embarked
piezoelectric transducer, which is an electromechanical converter,
undergoes mechanical vibrations therefore produce electricity. A static
converter transforms the electrical energy in a suitable form to the
targeted lighting application.
Index Terms: Mechanical vibrations, Energy harvesting, piezoelectric
material, Uninterrupted power supplies, lighting applications.

1. Introduction
Due to soaring energy prices and an increased environmental awareness there is a
growing need for sustainable designs. The world around us has embraced this concept
by incorporating solar panels, wind turbines, and promoting shared transportation via
zip cars. Instead of looking for new ways to generate energy, we will be focusing on
harvesting energy from everyday activities that would otherwise be lost. A person
exerts lots of force when they walk down the stairs. The staircase power harvesting
system intends to turn this energy into electrical power using a piezo-electric
generator.
In this study, which is a first in the literature, we propose an alternative solution to
the dynamo and an improvement for the battery lifetime. We are proposing the use of

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piezoelectric generator, which is a clean and durable solution. Piezoelectric generators

employ active materials that generate a charge when mechanically activated.
Today we see more and more applications using piezoelectric transducers. Their
use as a source of electrical energy presents increasing interest for embarked electronic
devices, low power consumption (less than 1 Watt) such as lamps based LED (LightEmitting Diode), displays or sensors [1,2].
Noticing that the stairs vibrate when someone steps on it, and that these vibrations
are vectors of mechanical energy, we can recover and convert the mechanical energy
contained in these vibrations into electrical energy by using electromechanical
transducers [1,2,3], such as piezoelectric materials. The electrical energy thus produced
can be used to power the lightings available for the stairs.
1.1 Objective
We plan to capture energy from the everyday motion of people traveling up and down
a staircase. We can modify a normal stair tread to move a small distance and the
vibrational energy will be converted to electrical energy using Piezo-electric
Generator. From there, the energy will be stored in a battery for future use. Our main
goal is to harvest as much energy as possible, without compromising the reliability and
safety of tradition stairs.

2. Overview
2.1 Design Objectives
i) Moving Stair Tread:
This is the physical staircase that users will step on. There will be a moving stair tread
which rebounds to its raised position via several springs under the moving tread plate.
The tread plate will be hinged in the back to restrict the tread to one degree of motion.
The tread will be limited in its vertical travel to about a half inch. We will be able to
adjust the vertical travel of the stair via screw with an adjustable wing nut.
ii) Piezo-Electric Material:
The Piezo-electric material palced in the gap between the tread plate and the base is
used to convert the mechanical energy (Vibrations) into electrical energy with the
Piezo-electric generator.
iii) LED or other Lightings:
The Electrical energy thus produced is used to power the LEDs in the stairs or the
other lightings for the surroundings depending upon the amount of power produced.
2.2 Overview of Application
The stair thread can be easily modeled with minimum labour. But care must be taken
to look into the characteristics of the piezo-electric material used.

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The conversion of mechanical energy into electrical one is generally achieved by

converters alternator type or commonly known dynamo.
The piezoelectric effect exists in two domains; the first is the direct piezoelectric
effect that describes the materials ability to transform mechanical strain into electrical
charge, the second form is the converse effect, which is the ability to convert an
applied electrical potential into mechanical strain energy

The direct piezoelectric effect is responsible for the materials ability to function as
a sensor and the converse piezoelectric effect is accountable for its ability to function
as an actuator. A material is deemed piezoelectric when it has this ability to transform
electrical energy into mechanical strain energy, and the likewise transform mechanical
strain energy into electrical charge.
The piezoelectric materials that exist naturally as quartz were not interesting
properties for the production of electricity, however artificial piezoelectric materials
such as PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) present advantageous characteristics.
Piezoelectric materials belong to a larger class of materials called ferroelectrics.
One of the defining traits of a ferroelectric material is that the molecular structure is
oriented such that the material exhibits a local charge separation, known as an electric
dipole.
Throughout the artificial piezoelectric material composition the electric dipoles are
orientated randomly, but when a very strong electric field is applied, the electric
dipoles reorient themselves relative to the electric field; this process is termed poling.
Once the electric field is extinguished, the dipoles maintain their orientation and
the material is then said to be poled. After the poling process is completed, the material
will exhibit the piezoelectric effect.

3. Detailed Description
3.1 Architecture
When the material is deformed or stressed an electric voltage can be recovered along
any surface of the material (via electrodes). Therefore, the piezoelectric properties

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must contain a sign convention to facilitate this ability to recover electric potential in
three directions.

The coefficients d33 of a piezoelectric bar, (C / N) shown in Table I, link the

amount of electrical charge (Coulomb), appearing on an electrode perpendicular to the
axis 3, to the strain (Newton) applied on both ends.

Table I: Typical piezoelectric materials coefficients

For the PZT, d33 = 560 (10-12 C / N) means that 1 N applied strain produces 560 X
10-12 C electrical charge.
2.3 Piezoelectric Generator Principle
The vibrations energy harvesting principle using piezoelectric materials [4] is
illustrated. The conversion chain starts with a mechanical energy source: Staircase.
Movement on the stairs produces vibrations and they are converted into electicity via
piezoelectric element. The electricity produced is thereafter formated by a static
converter before supplying a storage system or the load (electrical device).
In this study, before developing staircase piezoelectric generator, it was essential to
begin with mechanical vibrations sources identification that means carrying out
vibrations accelerations and frequencies measurement and analysis. So we have carried
out measurement on an experimental Staircase to identify the situation where
harvesting more energy is possible. We could then develope a piezoelectric generator
adapted to the identified natural mode of vibration of the stair thread.

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2.4 Proposed Electrical Design

The actual circuitry of our device is quite simple. We will rectify the output of
the Piezo Electric generator and then send it to a small battery for storage.
From here, the energy can be used in any the user desires.It would be ideal to
power LED lights which consume small amounts of power.
For the battery we have chosen to use AAA sized NiMH batteries. They are
safe and relatively easy to work with. These batteries will be able to hold a
significant amount of energy.
The batteries can be charged quickly or slowly depending upon the current that
is provided to them.

4. Advantages

Harvest small, but still significant amounts of energy.

An innovative approach to a device that people use every day.
No compromise to safety or reliability.
Marketing and appearance could encourage people to take the stairs instead of
energy intensive alternatives such as an elevator or escalator.

4.1 Product Features

Electricity is generated through stepping on stair tread.
Stairs tread returns to up position via springs.

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Power can be stored for a future use.

Design will be expandable to several steps and several Piezo-generators per
step.
Cost will be minimal to promote adoption.

5. Future Work
We aim to finish the initial Stage of our design as quickly as possible. This will give us
another month to implement some improvements to our project which would expand
the scope.

Stage 2 of the project involves a microcontroller and a lighting system. We will

put sensors on the stair steps to get signal of people walking on the stairs. A
good way to incorporate the lighting system into the stairs is that when people
are walking up or down the stairs, LEDs for the next two or three steps will
light up.
Another marketable system is to put advertisements on the front panel of the
stairs and they will light up as people are walking up the stairs. These ideas will
be implemented with LEDs as output from the sensors and the microcontroller.
We also considered making a display that could be placed besides the stairs to
inform users how much power they were generating. This would help promote
the idea of Green Design by showing users that they really were generating
energy. For this we would need a small microcontroller and some form of
display. We would measure the voltage and current output of the generator.

Cost Analysis:The cost of the Piezo-electric generator may come upto Rs.500 and the setup for the
staircase was designed by us. The NiMH battery is available in the market for Rs.800
and the other circuits add upto Rs. 500. So the final budget for this project is around
Rs. 1800.
Proposed Mechanical Block

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Block View

References
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

U. K. Singh and R. H. Middleton, "Piezoelectric power scavenging of

mechanical vibration energy", Australian Mining Technology Conference, 2-4
October (2007), pages 111-118.
Roundy S., Wright P. K. and Rabaye J., "A. study of lowlevel vibrations as a
power source for wireless sensor nodes", Computer Communications 26
(2003) 11311144.
Steven R. Anton and Henry A. Sodano, A review of power harvesting using
piezoelectric materials (2003-2006), Smart Materials and Structures 16 (2007)
R1R21.
Y. C. Shu and I. C. Lien, "Analysis of power output for piezoelectric energy
harvesting systems", Smart Materials and Structures 15 (2006), pages 14991512.

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