Electromagnetic Energy Harvester for Transportation Infrastructure Using Vehicle-Tread Force

Author(s):  
Shinji Koganezawa ◽  
Kota Morii ◽  
Hiroshi Tani ◽  
Renguo Lu ◽  
Norio Tagawa

Abstract We propose a novel electromagnetic energy-harvesting device (EHD) for structural health monitoring systems of transportation infrastructures. The EHD is embedded in the road surface and uses the tread force of cars as the input force when tires of cars pass over it. Because the input force is very fast, the proposed EHD can generate a large amount of energy. The footprint of the device is 20 × 20 mm, its height is 7.5 mm, and its volume is 2.4 cm3. We measured the energy generated when a bicycle passed over the EHD 34 times at various speeds between 5 and 15 km/h. Subsequently, we obtained the regression curve from the results, which showed the relationship between the bicycle speed and generated energy, and estimated the electric energy generated by car at higher speeds. The results showed that, even though the size of the EHD was small, electric energies of 100 μJ, and 1.0 mJ could be generated at car speeds of 17 km/h, and 52 km/h, respectively.

Author(s):  
Mohamed M. R. El-Hebeary ◽  
Mustafa H. Arafa ◽  
Said M. Megahed

The focus of the present work is on the design of plate structures for vibration energy harvesting from two closely-spaced modes of vibration. The work is motivated by the quest to design resonators that respond to variable-frequency sources of base motion. The geometry of two-dimensional structures, such as trapezoidal and V-shaped plates, is explored to obtain two closely-spaced harvestable vibration modes to scavenge energy across a broader bandwidth. To this end, an electromagnetic energy harvester in the form of a base excited plate is proposed. The plate carries tip magnets that oscillate past stationary coils to generate power from the first two modes of vibration. The plate dynamic behavior is governed by its geometry and placement of the magnets on its tip. An effort is made to optimize the system configuration so as to control the spacing between the resonance frequencies while efficiently harvesting energy from both modes. Findings of the present work are verified both numerically and experimentally.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 025022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Yan ◽  
Ning Yu ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Hongye Ma ◽  
Chuanyu Wu ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Antonella Lopez ◽  
Alessandro Germani ◽  
Luigi Tinella ◽  
Alessandro Oronzo Caffò ◽  
Albert Postma ◽  
...  

Our spatial mental representations allow us to give refined descriptions of the environment in terms of the relative locations and distances between objects and landmarks. In this study, we investigated the effects of familiarity with the everyday environment, in terms of frequency of exploration and mode of transportation, on categorical and coordinate spatial relations, on young and elderly participants, controlling for socio-demographic factors. Participants were tested with a general anamnesis, a neuropsychological assessment, measures of explorations and the Landmark Positioning on a Map task. The results showed: (a) a modest difference in performance with categorical spatial relations; (b) a larger difference in coordinate spatial relations; (c) a significant moderating effect of age on the relationship between familiarity and spatial relations, with a stronger relation among the elderly than the young. Ceteris paribus, the role of direct experience with exploring their hometown on spatial mental representations appeared to be more important in the elderly than in the young. This advantage appears to make the elderly wiser and likely protects them from the detrimental effects of aging on spatial mental representations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1566
Author(s):  
Rong-Chang Jou ◽  
Ming-Che Chao

Introduction—Medical emergency vehicles help patients get to the hospital quickly. However, there were more and more ambulance crashes on the road in Taiwan during the last decade. This study investigated the characteristics of medical emergency vehicle crashes in Taiwan from January 2003 to December 2016. Methods—The ordered logit (OL) model, multinominal logit (MNL) model, and partial proportional odds (PPO) model were applied to investigate the relationship between the severity of ambulance crash injuries and its risk factors. Results—We found the various factors have different effects on the overall severity of ambulance crashes, such as ambulance drivers’ characteristics and road and weather conditions. When another car was involved in ambulance crashes, there was a disproportionate effect on the different overall severity, as found by the PPO model. Conclusions—The results showed that male ambulance drivers and car drivers who failed to yield to an ambulance had a higher risk of severe injury from ambulance crashes. Ambulance crashes are an emerging issue and need further policies and public education regarding Taiwan’s ambulance transportation safety.


2003 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth S. Kessler ◽  
S. Mark Spearing

ABSTRACTEmbedded structural health monitoring systems are envisioned to be an important component of future transportation systems. One of the key challenges in designing an SHM system is the choice of sensors, and a sensor layout, which can detect unambiguously relevant structural damage. This paper focuses on the relationship between sensors, the materials of which they are made, and their ability to detect structural damage. Sensor selection maps have been produced which plot the capabilities of the full range of available sensor types vs. the key performance metrics (power consumption, resolution, range, sensor size, coverage). This exercise resulted in the identification of piezoceramic Lamb wave transducers as the sensor of choice. Experimental results are presented for the detailed selection of piezoceramic materials to be used as Lamb wave transducers.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1505
Author(s):  
Sungryong Bae ◽  
Pilkee Kim

In this study, a semi-analytic approach to optimizing the external load resistance of a bi-stable electromagnetic energy harvester is presented based on the harmonic balance method. The harmonic balance analyses for the primary harmonic (period-1T) and two subharmonic (period-3T and 5T) interwell motions of the energy harvester are performed with the Fourier series solutions of the individual motions determined by spectral analyses. For each motion, an optimization problem for maximizing the output power of the energy harvester is formulated based on the harmonic balance solutions and then solved to estimate the optimal external load resistance. The results of a parametric study show that the optimal load resistance significantly depends on the inductive reactance and internal resistance of a solenoid coil––the higher the oscillation frequency of an interwell motion (or the larger the inductance of the coil) is, the larger the optimal load resistance. In particular, when the frequency of the ambient vibration source is relatively high, the non-linear dynamic characteristics of an interwell motion should be considered in the optimization process of the electromagnetic energy harvester. Compared with conventional resistance-matching techniques, the proposed semi-analytic approach could provide a more accurate estimation of the external load resistance.


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