Rotational Energy Harvesting Systems for Unpowered Freight Rail Cars

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Nagode ◽  
M. Ahmadian ◽  
S. Taheri
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Shock Absorber ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Rotational Energy ◽  
Coil Spring ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting ◽  
Railroad Applications

Commonly, freight cars have no available source of electric power, thus preventing the use of any electronic devices that could improve convenience, performance, and efficiency of railroad operations. The devices introduced in this paper are motion-based electromagnetic energy harvesting systems. Similar in size and shape to a conventional damper or shock absorber, the systems are to be placed in the coil spring of the suspension to convert part of the energy usually wasted as heat into useful electric energy. This paper will present the design, development and testing of such devices. Tests of prototype devices on a shock dynamometer show that more than 20 Watts RMS of power can be produced with motions that can be encountered in train suspensions. The devices presented, although primarily developed for railroad applications, are not limited to use in freight cars and could be similarly applied in various vehicles with suspension like tractor-trailers, buses or automobiles.

Piezoelectric Generators in the Energy Harvesting Systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 248 ◽  
pp. 243-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Grzybek
Keyword(s):  
Piezoelectric Material ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Electronic System ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
And Storage

Piezoelectric generator is a device used to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. The basic element of the generator is made from piezoelectric material in which electrical energy is created as a result of deformations caused by reactions of mechanical structure of the generator. The amount of obtained electrical energy depends mainly on the piezoelectric material used, construction of the generator as well as a type of the source of mechanical energy. Construction of the generator is adjusted to the type of the source of mechanical energy. In order to obtain electrical energy from mechanical vibrations, the most frequent solution is beam structure. Effective electric energy generation by the piezoelectric generators depends on the following main factors: piezoelectric material used, generator structure, electronic system of the control and storage of energy, and the generator size. Generated by piezoelectric generators electric energy, can be used to power of miniaturized electronic devices with low power supply demand. The goal may be monitoring of the structure or industrial processes in hardly accessible places or/and in systems requiring the use of a big number of sensors. It will make cutting the operating costs possible and allow to create the eco-friendly technology without waste discharged batteries.

Design and Analysis of Parallel Interconnection Hydraulic-Electric Energy-Harvesting Active Radial Steering Bogie System

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingshuai Meng ◽  
Lin Xu ◽  
Junyi Zou ◽  
Jia Mi ◽  
Sijing Guo
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Shock Absorber ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Mechanical Vibration ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Average Energy ◽  
Vibration Energy ◽  
Vertical Acceleration ◽  
Power Module

With the increasing of the train load, the wheel-rail wear is worsening, the maintaining and replacing cycle is shortened enormously, the problem of replacing steel rail and wheel prematurely not only make the railway transportation cost increasing, but also affect the railway normal transportation. This paper proposes a novel type of active energy self-supply radial steering technology — the parallel interconnection hydraulic-electric energy-harvesting active radial steering bogie system. This system is a typical “machine – electric – hydraulic” coupling system, which includes parallel interconnection hydraulic-electric energy-harvesting suspension and active radial steering bogie, consisting of mechanical, electronic, hydraulic and control subsystems internally. In this system, the radial steering bogie is equipped with four HESA, and HESA can reuse the mechanical vibration energy which used to be transformed into waste heat by the shock absorber. In this system, the mechanical vibration energy is now used to drive power module of active radial steering bogie, so as to implement the train’s active radial steering without external power supply. This paper discusses the evolution of radial steering bogie in general, and introduces the structure and basic principle of the parallel interconnection electro-hydraulic energy-harvesting active radial steering bogie system. The system establishes a model of the parallel interconnection hydraulic-electric energy-harvesting shock absorber. The typical vertical irregularity of American track is established. In the paper, we research on the system’s damping performance and energy recovery performance through stimulation. Simulation results show that the maximum vertical acceleration of train body is reduced from 42.9% to 62.3%, and the average energy recovery power from the system increases from 217W to 1835W when the system works at the six levels of track irregularities.

Rotational energy harvesting systems using piezoelectric materials: A review

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 041501
Author(s):  
Zhe Wang ◽  
Lipeng He ◽  
Xiangfeng Gu ◽  
Shuo Yang ◽  
Shicheng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Piezoelectric Materials ◽  
Rotational Energy ◽  
Harvesting Systems
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