X Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2018

As per many statistics an average human takes 5000-6000 footsteps per day. Though he is reaching his destiny, there is a lot of energy wasted in this process. When we walk, we transfer kinetic energy of our footsteps into the ground and all that energy is going into vain. What is we could harness this energy and convert it into electricity to power our cell phones or street lamps. This can be done using a Pavegen Tile.

A Pavegen Tile is like a normal tile which is installed in the ground. When we walk on a tile Pavegen tiles it converts the kinetic energy from the footsteps into electrical energy. These Pavegen tiles are manufactured by Pavegen Systems. They are invented by Pavegen CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook.These tiles are installed like normal tiles on the ground. These are tested to to with stand various environmental conditions. They can even function in water upto 1.5m depth (fig.1). These tiles are installed at the places where human activity is more, places like marathon runs, footpaths etc.

Figure 1 - Internal Structure Of Pavegen Tiles

Pavegen Tile consists of a magnet, copper coil. The top surface of the tiles is made using recycled rubber, from old truck tyres. Hence the cost of production is also low and unlike a dynamo, there are no mechanical parts to break down.

When a footstep is landed on the tile the top surface of the tile is flexed as a result the magnet comes closer to the coil. When the magnet comes closer there is a difference in the magnetic flux interacting with the coil which produces voltage across the coil.

This is the Faraday’s law of induction

Each footfall generates up to 7 watts at 12 volts DC, enough to run an LED street lamp for 30 seconds. This may sound very less but when we install them at fully crowded areas the power harnessed will be very high (fig.2).

Advantages:

Easy to install

The cost of production is low

The power produced will not depend on atmospheric conditions (unlike renewable resources)

Limitation

Figure 2 - The main limitation of Pavegen Tiles is, the power produced is very low

A feature of the invention is that a person will be able to determine with the help of a smartphone how much energy was created due to his step. And if you are at home only in the evenings, that is, especially no one walks around the house during the day, then energy will be able to collect endothermic energy-saving tiles that can be used instead of roofing. It turns out beautiful and practical. The idea with tiles, which generate electricity, is now being tested in the Canterbury Gymnasium. Among other things, students can use the energy of the steps to energize their projects, hung out on the walls in the corridor. To do this, you have to walk around the slabs located near the project. Currently, the price of one plate is $ 76. 24 tiles cover approximately 5 sq.m. The inventors are working to reduce the price of tiles and equate its cost to the price of linoleum.

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