Crank shaft road electromagnetic road energy harvester for smart city applications

Niloufar Zabihi*, Zewen Gu, Mohamed Saafi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of providing cheap and on-demand electricity to low-power devices and sensors of smart cities and infrastructures. A new design for an electromagnetic road energy harvester is proposed, and its performance is evaluated through numerical simulations and experiments. The new method can generate sufficient electricity to run the low-power facilities of the smart cities in real-time and provide enough power for further applications using energy storage devices. Unlike the current road energy harvesters, the new harvester has a compact design, negligible mismatch risk between the components, and is more compatible with high-speed roadways. It can be used as road rumbles, transverse rumbles, or smooth speed bumps with a minimal vertical displacement of a maximum of 25 mm. It is shown that the harvester can illuminate LED light bulbs of 2 W at a displacement of 18 mm, which is compatible with the required depth of road rumbles. This power generation level satisfies sensors and IoT requirements and can also be stored for large-scale applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number122020
JournalApplied Energy
Volume352
Early online date30 Sept 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Building and Construction
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • General Energy
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Keywords

  • Electromagnetic harvester
  • Energy harvesting
  • Low-power devices
  • Roadway
  • Smart cities
  • Sustainable energy

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