Investigation of Human Kinetic Energy Harvesting from Human Foot Strike

Abstract

Due to the increasing demand of wireless sensor and low power consumer electronic device demand, energy harvesting from human motion become more favoured in recent years. In this study, an energy harvester based on human foot strike is proposed. The kinetic energy is harvested by using the piezoelectric materials and converted into an electrical energy. The effect of different types and different circuit configurations of piezoelectric materials are investigated in this study. Besides, the effect of several factors such as human body weight, gender and walking speed are also investigated. It is found that the MCFT-41T-1.0A1-141 piezoelectric ceramic which is thinner and greater in diameter can generate the greatest amount of electrical energy, which is 30.97 μW, whereas the best configuration is series connection. Besides, the electrical energy generated by people with greater body weight and faster walking speed are also higher. Finally, results also showed that a male can generate greater amount of electrical energy when compared to female.