INSTALLATION OF PIEZOELECTRIC GENERATORS ON HIGHWAY PAVEMENTS

A MINI-PROJECT REPORT Submitted by

A.RAJAMOHAMED A.SANTHANA KARTHICK M.VIGNESHKUMAR P.YUVARAJ

(AC09UCE067) (AC09UCE077) (AC09UCE110) (AC09UCE116)

In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
in

CIVIL ENGINEERING ADHIYAMAAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING (AUTONOMOUS)

ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI 600 025

OCTOBER 2012

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certify that this project report INSTALLATION OF PIEZOELECTRIC GENERATORS ON HIGHWAY PAVEMENTS is the bonafide work of A.RAJAMOHAMED, A.SANTHANAKARTHICK, M.VIGNESH KUMAR and P.YUVARAJ who carried out the project work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE

SIGNATURE

Ms T.KARTHIKA INTERNAL SUPERVISOR Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur-635109.

Dr.S.SURESH BABU HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT Department of Civil Engineering, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur-635109.

Submitted for the project work held on ________ at, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur, 635109.

Internal Examiner

External Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we praise the Almighty God for showering his blessings on us and who helped us all the way in our career. We highly express our earnest and sincere thanks to our beloved Principal Dr.G.RANGANATH, M.E., Ph.D., Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur. We express our gratitude to Dr.S.SURESH BABU, M.E., Ph.D., Head of the department, Department of Civil Engineering, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur, for his valuable suggestions throughout this project. Our sincere thanks to our Internal Supervisor, Ms.T.KARTHIKA, M.E., Assistant Professor and other faculties of Department of Civil

Engineering, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur, for her guidance and their support throughout this project.

ABSTRACT
Due to shortage of electricity, environmental hazards caused due to electricity generation and limited resources available for power generation inspired us to produce electricity by utilizing moving loads in highways by installing piezoelectric generators. This study aims to install piezoelectric generator on highway pavements to generate electricity by utilizing the moving loads on the highways. Piezoelectric generators are placed beneath the pavements, when the vehicles moves over it, the generators will convert the mechanical stress in to electrical energy. This method of producing electricity is cheaper, environmental friendly, renewable and long lasting.

List of tables Table no.

5.1

Description of table
Thickness of various layers in model pavement

Page no.
20

6.1

Output voltage table

22

ii

List of figures Fig. no.

1.1 1.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 6.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5

Name of the figure

Piezoelectric effect Chennai-Bengaluru highway C/S of pavement with PEG Location of PEGs on pavement Placing PEG on concrete cubes Laying of sub grade Laying of base course Placing of PEGs in model Laying of surface course

Page no.
3 5 10 11 16 17 18 19 20 21 21 22 25 26 27 28 29

c/s of model pavement

Dynamic signal analyzer Load vs voltage graph Availability chart Cost spent for generation of 1MW chart Duration of construction chart Lifetime chart Operational and maintenance cost chart

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO. ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES i ii iii

1.

INTRODUCTION 1.1.GENERAL 1.2.PIEZOELECTRICITY 1.3.HIGHWAY 1.4.POWER SCARCITY

1 1 3 5 6 7 8 8 8 9

2. 3.

OBJECTIVE LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1. ISRAEL NATIONAL ROADS COMPANY 3.2. INNOWATTECH IN ISRAEL 3.3. PIEZOELECTRIC ROADS IN CALIFORNIA

4.

METHODOLOGY 4.1 GENERAL 4.2. DESIGN OF PAVEMENT 4.2.1. FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT 4.2.2. CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO METHOD 4.2.3. DESIGN OF WHEEL LOAD 4.2.4. TYRE PRESSURE 4.2.5. MODEL DESIGN

10 10 12 12 13 14 14 15

5.

EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND MODEL ANALYSIS

16

6.

LOADING AND RESULT

22

7.

COMPARISON BETWEEN PEG AND OTHER RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

25

8.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION 8.1. SCOPE

30 31

9.

REFERENCE

32

10.

APPENDIX

33

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. GENERAL

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of renewable and non renewable sources of energy. There are seven fundamental methods of directly transforming other forms of energy into electrical energy:

Static electricity, from the physical separation and transport of charge (examples: triboelectric effect and lightning)

Electromagnetic

induction,

where

an electrical

generator, dynamo of motion) into

or alternator transforms kinetic

energy (energy

electricity. This is the most used form for generating electricity and is based on Faraday's law. It can be experimented by simply rotating a magnet within closed loop of a conducting material (e.g. copper wire)

Electrochemistry, the direct transformation of chemical energy into electricity, as in a battery, fuel cell or nerve impulse

Photoelectric effect, the transformation of light into electrical energy, as in solar cells

Thermoelectric effect, the direct conversion of temperature differences to electricity, as in thermocouples, thermopiles, and thermionic converters.

Piezoelectric effect, from the mechanical strain of electrically anisotropic molecules or crystals. Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a piezoelectric generator sufficient to operate a liquid crystal display using thin films of M13 bacteriophage.

Nuclear transformation, the creation and acceleration of charged particles (examples: betavoltaics or alpha particle emission)

1.2. PIEZOELECTRICITY
Piezoelectricity is the charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (notably crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and various proteins) in response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure. It is derived from the Greek piezo or piezein which means to squeeze or press, and electric or electron, which stands for amber, an ancient source of electric charge. Piezoelectricity was discovered in 1880 by French

physicists Jacques and Pierre Curie.

Fig 1.1 Piezoelectric effect The piezoelectric effect is understood as the linear electromechanical interaction between the mechanical and the electrical state in crystalline materials with no inversion symmetry. The piezoelectric effect is

a reversible process in that materials exhibiting the direct piezoelectric effect (the internal generation of electrical charge resulting from an applied mechanical force) also exhibit the reverse piezoelectric effect (the internal generation of a mechanical strain resulting from an applied electrical field). For example, lead zirconate titanate crystals will generate measurable
3

piezoelectricity when their static structure is deformed by about 0.1% of the original dimension. Conversely, those same crystals will change about 0.1% of their static dimension when an external electric field is applied to the material. The inverse piezoelectric effect is used in production of ultrasonic sound waves. Piezoelectricity is found in useful applications such as the production and detection of sound, generation of high voltages, electronic frequency generation, microbalances, and ultrafine focusing of optical assemblies. It is also the basis of a number of scientific instrumental techniques with atomic resolution, the scanning probe microscopies and everyday uses such as acting as the ignition source for cigarette lighters and push-start propane barbecues.

1.3. HIGHWAY
A highway is any public road or other public way on land; in which many number of vehicles are travelling from one place to another carrying people and goods. Due to the vehicle movement vast amount of kinetic energy was generated. This energy was not utilized and it goes in vain.

Fig. 1.2 Chennai-Bengaluru highway

1.4. POWER SCARCITY

Power scarcity is a significant issue today and sources for power generation is inadequate. Also the existing sources of power generation have greater impact on environment and uneconomical. India currently facing a power deficit of 17000MW affects the industrial growth and overall national growth of our country. In order to bring relief to citizens of India we are focusing on producing electricity using piezoelectric effect which can be implemented on highways.

Chapter 2 OBJECTIVE
This project is to utilize enormous energy wasted on highways due to vehicle movements. To harvest electricity by placing piezoelectric generators underneath the pavement. To produce a cheaper, eco friendly and renewable source of energy.

Chapter 3 LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1. ISRAEL NATIONAL ROADS COMPANY (October 2010)
In Israel, engineers are about to begin testing a road contains piezoelectric crystals that produce electricity. The system is expected to produce up to 400 kilowatts from a 1 kilometre stretch of dual carriageway and the technology is also applicable to airport runways and rail roads.

3.2. INNOWATTECH IN ISRAEL (2010)

The technology developed by Innowattech Ltd. was recently tested in a complete-system pilot project along a ten-meter stretch of Road 4 north of Hadera, Israel. This is the first practical test of the innovative green energy technology developed by Innowattech, in association with Technion I.I.T (Israel Institute of Technology). The pilot is being conducted in cooperation with the Israel National Roads Company. The technology is based on piezoelectric materials that enable the conversion of mechanical energy exerted by the weight of passing vehicles into electrical energy. The first of its kind project demonstrated how Israeli technology can generate electricity from generators installed beneath a road's asphalt layer, presenting a pioneering invention for "parasitic energy harvesting." The technology does not increase the vehicles' fuel intake or affect the road infrastructure, harvesting the energy, which would have otherwise been wasted on road deformation, rendering this energy as "parasitic."The system developed by Innowattech includes IPEGs (Innowattech Piezoelectric Generators), a harvesting module and a battery charging mechanism. During the pilot, the
8

IPEG were placed at a depth of five centimeters beneath the road's upper asphalt layer on a stretch of ten meters, capable of producing some 2,000 watt-hours (Wh) of power per hour on average on that stretch. The team of scientists involved in the development of the IPEG system included the co-founders of Innowattech, Prof. Haim Abramovich, CEO and faculty member at the Technion I.I.T., Dr. Eugeny Harash, Chief Scientist and Prof. Charles Milgrom of the Hadassah University Hospital. The development team also includes Dr. Eugeny Tsikhotsky, Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Michael Gavshin, Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Lucy Edery-Azulay, Senior Technologist and Project Manager, and Sergey Yusimov, Senior Researcher and Production Controller.

3.3. PIEZOELECTRIC ROADS IN CALIFORNIA (2011)

The piezoelectric energy generating road has been proposed in the car capital of the world California. This design is based on the concept of piezoelectricity that is produced in response to the mechanical stress applied. "A major source of renewable energy is right beneath our feet or, more accurately, our tyres. California is the car capital of the world. It only makes sense to convert to electricity the energy lost as cars travel over our roads" said Assemblyman Gatto. This pilot project aims how PEGs can be installed on Indian road and traffic conditions.

Chapter4 METHODOLOGY 4.1 GENERAL

The piezoelectric generators have to be placed beneath the pavements at certain depths so that the loads from moving vehicle can trigger the generator and the electricity is produced. Multilayer Piezoelectric generators (0.25mx0.25m) (refer Appendix 1.1) are placed on concrete cubes. Concrete cubes are used in order to provide stability to generator and also to resist displacement of PEGs. Sub grade and sub-base course are laid and casted concrete cubes mounted with piezoelectric generators are placed in between base course and surface course.

Fig 4.1 C/S of pavement with PEG

10

 Finally the pavement is asphalted. When vehicles moves over it produces mechanical stress on generator which in turn produces electric energy. The produced electricity is taken out through wires and stabilized in power houses for every one kilometer and can be fetched into power grid. PEGs are positioned based on the axle track (refer Appendix 1.2) of the vehicles. By average the axle track for all vehicles is taken as 2m. The PEGs are placed 2m centre to centre spacing laterally on roadways for single lane.

Fig 4.2 Location of PEGs on pavement Power output from this series of generators is calculated by measuring the traffic density (refer Appendix 1.3) of roadway.

11

4.2. Design of pavement 4.2.1. Flexible pavement

The flexible pavements are built with number of layers. In the design process, it is to be ensured that under the application of load none of the layers is overstressed. This means that at any instance no section of the pavement structure is subjected to excessive deformation to form a localized depression or settlement. In the design of flexible pavements, it has yet not been possible to have a rational design method where in design process and service behavior of the pavement can be expressed or predicated theoretically by mathematical laws. Various flexible pavement design methods i. Group index method ii. California bearing ratio method iii. Triaxial text method iv. Bur mister method We will take the California bearing ratio method (CBR) for the design of our model pavement.

12

4.2.2. California bearing ratio method (refer Appendix 2):

In order to design a pavement by CBR Method, first the soaked CBR value of the soil sub grade is evaluated. Then the appropriate design curve is chosen by taking the design wheel load. Thus the total thickness of flexible pavement needed to cover the sub grade of the known CBR value is obtained. In case there is a material superior than the soil sub grade, such that it may be used as sub-base course then the thickness of construction over this material could be obtained from the design chart knowing the CBR value of the sub-base. Some of the important points recommended by the IRC for the CBR method of design (IRC: 37-1970) [ ]1/2

t=pavement thickness, cm P=wheel load, kg CBR=California bearing ratio, percent p =tyre pressure, kg/cm

A=area of contact, cm

13

4.2.3. Design of Wheel load

The wheel load configurations are important are important to know the way in which the loads of a given vehicle are applied on the pavement surface. For highways the maximum legal axle load as specified by Indian road congress is 8750kg with a maximum equivalent single wheel load 4085kg.

4.2.4. Tyre pressure

Tyre pressure and inflation pressure mean exactly the same. The contact pressure is found to be more than tyre pressure when the tyre pressure is less than 7kg/cm and it vice versa when the tyre pressure exceeds this value. Contact pressure can be measured by the relationship

Contact pressure = load on wheel/contact area

The ratio of contact pressure to tyre pressure is defined as rigidity factor. Thus value of rigidity factor is 1.0 for an average tyre pressure of 7kg/cm

14

4.2.5. Model design

1. Wheel load=8170kg 2. CBR value=5% 3. Tyre pressure=7kg/cm

Total thickness of a pavement:

]1/2

]1/2

Thickness of pavement (

Model ratio we adopted is 2:1

15

Chapter 5 EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND MODEL

Based on model ratio 2:1, a wooden box of size 1mx0.3mx0.3m is made for model pavement in our pilot studies. Piezoelectric generators are mounted on concrete cubes of 5cmx5cm.

Fig. 5.1 Placing PEGs on concrete cubes

16

 The sub grade and base course are laid using well graded soil and 20mm aggregates respectively.

Fig. 5.2 Laying of subgrade

17

Fig. 5.3 Laying of base course

18

 Piezoelectric generators mounted in concrete cubes are placed beneath the surface course of various depths (2mm-3.5mm).

Fig. 5.4 Placing of PEGs

19

Fig. 5.5 Laying of surface course Thickness of the various layers adopted for our model is given below: Table 5.1 Layers Sub grade Base course Surface course Thickness 12.5cm 8.4cm 4.0cm

20

Fig. 5.6 C/S of model pavement Using different weights (0.5kg, 1kg3.5kg), loads are applied on the PEGs and the corresponding output voltage has been measured by using dynamic signal analyzer (refer Appendix 3.1).

Fig. 5.7 Dynamic signal analyzer 359 70A

21

Chapter 6 LOADING AND RESULT

The results are tabulated and a load vs voltage graph has been plotted.

Table 6.1: For model pavement Load applied (N) Depth of PEGs (mm) 5 10 15 20 25 30 2 2 2 2 2 2 1.7 3.3 5.2 6.6 8.4 11 Output voltage (v) Depth of PEGs (mm) 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 0.9 1.7 2.7 3.9 4.5 5.6 Output voltage(v)

22

12

10

output voltage in v

Output voltage for 2 mm depth

output voltage for 3.5mm depth

0 0 10 20 30 40

load applied in N Fig 6.1 LOAD VS VOLTAGE GRAPH FOR MODEL PAVEMENT

23

For original pavement

In existing roadways, both single layer PEGs (refer Appendix 3.2) and multi layer PEGs of 25cm diameter can be placed alternatively. These PEGs can work for a minimum load of 0.5KN to a maximum load of 100KN Most of the vehicle loads falls within these limits hence PEGs can deliver high voltage and high current which can be coupled in power houses.

24

Chapter 7 COMPARISON BETWEEN PEG AND OTHER RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

400 350 300 250

Days

200 150 100 50 0

Availability per year

PEG wind solar

Fig. 7.1
25

160

140

120

Rupees in million

100
PEG wind solar

80

60

40

20

0
Cost spent for generation of 1MW

Fig. 7.2

26

12

10

months

PEG wind solar

0
Duration of construction for producing 50MW

Fig. 7.3

27

30

25

20

years

15

PEG wind solar

10

0
Life time

Fig. 7.4

28

2.50%

2.00%
Percentage of initial investment required per annum

1.50%
PEG wind solar

1.00%

0.50%

0.00%
Operational and maintainance cost

Fig. 7.5
29

Chapter 8 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Hosur-krishnagiri section of NH7 has an average traffic density of 36 vehicles per km for an instant of time. By placing multilayer PEGs (capable of producing high current per trigger) in 52.1km long hosur-krishnagiri section of NH7 can produce 800kw of electrical energy per km which is enough to power 8001000 households. On average entire stretch of 52.1km long highway can produce 41.7MW of electricity which is environmental friendly, renewable and low cost. PEGs does not have any impacts on road characteristics and effects of water and temperature on PEGs are also negligible. PEGs has high lifetime and requires very low operational and maintenance cost. It does not require new space to install; it can be done on existing roadway. India has currently built 18000km length of 4/6 lane highway and if PEGs are installed in highways which can produce 10000MW of electricity.

30

 India currently facing a power deficit of 17000MW and if this method of power generation is implemented, it can provide a quick relief to citizens of India as it is Quicker to construct, Low cost to invest, Friendly to environment.

8.1. SCOPE
PEG method of power generation can also be implemented on railway tracks, airport runways, irrigation structures and also in framed structure.

31

REFERENCE:
DR.S.K.Khanna & DR.C.E.G.Justo, Highway Engineering, Nem Chand & Bros, Roorkee(U.A.). DR.Kadiyali, Design of Pavements, Mcgraw Hill Book Co. Inc.

DR.Mitchell L. Thompson, Thesis on piezoelectric power

generation.

S.G.Rangwala Highway Engineering, Charotor Publisher house B.L.Gupta & Amit Gupta Highway Engineering Stantard
Publishers

Cady, W G; Piezoelectricity McGraw Hill, New York (1946)

Reprint : Dover Press, New York (1964).

International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology. www.wikipedia.org, www.sciencedirect.in, www.americanpiezo.com

32

APPENDIX 1: 1.1 Multi layer PEGs

Multilayer piezo generators consist of a stack of very thin (submillimeter-thick) piezoelectric ceramics alternated with electrodes. The electrical energy produced by a multilayer piezo generator is of a much lower voltage than is generated by a single-layer piezo generator. On the other hand, the current produced by a multilayer generator is significantly higher than the current generated by a single-layer piezoelectric generator.

1.2

Axle track
The axle track in automobiles and other wheeled vehicles which have two or more wheels on an axle, is the distance between the centerline of two road wheels on the same axle, each on the other side of the vehicle.

1.3

Traffic density
The average number of vehicles that occupy one mile or one kilometer of road space, expressed in vehicles per mile or per kilometer.

33

APPENDIX 2 2.1 CBR method

34

APPENDIX 3 3.1 Dynamic signal analyzer

35

Vibration analyzer that uses digital signal processing and the Fast Fourier Transform to display vibration frequency components, voltage, resistance. DSAs also display the time domain and phase spectrum, and can usually be interfaced to a computer.

3.2

Single layer PEGs

Electrical energy in a single-layer piezo generator is released very quickly, is very high voltage, and very low current.

36