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  • Author Author: vsluiter
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'Pedestrian power'

vsluiter

Just today, I saw this tweet from EHJournal:

 

image

The link is here, it's a project that uses the force of the heel strike to generate energy. In fact, it looks a lot like this link I posted earlier.

 

Again, a lot of gearing is necessary for this to be useful; using a stepper motor might be smarter here as well....

 

 

 

  • Hi Victor and Don,

    The Millenium bridge in London is an excellent example of a public structure that could be used to harness energy albeit accidental.

    Its original design was flawed and made many pedestrians sick and feel wobbly due to it resonating from the energy from the pedestrians walking on it..

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Bridge,_London

     

    They've dampened it but I do not know whether they harvesting this unwanted energy.

     

    Cheers

    Very Compact

  • Hi Victor,

     

    I agree.  I think the only way we can really exploit energy harvesting is on the large scale high population activities.

    An individual will just never expend or use enough energy to make energy harvesting cost effective.  Where as a lot of people can generate energy just by walking, riding, using, and moving about.

     

    With hundreds or thousands of users available, the economy of scale begins to capture a significant amount of energy.  Milliwatts become watts, kilowatts, and then megawatts.

     

    The key will always be finding unobtrusive ways to harness a little energy from each person without them even knowing they contribute.  Each stair step in a building gets used hundreds of times a day.  A single piezo sensor could generate a lot of power under those conditions.

     

    Keep thinking, we have a long way to go.

     

    DAB