Foot step power generation system

In this project we are generating electrical power as non-conventional method by

simply walking or running on the foot step. Non-conventional energy system is very
essential at this time to our nation.

Non-conventional energy using foot step is

converting mechanical energy into the electrical energy. This project using simple drive
mechanism such as rack and pinion assemble and chain drive mechanism.
For this project the conversion of the force energy in to electrical energy. The control
mechanism carries the rack & pinion, D.C generator, battery and inverter control. We
have discussed the various applications and further extension also. The D.C generator
used in this project is Permanente Magnet D.C generator. The Generator is coupled to the
fly wheel Shaft with the help of Spur Gear Mechanism.

Introduction
Man has needed and used energy at an increasing rate for his sustenance and well
being ever since he came on the earth a few million years ago. Primitive man required
energy primarily in the form of food. He derived this by eating plants or animals, which
he hunted. Subsequently he discovered fire and his energy needs increased as he started
to make use of wood and other bio mass to supply the energy needs for cooking as well
as for keeping himself warm.
With the passage of time, man started to cultivate land for agriculture. He added a
new dimension to the use of energy by domesticating and training animals to work for
him. With further demand for energy, man began to use the wind for sailing ships and for
driving windmills, and the force of falling water to turn water for sailing ships and for
driving windmills, and the force of falling water to turn water wheels. Till this time, it
would not be wrong to say that the sun was supplying all the energy needs of man either
directly or indirectly and that man was using only renewable sources of energy.

Need of the Project

Fuel deposit in the will soon deplete by the end of 2050 fuel scarcity will be maximum.
Country like India may not have the chance to use petroleum products. Keeping this
dangerous situation in mind we tried to make use of non - pollutant natural resource of
petrol energy.
The creation of new source of perennial environmentally acceptable, low cost electrical
energy as a replacement for energy from rapidly depleting resources of fossil fuels is the
fundamental need for the survival of mankind. We have only about 25 years of oil
reserves and 75 100 years of coal reserves.
Resort to measure beginning of coal in thermal electric stations to serve the population
would result in global element change in leading to worldwide drought and
decertification.
The buzzards of nuclear electric-stations are only to will. Now electric power beamed
directly by micro-wave for orbiting satellite. Solar power stations provide a cost-effective
solution even though work on solar photo voltaic and solar thermo electric energy sources
has been extensively pursued by many countries. Earth based solar stations suffer certain
basic limitations. It is not possible to consider such systems and meeting continuous
uninterrupted concentrated base load electric power requirements. Energy plays an
important role in the material, social and cultural life of mankind. The energy needs are
increasing day by day. This is the result of population growth and increase in the standard
of living which is directly proportional to energy consumption.
As we know that mankind will be never lacking in energy. Today, it is liquid fluid,
tomorrow it may be uranium with an element of risk. Risk exists where ever there is
human activity and production of energy. Just as the supply of fossil fuel is finite thus
there will be the supply of uranium. Perhaps, uranium would be exhausted quickly if it is
used on a large scale.
It is therefore, harnessing the gigantic inexhaustible solar energy source reduces the
dependence on fossil fuels. For the environmental concerned, the solar energy harnessing
system offers advantages in that, it emits no pollutants in to the atmosphere as they are
with the combustion of fossil fuels. Thus, as a long term option solar energy system can

be considered as an alternate to all the finite fuel system. Therefore, there is no energy
shortage today nor will there be in the near future.

Objective

To design a footsteps power generation system.

To develop the designed model.

To test the developed

Advantages
1) Power generation is simply walking on the step.
2) Power also generated by running or exercising on the step.
3) No need fuel input.
4) This is a Non-conventional system.
5) Battery is used to store the generated power.
Disadvantages
1) Only applicable for the particular place.
2) Mechanical moving parts are high.
3) Initial cost of this arrangement is high.
4) Care should be taken for batteries.

Methodology
Literature survey - Power generation from renewable resources, power generation
from footsteps.
Detail design Design of rack and pinion, design of gear box, power output
calculation, part drawing and assembly drawing of the model.
Fabrication Fabrication and assembly of footsteps power generation product.
Testing of the fabricated product.
Cost estimation.

Literature survey
Power Generation from Renewable resources
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind,
rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). About 16%
of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from
traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from hydroelectricity.
New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels)
accounted for another 3% and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewables in
electricity generation is around 19%, with 16% of global electricity coming from
hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewables.

Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas: electricity

generation, hot water/space heating, motor fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

Renewable Energy Options

Solar energy

Wind energy

Ocean Thermal Energy

Biomass

Hydro power

Geothermal

Tidal Energy

Power generation from Foot steps

Ramesh Raja R, Sherin Mathew, Power Generation from Staircase, 2014.
We are using the non-renewable energy sources such as petroleum as well as renewable
sources like solar, wind, tidal power etc., but still we couldnt overcome our power needs.
So we have to generate electricity through each and every possible ways. Power can be
generated through we are stepping on the stairs; the generated power will be stored and
can be used for domestic purposes. This system can be installed at homes, colleges,
railway stations, where the people move around the clock. The utilization of waste energy
of human foot power is very much relevant and important for populated countries like
India and China. A special mechanical arrangement such as crankshaft mechanism is
employed on the stair case. This arrangement will convert the foot power applied on
stairs, as a rotary motion. This rotary motion will be used to generate efficient electricity.
Its an eco-friendly; easily accessible and non-conventional power generation system
when compared to existing systems.
Siba brata Mohanty, Sasank shekhar Panda, An Investigation on Generation of
Electricity Using Foot Step, 2014.
Nowadays energy and power are the one of the basic necessities regarding this modern
world. As the demand of energy is increasing day by day, so the ultimate solution to deal
with these sorts of problems is just to implement the renewable sources of energy. But
these renewable energy sources must have to be adopted in practical manner by keeping
an eye on all aspects regarding the research work. So then these techniques should be
applied in order to get the desired output. The objective of this work is power generation
through footsteps as a source of renewable energy that we can obtained while walking on
to the certain arrangements like footpaths, stairs, plate forms and these systems can be
install elsewhere specially in the dense populated areas. The basic working principle of
footstep power generation system is based on the crank shaft and gear arrangement and
fly wheel. So in order to implement this foot step power generation system we adjust the

wooden plates above and below the sensors and moveable springs, when we walk on the
mat than automatically force is applied and as a result magnet fixed under the top wooden
sheet and moves into the cavity. As this cavity is fixed at bottom wooden sheet of mat so
between the moveable springs adjusted between the top and bottom sheets. As a result of
completing the above procedure or technique we made ourselves able to design such
compatible system through which we could run our home appliances through AC output.
As our main purpose was to charge the battery through DC output and then by inverting it
into AC for normal common usage. Thus as a result we have concluded that these types
of designs and techniques of power generating systems are very useful and handy in order
to match the supply and demand of energy globally as well.
Kiran Boby, Aleena Paul K, Anumol.C.V, Footstep Power Generation Using Piezo
Electric Transducers, 2014
Man has needed and used energy at an increasing rate for the sustenance and well-being
since time immemorial. Due to this a lot of energy resources have been exhausted and
wasted. Proposal for the utilization of waste energy of foot power with human
locomotion is very much relevant and important for highly populated countries like India
where the railway station, temples etc., are overcrowded all round the clock .When the
flooring is engineered with piezo electric technology, the electrical energy produced by
the pressure is captured by floor sensors and converted to an electrical charge by piezo
transducers, then stored and used as a power source. And this power source has many
applications as in agriculture, home application and street lighting and as energy source
for sensors in remote locations.
Based on the literature survey we have decided to design and develop a foot step power
generation system using mechanical components. From the above literature survey we
came to know that rack and pinion mechanism is used to convert mechanical energy to
electricity. Chain drive was used in the previously done projects and we have decided to
replace chain drive gear box, since center distance is less.

Detail Design

Fig Schematic diagram of footsteps power generation

Movable plate
Fixed base plate
Rack
Pinion
Gear box
Spring load piston and cylinder
Generator
Battery
Inverter
Bulb

The complete diagram of the foot step power generation is given below. Only one step is
inclined in certain small angle which is used to generate the power. The pushing
power is converted into electrical energy by proper driving arrangement. The rack
& pinion, spring arrangement is fixed at the inclined step. The spring is used to
return the inclined step in same position by releasing the load. The pinion shaft is
connected to the supporter by end bearings as shown in fig. The larger sprocket
also coupled with the pinion shaft, so that it is running the same speed of pinion.
The larger sprocket is coupled to the small cycle sprocket with the help of chain
(cycle). This larger sprocket is used to transfer the rotation force to the smaller
sprocket.
The smaller sprocket is running same direction for the forward and reverse direction of
rotational movement of the larger sprocket. This action locks like a cycle pedaling
action. The fly wheel and gear wheel is also coupled to the smaller sprocket shaft.
The flywheel is used to increase the rpm of the smaller sprocket shaft. The gear
wheel is coupled to the generator shaft with the help of another gear wheel. The
generator is used here, is permanent magnet D.C generator. The generated voltage
is 12Volt D.C.

Working of rack-pinion mechanism

While moving, the vehicles possess some Potential Energy due to its weight and it is
being wasted. This kinetic energy can be utilized to produce power by using a special
arrangement called POWER HUMP. It is an Electro-Mechanical unit. It utilizes both
mechanical technologies and electrical techniques for the power generation and its
storage. POWER HUMP is a dome like device likely to be speed breaker. Whenever the
vehicle is allowed to pass over the dome it gets pressed downwards then the springs are
attached to the dome and are compressed and the rack which is attached to the bottom of
the dome moves downward in reciprocating motion. Since the rack has teeth connected to
gears, there exists conversion of reciprocating motion of rack into rotary motion of gears
but the two gears rotate in opposite direction.. So that the shafts will rotate with certain
R.P.M. these shafts are connected through a set of gears to the dynamos, which converts

the mechanical energy into electrical energy. The conversion will be proportional to
traffic density.

The electrical output can be improved by arranging these POWER HUMPS in series.
This generated power can be amplified and stored by using different electrical devices.
The project is concerned with generation of electricity from speed breakers-like set up.
The load acted upon the speed breaker - setup is there by transmitted to rack and pinion
arrangements. Here the reciprocating motion of the speed-breaker is converted into rotary
motion using the rack and pinion arrangement. The axis of the pinion is coupled with a
gear.
This gear is meshed a pinion. As the power is transmitted from the gear to the pinion, the
speed that is available at the gear is relatively multiplied at the rotation of the pinion. The
axis of the pinion is coupled to a gear arrangement. Here we have two gears with
different diameters. The gear (larger dimension) is coupled to the axis of the pinion.

Hence the speed that has been multiplied at the smaller sprocket wheel is passed on to
this gear of larger dimension. The pinion is meshed to the gear. So as the gear rotates at
the multiplied speed of the pinion, the pinion following the gear still multiplies the speed
to more intensity. Hence, although the speed due to the rotary motion achieved at the first
gear is less, as the power is transmitted to gears the speed is multiplied to a higher speed.
This speed is sufficient to rotate the rotor of a generator.

Advantages
Rack-Pinion assembly gives good mounting convenience
Maximum gear losses 3 to 5%
Approximate Efficiency 95%