Footstep Power Generator: A Conceptual Design For Electrical Energy Production

1. Engineered systems have functional purposes in response to identified needs and have the ability to achieve stated operational objectives.

2. Engineered systems are brought into being and operate over a life cycle, beginning with identification of needs and ending with phase-out and disposal

3. Engineered systems have design momentum that steadily increases throughout design, production, and deployment, and then decreases throughout the phase-out, retirement, and disposal.  

4. Engineered systems are composed of a harmonised combination of resources, such as facilities, equipment, materials, people, information, software, and money.

5. Engineered systems are composed of subsystems and related components that interact with each other to produce a desired system response or behaviour.

6. Engineered systems are part of a hierarchy and are influenced by external factors from larger systems which they are a part and from sibling systems from which they are composed. 

Most of the countries are still categorized in developing countries and source of power has been always crucial for the development and growth of those countries. The developed countries have managed the source of power however till the date, none of the countries are utilizing the renewable sources of energy for the need and requirement of entire country. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) claimed that 66% of the world are utilizing fossil fuels for the power generation and 8% have been utilizing nuclear energy for the power production (Nayyar, Zaigham and Qadeer 2014). The following graph explains the coal consumption rate and the share of the fuels in power generation

The population has been drastically increasing around the world due to the fact that death rate has been always lower than the birth rate and thus, source of energy is a crucial factor for fulfilling the needs and requirements of the current population (Body et al. 2014). Same population can be the solution of the identified problem as the proposed project will be helpful in allowing the populated countries to produce conventional source of mechanical energy that can be alternatively converted into electrical energy.

This report will be emphasizing on the theoretical aspects of the foot step power generator using Piezo electric sensors and storing them in batteries for further application. The proposed project will be helpful in introducing the world with an option of conventional source of energy that can fulfil the needs and requirements of the population.

2. Conceptual Design

It was identified that consumption and production of the renewable source of energy has been lagging by very big factor as represented in the following graph The project will be a technical management report that will be allowing the establishment of a system that can fulfil the needs of electricity within a populated area in an efficient and effective manner. The above mentioned conceptual design demonstrates the working and establishment of a single footstep power generator considering the technical representation of the electrical and electronic components necessary for the electricity production.

Such single footstep power generator can be established in a mass number among the different populated areas for the development and execution of a system that can produce mass electricity for meeting the requirements of the common people. These devices will be embedded underground and while, individuals and vehicles run over the piezoelectric sensor, it will develop electricity that will be stored in big batteries. The AC converter will be transferring the DC in AC form and thus, transformers will be used for transferring electricity from one place to others and allowing the local community to avail the services. The vehicles and human beings will be always available there for allowing the system to gather the necessary mechanical energy and thus, storing and transferring the power from one place to another.

Process of Development and Management of System

2.1 Process of development and management of system

The waterfall methodology will be used as an approach for the development of the entire system in manner to make sure that the project is being delivered without leaving any activity behind. It will allow in divided the project activities into phases and delivering the strategies accordingly (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The entire project will be divided into five phases for the development and execution of the project including initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closure. The team members will be selected as the responsible stakeholders in manner to accomplish the project activities and objectives and lead the project successfully (Turner 2014).

Regular monitoring and controlling plan will be developed in manner to manage the quality and standard of the project. The effective leadership and management approach will be helpful in delivering the project constraints and the project in a successful and efficient manner. A well planned communication plan for the stakeholders will be organized on regular basis in manner to consider the different perceptions of the stakeholders related to the on-going growth and development of the project. Consideration of the project constraints in the prior of the research will be playing crucial role and hence, the project development plan should be sophisticated and less complex in manner to manage the project constraints in an effective and efficient manner.

2.2 Importance of feedback control loop and human factors

Feedback control loop will be helpful in allowing the project manager to develop and implement the changes related to the project constraints and propose a specific changes implementation those could alternatively lead to the implementation of the changes those can enhance the standard and quality of the project (Larson and Clifford 2015). The human factors will be responsible for installing the sensors and the power collectors at different places within the populated areas. This will be helpful in collecting and storing lots of electrical energy being converted from the sensors through utilizing the mechanical energy being wasted by the humans while walking on the streets (Dev, Arora and Sekhar 2015).

The proposed system will be for the human and hence, their feedback will be helpful in manipulating the project in a manner that it can be capable enough for the power management in the society. The feedback will be taken in two phases including during the initiation phase in manner to understand the needs and requirements of the users and what their perspective on the project are.

Importance of Feedback Control Loop and Human Factors

The second phase will be after launching in the real world that will be alternatively helpful in gathering their perspectives on how effective and efficient the suggested project is delivering from the perspective of the end users. The feedback will have certain recommendations, issues, and appraises and hence, these feedbacks will be implemented in the project again for the development of successful project.

2.3 Common management processes

The project will be divided into five phases for the management of the operational activities in manner to assure that the suggested project can be delivered within the estimated time and of high standard. The entire project will need to be managed under proper and effective managerial and leadership attributes. The project will be delivered based on the following phases:

Project Initiation: This phase will be emphasizing on the selection of the best topic and estimation of the ways through which the project can be delivered in an efficient and effective way. This will be emphasizing on the scope and objective of the project as stated below:

Scope of the project that can be utilized as the contribution for enhancing the community and society. The targeted consumers of the project are the local community and people who need power supply for the accomplishing the daily operational activities. The project objective is to propose a conventional source of energy that can fulfil the needs of the power generation in the present world where non-renewable source of energy have been the major power source.

Project Planning: This phase will be about the development of the plan that can be utilized for delivering the project in an efficient and effective manner. The project plan development will be to complete the model of the project within fifteen days and demonstrate the project to the heads considering the efficiency and effectiveness of the project development (Nibras, Senanayakalage and Shaffer 2017). The expenses on the project will be minimum in manner to make it applicable and favourable for implementing within the populated areas.

Monitoring and controlling: The effective communication management will be delivered in manner to manage the smooth communication between the stakeholders assuring that the project constraints are being managed in an efficient and effective manner. The continuous growth and development of the project will be communicated among the stakeholders and hence, managed in an effective manner.

Project Closure: The ultimate goal of the project will be to deliver it in an efficient and effective manner. Proper documentation and listing of project constraints will be delivered in this phase considering the management of the after project constraints.

Common Management Processes

2.4 System optimization

Reliability: The proposed project can be installed underground the roads, streets, and footpaths without utilizing extra space for the components and thus, could be utilized for the efficient electric energy production. This project can be highly reliable in the present scenario of the system as the wind energy, solar energy, and other renewable sources cannot provide 24*7 electricity production. However, the footstep power generator can take its lead role by providing the source of energy that can be utilized for the 24*7 power generation as the populated areas will have always vehicles and human being walking around the roads.

In the present scenario, human beings are mostly relied on the non-renewable sources of energy and proposition of the footstep generation can be helpful in replacing those sources and providing enough power that can allow the public to live their better lives (Muhammad et al. 2016). If the Piezoelectric sensors are implemented among the expected places in the cities with populated states or counties, enough electricity can be produced that can be utilized for the living of the human beings and managing their daily operational activities. The human beings can rely on this source of energy as the one-time investment can be made for long-time electricity production.

Sustainability: The investment being made for the development of the project would be costing for once only as the setup needed to be developed for the collection and storage of the electricity and thereafter, using it for further applications. The project will eliminate the possible causes of the pollution as the kinetic energy of the humans and vehicles will be the source of electricity and there will be not any leftover or residue left after the production. The proposed project will be highly efficient in the pollution management and limiting the pollution and will be helpful in managing the better environment for the future generation (Xie and Cai 2014). It can be used for mass production of electricity and leaving behind zero pollution. The environment will not have to suffer due to the production of electricity using this approach.

Evaluation: The efficiency will be the major element for this project as the collected energy must be efficiently converting the collected mechanical energy into electric energy. Since, the collected energy will be stored in DC form and thus, battery storage will be necessary for collecting the converted energy and storing it for long enough that it can be applicable for the consumers.

The developed electricity would be capable of using the house hold electric objects including LEDs, Fans, and other household appliances. The system will be analysed considering the consumption and production ratio in manner to make it applicable enough for the entire consumption (Kamboj et al. 2017). The developed system should be efficient enough for the management of common people needs and requirements related to the power consumption. The research sows the following data when experimented with four piezo electric strips as demonstrated.

3. Conclusion

Based on the above report it can be concluded that the footstep power generator can be possible source of energy for replacing the non-renewable source of energy and fulfilling the basic needs and requirements of the local community without altering the quality. The above mentioned project will allow the community to produce electricity through transferring the mechanical and kinetic energy produced by the vehicles and individuals in the roads and convert them into electrical energy. The produced electricity can be stored in the batteries for further application in the real world. The above report explains the management and technical aspects for the development of a footstep power generator and replacing the existing non-conventional energy.

The above report explained the conceptual design of the proposed project and how it would be delivered for the production of electricity and fulfilling the needs and requirements of the users. The development and management processes have been also explained in the above report emphasizing the nature of the proposed project. Control loop and human factors are the considerable factors for the successful development and deployment of the project and those should be considered throughout the project. Common management processes and the system optimization are the two sections emphasizing on the managerial approach for the project execution and identification of the system efficiency in the real world application.

4. References

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Boby, K., Aleena Paul, K., Thomas, J.A. and Nimisha, K.K., 2014. Footstep Power Generation Using Piezo Electric Transducers. International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume, 3, pp.264-267.

Dev, A., Arora, P. and Sekhar, R., 2015. Human energy harvesting through a low cost footstep power generator. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res., 10, pp.30101-30107.

Dubley, B. (2018). [online] Bp.com. Available at: https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2018-full-report.pdf [Accessed 24 Aug. 2018].

Kamboj, A., Haque, A., Kumar, A., Sharma, V.K. and Kumar, A., 2017, March. Design of footstep power generator using piezoelectric sensors. In Innovations in Information, Embedded and Communication Systems (ICIIECS), 2017 International Conference on (pp. 1-3). IEEE.

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F., 2015. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute.

Modi, N., Shrivastava, P., Bhardwaj, R. and Jaiswal, U., 2016. Generation Of Electricity Through Footstep. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 3(05), pp.2395-0072.

Muhammad, A., Alib, A., Bibic, S. and Tuniod, N.A., 2016. 275. Foot Step Power Generation System.

Nayyar, Z.A., Zaigham, N.A. and Qadeer, A., 2014. Assessment of present conventional and non-conventional energy scenario of Pakistan. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 31, pp.543-553.

Nibras, N.K., Senanayakalage, S. and Shaffer, J., 2017. Footstep Power Generation.

Stevens Institute of Technology 2018. [online] Available at: https://web.stevens.edu/ses/me/fileadmin/me/senior_design/2008/Group11/Results.html [Accessed 24 Aug. 2018].

Xie, L. and Cai, M., 2014. Human motion: Sustainable power for wearable electronics. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 13(4), pp.42-49.