Energy Harvesting from Close Type Footwear: A Smart Design Approach

The mechanical energy harvesting from human body, particularly from the feet, is an alternative process for acquiring potential electricity. Human body weight-pressure produces mechanical energy during walking and running. In this study, a special type of footwear was designed by inserting piezoelectric transducer (PZT) under the heel area to convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy. The experiment has been conducted with a circuit comprising of bridge rectifier, capacitor, and a DC-DC converter with an external output connection. It has been found that the AC voltage maximum is 43 V. When the AC voltage was converted to continuous DC, it was found the voltage decreased drastically. The highest generated energy has been found to be 317.52 mJ for two hours (8000 steps per day). Our special type of shoe and circuit design have demonstrated the feasibility of harvesting the mechanical energy into the electrical energy from piezoelectric materials.