Power up on the go: Designing a piezoelectric shoe charger

• Main Authors: Jamil Alsayaydeh, Jamil Abedalrahim, Bacarra, Rex, Dahalan, Abdul Halim, Velautham, Pugaaneswari, Aldarab’ah, Khaled Abidallah Salameh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Science and Information Organization 2024
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/27743/2/024871907202419757.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/27743/; https://thesai.org/Downloads/Volume15No6/Paper_66-Power_Up_on_the_Go.pdf
• Institution: Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

As modern society continues to thrive, electricity has become an essential component of daily life. However, as the demand for electricity rises, some electrical loads struggle to perform. This can even affect simple tasks, such as charging a mobile phone. In order to meet the ever-expanding energy demands, it is crucial to explore cleaner and renewable power sources. This paper highlights a promising electricity generation method that utilizes piezoelectric materials. Specifically, the study employs the piezoelectric (PZT) material to convert pressure from human movements into electrical power. A bridge rectifier circuit is designed to store this power in a battery, which can be used to charge mobile phones. In addition, a microcontroller is implemented to program the auto-lacing light function and utilize the piezoelectric material as a power supply for the microcontroller. The circuit is designed to calculate the total power produced by the piezoelectric material. Multisim software was utilized to simulate the circuit design, and the results indicate that the power generated is sufficient to charge mobile phones. The study finds that a single piezoelectric plate can generate 5mA in one second when placed under mechanical stress (i.e., human movement). By utilizing four piezoelectric materials, the study was able to generate 13.48V in one second when mechanical force was applied. This is more than enough to supply power to charge a mobile phone, as well as power an LED and 5V servomotor.