Designing a piezoelectric energy harvesting system for the superconductor Maglev

Abstract

In order to convert the lateral vibration of the superconductor Maglev bogie system into usable energy, an energy harvesting system was designed and optimized by applying steel balls for piezoelectric material to effectively convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of the vibration displacement (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 mm), vibration frequency (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Hz) and vibration direction (x-axis and y-axis) for each different size of steel ball (12.7, 15.8, 17.0, or 20.0 mm). The following experimental results were found, first, as the vibration displacement increased, the average power output also increased. The total weight of the balls affected the results at higher vibration displacements. Second, as the vibration frequency increased, larger balls tended to have a jump point in average power output, with a general trend of increasing average power output. Finally, the x-axis direction effect had more distinct differences for individual ball weight dependences due to the mobility factor of the balls, considering calculated total weight and total area percent. After the optimum condition was found, the wireless sensor was connected and the experimental data suggested the possibility of applying piezoelectric materials to exploit the ambient and random vibrations of a superconductor Maglev bogie system.