Developing a Prototype Piezoelectric Wafer-Box for Optimal Energy Harvesting

Piezoelectric energy has been paid attention to as conventional renewable energy sources including solar, wind, and geothermal power. To address the dilemma of climatic conditions affecting the energy harvesting using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) in pavement, wafer-boxes were used with embedded PZT sensors, since wafer-boxes have the ability to be embedded in the pavement where sensors are protected from any kind of physical damage. This research project was designed to identify which shaped wafer-box produced the most electric voltage and power. Various forms of wafer-box were developed to identify if there was any potential difference in voltage generation due to the structural shapes of the box. Seven different shapes of prototype wafer-boxes were designed utilizing both a 3D printer and 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD). These wafer-box were coupled with embedded PZT sensors which were tested in asphalt pavement analyzer (APA) machine under certain load to produce electric voltage. Collected voltage data from the APA wheel load test were analyzed using various statistical methods. The statistical analyses results indicated that out of the seven different shaped wafer boxes, the right-angled triangular shaped box produced the highest average voltage values where’s square shaped wafer-box produced the lowest amount of voltage. Structural properties of a wafer-box in terms of section modulus, area moment of inertia, extreme points, and radius of gyration were also analyzed, and a regression analysis was conducted to identify the reasons of different amounts of voltage produced. These voltage values could be used to calculate the power using power formulas showing relationship between power and voltage values. The outcome helped to identify which shape is most effective to power generation under certain circumstances. The regression analysis results indicated that out of four properties the section modulus is the most influential structural property affecting voltage production.