POWER SHOE: PIEZOELECTRIC WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER

- A MOBILE CHARGING TECHNIQUE

1. INTRODUCTION
In the recent years there has been an increasing interest in research and development of advanced
smart phone technology. But as technology evolves so are the problems associated with it, and
one among those is the fast draining of battery. Almost every smartphone user wishes he had
more battery life. Now, imagine your phone getting charged where ever you go. This is possible
by Piezo electric wireless power transfer mobile charging technique. The keys to this technique
are the piezoelectricity and Wireless power transfer (WTP).

Harvesting mechanical energy from human motion is an attractive approach for obtaining clean
and sustainable electric energy. Piezoelectricity is electrical energy produced from mechanical
pressure (such as walking, running). When pressure is applied to an object, a negative charge is
produced on the expanded side and a positive charge on the compressed side of the piezoelectric
crystal. Once the pressure is relieved, electrical current flows across the material. Wireless power
or wireless energy transmission is the transmission of electrical energy from a Power source
(piezoelectric Power) to a load (such as any electrical device) without any physical connector
such as wires or conductors. Energy is harvested from the human movements and is transmitted
wirelessly thorough wireless power transfer technique and is used to charge the mobile battery.

Energy harvesting transforms green energy sources into usable electrical energy like solar
energy, thermal energy, wind and vibration energy, etc. In the recent years micro power
electronics and portable storage devices requires low power requirements for their
operations and due to the existing characteristics of such devices the demand for energy
harvesting from the surrounding environment increases drastically, due to the low power
generation of these energy harvesters. This technology is very attractive for low power
portable electronic devices which include pacemakers, flashing LEDs at night, mobile phones
and hearing aid devices One of the most interesting sources for energy harvesting is
surrounding environmental ambient vibrations. The sources used for energy harvesting are
piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic, pyroelectric, photovoltaic and thermoelectric. For
low power generation piezoelectric source is the best candidate for extracting energy from
ambient vibrations. Another reason for using piezoelectric materials is its property to
extract energy from ambient vibrations which are readily available from human waling.

Piezoelectric energy harvesting is getting more attention due to the fact that it can provide
the emergency source for powering low power portable electronic devices in the hilly areas,
public places where rechargeable Batteries cannot be powered. This wasted energy is
captured by some means and that is called as energy harvesting.

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2. PIEZOELECTRICITY
Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (such as
crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and various proteins) in
response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from
pressure. It is derived from the Greek piezo or piezein , which means to squeeze or press, and
lektron , which means amber, an ancient source of electric charge. Piezoelectricity was
discovered in 1880 by French physicists Jacques and Pierre Curie.

The piezoelectric effect is understood as the linear electromechanical interaction between

the mechanical and the electrical state in crystalline materials with no symmetry. The
piezoelectric effect is a reversible process in that materials exhibiting the direct piezoelectric
effect (the internal generation of electrical charge resulting from an applied mechanical force)
also exhibit the reverse piezoelectric effect (the internal generation of a mechanical strain
resulting from an applied electrical field). For example, lead zirconate titanate crystals will
generate measurable piezoelectricity when their static structure is deformed by about 0.1% of the
original dimension. Conversely, those same crystals will change about 0.1% of their static
dimension when an external electric field is applied to the material. The inverse piezoelectric
effect is used in the production of ultrasonic sound waves.

A. PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS
There are many materials, both natural and man-made, that exhibit a range of
piezoelectric effects. Some naturally piezoelectric occurring materials include Berlinite
(structurally identical to quartz), cane sugar, quartz, Rochelle salt, topaz, tourmaline, and bone
(dry bone exhibits some piezoelectric properties due to the apatite crystals, and the piezoelectric
effect is generally thought to act as a biological force sensor). An example of man-made
piezoelectric materials includes barium titanate and lead zirconate titanate.

In recent years, due to the growing environmental concern regarding toxicity in lead-
containing devices and the RoHS directive followed within the European Union, there has been a
push to develop lead free piezoelectric materials. To date, this initiative to develop new lead-free
piezoelectric materials has resulted in a variety of new piezoelectric materials which are more
environmentally safe.

Piezoelectric materials are materials that can produce electricity due to mechanical stress,
such as compression. These materials can also deform when voltage (electricity) is applied. All
piezoelectric materials are non-conductive in order for the piezoelectric effect to occur and work.

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- A MOBILE CHARGING TECHNIQUE
They can be separated into two groups: crystals and ceramics. Some examples of piezoelectric
materials are PZT (also known as lead zirconate titanate), barium titanate, and lithium niobate.
These man-made materials have a more pronounced effect (better material to use) than quartz
and other natural piezoelectric materials.

B. DIRECT PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT

Piezo ceramic materialnon-conductive piezoelectric ceramic or crystalis placed
between the two metal plates. For piezoelectricity to be generated, it needs that material to be
compressed or squeezed. Mechanical stress applied to piezoelectric ceramic material generates
electricity.

As shown in Fig. 1, theres a voltage potential across the material. The two metal plates sandwich
the piezo crystal. The metal plates collect the charges, which creates/produces voltage (lightning
bolt symbol), i.e., piezoelectricity. In this way, the piezoelectric effect acts like a miniature
battery, because it produces electricity. This is the direct piezoelectric effect. Devices that use the
direct piezoelectric effect include microphones, pressure sensors, hydrophones, and many other
sensing types of devices.

Fig.1. Direct piezo electric effect

C. INVERSE PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT

The piezoelectric effect can be reversed, which is referred to as the inverse piezoelectric
effect. This is created by applying electrical voltage to make a piezoelectric crystal shrink or
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- A MOBILE CHARGING TECHNIQUE
expand. The inverse piezoelectric effect converts electrical energy to mechanical energy.Using
the inverse piezoelectric effect can help develop devices that generate and produce acoustic
sound waves. Examples of piezoelectric acoustic devices are speakers (commonly found in
handheld devices) or buzzers. The advantage of having such speakers is that they are very thin,
which makes them useful in a range of phones. Even medical ultrasound and sonar transducers
use reverse piezoelectric effect. Non-acoustic inverse piezoelectric devices include motors and
actuators.

Fig.2.inverse piezoelectric effect

D. PIEZO ELECTRIC GENERATOR DESIGN

The Piezo electric generator is placed inside a Shoe. A shoe has two points where the
pressure exerted in maximum and they are the heel and the toe, and this is the exact place where
the piezo electric unit is placed. Fig. 3. Shows the arrangement of the piezoelectric generator
inside a shoe.

Fig. 3. Arrangement of piezoelectric generator inside a shoe.

The design consists of a pair of array of piezo electric generator units connected in series.
The Font panel has the array of piezo electric generator in a linear arrangement and the rear

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- A MOBILE CHARGING TECHNIQUE
panel with a circular arrangement. The receiving and charging side collects intermittent or
continuous energy input from the piezo generator and efficiently stores their energy in the
capacitor bank. During the charging process, the capacitor voltage is continuously monitored.
When it reaches 5.2V the module output is enabled to supply power to a Rectifier and charging
unit
3. WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER (WPT)
A. HISTORY
The discussion of Hertz and Nicolai Tesla theorized the possibility of wireless power
transmission. Tesla demonstrated it in 1899 by powering fluorescent lamps 25 miles from the
power source without using wires. Despite the novelty of Teslas demonstration and his personal
efforts to commercialize wireless power transmission, he soon ran out of funding because it was
much less expensive to lay copper than to build the equipment necessary to transmit power
through radio waves. wireless power transmission as an alternative to transmission line power
distribution started in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, before the electrical- wire
grid, Nikola Tesla devoted much effort towards transferring power wirelessly. However, typical
embodiments (e.g., Tesla coils) involved undesirably large electric fields. The past decade has
witnessed a surge in the use of autonomous electronic devices. As a result of this development,
interest in wireless power has reemerged. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in
research and development of wireless power technology to eliminate the last cable after Wi-Fi
becoming widely accepted

B. WORKING PRINCIPLE

Fig.1. Block diagram of wireless power transfer mobile.

Wireless electricity technique used here is based on strong coupling between

electromagnetic resonant coils to transfer energy wirelessly between them. This differs from
other methods like simple induction, microwaves, or air ionization. The system consists of

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transmitters and receivers that contain magnetic loop antennas critically tuned to the same
frequency The principle of Evanescent Wave Coupling extends the principle of Electromagnetic
induction

Electromagnetic induction works on the principle of a primary coil generating a

predominant magnetic field and a secondary coil being within that field so a current is induced
within its coils. This causes a relatively shorter range due to the amount of power required to
produce an electromagnetic field. Over greater distances the non-resonant induction method is
inefficient and wastes much of the transmitted energy just to increase range. This is where the
resonance comes in and helps the efficiency dramatically by "tunneling" the magnetic field to a
receiver coil that resonates at the same frequency.

Theoretical analysis shows that by sending electromagnetic waves around in a highly

angular waveguide, evanescent waves are produced which carry no energy. If a proper resonant
waveguide is brought near the transmitter, the evanescent waves can allow the energy to tunnel
to the power drawing waveguide, where they can be rectified into DC power. Since the
electromagnetic waves would tunnel, they would not propagate through the air to be absorbed or
be dissipated, and would not disrupt electronic devices or cause physical injury.

C. RESONANT COUPLING
From the beginning of inductive power transmission, resonant circuits are used to
enhance the inductive power transmission. Already Nicola Tesla used resonances in his first
experiments about inductive power transmission more than hundred years ago. Especially for
systems with a low coupling factor, a resonant receiver can improve the power transfer.
Resonant power transmission is a special, but widely used method of inductive power
transmission and is limited by the same constraints of magnetic fields emissions and
efficiency. To understand the effect, it can be compared to mechanical resonances. Consider a
string tuned to a certain tone as mechanical resonator. Even a far away and low level sound
generator can excite the string to vibration, if the tone pitch is matched. Here, the resonator in
the receiver consists of the receiver inductance and a capacitor. Also the transmitter can have
a resonator. The general arrangement is illustrated in Figure. The transmitter and receiver
coils LTx and LRx can be considered as weakly coupled transformer. For this, an equivalent
circuit diagram consisting of magnetizing and stray inductance can be derived, as shown in
6b. In this diagram, also the resistances of the windings are shown. The diagram shows
clearly, that the resonant capacitors cancel out the stray inductance in the receiver and the
magnetizing inductance in the transmitter. Now, the only remaining limit for the power
transmission is the winding resistances of the coils, which impedance is one or two orders of

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magnitude lower than that of the inductances. Therefore, for a given generator source, much
more power can be received.

4. SYSTEM DESIGN & CIRCUIT.

The Design consists of two units. Generation transmission unit and receiver - charging
unit. The Generation - Transmission unit side consists of the Piezo electric generator,
capacitance bank, oscillator, and transmitter TX unit. This unit is integrated inside the shoe. Fig.
1 shows the design of the system. Receiver and charging unit consists of capacitance bank,
rectification circuit and charging circuit. This can be either designed mobile independent or
embedded inside the mobile. The receiver receives the power and this power is converted to DC
supply using a rectification process and the output is fed to a battery of a device (mobile)
through the charging circuit.

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Fig.1. Block diagram of Piezo electric wireless power transfer mobile charging technique.

The schematic design of Generator and transmission side of the Piezo electric wireless
power transfer mobile charging technique is given in Fig 3.

the piezo electric generator is the source which powers the whole circuit and the power is transmitted wirelessly

It can be noted from the circuit that the piezo electric generator is the source which powers the
whole circuit and the power is transmitted wirelessly using wireless power transfer technique.
The schematic design and circuit of the receiver and charging side is shown in Fig 4. It can be
seen that the receiver RX and the capacitance bank are connected in parallel and a rectification
circuit is also connected. This circuit converts the supply into DC form, and the charging circuit
is powered which in turn charges the battery in the device. A regulator can also be connected
between the rectifier and charging circuit if necessary.

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Fig. 4. Receiver and charging

circuit

5. PROTOTYPE

Fig 5. Prototype circuit design

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The prototype circuit design is shown in the Fig 5. The circuit consists of Piezo generator which
is the source for the system. This energy which is generated is rectified and regulator and is sent
to a high frequency inverting circuit, this power is then transferred using wireless power transfer
technique. Then the received power is rectified, regulated and boosted and sent to the charging
module.

The AC power which is generated from the piezo electric generator is then converted into
DC using Rectification circuit which in our prototype is a bridge rectifier. This power is further
the interleaved boost is used. filtered using filtering elements. This power is regulated using
regulator, then this power is converted into high frequency AC using high frequency inverter.
Just before the power is transmitted using wireless power transfer method it is discharged
through a super capacitor.

The power transmitted using wireless power transfer, here Resonant Coupling technique
is used to transmit the power efficiently. This power is the received in the Rx (Receiver Coil) and
the obtained power is further rectified using bridge rectification circuit. Since the output voltage
received from the rectification circuit is insufficient low for charging electronic device. The
power is boosted using DC-DC converter, interleaved boost converter as shown in Figure
6. ADVANTAGES

1. Pollution free
2. Low maintenance
3. Easy replacement of equipment
4. It does not require external power therefore it is self generating

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7. DISADVANTAGES
1. Output may get affected by high temperature

2. Cristal is prone to crack if over stressed

3. Piezoelectric cannot measure static pressure

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8. CONCLUSION

In this project we have illustrated the design of system which can harness the power generated by
the human movements and transfer the power to a device wirelessly. We believe that this
research holds the key to an uninterrupted way of using smart phones. This system can also be
built shoe independent and as a compact version that can strap on to any shoe.

This humanitarian project holds the solution to the problem almost every smartphone used faces.
Around 1.8 Billion people use Smartphone, and almost every smartphone user wishes he had
more battery and a way to charge it anytime. This research Project holds the key to an
uninterrupted way of using smart phones.

Harvesting energy from human motions is an attractive approach for obtaining clean and
sustainable energy. This project has its root in all the areas of consumer electronics. This project
also extends Future work includes designing authentication and monitoring systems for this
project.

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9. REFERENCES
[1] A Shoe-Embedded Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Wearable Sensors by Jingjing Zhao
and Zheng.

[2]Piezoelectric generator Datasheet: www.piezo.com/prodproto4EHkit

[3] Wireless Power Transfer via Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonances by AndrKurs,
AristeidisKaralis RobertMoffatt, J.D.Joannopoulos, PeterFisher, MarinSoljac
.
[4] Design and Test of a High Power High Efficiency Loosely Coupled Planar Wireless
Power Transfer System by Zhen Ning Low, IEEE transactions on industrial electronics, vol. 56,
no. 5, May 2009.

[5] Wireless Power Transfer via Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonances by Andre Kurs,
Aristeidis Karalis, Robert Moffatt, J. D. Joannopoulos, Peter Fisher, Marin Soljacic. 2008
.
[6] Wireless Power Transmission Using Magnetic Resonance by Mandip Jung Sibakoti and
Joey Hambleton Cornell College PHY312, December 2011, Professor Derin Sherman.

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