Energy harvesting input stage model for piezoelectric materials involved in road traffic applications

Practical models of the input stage energy harvesting circuits, based on piezoelectric elements involved in road traffic environments, were obtained and optimized. The availability of power harvested at the optimal point of operation is determined assuming regular traffic, generated using a test bench designed to emulate the real road traffic. In order to compare the measured response from the simulation test bench, data were collected from a real traffic sensing installation, build in an inner road of our University Campus. Experimental results are presented for piezoelectric cable, although the results obtained from a commercial piezoelectric are presented to explore the effect of mechanical amplification in order to improve the previous results.