Development of energy harvesting device using piezoelectric material

Using piezoelectric elements to harvest energy from ambient vibration and human motion has been of great interest recently. This study quantifies the amount of energy generated by piezoelectric device from vibration environment and human motion. Nickel metal hydride rechargeable battery has been used to store the energy generated. Throughout the experiment, the discharged 40m Ah rechargeable battery can be charged to its cell voltage in less than 10 minutes in resonant vibration. Meanwhile, for human motion energy harvesting experiment, as subject running with 5km/h speed, the discharged 40mAh rechargeable battery can be charged to its cell voltage in one hour.