Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 4

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Bala Maheswaran, Northeastern University; Liza Brooke Russell, Northeastern University; Cailey Moy Denoncourt, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

Tools.Piezoelectric ChargingPiezoelectric energy was experimentally discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in the 1880s.They discovered that when mechanical stress is applied to certain materials, charges are displaced,and materials produce voltage under mechanical stress.3 We harness the energy of human walkingmovement by placing piezoelectric elements under the foot so that energy is produced with eachstep.When mechanical strain is applied to the piezoelectric elements, the crystals produce alternatingcurrent (AC). For a battery to charge, it requires direct current (DC). We used rectifying circuit sothat the current can only flow away from the piezoelectrics.4Furthermore, because the mechanical strain of walking does not provide constant pressure