Piezoelectricity: An Alternative Energy Source

A Term Paper Presented to Mr. Conrad Pantua Mechanical Engineering Department Gokongwei College of Engineering De La Salle University - Manila

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for THERMO1 1ST Trimester, AY 2013-2014

By Andrew Winston S. Tan August 8, 2013

Electricity is one of the most important things for mankind. From cars to airplanes, cellphones to computers, refrigerators to heavy machineries, electricity provides power to almost everything that people use in daily living. It is one of the reasons why people live so comfortably in this world. One can hardly imagine what this world would be like without electricity. People may enjoy the electricity that is being supplied to them, however, electricity do not just appear from nowhere. Electricity is the by-product of energy harvest. Throughout this world, there are countless amounts of energy. As stated by Albert Einstein, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It is naturally present in this universe. Energy can only be harvested and convert into electricity for use. At present, there are a number of ways where energy is being harvested. These include non-renewable sources like fossil fuel, coal, natural gas and nuclear; and renewable sources like wind, hydroelectric, solar, geothermal and biomass. The most famous one is through the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago. These oils are usually being extracted under the sea through oil refineries. It was said that to date, about 1 trillion barrels of crude oil has already been produced, and for the next century, approximately 2 trillion more barrels will be produced from conventional reserves and other undiscovered reserves (Chevron, n.d.). However, burning of fossil fuels generates about 21.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year, and this resulted to the damage of the ozone layer which in turn leads to global warming (Wikipedia, n.d.). On the other hand, nuclear energy is the most expensive yet most controversial type of energy source. At present, nuclear reactors utilize nuclear fission to generate huge amounts of energy. This process however produces nuclear wastes which are highly radioactive and takes thousands of years to cool down. Another type of nuclear energy is the nuclear fusion. This is when huge amounts of energy are released when atoms are fused together. Nuclear fusion solves a lot of problems of fission energy, however this technology is still currently undergoing research and that no commercial fusion reactor is expected before 2050. According to International Energy Agency, as of 2010, fossil fuels provide roughly 32.4% of the total energy that the world is using. Next is coal with 27.3%, natural gas with 21.4%, biofuels with 10%, nuclear with 5.7%, hydro with 2.3% and other sources with 0.9%. Majority of the energy people get are from hazardous non-renewable sources. Fossil fuels, natural gas and coal all emit greenhouse gases when burned, which is why the need to find more reliable, safe

and renewable energy is becoming more imminent. Thus, this paper aims to discuss a new clean energy source which is the harvesting of energy through piezoelectricity. Specifically, this paper will discuss the feasibility of this new technology and why it must be utilized in the Philippines. Piezoelectricity as defined by World English Dictionary is the production of electricity or electric polarity by applying a mechanical stress to certain crystals. In other words, piezoelectricity is the ability of a material to create electric charge across its surface when the material has undergone mechanical pressure or when it is compressed or stretched (Horn, 2009). When pressure is applied to an object, a negative charge is produced on the expanded side and a positive charge on the compressed side. Once pressure is relieved, electrical current flows across the material (Trimarchi, n.d.).

Figure . Piezoelectric effect Taken from: http://www.intechopen.com/source/html/19252/media/image5.png The piezoelectric effect was first observed by Carl Linnaeus and Franz Aepinus in the mid18th century when they discovered that certain materials generate electric potential in the presence of temperature change. This effect was further studied by Ren Just Hay and Antoine Csar Becquerel when they theorized a relationship between mechanical stress and electric charge. However, experiments made by both of them were inconclusive (Wikipedia, n.d.). In 1880, brothers Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie were able to successfully demonstrate the piezoelectric effect. In their experiment, they measured surface charges appearing on certain crystals such as tourmaline, quartz, topaz, cane sugar and Rochelle salt which were subjected to mechanical stress (Piezo Systems, Inc., n.d.). They were the first to understand and demonstrate this phenomenon. The first practical application for piezoelectric devices took place during the World War I in 1917, when Frenchman Paul Langevin and his co-workers developed an ultrasonic submarine detector (Wikipedia, n.d.). After this, various applications of piezoelectric devices kept on developing, but mostly are developed only for wartime purposes.

In 2006, a magnificent application of piezoelectricity was invented. Elizabeth Redmond, then a student from the University of Michigan, designed an energy harvesting device by using the concepts of the piezoelectric effect. This device aims to harvest energy from human foot traffic to help solve the looming demand of energy. It was designed as her thesis which was called the POWERfloor. Redmond would later start a company called the POWERleap Inc. which focuses on developing energy harvesting flooring systems. POWERfloor is basically a flooring system that generates electricity when something or someone stepped on it. Whenever mechanical pressure was applied to the tiles, it converts kinetic energy to electrical energy and stores the electricity on built-in batteries. This flooring system can generate up to 1kwh of energy on a 50 square meter area (Redmond, n.d.). The POWERfloor was designed with series of glass tiles placed on top of the other. It currently uses 2-inch by 1-inch piezoceramic plates with a brass reinforcement shim and are covered in nickel electrodes for low current leakage. When these plates are bent the voltage and current is induced and stimulates momentary electrical energy impulses used to light the LED's inside each tile. (Redmond n. d.) It also contains installed LED lamps which lights up whenever a person walks over the tiles and the significant amount of mechanical pressure is reached. POWERfloor can be placed anywhere where there are significant amount of people passing. A person walking moderately for an hour can only generate about 50 watts of electricity, but if multiplied to thousands and even millions of people walking, the electricity generated will be enough to power street lights, elevators and other public infrastructures that consume small amounts of power (Redmond, n.d.).

Figure . POWERfloor Taken from: http://www.wisestep.com/column/7-Inventions-that-you-will-never-forget

Figure . Sustainable Dance Floor Taken from: http://www.sustainabledanceclub.com/products/sustainable_dance_floor In 2008, another energy harvesting piezoelectric device was invented. It was called the Sustainable Energy FloorTM developed by a group of Dutch called the Sustainable Dance Club. The Sustainable Energy FloorTM is an interactive device that generates electricity through the movement of people as the source of energy. This flooring system is primarily installed on dance floors. The floor exists of a modular system, with components of 65cm x 65cm x 30cm, producing up to 25 Watts per module. (SDC, n.d.) Whenever a person stepped on a tile, electricity generated from harvested kinetic energy powers the lights underneath the tile to change its color. This flooring system was first installed in Club Watt in Rotterdam in 2008, making the place the worlds first sustainable dance club (Halse, 2008). Through this, the dance club was able to reduce significant amounts of energy consumption. The Philippines has a relatively high power rate. In 2012, the country has the second highest power rate in Asia and the 9th highest in the world with US$0.23 per kilowatt hour (kWh) or an average of P8.48 per kWh (Morales, 2012; Velasco, 2012). This is mainly due to the lack of power generation. With the continuous growing population, the demand for electricity will constantly increase. Current power generating plants will not be enough for future generations, which is why the country needs to find alternative and at the same time renewable energy sources. Both POWERfloor and the Sustainable Energy FloorTM would be very ideal alternative energy sources. These devices are easy to use and can be applied almost everywhere. Both of these devices only rely on kinetic energy which is abundant. These flooring systems can be installed in high-traffic areas like LRT and MRT stations, malls, schools, airport terminals, ports and large intersections. There will never be a power shortage because the number of people walking will never run out. Though these flooring systems do not generate that much electricity, they can still contribute significantly in lessening the power rate of the country.

These flooring systems will surely decrease our dependence in coal mining and other unclean ways of generating electricity, however there are also various problems regarding this technology. First, in order to generate huge amounts of electricity, big amount money will be needed in order to build these devices. With a poor country like the Philippines, it will be more practical to invest on other projects like infrastructure developments which would help the country more. Another problem with this flooring system is that, the devices may easily break or get stolen. There are a lot of thieves in the country and it will not be a surprise if these devices would be stolen. The Philippines is also prone to flooding and these devices will be destroyed when dipped in water. The population of this world will continue to grow, and the demand of energy will continue to increase. The worlds current energy generating methods will not be able to cope with the energy demand of future generations. Another concern this world is the deteriorating condition of the Mother earth due to the improper ways of harvesting energy, which is why there is the need to find for alternative and cleaner energy sources, and piezoelectric technology is one of the solutions. Not only is this technology clean, it is also sustainable since it harvests kinetic energies instead of just letting them go to waste.

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