Power Generating Shoe

This Instructable will show you how to create a shoe that generates electricity. It does this by using your energy when you walk and converts it into electricity. If you've ever lost power to your cell phone in the middle of nowhere, then you know how frustrating it can be. But with this shoe, you can charge an electronic device anytime, anywhere.
The concept and design are really actually simple. You get a small generator from a rechargeable flashlight, rig it up so you can turn the generator axle when you step down, and channel that energy to a cell phone's (or other device's) charger cord. You can use this when you are jogging or walking or just when you're sitting down and feel like tapping your foot.
The materials are really pretty cheap and the project is easy to make. The only thing that you will have to adjust for is that you probable won't have the same kind of shoe I have. So you might need to make some adjustments, but the concept is still the same.

Step 1: Materials

First of all, you obviously need a shoe. I suggest getting a shoe with the thickest sole available because you'll need to put stuff inside.
Next, you'll need two rechargeable flashlights for their generators. The two pictured below are the two I used and the next picture is one of their generators. I got the flashlights from my local Radio Shack and the brand is MegaBrite.
The other materials are: a spring, some wood, a small piece of re-bar, some thick wire, some small screws, and a cell phone charger.
As far as tools go, you'll need some basic hand tools, a drill, a band saw (unless you want to do it by hand), and some electrical tape.

Comments

[engr.zainshah]

Can I have this Project I cant Make it I tried It many ways
In Big trouble
i can buy it

[jonnyd55]

Imagine doing an irish dance in these! you'd get lighting bolts coming out your shoes! :)

[crockman1]

bahahahahahah yes

[Fijvect]

How much power can this generate (volts and amps if applicable)? And does the motor output DC or AC? I need to know before I attempt this to see if it's even feasible for what I want to do

[tinker234]

so if i had to use this how much would i genrate

[ANDY!]

Real cool!

[Dipanjana]

ohh wow !!! this is awesome ...

[Roxas1313]

hey,2 questions,when you mean rechargeable,do you mean the crank generator?because the picture you have is a hand cranked generator and 2 flashlights.And 2nd,what about the spring,where did you get that and what's its exact name?

[survivorwolf]

For the wire question: You can make it as long as you desire but i recommend using a plug that you place wire from the device to the object being charged

[olavxxx]

lol, I have always been thinking about a shoe with a fan inside.. you know those hot days, you really need a small pc fan inside the shoe :-)

[kimro]

why bother converting it to electrical energy then just make a mechanical fan

[mutput7]

"Ohh, I'm so hot..."
*takes off shoe, points sole at face*
"Ahhhhh"

(Other person)
". . ."

[nutsandbolts_64]

That would be bad because, well, you're pointing an odor filled shoe to your face (unless you used a foot deodorant or something, you're in bad luck).

[jimmytvf]

if the problem is the odor, try to put a fan above the shoe, will take all the bad air from your foot ^^

[rbond1]

Heyy, I was wondering how you actually get the gears to spin, seeing as they need to be cranked by a handle to get them to turn. Thanks!

[soona1991]

hi buddy nice work...
but tell me one thing when we step on it suppose the gen runs in clockwise direction.. but when we remove the gen will move in opp direction...
how to tackle that...

post your ans on [e-mail]

[tec_claudio_perez]

The motor only turns in one direction, when you step down, when you step up the motor doesn't move. This is done using a ratchet wheel.

[Phrozexiah]

i tried doing the same concept but instead of doing it like this, i used wheels so that the flow of the current is continuous as the user skates. unlike this one that uses stepping that would only make the generator turn back and forth...:)) and i am proud to say it is successful...XD

[gunman15]

what if you hear air escapeing

[Nadsautin]

has anyone tried it before ???

I and my team wants to imply this as our final term project... please help

[L9OBL]

you use dynamo flashlights. you could also do it with those shake flashlights eh?

[Delaney]

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but I would not attempt to go through an airport while wearing those

[fearme36]

Rofl!

[Roxas1313]

oh and btw,about the shoe,ummm,how long does the wire for the battery have to be?Im just wondering because while you're walking,where will the cell phone go?

[the_tom777]

 i made these except with a female usb port so anything with a usb cable can be plugged in and charged.

[mojoeminnich]

does this really make electricity for any of you who have attempted to make this

[xayandevorak]

How do you regulate the amount of power produced? It will either be too little to power the phone, or if you're really pumping, it'll be too much, and could damage the phone. You need some sort of resistance or amplifier, am I wrong?

[TwistedmindZ]

what you are thinking of is a voltage regulator it keeps the voltage constant as long as the power supplied is above what you are looking to draw from it. with the voltage regulator the energy is dissipated as heat similar to a resistor but more predictable.

[Its Giggles]

Ima gonna buy some platform shoes w00t! xD (jk, i just felt like saying that)

[Draxis]

Is there a way to make it so that instead of a cord hanging out the back you can put something to regulate the amount of electricity so you can put an outlet on the back of the shoe?

[Draxis]

And can you run with them on or will they break?

[McGrep]

Excellent, ingenious idea. Definitely cool, however having a cell phone cord constantly dragging along might be a slight predicament...

[klingoncowboy4]

lol but with creative cable routing this too can be overcome

[robomaniac]

That is pretty neat! I like it!

[ThinkoutsidetheBOX]

Nice, this is like, really extremely cooly awesome! If I remember, you've got my vote. xD Just out of curiousity, how exactly does your phone stay like, connected your shoe?

[steed1172]

this will go far!!when voting starts.... you've got mine :)

[wwthree]

Very good,that you've been thinking of creating electricity this way! I myself too had plans of doing that,but for actually warming the shoes up,not for charging batteries.Even made a prototype. But I wish to share my idea with you and help you improve your idea. The biggest "-" is that there is mechanics that wear out,are noisy and will jam if you walk in mud. Why don't you use a magnet,that moves into a coil?!Then you can hide all into the rubber and it'll never get dirty,jammed or worn out. Think about this and let us know. G

[yosstek]

Wow!

I am so glad you actually posted instructions on how to make this :-)
I actually came up with this idea nearly the *exact* same way you made it a while back and on April 6th I finally emailed a bunch of incubator companies my idea to try and get it developed.

It seems like divine providence that you posted instructions on how to make it 13 days later.

I can probably recommend a few changes though, but I want to try making one myself with your instructions before doing so. (I also thought of using the piezo-electric effect to generate electricity, but I didn't think it would generate enough power)

Thanks for the post and keep up the great work :-D

[TheAmazingJampie]

Cool! I can't wait to make one.

[Rustar]

Years ago I had read in a Popular Science about the military looking into very much the same thing. Think it could be the wave of the future: ipod go dead, just run around the block.

[Yerboogieman]

How do you do oil slick like Data?

[tofu1]

Cool idea! Very "non" lethal James Bond. lol

[tater killer]

you could make a peizo version zinc oxide and mech. pressure

[dagenius]

very good. Original idea, and NOT sarcastically. looks kinda chunky though, eh?

[Bridel568]

nice but you could make it smaller and could of taken a piece of your shoe and put it over so it just looks like a normal shoe. but overall nice

[tater killer]

how many volts does this put out?

[edfel01]

wait could u add a cap. or something to this so it can charge while u walk and then have the energy for later?

[edfel01]

crap i was going to do this but oh well u beat me to it. urs r better then mine would be anyway. GOOD JOB!!!

[brokengun]

I doubt anyone is going to be able to make one of these that is comfortable to walk with. The concept is awesome though. Those Piezo element shoes are way more natural, but the power is still quite low. Depends on what you want to do with it all I guess.

[FeedTheGrid]

Fantastic concept! Keep up the great work! FTG

[Padlock]

It would be interesting to see a piezoelectric electric version of this, so there would be no mechanical parts that could break, or get stuck in the mud, etcetera. Also a longer cable- what are you going to do? Strap it to your shoe? Also, it doesn't generate clean electricity. I'd like to see it charge a capacitor, which in-turn powers a regulator circuit, whether steping the voltage up or down I'm unsure, as it would depend on whether or not your generator produces more or less than 5 volts.

[Padlock]

This is an awesome idea though! I'm going to have to make a pair of these for hiking...

[Sandisk1duo]

how would you make the piezoelectric version?

[Padlock]

Here is a MIT project detailing what is mentioned above...
http://www.media.mit.edu/resenv/power.html

[Padlock]

I'm not sure. Piezoelectric material makes a burst of electricity when it is stricken; thus the "clicking" motion of lighters to create a large voltage instead of a smooth movement, which would create a steady stream of low voltage. A more practical device would store the electrical energy created as potential energy, then releasing it as kinetic (electrical) energy when it is needed: Charging the "shoe" while walking, and the "shoe" charging your cellphone when resting. The piezoelectric material most likely could not create enough amperage/voltage (at the same time) and would do no use to charge it directly when walking. There is also the possibility of an adverse effect happening, such as the little charge left in the battery of the cellphone affecting the piezoelectric material, and deforming it; though this is not a property of all piezoelectric materials, I think it is pretty common. It would take a custom designed circuit board with some fairly efficient capacitors or some low-impedance rechargeable batteries for it to work, as well as a low forward voltage protection diode, such as a signal diode, to protect it from reverse charging, a.k.a. discharging of the cellphone.

[Sandisk1duo]

Or, you could build this, and stretch plastic over it

[Padlock]

That still leads to mechanical parts which can fail, or the plastic breaking.

[Sandisk1duo]

A highly flexible plastic, the stuff used to make condoms

[Green_Primus]

Conceivable couldn't you "Shrink" the model by using a Battery powered motor and attaching the spring &gearing to that? you could keep the battery part and just swap 'em out with some rechargable's?

[Padlock]

You would have to modify it- The changing directions of the motor theoretically creates an AC square wave, but more realistically a modified sine wave. You would have to rectify that- minus 1.4 volts - and then it would be usable.

[GusGrass]

I think is a Great Idea. I Agree with PadLock that Piezo could be smaller and encapsulated. I meant "EncapSOLEated". Maybe one of those Shake Up Flash Lights could be smaller and moved by a burst of Compressed air from one of those New Air Cooled Shoes "as Seen on TV"..

[golddigger1559]

the only problem with the air thing is that the pockets that creat that air dont last very long so the shoe would have a one month life

[naruto the ninja13]

mabye you could put like leather or sumthing to stop ground crud from geeting in and clogin your gears

[karossii]

Darn it, I posted that last before I finished what I actually meant to come on and say, lol!

I have a pair of 'Heelies' - those shoes you see kids skating around in all the time, with one rear wheel that is mostly concealed (yes, they do make US size men's 13 - I have a pair!) The wheels in them are removable; and there is a cover that fits over the hole.

My intention when I had this idea was to convert them, hopefully designing a removable mechanism so I can still skate with them whenever I feel like looking the fool!

[Green_Primus]

May I ask WHERE did you get a men's 13 pair?!?! I cant find 'em ANY where?!?! Heely's basically says "Tough Sh*T"

[Green_Primus]

Awesome idea, if you ever Try to advance your design mind trying them in your heelie's. If you could pull it off I would pay you $$ for the mechanism.

[brandon borick]

use conductive fabric to make the usb go up the side of your pants

[SinAmos]

I had just see your dragging your cell phone all over the place with this design. The other thing is if I dismantle my wheelie to stick in this device, I won't be able to move around with ease. That's all.;)

[mehendalek]

Amazing concept. It would be nice if couple of AA or AAA cells are charged instead of USB cable!

[karossii]

This is a great idea; I had the same thought more than a year ago, but being the lazy guy I am, neer went further than the idea stage, lol. Kudos for having a good idea AND following through on it! One thing you might consider; if you saved the chunks you cut out of the sole of the shoe you could rig a cover for the spring mechanism that would blend in with the rest of the shoe and make it a bit more pleasant to look at. Not a need, but aesthetics do count for something!