Electricity From Walking

Hi friends,
This is my first Instructable!!!
"ELECTRICITY FROM WALKING",looks like a weird title!!.But it is true that you can generate electricity by just walking over.
The principle is very simple,when you apply a pressure on piezoelectric crystals electricity is developed over the crystal lattice!.
When you walk a pressure is applied to the ground ,utilising this pressure electricity is generated.
You can read the full details from 
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22975115/Project-Building-Instructions-ELECTRICITY-FROM-WALKING
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22302487/Electricity-From-Walking

Step 1: Materials Required

Materials required:

Piezoelectric transducers(the thin speakers from the buzzers) - according to the area of the base

Diodes(1N4148 or any smaller diode) - no. of transducers used(one for each transducer)

Base - cardboard or any hard material

Cardboard - cut into small square pieces with side slightly longer than the diameter of the transducer

Soldering iron ,solder, wire strippers ,knives or utility blades,enameled copper wires.

Red and black coloured wires - desired length

Step 2: Soldering the Cells(transducers)

Take the cells and solder a stripped enameled wire followed by a diode.
Connect all the other wires in parallel with other cells.
Connect the wires from the diodes' cathode in parallel.
The red wire goes to the diode and the black to all the black wire from other cells.

Step 3: Arranging the Base

Cut the base to the required size.

Arrange the cells on the base with a small piece of cardboard in between the cells and the base.
The cardboard in between must have a small grove cut ,so that the wires soldered can be easily connected and this prevents the cells from breaking when an excess pressure is applied.

Step 4:

Cut another cardboard or any other hard material to the size same as the base and place it over the cells.Vollah! the project is ready to test!
Draw some graphics and stick it to the top cover to make it attractive.

Step 5: Testing

Connect the black wire to the wire that you have connect in parallel to the cells common wire.

Connect the red wire to the wire that you have connected in parallel from the diode.

Connect both the wire to a digital multimeter set to 20V range.
Walk on the project with the top cover fixed. Do not walk on bare cells as it would break them.
If you have connected everything right ,the multimeter would show some reading like 2V or something like that.
The output voltage and power is directly proportional to the pressure applied or in other words the weight of the person walking on it and the time the person is standing on it.

Step 6: Troubleshooting

There is no reading on the multimeter
Check the cables
      check that the red goes to the diodes' cathode

USES:

-In crowded areas such as railway stations, sub-ways, bus terminus etc.

-The electricity can be used to charge batteries and used for street lights and night lights.

-Emergency exits.

-Direction boards or sign boards.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity

http://www.americanpiezo.com/piezo_theory/piezo_theory.pdf

http://memebox.com/futureblogger/show/1406-commuters-to-generate-electricity-from-walking-into-train-station

http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/lets_generate_electricity_by_walking/


My appoligise for any mistakes.

Comments

[KrityatirthaP]

Try adding step down transformer to the circuit the 28v will lower to about 5v and the amp will increase. Also you should have added a diode bridge, it would basically double your power output. let me know how the transformer worked and have a nice time people:)

[Nagaraju naganath]

Transformer is a constant power device.
As you decrease voltage there Will be increase in current ultimately decreased voltage and increased current is equal to the produced voltage and current.
Power=VI

[santhoshpro]

hi bro it seems good project and i have lots of doubt in this can you please contact me through mail: [e-mail]

as soon as possible bro waiting for your reply eagerly

[RoobaD]

can piezo buzzers can be used?

[beingarif]

how much amount of current is generated in amperes? please inform me soon & how

[hamxa.abbasi.3]

current is the measure problem, it doesn't produce much ,may be in nano amps

[rpandey8]

This problem occurs because your circuit might be having fairly large resistance . To avoid this do this : attach a very small resistance to each circuit in your project, this will improve the current value fairly enough. It helped me in my project of generating electricity using crank shaft generator. Best of Luck, contact me on [e-mail] if you need some help

Cheers,

Ravi Pandey

[ShivamA25]

Very nice

[sundarigari naveen]

Nice project

[AmanS98]

Electricity in this is produced as we take steps right? So there is no continuous power supply. Wont this affect the electronic device? And is there any way to store this energy so that we can use it later and get continuous voltage?

[hamxa.abbasi.3]

it is producing a farily high amount of voltage but not current...?

[Class8]

can anything b used instead of a piezoelectric transducers??

[ChaitraT]

Friends,I used this piezoelectric sensor(transducer) to sense the vibrations produced by a small vibration motor.But i used 1 sensor and getting a very small variable voltage.The output is not constant to amplify.can i use many sensors? if yes should they be connected in series or parallel???How to connect??Can i use rubber sheet to transfer vibrations??plz help..

[alone flame]

it's beautiful thank you ;-)

[alone flame]

hello,I wonder to know can I make it with series piezoelectrics I mean buy doing this can I get more voltage (like batteries)?and how much is the voltage that you got,I can't understand it from the picture.

why you didn't use one diode bridge instead of lots of diodes?

[LBJ6.K]

Why is a diode being used instead of the bridge rectifier circuit?

[LBJ6.K]

Why is a diode being used instead of the bridge rectifier circuit?

[LBJ6.K]

Why is a diode being used instead of the bridge rectifier circuit?

[unique1510]

does it depend on the weight of the perso

[ashwini11]

where i can find this Piezoelectric transducers . i want this fast and cheaply.
please tell fast .
i cudent understand (the thin speakers from the buzzers) can you please tell fast