Did you know that you can produce electricity by just walking? Here's a little science experiment that will show you a little secret on making insoles that can charge USB devices! The challenge is to make a slip-on insole that can produce enough electricity to charge batteries/ USB devices. Google Fair 2014: This is my entry for Google's 2014 science fair. Please support us by hitting the like and share button on our YouTube video. The contest is YouTube based so getting a fair amount of likes and viewers would help a lot in getting us through the competition. Thank you guys for the support! I'm really grateful! :3 160k views, grossing 30k views per day (since Jun 4, 2014). (http://cdn.instructables.com/F9U/KDYE/HUU1ET6F/F9UKDYEHUU1ET6F.LARGE.jpg) About This Instructable License: 77,782 views 757 favorites (/member/ASCAS/) ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) ASCAS.com (http://ascas.tk) Follow Hello There! I'm Angelo. I'm 15 and I love to build projects during my pastime!I plan to become an engineer someday and work for a company who innovates new products. ___________________ My #1 inspi...read more » (/member/ASCAS/) 2780 Bio: (/id/Water-Powered- Flashlight-v2) (/id/DIY-HiFi-Gainclone- Power-Amplifier-2x68w-Class-A) (/id/LightBuddy) More by ASCAS electricity (/tag/type-id/category- technology/keyw ord-electricity/) generating (/tag/type-id/category- technology/keyw ord-generating/) shoe (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyw ord- shoe/) insole (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyw ord- insole/) DIY (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyw ord- diy/) homemade (/tag/type-id/category- Tags: Electricity Generating Footwear - Generate Electricity By Walking by ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (/contest/scientificmethod/) (/contest/greenelectronics/) + Collection I Made it! Vote! Download (/id/Electricity-Generating-Footwear/?download=pdf) 15 Steps Favorite (/id/Electricity-Generating-Footwear/) (/) let's make share what you make > (/editInstructable/) (/) Explore (/tag/type-id/) Create (/about/submit.jsp) Contests (/contest/) Community (/community/) Login (/you/)
23
Embed
Electricity Generating Footwear - Generate Electricity by Walking
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Did you know that you can produce electricity by just walking? Here's a little
science experiment that will show you a little secret on making insoles that can
charge USB devices! The challenge is to make a slip-on insole that can produce
enough electricity to charge batteries/ USB devices.
Google Fair 2014:
This is my entry for Google's 2014 science fair. Please support us by hitting the
like and share button on our YouTube video. The contest is YouTube based so
getting a fair amount of likes and viewers would help a lot in getting us through the
competition.
Thank you guys for the support! I'm really grateful! :3
160k views, grossing 30k views per day (since Jun 4, 2014).
Hello There! I'm Angelo. I'm 15 and Ilove to build projects during my pastime!Iplan to become an engineer someday andwork for a company who innovates newproducts. ___________________ My #1inspi...read more » (/member/ASCAS/)
Coal power is the most common energy source used in the Philippines ,also in the
world. For the past decade, our country has been tapping to renewable sources of
energy although it’s not rendered free and its price continuously changes
(Philippine Star, January 2014). Most undeveloped areas, specially provinces,
have no access to electricity. For the people who are living in the suburbs,
charging a phone or a lamp is a big deal for them
Over the past years, my science experiments were mostly about renewable energy.
I started my first science fair experiment when I was in third-grade, it was my first
miniature model of a solar car. The receding years of my science fair entries were
mostly about wind, solar, hydro and chemical energy.
My goal is to find a new source of renewable energy, something that does not
depend on wind, water or sunlight. I did some random research and I came
through tons of eco-energy production articles. I told myself, if I'll go with another
solar/ wind experiment, there won't be enough innovation by just remaking a project
from the internet. Like all scientists, I had to think out of the box.
Questions To Ponder On:
- Does it have enough power to supply electricity for low consumption modules?
- Will it produce enough power to charge USB devices?
- Can it reach the USB standards?
- Can it power a series of LEDs?
Future Practical Applications:
- Supply on-board/ independent power for smarts shoes and clothing.
- Aid outdoorsmen/ hikers, with GPS tracking shoes,in their journey into the vast
wilderness.
- Great for areas where electricity is scarce. - Self-powering rescue chips in
shoes.
Research:
The project is be accomplished by using piezoelectric materials. Piezoelectricity,
also called the piezoelectric effect, is the ability of certain materials to generate an
alternating current voltage when actuated.Certain ceramics, Rochelle salts, and
various other solids exhibit this effect. For example, (Pb[ZrxTi1−x]O3 where,0≤x≤1),
also called PZT, will generate measurable electricity when their structure is
deformed by about 0.1% of the original dimension(International AAAI Conference
on Social Media and Weblogs, 2012). In this project, the generated electricity on a
specific time will be recorded and determine if it would be enough to completely
charge a Li-ion battery or a high capacity capacitor.
The project is be accomplished by using piezoelectric materials. Piezoelectricity,
also called the piezoelectric effect, is the ability of certain materials to generate an
alternating current voltage when actuated.Certain ceramics, Rochelle salts, and
various other solids exhibit this effect. For example, (Pb[ZrxTi1−x]O3 where,0≤x≤1),
also called PZT, will generate measurable electricity when their structure is
deformed by about 0.1% of the original dimension(International AAAI Conference
on Social Media and Weblogs, 2012). In this project, the generated electricity on a
specific time will be recorded and determine if it would be enough to completely
charge a Li-ion battery or a high capacity capacitor.
The piezoelectric effect, by which a material generates an electric potential in
response to a temperature change, was studied by Carl Linnaeus and Franz
Aepinus in the mid-18th century. Drawing on this knowledge, both René Just Haüy
and Antoine César Becquerel posited a relationship between mechanical stress
and electric charge; however, experiments by both proved inconclusive. The first
demonstration of the direct piezoelectric effect was in 1880 by the brothers Pierre
Curie and Jacques Curie. They combined their knowledge of pyroelectricity with
their understanding of the underlying crystal structures that gave rise to
pyroelectricity to predict crystal behavior, and demonstrated the effect using
crystals of tourmaline, quartz,topaz, cane sugar, and Rochelle salt (sodium
potassium tartrate tetrahydrate). Quartz and Rochelle salt exhibited the most
piezoelectricity.
A piezoelectric disk generates a voltage when deformed (change in shape is
greatly exaggerated) The Curies, however, did not predict the converse
piezoelectric effect. The converse effect was mathematically deduced from
fundamental thermodynamic principles by Gabriel Lippmann in 1881. The Curies
immediately confirmed the existence of the converse effect, and went on to obtain
quantitative proof of the complete reversibility of electro-elasto-mechanical
deformations in piezoelectric crystals. For the next few decades, piezoelectricity
remained something of a laboratory curiosity. More work was done to explore and
define the crystal structures that exhibited piezoelectricity. This culminated in 1910
with the publication of Woldemar Voigt's Lehrbuch der Kristallphysik (Textbook on
Crystal Physics), which described the 20 natural crystal classes capable of
piezoelectricity, and rigorously defined the piezoelectric constants using tensor
analysis.
Method/ Testing And Redesign:
Please refer to section #3 to section #14
Results:
An Arduino development board was used to establish a simple oscillocope setup. It
was plugged to the computer, the built-in TTL was used to establish serial
communication between the Arduino and PC. A sketch was uploaded, using the
Arduino IDE, to monitor the Analog pin where the insole generator was connected.
A separate program, called "processing 2.0", was used to monitor the ripple given
off by the converted AC►DC output of the generator.
Conclusion/ Report:
The current results showed that the product has potential to charge lithium
batteries. Though there are room for improvements, it showed positive signs for it to
be further developed. Based from the results, the insole generator has enough
power to supply voltage for low powered circuits such as MCUs (Micro Controller
Units - ex. ATtiny) and TTL Bluetooth transmitters. I can now say that the product is
ready for production and is highly usable for smart clothing/ shoes although
charging USB devices won't suffice just yet.
FURTHER PLANS:
If a whole insole was to be made with a thin flexible sheet of metal and glazed with
piezoelectric elements (back-to-back) then it would probably produce enough
power to qualify within the USB standards. A standardized opensource 3D printed
design will certainly introduce a new energy-production concept to the DIY
community. When everyone has access to an opensource project great ideas
flourish!
Glossary/ Terms That You Will Encounter:
Piezo Electricity - is the ability of certain materials to generate an AC(alternating current) voltage when subjected to mechanical stress or vibration, orto vibrate when subjected to an AC voltage, or both. The most commonpiezoelectric material is quartz. Certain ceramics, Rochelle salts, and variousother solids also exhibit this effect.Actuated - cause a machine to operate/ work/ generate.Piezo - shorthand for piezoelectricAC Current - the flow of electric charge periodically reverses direction. Piezoelements produce these currents.DC Current - the flow of electric charge is only in one direction. Batteriesproduce these currentsBridge Diode - usually is composed of four rectifier diodes that filter ACcurrents and turn them into DC currents.Piezo Disc/ Element/ Transducer - they are all the same, it refers to thediscrete component that produces current when actuated. They are also knownas ceramic transducers and are usually found in outdated pairs of earpiece.
Step 2: The Concept Behind (Understanding The KeyPrinciples)
I'm curious, since one side is somewhat elevated, how did you feel after the twohours? Any back pain or stress in the ball of the foot? Does it feel more spring like?
I certainly like the concept, piezos are definitely difficult to make work.
ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (author) efahrenholz
Surprisingly, it feel comfortable.
The foams are squishy enough tomake the insole feel like a gelslip-on. When jogging a 10-20%
energy loss is expected due tothe gaps of energy production.
Jogging for at least for 3-4 hoursshould charge the battery full. Awalk should take 5-6 hours to
charge a 400mAh full, due to the40% energy loss.
Don't forget that these peizoelements produce more energywhen jumping. The weight of the
user/ subject also affects theamount of energy produced. The
heavier the subject, the higher thecurrent.
ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (author) ASCAS
feels*
_Joebet (/member/_Joebet/)
I have a suggestion, how about of your shoe heels are thick enough try putting the
battery inside. =D
_Joebet (/member/_Joebet/)
I have a suggestion, how about of your shoe heels are thick enough try putting thebattery inside. =D
SaintNSinner (/member/SaintNSinner/)
How about something that can charge while your riding a bike, I dont know if it is
doable or not but I think its much more faster to charge when ur on a bike. But againthat would be a different method right?
_Joebet (/member/_Joebet/) SaintNSinner
Go for the dynamo method for bikesor hand cranked electricity.
many old PCs (some new too) have them on board as a midi speaker.. orsome old head phones... or any shop with electronic components, cheap.
_Joebet (/member/_Joebet/) tyszka
Do you know any shop in the area of sucat,Paranaque?
Waztsn (/member/Waztsn/)
I don't want to be mean, but im trying to help.... You should remove this instructable
because its kind of a copyrighted product..... saw it in pop science.
http://solepowertech.com/
nstaudt (/member/nstaudt/) Waztsn
The product you've linked to doesn't use piezoelectric materials, it's a
completely different mechanism.
However, using piezoelectric materials like this has indeed been done
before... not sure if there's a patent though...http://www.memsjournal.com/2010/04/microstructured-piezoelectric-shoe-power-generator-outperforms-batteries.html
gothytim (/member/gothytim/) nstaudt
I was going to say similar. I'm not a lawyer but copyright shouldn't be aproblem. Patent law is a different matter, but I'd be rather upset if someonemanaged to get a patent on using piezoelectric materials to generate a
charge.
Constructed (/member/Constructed/) Waztsn
Most instructables are, I don'tthink it really matters because its
still really cool and well explained.
inyquist jr. (/member/inyquist+jr./)
ASCAS, this project looks super cool. My son (7 years old) and I have been doingsome instructables, and we'd really like to try this one. The thing is, we don't have anyexperience with electronics/soldering. Would you be able to elaborate on some of the
instructions? Here are some specific questions that I have:
1) I see that there are 3 different types of wires in your photos - a green one thatconnected the piezos, a silver one that also connects the piezos, and a black one with(2 wires together) that connects the generator to the power bank. But in your
materials list you have only listed "hookup wire (at least 12"). Can you provide mewith more details on what kind of wire is required in all 3 instances that I'm seing inthese photos (gauge, materials, etc.)?
2) In Step 8, I see that the green wires connect each of the piezos at the center area
of the disk. And some solder lines connect the edges of the piezos. Please forgiveme, I know nothing about piezos. What's going on here? Is the outside ring of thepiezo negative and the inside ring positive or something?
3) Follow up question - can you just solder anywhere within the inner and outer ring?And can you use just standard solder? I've never used solder before, but I'd like to
mess around and see if I can get this to work. What kind of solder do I need?
4) I can see in your photo for step 8 that one of the green wires goes through a hole inthe PVC to the other side of the PVC. I'm guessing that it connects to the piezos onthe other side, correct? And the same for the silver wire? Could you possible post a
photo of what the other side looks like?
5) How are you soldering the rectifier diodes together? On Amazon, it looks likethese diodes come with a wire extending from each end. Are you simply solderingthese wires together so that the 4 diodes form a loop?
6) How are the rectifier diodes adhered to the PVC? With adhesive, hot glue, superglue?
7) Regarding this comment in step 13, "Right now, my insole generator is soldered
directly to my powerbank's lithium battery. It works but it's not completely not safe.This is just a prototype so expect another Instructable tutorial/ write-up next week."What specifically do you mean by "not safe"? Like, could this potentially get hot or
Do you think it would be possible to save upthis electricity you generate and store it intosome kind of electricity container? If so your
invention has the potential to end pollution andpoverty! I believe mabey one day everyone will
have this technology on there shoe and as acommunity can combine there gatheredelectricity and apply it to power there city.
there is billions of people on earth. mabey justone person cannot produce enough energybut together we can power our world
tyszka (/member/tyszka/)
cool project - I have some advice about stack - it is hard to stack 20 piezos like that,you crate a series connection (as far as I understood you try to avoid this), stackbecomes stiff, and short is very possible. I tried to build piezo actuator and other stuff
few years ago. You need to separate each piezo with paper-like something and a thinring gasket. Point is to let the centers of piezos touch end bend inwards all togetherbut fix the edges. Put everything into the tube and close it with a piston. Pinpoint like
piston should push only the center of fixed stack... buuut its possible that piezo layerwill crack. Maybe some spring between piston and stack can work as a force limiter
(or just foam like you did)... cabling 20 piezos is also a problem, and height of a stackinside your shoe... yeah just thinking, cheers
Looking at the future, if this push through, maybe it can be upgraded and beimplemented on public sidewalks or flooring of malls (the busiest walking places inPhilippines). What do you think? You're young and there's a big possibility that you
can help this happen to our country. ^_^
yhdesai (/member/yhdesai/)
are you available on facebook or any other social site?
ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (author) yhdesai
Yes but I won't be able to chatfrequently, not until this busymonth.
yhdesai (/member/yhdesai/)
voted
ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (author) yhdesai
Thank you! :)
ixisuprflyixi (/member/ixisuprflyixi/)
Superlative!
sujithZis (/member/sujithZis/)
why cant we just hot lue instead of contact adhesive
ASCAS (/member/ASCAS/) (author) sujithZis
Hot glue is too stiff when it coolsdown. For some reason I don't
think it's durable enough.
Templarum (/member/Templarum/)
Congratulations. Is always a pleasure to see young minds at work in such greatideas. I hope you do win the contest. You have my vote!
cmalandi (/member/cmalandi/)
Man.. you are a genius. keep it up.
sujithZis (/member/sujithZis/)
hey angelo ,
you have written about an update in section 13 , could you tell some more about it ,