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Figure 1. An array of PZT (lead zirconate titanate) benders bonded to the inner surface of a tire.
all the PZT lines then connected in parallel. At any given time only two or three rows, depending upon the length of the contact patch, generate power. Since rectiers provide very high resistance in reverse mode (opposite to the direction of permitted current ow), the remaining PZT benders act like a disconnect in the path of electric current, that is, like an open circuit. To test the power output, we designed a dynamometer that permits the tire to rotate at different rates and allows simulation of different vehicle weights using a pneumatic piston. We measured the power at various rotations per minute (rpm) by applying the output voltage across known resistance values. The average voltage changes with both load and rpm. We experimentally determined the resonant impedance of the entire harvester module to be 1000 , and used that value in our measurements. A power of 2.3 watts was produced across this load at 854rpm, roughly equivalent to 100km/h on the road for the tire size we used. Figure 2 shows the power and voltage across this 1000 load as a function of rpm. As anticipated, the power output increases with the increasing deformation
Author Information Noaman Makki and Remon Pop-Iliev University of Ontario Institute of Technology Oshawa, Canada Noaman Makki is an MASc student. His research projects include piezo-powered multifunctional composites for shoes and pneumatic tires, piezo-powered tire-pressure-monitoring systems, and vehicle-speed sensors. Remon Pop-Iliev is an associate professor and senior chair in innovative design engineering. His research has been funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by General Motors of Canada Limited since 2005. His team is actively developing efcient technologies for manufacturing cellular materials and composites, long yet lightweight robotic arms, and innovative sustainable mobility technologies such as hydrogen-powered extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
References 1. http://www.eaa-phev.org/wiki/Plug-In Hybrids Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Accessed 2 February 2011. 2. M. Keck, A new approach of a piezoelectric vibration-based power generator to supply next generation tire sensor systems, IEEE Sens., pp. 12991302, 2007. doi:10.1109/ICSENS.2007.4388648 3. L. Pinna, M. Valle, and G. Marco, Experimental results of piezoelectric bender generators for the energy supply of smart wireless sensors, Proc. 13th Italian Conf. Sens. Microsyst., pp. 450455, World Scientic, 2008. doi:10.1142/9789812835987 0074 4. N. Makki and R. Pop-Iliev, Piezoelectric power generation for sensor applications: design of a battery-less wireless tire pressure sensor, SPIE Proc. 8066, 2011. Accepted as paper 806644 at the SPIE Smart Sens. Actuators MEMS Conf. in Prague, Czech Republic, 1820 April 2011.
frequency of piezo benders or, equivalently, with rpm. The wellknown approach of stacking various layers of PZT material on top of each other was used to increase the power output. We tried using two layers of PZT benders, which doubled the output to 4.6 watts. Power is extracted from the tire-wheel system using a commutator-like assembly, that is, one that continuously maintains the electrical contact between the chassis and the wheel while allowing the latter to spin freely. Such a setup permits the extraction of tire-generated power to run onboard electronics. The energy harvested by bonding piezo benders depends on three factors, namely, tire surface area, rpm at 100km/h, and bender end-to-end deection. All of these factors are a function of tire radius with a larger radius resulting in a larger surface area, lower rpm, and lower deection. For this experiment, we used a 185/65R14 tire: one with layers running radially (R) across it, with a width of 185mm, a ratio of the height of the tires cross-section to its width of 60, and a wheel diameter of 14 inches. Different sizes will produce different output power depending on the combination of these factors. The 4.6 watts generated with PZT benders provide sufcient proof of the feasibility of using our method for running onboard devices. Since PZT elements have limited exibility, high-deformation areas of the tire such as sidewalls could not be covered. We are currently developing a more exible polyvinylidene uoride composite stack for the next set of experiments. We anticipate that more tire area can be covered with this material, increasing power output as a result.
c 2011 SPIE