hey frnds i am planning to prepare a piezoelectric mat that will convert the human movement into electrcty and hence need some guidance for it.....
thanks in advance.....

 

What exactly do you need help with? The power collection part? The interface for the Piezo sensors? Controller???

What Level of experience do you have with electronics (analog and digital)??

B. Morse

 

i need help in all parts and i am in last year of my Engg from india so need help in all part for example how to start with ???
what is the suited piezo sensors for such a conversion of mechanical stress....and than the interfacing part ......bt for a start generation and storing part.

 

hey some body plz help .......

 

Here is a link to Linear Technologies Piezo Energy harvester IC >>> http://www.linear.com/pc/productDetail.jsp?navId=H0,C1,C1003,C1799,P90393

This IC should get you going in the right direction for your project...

This seems like an interesting project, and I think I will do some research on this Piezo Electricity harvesting, I have ordered some samples of these IC's from Linear.....

B. Morse

 

its gr8 and plz do include me in ur research keep on updating what you have proceeded OK

thanks in advance...

 

hey bmorse just read abt that IC but want to ask will it work in my application where i will be converting human kinetic energy into electricty and if yes how and where shall i use this IC.

 

Did a little more research on this subject and apparently you need some piezo sensors that are specifically designed for this type of application, a source for these types of sensors is here >> http://www.advancedcerametrics.com/pages/energy_harvesting_components

I will still try to see what i can do with "off the shelf" piezo elements, and possibly the kind they use in auto security systems, since these are made to detect vibrations and some have a weight added to one end to add sensitivity.....

B. Morse

 

hey bmorse just read abt that IC but want to ask will it work in my application where i will be converting human kinetic energy into electricty and if yes how and where shall i use this IC.

These IC's are supposed to do just that, take kinetic energy from movement or vibrations of moving objects or machinery, and convert that to energy that can power micropowered circuits such as wireless sensors, etc.


But with your application, when someone steps on the mat which will have piezo sensors in it, the sensors will bend and output a voltage, the IC can then take this voltage and store it in capacitors (supercap), then use a DC to DC converter circuit to charge some batteries or something with the stored energy.... Although these IC's are designed to get continuous input from a piezo, I am sure it will still work with your application, there may be a lot of trial and error to get it to work as you wish.

As soon as I get my samples, I will do some testing and post the updates on here....


B. Morse

 

thank you very much bmorse i will soon get back to you with some doubts......
thanks in advance.....

 

hey i just have a doubt in my mind that why are we using this LTC3588 ic just for having a controlled output than whats wrong in using AC-AC inverter .............

 

It is because an AC - AC inverter will not work in collecting the energy and to store it in a cap until it can be of use....

The LTC3588-1 integrates a low-loss full-wave bridge rectifier with a high efficiency buck converter to form a complete energy harvesting solution optimized for high output impedance energy sources such as piezoelectric transducers. An ultralow quiescent current undervoltage lockout (UVLO) mode with a wide hysteresis window allows charge to accumulate on an input capacitor until the buck converter can efficiently transfer a portion of the stored charge to the output. In regulation, the LTC3588-1 enters a sleep state in which both input and output quiescent currents are minimal. The buck converter turns on and off as needed to maintain regulation.

P.S.
I received my samples yesterday, I just have to come up with a way to test them since they are really small SMD IC's....


B. Morse

 

Somewhere exists suppliers that make small printed circuit boards to provide more useable fanouts of the most common SMD IC packages, unfortunately they tend to be hard to find. When a circuit is designed with SMD components it's assumed it will work the first time, these components just don't play well with experimenters.

 

Thats alright, I have my own CNC PCB Mill/Drill so I can manage just fine... and those boards you are talking about are called surfboards....


16 lead QFN package done on my CNC:

another one using Freescale's 3 axis accelerometer:

so this is not a new thing for me...

B. Morse

 

I completely forgot about using a vertical mill to etch a board. I once had access to one when I worked for the Physics Dept but usually sent any small boards over to the tech students and let them make them up as practice. What with all the high powered lasers I had along with the precision positioning I probably could have figured out a way to etch that way as well.

My lab area shared the same room as a huge pulsed NdYAG laser a guy working on his Doctorate project was using all the time and I often had to be very careful getting past it to my "safe area" as the guy was a nut. More than once he'd have a mirror misaimed and that thing could zap a good 1/4" deep hole in your arm. If one of those hits skin it sounds like a firecracker going off, I heard him get hit twice and it didn't even phase him but I certainly jumped off my chair.

 

I also have access to a CNC laser, and I have a CNC Plasma Cutter at the shop too, so I can pretty much mill, engrave, cut anything I want, the CNC Plasma can cut upto 1" thick steel

B. Morse

 

I also have access to a CNC laser, and I have a CNC Plasma Cutter at the shop too, so I can pretty much mill, engrave, cut anything I want, the CNC Plasma can cut upto 1" thick steel

B. Morse

Lucky, I feel privileged to have a small drill press both at home and at work.

 

Lucky, I feel privileged to have a small drill press both at home and at work.

Believe me, I feel very lucky, and I have a lot of respect for these machines, I remember when all I had was a couple of dremmel tools, some assorted jewelers files, and a hand coping saw to work with ! I still use those tools now and again, nothing beats a "real" hand made part when building something.

 

hey can you just post me the image of your sample of LTC ic as i have just orderd it and it will take some time so i just want to know its size and how you will be using it in ur setup.......

REGARDS....

 

hey can you just post me the image of your sample of LTC ic as i have just orderd it and it will take some time so i just want to know its size and how you will be using it in ur setup.......

REGARDS....

I have 2 different packages, one is leadless, but I will post some pics of the IC's when I get back home tonight, since they are at home, and I am at work right now...


B. Morse