ENERGY CONVERSION FROM SUSPENSION SYSTEM

HADI BIN KHALID

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

ENERGY CONVERSION FROM SUSPENSION SYSTEM

HADI BIN KHALID

A project report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the awards of the

degree of Master of Engineering (Mechanical)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JUNE 2013

iii

To my beloved wife, Intan Suraya who believes in me even though I find it

difficult to do so myself, my supervisor and friends who gives me strength to

complete this thesis and my parents who always believe in

me and guide me in all of my pursuits.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, The Almighty and The Merciful and Blessings. Be

upon His Massenger, Prophet Muhammad S.A.W and his companion. I am very

thankful to Allah for his divine inspiration guidance and his blessing to me in

completing this project report. In preparing this report, I was in contact with many

people, researchers, academicians and practitioners. They have contributed towards

my understanding and thoughts. In Particular, I would like to express my thanks to

my dedicated advisor, Assoc. Prof Dr. Intan Zaurah Bt Mat Darus for his

commitment, guidance and credibility in the preparation stage of this report. His

cooperation and advice help me to prepare a well-prepared proposal at last.Without

his continued support and interest; this report would not have been the same as

presented here.

My fellow postgraduate students should also be recognized for their support.

My sincere appreciation also extends to all my colleagues and others who have

provided assistance at various occasions, Their views and tips are useful indeed..

Lastly, I also would like to thanks to my parent and classmate whom give me

encouragement and moral support to complete of this project.

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ABSTRACT

Energy harnessing is the process by which energy is derived from external

sources such as solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, kinetic energy, captured

and stored for small devices uses. The ambient energy that can be harnessed to

generate electricity comes from a wide range of sources but vibration energy shows

a promising amount of power generation. In this study, conversion of mechanical

vibration into electricity using piezoelectric vibration-to-electricity converter is

undertaken with a focus to quantify the amount of power that can be generated and

identify electronic devices that can fully utilize this power. The research is divided

into two parts, which are simulation from the car suspension data and experimental

investigations. An analytical study of the mathematical models of the piezoelectric

vibration-to-electricity converter has been conducted and simulations of these

models have been developed within Matlab-SIMULINK. The analysis of the

harnessing energy from micro-vibration reported in this study will provide useful

information for the development of alternative source of energy in the future. The

energy collected in this study is an electrical power. The electrical power generated

is depend on the length of stroke, which are the length of displacement of vibration.

The power generated is also depend on the frequency of vibration. This study shows

a result which is the power collected from suspension system.

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ABSTRAK

Memanfaatkan tenaga merupakan suatu proses dimana tenaga diterbitkan

daripada sumber luar seperti tenaga cahaya matahari, tenaga haba, tenaga angina,

tenaga kinetic yang diambil dan disimpan untuk kegunaan peralatan yang kecil.

Tenaga daripada persekitaran yang boleh dimanfaatkan untuk ditukarkan kepada

tenaga elektrik boleh diambil daripada pelbagai sumber tetapi tenaga daripada

getaran dilihat boleh menjana tenaga yang banyak. Dalam kajian ini, penukaran

tenaga getaran kepada tenaga elektrik dengan menggunakan piezoelektrik diberi

perhatian untuk menentukan amaun tenaga yang boleh dijana dan mengenalpasti alat

yang boleh menggunakan membantu supaya tenaga ini boleh dimanfaatkan dengan

baik. Kajian ini terbahagi kepada dua bahagian iaitu mendapatkan data daripada

kaedah simulasi suspensi kenderaan dan kaedah eksperimen. Kajian analitikal model

secara matematik penukar piezoelektrik juga dijalankan dan simulasi model ini

dibangunkan dengan menggunakan Matlab-SIMULINK. Analisis hasil daripada

kajian memanfaatkan mikro- getaran ini akan memberi maklumat dan membantu

dalam kajian menjana tenaga daripada sumber alternatif pada masa hadapan. Tenaga

yang dijana dalam kajian ini ialah tenaga elektrik. Kajian ini menunjukkan tenaga

yang dihasilkan bergantung kepada jarak ayunan sesuatu suspensi. Jumlah tenaga

yang boleh dijana juga bergantung kepada frekuensi ayunan suspensi. Kajian ini

menunjukkan amaun tenaga yang boleh dijana oleh sesuatu sistem suspensi.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity that is often understood

as the ability of a physical system to do work on other physical systems. Nowadays,

harnessing energy has attracted remarkable attention by researchers as a potential

source of energy. This is because the energy that already in used today confront with

several conflicts such as limited resources, pollution, high cost and also time

dependence of the demand (Crawley, 1975).

The field of harnessing energy is growing rapidly with technology

innovations today. During this past decade, many researchers have been carried out

from different sources of energy to find the most suitable alternative source. These

include solar power and wind power (Charters, 1991, Ismail, 2008).

Abdul Rahman (2010) has analyzed scavenging energy from knee motion

during walking to produce electrical energy. This useful electrical energy then can

be used as a charger to the portable electronic devices. However, this method is only

applicable when there is a human motion (Abdul Rahman, 2010).

Vibration is a universal phenomenon and has a very close relationship with

human. There are different levels of vibration that will causes different effect on

human. Human will face health and safety problem if the level of vibration is higher

than the vibration level that human can accept (Bin, 2007). Besides that, vibration

can result in noises and it was something unwanted in any operation. It can reduce

the system effectiveness and structural fatigue (Mohamed, 2010).

2

1.1 Research Background

Vibration energy can be converted into electrical energy through

piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and capacitive transducers (Muralt et al., 2009, Wang

et al., 2010, Mialtu et al., 2009). Among them, piezoelectric vibration-to-electricity

converters are the most popular and received much attention from the researchers.

This is because they have high electromechanical coupling and no external voltage

source requirement (Shu, 2009).

The advancement of current technology has helped to fulfil the demand for

self-powered electronics devices by harnessing ambient energy from the

environment, thus eliminating the need for batteries and supplying these electronic

devices with infinite amount of energy. The ambient energy that can be harnessed

to generate electricity is coming from a wide range of sources such as human body

(Shenck and Paradiso, 2001; Starner, 1996) and temperature gradient (Stordeur and

Stark, 1997).

The driving force to harness ambient energy from the environment is mostly

due to the development of wireless sensor and actuator networks where particular

research has been conducted for a project named PicoRadios (Rabaey et al., 2002).

This project aims to develop a small and flexible wireless platform for ubiquitous

wireless data acquisition that minimizes power dissipation. The important

specifications for the power system developed by PicoRadios project researchers are

the total size and average power dissipation of an individual node. The size of a

node must not be larger than 1 cm3 and the target average power dissipation of a

completed node is 100 μW.

Car suspension is also producing a vibration. Suspension is the term given to

the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its

wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems serve a dual

purpose which are contributing to the vehicle's road holding and handling and

braking for good active safety and driving pleasure, and keeping vehicle occupants

comfortable and reasonably well isolated from road noise, bumps, and vibrations.

These goals are generally at odds, so the tuning of suspensions involves

finding the right compromise. It is important for the suspension to keep the road

wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the forces

3

acting on the vehicle do so through the contact patches of the tires. The suspension

also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage and wear.

1.2 Research Objectives

The objective of this project is:

To develop instrumentation system for energy conversion from quarter car

suspension system.

1.3 Problem Statements

Batteries are type of energy storage devices that commonly used to power

hand held and portable electronic devices as well as implanted biomedical systems.

However, due to its limited capacity, batteries could possibly supply power only for

short lifetime of about one to three years and its significant size and weight has

caused problem to the present hand held and portable devices as well as implanted

biomedical systems. While researchers continuously developed the technology to

increase the energy of storage devices, the solutions are still going to have finite

lifetime.

This problem has led to the rising demand for self-powered devices and

systems which can be solved by harnessing energy from a wide range of sources

using a few technique that have been proven can supply infinite amount of power.

In this study, conversion of mechanical vibration into electricity using piezoelectric

material is undertaken with a focus to quantify the amount of power that can be

generated and identify electronic devices that can fully utilize this power.

4

1.4 Research Question

Is it possible to collect the energy from car suspension system? How?

1.5 Theoretical Frame Work

This study is to collect the energy generated by car suspension using energy

conversion instrumentation method.

1.6 Scopes of research

The scopes of this project are:

1. Literature review of instrumentation of energy conversion, suspension

system and vibration energy.

2. Development of energy conversion instrumentation via simulation and

experimental validation.

3. Development of storage system for energy collection.

1.7 Research Methodology Flowchart

The methodologies involved in this study are shown in Figure 1.1. The

project starts by collecting reading materials such as books, journals and technical

papers specifically on sources of vibration, methods of converting ambient vibration

energy into electrical energy, types of piezoelectric material, piezoelectric energy

harnessing circuit and types of energy storage.

Research has been done continuously throughout this study to get a better

understanding on the concept of harnessing energy from ambient vibration using

5

piezoelectric material. Besides, consultation sessions with the project supervisor

and few colleagues who are doing similar research were also held periodically to

discuss any arising issues and problems encountered pertaining to this study.

Based on the research conducted, piezoelectric energy harnessing circuit

selection process was made in order to get the suitable circuit followed by the

selection of a few types of energy storage devices to be used in this study. The

study on piezoelectric energy harnessing has been divided into two main parts which

are (1) simulation of the vibration environment and (2) laboratory experiment on

vibrating mechanical equipments. Both simulation and laboratory experiment will

undergo the same process such as piezoelectric vibration to electricity conversion,

rectification and energy storage.

The simulation in Matlab SIMULINK has been done using vibration data

acquired from experimental study by previous researcher in order to determine the

possible amount of power density output that can be produced for the specific

acceleration input. With the promising amount of power density output produced

during simulation, the laboratory experiment on vibrating mechanical equipments

was conducted for the purpose of quantifying the amount of power that can be

generated by vibrating mechanical equipment and identifying electronic devices that

can fully utilize this power.

6

Figure 1.1 : Methodology of the study

Literature Review

Start

Piezoelectric Energy Harnessing

Vibration Environment

Experiment on Quarter Car Suspension

Conversion Piezoelectric Vibration

into Electricity

Conversion Piezoelectric Vibration

into Electricity

Simulation

Rectification

Energy Storage

Rectification

Data Analysis

Stop

7

1.8 Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart will used in monitoring progress of the project from time to time in order to ensure the project reach its milestone within a

specific period of time.

NO. ACTIVITIES WEEKS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 Selection of project title 2 Collecting reading materials 3 Literature review of previous research 4 Understanding the concept of piezoelectric

energy harnessing from vibration

5 Familiarization with Matlab SIMULINK 6 Simulation of vibration environment using

data acquired by previous researcher

7 Simulation of energy harnessing 8 Analysis of the results from the simulation

of energy harnessing

9 Report writing 10 Preparation for seminar presentation 11 Seminar 1 Figure 1.2 : Gantt Chart for Master Project 1

8

NO. ACTIVITIES WEEKS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 Literature review 2 Experimental setup: Integration and

development of data acquisition and instrumentation system

3 Experiment on vibrating mechanical equipments (quarter car suspension)

4 Analysis of the experimental results 5 Report writing 6 Preparation for seminar presentation and

submission of draft thesis

7 Seminar 2 8 Submission of the thesis

Figure 1.3 : Gantt Chart for Master Project 2

51

REFERENCES

1. Crawley, G.M. (1975). Energy. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers.

2. Kiong, T.K., L.T. Heng, and H. Sunan (2008). Vibration Monitoring and

Control, in Precision Motion Control. Springer London: p. 195-230.

3. Abdul Rahim, N. A. (2010). Biomechanical Study and Analysis on Human

Motion using Piezoelectric Sensor for Scavenging Energy. Degree Thesis.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.

4. Bin, C. W. (2007). Vibration Analysis of a Machine. Degree Thesis.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.

5. Mingjie, G., Liao, W.-H. (2005). Comparative Analysis of Piezoelectric

power Harvesting Circuits for Rechargeable Batteries. Proceedings of the

IEEE International Conference on Information Acquisition. 27 June – 3 July.

Hong Kong and Macau, China: IEEE, p. 243-246.

6. Arnau, A.V. (2008). Piezoelectric Transducers and Applications (2nd

ed.).Springer Publishers.

7. Gautschi, G. (2002). Piezoelectric Sensorics: Force, Strain, Pressure,

Acceleration and Acoustic Emission Sensors, Materials and amplifiers. (1st

ed.). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.

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8. Kim, H., Tadesse, Y. et al. (2009). Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, in

Energy Harvesting Technologies, S. Priya and D.J. Inman, Editors. Springer

US: p. 3-39.

9. Mialtu, R. and Sararoiu, M. (2009). Electret based Capacitive MEMS

Vibration-to-electric Energy Harvesting. Semiconductor Conference. 12-14

October. Sinaia: IEEE, p. 219-222.

10. Middleton, R.H., and Singh, U.K., (2007). Piezoelectric Power Scavenging

of Mechanical Vibration Energy. Australian Mining Technology Conference.

2-4 Oct 2007. Australia, p.111-118.

11. Mohamed, M. N. (2010). Simulation and Experimental Study of Vibration

Control using Smart Material for Flexible Structure. Master Thesis.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.

12. Shu, Y.-C. (2009). Performance Evaluation of Vibration-Based Piezoelectric

Energy Scavengers, in Energy Harvesting Technologies, S. Priya and D. J.

Inman, Editors. Springer US: p. 79-105.

13. Wang, D.-A., Chang, K.-H. (2010). Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting

from Flow Induced Vibration. Microelectronics Journal, 41(6): p. 356-364

14. Ameirul Azraie, (2012), Harnessing Energy From Micro Vibration Using

Smart Materials. Master thesis. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

iii

iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENT vii

LIST OF TABLE x

LIST OF FIGURE xi

LIST OF SYMBOL

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

xiii

xv

LIST OF APPENDICES xvi

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

1.2 Research Objective

1.3 Problem Statement

1.4 Research Question

1.5 Theoretical Frame Work

1.6 Scope of research

1.7 Research Methodology Flowchart

1.8 Gantt Chart

2

3

3

4

4

4

4

7

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Energy Sources

2.1.1 Solar

2.1.2 Temperature Gradient

2.1.3 Human Body

2.1.4 Vibration

2.2 Sources of Vibration

2.3 Quarter Car Suspension System

2.4 Car suspension displacement

2.5 Piezoelectric

2.6 Harnessing Energy from Vibration

2.7 Energy Storage Devices

9

10

10

10

11

11

14

15

16

18

19

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Conversion Energy Model

3.2 Simulation Setup

3.2.1 Quarter Car Simulation

3.2.2 Piezoelectric Sensing Element or Linear

Translator

3.2.3 Harnessing Circuit

3.3 Data Acquisition System (DAQ)

3.3.1 Flow of Information in DAQ

3.4 Development of Model

3.4.1 Prototype of Suspension System

3.4.2 Voice Coils Series CM-011-1X

3.4.3 NI compact-data acquisition unit

equipped with NI-9234 module (with 24-

bit resolution)

3.4.4 Processor and LabVIEW

3.4.5 Harnessing circuit

20

21

21

26

27

28

29

32

32

33

34

35

36

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3.5 Experimental Setup

3.5.1 Experimental Procedure

36

37

4 RESULT & DISCUSSION

4.1 Simulation Result

4.2 Experimental Result

4.2.1 Harnessing Voltage

4.2.2 Harnessing Electrical Current

4.3 Overall Analysis

40

43

43

46

47

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

5.2 Recommendations

49

50

REFERENCES 51

APPENDICES A-B 53-54

x

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

4.1 Summary of simulation testing 42

4.2 Summary of actual experiment results 47

4.3 Other related researches. Amirul (2012) 48

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 Methodology of the study 6

1.2 Gantt Chart for Master Project 1 7

1.3 Gantt Chart for Master Project 2 8

2.1 Vibrating linear systems with one degree of freedom 12

2.2 Quarter car model 14

2.3 Car body displacement when entering a stepped road

profile for the studied damper criteria (enlarged

illustration in(b)). (Mats Jonasson, 2007). 15

2.4 Piezolectric phenomenon 16

2.5 Piezoelectric actuator 17

2.6 Piezoelectric sensor 17

2.7 Concept of vibration energy harnessing 18

3.1 Model of conversion energy 21

3.2 Quarter Car Model 22

3.3 Free body diagram of the passive suspension system 23

3.4 The SIMULINK model for the suspension system 25

3.5 Block diagram for piezoelectric accelerometer 26

3.6 Matlab-SIMULINK on sensing element of

piezoelectric accelerometer 26

xii

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

3.7 Non-adaptive harnessing circuit

(Mingjie and Wei-Hsin, 2005) 27

3.8 Non-adaptive harnessing circuit developed

using Matlab SIMULINK 28

3.9 Block diagram of data acquisition system 29

3.10 Experimental setup layout 31

3.11 Model of testing rig 32

3.12 Prototype of suspension system 33

3.13 NI compact-data acquisition unit 34

3.14 Data processing in LabVIEW software 35

3.15 Harnessing circuit 36

3.16 Experiment setup with prototype of car suspension

system, voice coil, rectifier circuit and DAQ system 37

4.1 Velocity on car suspension system 40

4.2 Output voltage from piezoelectric 40

4.3 Output voltage from rectifier 41

4.4 (a) Electrical Current from super capacitor circuit 41

4.4 (b) Zoom in graph Electrical Current from super capacitor

Circuit 42

4.5 Voltage versus Time for the first 10 second 43

4.6 Voltage versus Time for first 20 second. 44

4.7 Voltage versus Time for first 40 second 44

4.8 Voltage versus Time for 40 second to 180 second 45

4.9 (a) Output voltage from suspension system 45

4.9 (b) Zoom-in for output voltage from suspension system 46

4.10 Output current from suspension system 46

xiii

LIST OF SYMBOLS

°C - Celsius

Ω - Ohm

ε - Induced emf; Dielectric constant

ε 0 - Dielectric constant of free space, Permittivity of free space

µ 0 - Permeability of free space

A - Ampere

a ‐ Acceleration

B - Magnetic field

C - Capacitance

c - Elastic constant

D - Electrical displacement (charge density)

d - Gap or distance between plates; Piezoelectric strain coefficient

dB - Decibel

E - Electric field

f - Frequency

Hz - Hertz

I, I - Current

k - Coupling coefficient; Piezoelectric constant

l - Length of one coil (2πr); Length of plate

m - Meter

N - Number of turns in coil

xiv

Q - Charge on capacitor

R - Resistance

s, sec - Second

t - Thickness

V, Volt - Voltage

Vp - Voltage peak

Vpp - Voltage peak-to-peak

W - Watt

w - Width of plate

Y - Modulus of elasticity (Young’s Modulus)

y - Distance coil moves through magnetic field

xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

A/D - Analog to Digital

AC - Alternate Current

AI - Analog Input

AO - Analog Output

AEH - Acoustic Energy Harvester

BaTiO3 Barium Tinate

D/A - Digital to Analog

DAQ - Data Acquisition System

DC - Direct Current

DIO - Digital I/O

fpm - feet per minute

HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning

I/O - Input to Output

IEPE - Integrated Electronic Piezoelectric

MFC - Macro-Fiber Composite

NI - National Instrumentation

PI - Physik Instrumente

PVDF - Polyvinylidene Fluoride

PZT - Lead Zirconate Tinate

QP - Quick Pack

RFID - Radio Frequency Identification

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Voice Coils series NCC05-11-011-1X Physical

Dimension (H2W Technologies, Inc.) 53

B Coils series NCC05-11-011-1X Specifications

(H2W Technologies, Inc.) 54