Crank shaft road electromagnetic road energy harvester for smart city applications

This paper addresses the issue of providing cheap and on-demand electricity to low-power devices and sensors of smart cities and infrastructures. A new design for an electromagnetic road energy harvester is proposed, and its performance is evaluated through numerical simulations and experiments. The new method can generate sufficient electricity to run the low-power facilities of the smart cities in real-time and provide enough power for further applications using energy storage devices. Unlike the current road energy harvesters, the new harvester has a compact design, negligible mismatch risk between the components, and is more compatible with highspeed roadways. It can be used as road rumbles, transverse rumbles, or smooth speed bumps with a minimal vertical displacement of a maximum of 25 mm. It is shown that the harvester can illuminate LED light bulbs of 2 W at a displacement of 18 mm, which is compatible with the required depth of road rumbles. This power generation level satisfies sensors and IoT requirements and can also be stored for large-scale applications.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a new design for an electromagnetic road energy harvester and evaluates its performance through numerical simulations and experiments. The new harvester can provide cheap and on-demand electricity for low-power devices and sensors of smart cities, and meet further application requirements.