Optimized composite piezoelectric energy harvesting floor tile for smart home energy management

One factor in the energy management of smart home is based upon the location of the home occupants. This location information then can be used to control various electrical and electronic devices and appliances. A floor tile is presented which can be used at different locations in the home and can generate enough energy to wirelessly transmit the information to electrical appliance when a person steps on it. In this work, a novel piezoelectric material system of 0.72Pb(Zr0.47Ti0.53)O-3-0.28Pb[(Zn0.45Ni0.55)(1/3)Nb-2/3]O-3 + x mol% CuO (PZNxC) was designed, and the energy harvesting characteristics were tailored through composition driven phase boundary evolution. The rhombohedral-tetragonal phase boundary is the best performance area in terms of energy harvesting, which exhibits an obvious advantage in regards to stable energy harvesting. When a person steps on the floor tile, the peak output voltage and current of 42 V and 11 mu A, was generated. This energy is then utilized to power a wireless sensor node which can control the power on and off function of home appliances in a real-time.