Available Technologies and Commercial Devices to Harvest Energy by Human Trampling in Smart Flooring Systems: A Review

Paolo Visconti, Laura Bagordo, Ramiro Velázquez, Donato Cafagna and Roberto De Fazio
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Paolo Visconti: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Laura Bagordo: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Ramiro Velázquez: Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Aguascalientes 20290, Mexico
Donato Cafagna: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Roberto De Fazio: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-38

Abstract: Technological innovation has increased the global demand for electrical power and energy. Accordingly, energy harvesting has become a research area of primary interest for the scientific community and companies because it constitutes a sustainable way to collect energy from various sources. In particular, kinetic energy generated from human walking or vehicle movements on smart energy floors represents a promising research topic. This paper aims to analyze the state-of-art of smart energy harvesting floors to determine the best solution to feed a lighting system and charging columns. In particular, the fundamentals of the main harvesting mechanisms applicable in this field (i.e., piezoelectric, electromagnetic, triboelectric, and relative hybrids) are discussed. Moreover, an overview of scientific works related to energy harvesting floors is presented, focusing on the architectures of the developed tiles, the transduction mechanism, and the output performances. Finally, a survey of the commercial energy harvesting floors proposed by companies and startups is reported. From the carried-out analysis, we concluded that the piezoelectric transduction mechanism represents the optimal solution for designing smart energy floors, given their compactness, high efficiency, and absence of moving parts.

Keywords: energy harvesting; smart energy floors; piezoelectric mechanism; electromagnetic mechanism; triboelectric mechanism; rectifiers; signal regulation systems; wearable technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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