Energy Harvesting From Pneumatic Tires Using Piezoelectric Transducers

The concept of harvesting energy in our surrounding has recently drawn global attention. Harvesting the ambient energy of the deflected tire and convert it to electricity is discussed in this paper. An Elastic pneumatic tire deflects due to the load it carries. This deflection appears as a contact patch to the road surface. Initially, the concept of the tire deflection will be discussed. This deflection is then related to the wasted energy used for deflection. The dependency of this energy to some important parameters such as the tire air pressure, vehicle speed and tire geometry and forces are primarily discussed. To harvest the deflection energy different well established methods are exists. Due to the tire environment, piezoelectric transducers can serve as the best option. Those transducers are traditionally used to produce mechanical motion due to the applied electrical charges. This material is also capable of generating electrical charges by mechanical motion and deflections. For the tire energy harvesting application, the piezoelectric stacks can be mounted inside a tire structure such that electric charge is generated therein as the wheel assembly moves along a ground surface. For this application, lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) is selected. The PZT inside the tire is modeled as a cantilever beam vibration in its first mode of vibration. The frequency of vibration is calculated based on the car speed, tire size, and PZT stack length. A mathematical model for this energy harvesting application is derived. Based on this model, the optimum load of the electrical circuit is also found. Finally the amount of energy harvested from tire using PZT is calculated. Although this energy is not significantly high, it will be enough to provide power for wireless sensors applications.