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Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track

Received: 15 March 2020     Accepted: 30 March 2020     Published: 13 April 2020
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Abstract

Ethiopia has a small percentage of its population accessing electricity with some power utilized by its transportation sector; there are frequent power outages that slow down economic activities such as trade and railway transportation. From this previous statement, it is clear that the demand for energy is significantly increasing and there is too much dependability on the current energy source. With the development of sustainable energy technology in the world today, this problem can be alleviated, while utilizing component vibration in railway infrastructure. The aim of this study was to estimate energy generation potential from the vibration of a railway track induced by a passing train using a two degree of freedom oscillator. Data was collected; energy harvesting system was modeled and simulated. Based on the result, the system produces enough energy to power communication and signaling equipment on the track. The optimum parameters: mass of 1 kg, a spring stiffness of 6 N/m and a damping coefficient of 4 Ns/m of the energy harvester were determined using sensitivity analysis. The cumulative mechanical power harvested by the inter-city-125 train at a speed of 195 km/h was calculated to be 224.56 W. Therefore, the energy demand of the communication and signaling equipment of the train track can be achieved using vibration energy harvesting system by installing the number that meets the demand.

Published in International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12
Page(s) 16-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Electricity, Energy Harvested, Mechanical Energy, Two Degree of Freedom Oscillator, Vibration

References
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[2] K. Gebrehiwot, M. A. H. Mondal, C. Ringler, and A. G. Gebremeskel, “Optimization and cost-benefit assessment of hybrid power systems for off-grid rural electrification in Ethiopia,” Energy, vol. 177, pp. 234–246, 2019.
[3] Hydrochina Corporation, “Master Plan Report of Wind and Solar Energy in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,” HydroChina Corp., no. July, p. 236, 2012.
[4] 2016 Energy Statistics Yearbook, “02i.pdf.” UN, 2019, Newyork, USA, p. 542, 2016.
[5] C. Nallet, The Challenge of Urban Mobility A Case Study of Addis Ababa Light Rail, Ethiopia, no. February. 2018.
[6] J. J. Wang, G. P. Penamalli, and L. Zuo, “Electromagnetic energy harvesting from train induced railway track vibrations,” Proc. 2012 8th IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. Mechatron. Embed. Syst. Appl. MESA 2012, vol. 11787, pp. 29–34, 2012.
[7] L. U. Adoh, F. M. Akello, F. Nyangassa, and P. Ishimwe, “Prevention of Railway Accident using Arduino Based Safety System: A case Study of Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit,” Int. J. Eng. Res. Technol., vol. 8, no. 09, 2019.
[8] L. U. Adoh, L. Mutswatiwa, and F. M. Akello, “Safety Demonstration and Risk Management at Rail-Road Level Crossing at Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit Network,” IJSRSET, vol. 6, no. 5, 2019.
[9] Y. Tianchen, Y. Jian, S. Ruigang, and L. Xiaowei, “Vibration energy harvesting system for railroad safety based on running vehicles,” Smart Mater. Struct., vol. 23, no. 12, 2014.
[10] S. M. Taware and S. P. Deshmukh, “A Review of Energy Harvesting From Piezoelectric Materials,” J. Mech. Civ. Eng., vol. 4, pp. 43–50, 2013.
[11] S. R. Platt, S. Farritor, and H. Haider, “On Low-frequency electric power generation with PZT ceramics,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 240–252, 2005.
[12] H. Zhao, Y. Tao, Y. Niu, and J. Ling, “Harvesting energy from asphalt pavement by piezoelectric generator,” J. Wuhan Univ. Technol. Mater. Sci. Ed., vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 933–937, 2014.
[13] X. D. Xie, A. Carpinteri, and Q. Wang, “A theoretical model for a piezoelectric energy harvester with a tapered shape,” Eng. Struct., vol. 144, pp. 19–25, 2017.
[14] C. Lee et al., “Theoretical comparison of the energy harvesting capability among various electrostatic mechanisms from structure aspect,” Sensors Actuators, A Phys., 2009.
[15] O. Gatin and B. Lhenoret, “Energy Harvesting for Railway Applications, Presentation at Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2009,” in Presentation at Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2009, Denver, CO., 2009.
[16] H. A. Sodano, D. J. Inman, and G. Park, “Comparison of piezoelectric energy harvesting devices for recharging batteries,” J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct., 2005.
[17] Y. C. Shu and I. C. Lien, “Efficiency of energy conversion for a piezoelectric power harvesting system,” J. Micromechanics Microengineering, 2006.
[18] H. A. Sodano, J. Granstrom, J. Feenstra, and K. Farinholt, “Harvesting of electrical energy from a backpack using piezoelectric shoulder straps,” in Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2007, 2007.
[19] R. Gherca and R. Olaru, “Harvesting Vibration Energy by Electromagnetic Induction,” Ann. Univ. Craiova, Electr. Eng. Ser., 2011.
[20] G. Gatti, M. J. Brennan, M. G. Tehrani, and D. J. Thompson, “Harvesting energy from the vibration of a passing train using a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator,” Mech. Syst. Signal Process., 2016.
[21] S. J. Jang, H. J. Jung, M. J. Brennan, and E. Rustighi, “Design of 2DOF energy harvesting device,” no. 8242, pp. 850–859, 2009.
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[23] I. Solteira, “Effects of Railway Track Vibration Induced by Passing Trains on an Energy Harvesting Device,” 2015.
[24] D. J. Thompson, “Railway Noise and Vibration, Mechanics, Modelling and Means of Control,” New YorkElsevier, p. 536, 2009.
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  • APA Style

    Fiona Mercy Akello, Lucky Ugochukwu Adoh. (2020). Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 9(1), 16-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12

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    ACS Style

    Fiona Mercy Akello; Lucky Ugochukwu Adoh. Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2020, 9(1), 16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12

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    AMA Style

    Fiona Mercy Akello, Lucky Ugochukwu Adoh. Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2020;9(1):16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12,
      author = {Fiona Mercy Akello and Lucky Ugochukwu Adoh},
      title = {Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track},
      journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {16-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20200901.12},
      abstract = {Ethiopia has a small percentage of its population accessing electricity with some power utilized by its transportation sector; there are frequent power outages that slow down economic activities such as trade and railway transportation. From this previous statement, it is clear that the demand for energy is significantly increasing and there is too much dependability on the current energy source. With the development of sustainable energy technology in the world today, this problem can be alleviated, while utilizing component vibration in railway infrastructure. The aim of this study was to estimate energy generation potential from the vibration of a railway track induced by a passing train using a two degree of freedom oscillator. Data was collected; energy harvesting system was modeled and simulated. Based on the result, the system produces enough energy to power communication and signaling equipment on the track. The optimum parameters: mass of 1 kg, a spring stiffness of 6 N/m and a damping coefficient of 4 Ns/m of the energy harvester were determined using sensitivity analysis. The cumulative mechanical power harvested by the inter-city-125 train at a speed of 195 km/h was calculated to be 224.56 W. Therefore, the energy demand of the communication and signaling equipment of the train track can be achieved using vibration energy harvesting system by installing the number that meets the demand.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Simulation of Power Generation from Vibration of Railway Track
    AU  - Fiona Mercy Akello
    AU  - Lucky Ugochukwu Adoh
    Y1  - 2020/04/13
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12
    T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    SP  - 16
    EP  - 22
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1549
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20200901.12
    AB  - Ethiopia has a small percentage of its population accessing electricity with some power utilized by its transportation sector; there are frequent power outages that slow down economic activities such as trade and railway transportation. From this previous statement, it is clear that the demand for energy is significantly increasing and there is too much dependability on the current energy source. With the development of sustainable energy technology in the world today, this problem can be alleviated, while utilizing component vibration in railway infrastructure. The aim of this study was to estimate energy generation potential from the vibration of a railway track induced by a passing train using a two degree of freedom oscillator. Data was collected; energy harvesting system was modeled and simulated. Based on the result, the system produces enough energy to power communication and signaling equipment on the track. The optimum parameters: mass of 1 kg, a spring stiffness of 6 N/m and a damping coefficient of 4 Ns/m of the energy harvester were determined using sensitivity analysis. The cumulative mechanical power harvested by the inter-city-125 train at a speed of 195 km/h was calculated to be 224.56 W. Therefore, the energy demand of the communication and signaling equipment of the train track can be achieved using vibration energy harvesting system by installing the number that meets the demand.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • African Railway Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • African Railway Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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