Smart street lights using piezoelectric materials

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a self-sufficient system for lighting street lights using piezoelectric renewable energy source. In modern times, renewable energy sources are more desirable because of the lack of more direct sources of energy. In this project, we make use of piezoelectric materials to generate practically usable electricity from wasted mechanical energy. Piezoelectric harvesters are becoming increasingly popular because the produced piezoelectricity now can supply up to 10-100's of W of available power. In this paper, we describe the use of full-wave bridge rectifiers to improve the power extraction capability from piezoelectric harvesters and the further steps required to provide sufficient energy to light up smart street lights.