Highway Wind Turbines

We all know that how important wind power is.The only disadvantage with wind power is that it needs continuous flow of wind to generate electricity. Moreover, this is the reason that most of wind mills area is limited to large farmlands, sea and hills.

Project idea we are discussing today can solve this limitation problem. The only place in the world , where winds keeps on flowing irrespective of season whether day or night is Highways . What if we install our wind turbine at Dividers?


Advantages:

• Installation on divider not only reduce our land cost but also significantly optimize our power generation capability.
• We can use energy from vehicles from both sides of divider.
• Can generate electricity from natural wind also.

Concept:

When any vehicle move forward , it produce strong wind force at its sides. In this project, we would use that force to rotate our turbine. And, this turbine would be designed in such a way that it can use force of both the sides of divider as shown in the video.





Related Projects:

Power generation using wind turbine kites
Mechanical Projects
Electrical Projects
Electronics Project

Power generation using railway track

The key element of  this project  is a variable capacitor, which can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy with the help of work done by an external force against the electric field formed between the two plates of the capacitor.
Concept :

We can generate electricity by pushing one plate of capacitor against another plate( which is also connected with small power source).Generated electricity is way more than electricity we supplied with the help of power source.

To produce good amount of electricity significantly we need to stimulate the variable capacitor using power from external source and discharging it at a later time in a cyclic manner to change the capacitance. 

How this system works with rails?

As explained before, by varying the distance between the capacitance portions in response to a vehicle on the rail, the capacitance plate moves against the energy field to act as a variable capacitor that make the co-generation of power with respect to the system.

Things we need :

1. Variable Capacitor
2. Power Source
3.Biasing Device : to keep two portions of capacitor separate.

Another Way ?

There is one  other way of generating electricity using trains is to use T Box wind power generator, which use the wind produce by trains to produce power.

Related Video : T Box Wind Power Generator

 

Related Projects :
Mechancial Projects
Physics Projects

Car monitoring System

How many times you heard about car accident caused just because of tire burst or due to break fail?
Have you ever imagined that these accidents not only cause harm to car passengers but also to innocent people on the streets. Even though these accidents are random and can happen with anyone but they can be avoided with the help of modern engineering and technology.

What is the solution?

We can place Sensors throughout a car that wirelessly send data back to a central terminal.And whenever anything awkward happens, driver would be alarmed about that information and its sources through dashboard monitor.


Advantages :

Avoiding traffic accidents due to under-inflated tires by early recognition of the malfunction of tires
Reducing CO2 emission and reducing tire abrasion by an optimal inflation
Avoid Engine Maintenance Cost
Lesser Battery related Problems
Car Alignment and Balancing could be done at right time so increase tire life cycle.

Related Presentation :

Car Monitoring System ppt : Presentation about how to use Zigbee technology to measure different components  (Tyre  Pressure, Temperature, Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor or Car Battery Voltage) of a car and display the data on a main LCD screen.

Related Video :

Line follower Robot

Some of the earliest Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) were line following mobile robots. They might follow a visual line painted or embedded in the floor or ceiling or an electrical wire in the floor. Most of these robots operated a simple "keep the line in the center sensor" algorithm.
This simple robot is designed to be able to follow a black line on the ground without getting off the line too much. The robot has two sensors installed underneath the front part of the body, and two DC motors drive wheels moving forward. A circuit inside takes an input signal from two sensors and controls the speed of wheels’ rotation. The control is done in such a way that when a sensor senses a black line, the motor slows down or even stops. Then the difference of rotation speed makes it possible to make turns. For instance, in the figure on the right, if the sensor somehow senses a black line, the wheel on that side slows down and the robot will make a right turn.


Useful Material :

A Line follower Robot (PDF)
Line follower robot  (pdf)

Related Video :


Related Projects :

Robotics Projects
Mechanical Engineering Projects
Physics Projects
Electronics Project
Electrical Projects

Generating electricity using roads

There are millions of cars on streets around the world at any given time of day. Whenever, we talk about cars;  we start to think about negatives such as pollution , congestion etc etc. Despite all these cons , cars are essential part of our life and project would discuss today use these cars for generating electricity.

How?
We would use Piezoelectric material below the roads.When cars roll over it, due to pressure exerted by the cars, it starts generating electric current.

Recently , we have discussed most of the project related to Piezoelectric  Some of you might think that why , we are giving such a emphasis on this form of electricity?

When we talk about future of energy , Piezoelectric Electricity is going to play very important role. We are too much dependent on traditional sources ,and  to reduce there dependency we have to generate electricity from as much sources as we can such as solar, wind and piezoelectric materials. 

What's the advantage?

Electricity generated from roads can be used to light up street lights nearby which otherwise needs electricity from very distant sources.Moreover, significant amount of electricity has been lost while travelling big distances.

Related Projects :

Power generation using foot steps
Energy Harvesting from Sidewalk 

Energy Harvesting from a Piezoelectric Sidewalk

Millions of people use sidewalk daily which is a path along the side of a road. A sidewalk may accommodate moderate changes in grade (height) and is normally separated from the vehicular section by a curb.


This project idea is about harvesting pedestrian mechanical energy and converting it into electrical energy.We have already discussed Piezoelectric sidewalk in our post Power generation using foot steps.


Concept :

This project is based on very simple concept which states that when certain solid materials put under a mechanical stress they produce electricity. These materials are known as Piezoelectric materials.Some examples of these materials are Sucrose (table sugar), Quartz and  Topaz


 Related PDF :
Yale University



Human Power Harvesting

MIT Links 
 
Parasitic Power Harvesting in Shoes
Piezoelectric Energy Scavenging In Shoes

Related Docs :
Human Power Harvesting

Related Pdf :
Wearcom power harvesting in shoes
Human generated power for Micro Electronics

Hydraulic Car Lift

We all have heard about Hydraulic lifts sometime in our life, but some of you may think that how it works or how to build one for ourselves.

Today we are going to discuss about lifting cars using Hydraulics, which is based on Pascal concept.

Why understanding Hydraulics important?
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties.


Concept:
Pascal's law states that the pressure applied at one point of the liquid is transmitted equally in all direction. This principal is applied in hydraulic lift, for lifting heavy objects.

We know 

Force = Pressure x Area

Therefore Pressure = Force / Area

P1 = P2 (if pressures are equal throughout).

Formula becomes F1/A1 = F2/A2

Using above formula we can lift heavy materials using little force. For e.g. here we are lifting 10 pound using 1 pound.

1 pound / 1 square inches = 10 pounds / 10 square inches

So, to lift a car we should produce force(F1) which is more than F2(car force)

F1(force applied)
F2(Car force)
A1(Area below F1)
A2(Area below Car)

F1/A1 = F2/A2

F1 = F2 * A1/ A2

Therefore value of F1 is dependent on A1/A2 Ratio. Lesser it is lesser the force required by us.


 
Related Links :

How Hydraulic Machine Works ?

Fluid Power (pdf)