Energy Harvesting Bike Light

[nicolasbohoslavsky]

Hey

Has anyone been aware of any bike light out in the market powered using piezoelectric harvesting from vibrations? or has heard of any ongoing project on that? I am actually working in making one prototype myself and have encountered some issues regarding power output.

The physics behind the idea is about using piezoelectric material (which turns motion into electricity) to harvest the road vibration when riding a bike and using the generated electricity to power a bike light. Unlike another bike lights using dynamos (CIO - Battery Free Bike Light) , this concept wouldn’t generate any magnetic drag or friction (Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting).

I only came across these guys:

Final Video Presentation: Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Bicycles

As it is mentioned in the video, the energy being harvested is barely enough to power an LED and not even enough sometimes. In my experiments, I figured out this can be improved by fine-tuning the frequency of the piezoelectric cantilever so it matches the riding frequency vibration and in that way I would get a bit more power.


Anything you guys could tell about this topic would be appreciated.

Nicolas.

 

[Nova Haibike]

this concept wouldn’t generate any magnetic drag or friction .

Interesting, but in my opinion, the magnetic drag is so low that it is not worth worrying about. Still, I have no use for either type, as I often need very bright continuous output, which currently can only be provided by a battery powered light (which does double duty as a daytime flasher if I desire).

 

[rich c]

Feels like a solution to a non problem.