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International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395
www.elsevier.com/locate/IJPRT

Application of piezoelectric transducer in energy harvesting in pavement

Xiaochen Xu, Dongwei Cao ⇑, Hailu Yang, Ming He
Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport, Beijing 100000, China

Received 1 March 2017; received in revised form 1 September 2017; accepted 13 September 2017
Available online 20 September 2017

Abstract

Mechanical energy appears everywhere in the nature, road vibration energy created by the vehicle will not only do damage to pave-
ment structure, but also is difficult to collect. Utilizing electromechanical conversion characteristics of piezoelectric material, gather the
vibration energy when vehicle passing on the pavement, and design the piezoelectric transducer package box, for traffic lights along the
roads, signs, and so on. Save the cost of laying long distance transmission line, also take full advantage of the loss of energy. Experiments
of piezoelectric boxes has been conducted in pavement to prove the effectiveness of this product. This study shows that utilize piezoelec-
tric technology in road energy harvesting is feasible and has a bright future.
Ó 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: Road engineering; Piezoelectric transducer package; Energy harvesting; Clean energy

1. Objective vibration energy devices can be divided into three types:

With the social and economic development, along with
the continued depletion of fossil energy, declining environ-
mental quality, combined with our sustainable develop-
ment strategy, how to efficiently collect and facilitate
clean energy has been the focus of energy research [1].
Road as a national critical infrastructure, undertakes the
transportation of people, goods, and other important func-
tions [2]. On the road, millions of vehicles generate vibra-
tion on the roads, which is very considerable, vehicle
vibration can not only cause damage to road, but also lead
to a waste of energy [3]. How to collect vibration energy,
turning it into the energy available for people to use is
the problem that need to be solved [4]. At present, based
on the conversion mechanism, collecting environmental
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: 542656098@qq.com (X. Xu), caodongwei@vip.126.
com (D. Cao).
Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Society of Pavement
Engineering.
electromagnetic, piezoelectric and electrostatic [5].
Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology utilize the
characteristic of electromechanical coupling of piezoelec-
tric materials, directly convert mechanical energy to electri-
cal energy, compared to electromagnetic and electrostatic
generating, piezoelectric power generation with original
small size, does not need an external power supply-driven
and so on [6]. Based on these advantages, the piezoelectric
technology has developed rapidly, but most piezoelectric
devices are used to collect fixed mechanical equipment
vibration energy, tidal and wind power, the application
of piezoelectric technology in the road is still in the
research stage [7]. Both at homeland and abroad, piezoelec-
tric road in theoretical research has achieved certain
results, but on the whole is still in its initial stages [8]
(See Table 1).
Through practical design, piezoelectric transducers are
integrated in packaging boxes, boxes are buried in the
road, vehicle rolling on the boxed is able to generate elec-
tricity, collect power and can be used in traffic lights and
other equipment.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijprt.2017.09.011
1996-6814/Ó 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395 389

Table 1
Different piezoelectric properties of piezoelectric ceramics material. F
Component e33/e0 d33 (pC/N) g33 (Vm/N) d33 * g33 (m2/N)
PZT 701 425 153 0.041 6273 * 10 15
3 V
PZT 703 1100 340 0.03 10,200 * 10 15 2
PZT 502 1950 450 0.025 11,250 * 10 15
PZT 507 3900 700 0.02 14,000 * 10 15 1
Fig. 1. Piezoelectric 33-model.
2. Introduction to piezoelectric energy harvesting

Energy in environment, such as heat, light, wind, vibra-

tion can be collected and converted into electrical energy
F
which can be stored and transmitted easily, deliver power
directly to the electric elements or stored in batteries, 3 V
ultra-capacitors, and this process is called energy harvest-
2
ing [9]. Piezoelectric energy harvesting is mainly for
mechanical vibration, it’s widespread in everyday life, such 1
as refrigerators, washing machines, industrial equipment, Fig. 2. Piezoelectric 31-mode.
vehicles caused by vibration [10]. Highway carries the main
road traffic demands, mechanical vibration energy of high-
way vehicles can be enormous.
Piezoelectric materials are electrically charged when
stressed, and how much it is electrically charged is deter-
mined by the force, characteristics, electromechanical cou-
pling of piezoelectric material performance and structure
[11]. Piezoelectric materials are core components of piezo-
electric energy harvesting, advances in materials research
determines the energy collection efficiency. The energy den-
sity of the material parameters of piezoelectric voltage (g)
and the piezoelectric strain coefficient (d) multiplied by
(d * g). The condition to get maximum (d * g) is |d| = e2,
e is the dielectric constant of the material (See Table 2).
Piezoelectric energy harvesting devices are commonly
used in two modes: 33-mode and 31-mode. As Fig. 1
shows, in 33-mode, the external stress direction and gener-
ate a voltage in the same direction, in 31-mode, the applied Fig. 3. Stacked structures.
stress is axial and perpendicular to the direction of the volt-
age generated (See Fig. 2).
Common piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting
structures are stacked, cantilevered beam, cymbals. As Piezoelectric ceramics Block
Fig. 3 shows, Multiple stacked piezoelectric structure con-
taining more than two layers of wafer structure, this struc-
ture is capable of improving the current and voltage, and
the working status is always d33-mode, suitable for low fre-
quency single axial stress condition, easy to assemble. As
Fig. 4 shows, bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam is Cantilever beam
assembled by beam material and two layers of Piezoelectric
Fig. 4. Cantilever beam structure.
ceramic composition, conductive adhesive, two piezoelec-

Table 2
Compressive strength test data.
Size Thickness Failure Compressive Initial Damage Failure
load strength displacement displacement deformation
External Inner diameter Area (mm2) mm KN MPa mm mm mm
diameter (mm) (mm)
20.00 6.00 285.885 5 51 196.999 1.70 2.48 0.78
390 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395

concave Piezoelectric In Japan, piezoelectric floor has been in use in different

metal lid locations. It is usually set in the office as a inducing light,
ceramics
when stepping on, the pressure power transduce to electric-
ity and light the LED up (See Fig. 7).

Fig. 5. Cymbal-type structure.

tric films by series or parallel connection, a block is set at

the end of cantilever, which can increase the cantilever
beam amplitude and adjust the frequency to increase the
output power to apply to real needs. As Fig. 5 shows,
Cymbal-type structure consists of two concave metal lid
sandwiched a Piezoelectric ceramic composition in the mid-
dle, which consists of two lid 0.3–0.5 mm thick and is made
of steel, which convert vertical displacement of the ceramic
lid to lateral displacement. Its ceramic is protected by a Fig. 8. PZT generation unit.
metal cap, which can be applied to conditions of high
stress, stress amplification generates more power, the size
and material of cap can be adjusted to change the reso-
nance frequency (See Fig. 6).
In 2008, Israel claimed they have invented the road
energy harvesting system based on piezoelectric transducer.
It is reported that when the traffic on a single-line is 500/h,
250 kw electricity can be harvested per kilometer.

Fig. 6. PZT compressive curves.

Fig. 9. Instron 8874 fatigue testing machine.

Fig. 7. Fracture surface of PZT before and after compression.

 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395 391

Adiuoteleco Company invested the guardrail light sys-
tem, the LED lights are powered by the piezoelectric pen-
dulum behind the guardrail, which generates power from
the vibration of vehicles (See Fig. 8).
3. Packaging box design of piezoelectric transducer
Test results: Compressive strength of test specimen is
197 MPa and failure deformation is 0.78 mm, brittle
materials have no yield stage and crush directly. PZT
is brittle material, under d-33 work mode, the compres-
sion strength is highly above the pavement load.

3.1. Piezoelectric material performance test 3.1.2. PZT generating capacity test

3.1.1. Piezoelectric material compressive strength test PZT material: PZT-4/PZT-8/PZT-5H

Structure of PZT generation unit: four pieces of PZT
Material: PZT-4 material layer-to-layer structure, parallel connection, stan-
Instrument: press machine; slide caliper dards for each piece: inner diameter 15 mm, external diam-

voltage in 300N peak loading condion

25.00

20.00
voltage/v

15.00
PZT-4
10.00
PZT-8
5.00 PZT-5H

0.00
1Hz 5Hz 10Hz
loading frequency/Hz

voltage in 500N peak loading condion

40.00
35.00
30.00
voltage/v

25.00
20.00 PZT-4
15.00 PZT-8
10.00
PZT-5H
5.00
0.00
1Hz 5Hz 10Hz
loading frequency/Hz

voltage in 1000N peak loading condion

80.00
70.00
60.00
voltage/v

50.00
40.00 PZT-4
30.00 PZT-8
20.00
PZT-5H
10.00
0.00
1Hz 5Hz 10Hz
loading frequency/Hz

Fig. 10. Voltage in 300 N/500 N/1000 N peak loading condition.

392 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395

eter 45 mm, thickness 5 mm, protected by upside-down 3.2. Structural design of piezoelectric transducer
plate metals and electronic-pouring sealant (See Fig. 9).
Experiment instrument: Instron 8874 fatigue testing As the piezoelectric transducer is eventually applied to
machine, NI USB-4065 high-precision digital multimeter the road surface, under vehicle load and withstand the
(See Fig. 10). ordeal of rain and snow, thus, the packaging of piezoelec-
Loading condition: sine wave loading, F = 0.5FPsin tric transducer and lines is necessary. When designing
(xt) + 0.5FP, FP represents peak load, loading frequency piezoelectric transducer package, internal spatial structure,
f = x/2p. FP value: 300 N/500 N/1000 N, loading fre- packaging box capacity, durability need to be taken into
quency: 1 Hz/5 Hz/10 Hz (See Table 3). consideration. Because the piezoelectric material has not
Test result: been used for practical use in China on the road to with-
Test result analysis: stand vehicles rolling, so test a variety of piezoelectric
transducer package is necessary, choose the most suitable
i. Voltage of PZT material is relevant to loading fre- structure for use after testing in pavements. Stacked type,
quency, from 1 Hz to 5 Hz, voltage rises significantly, cantilever beam type, and stacked – cantilever beam mixed
from 5 Hz to 10 Hz, and voltage rises slowly. When type three species structure package has been made, select
under d-33 mode, PZT material is under better work- piezoelectric ceramic zirconium titanium acid lead (referred
ing condition. to for PZT) for piezoelectric functions, this kind of mate-
ii. When loading frequency is above 5 Hz, PZT-5H has rial is widely used for device of research and application,
a higher voltage and a higher relative dielectric con- which has good stiffness, and anti-fatigue features and
stant, in the same size, PZT-5H has a larger capaci- piezoelectric performance. Circuit of piezoelectric trans-
tance, PZT-5H can generate more power under the ducers is set inside the package, electric power outputs
same load. through a cable (See Fig. 11).
iii. By comparison, under d-33 mode, PZT-5H generate Stack – cantilever composite piezoelectric transducer
more power unit volume and is more suitable for SEM integration package stacking boxes and cantilever
piezoelectric energy harvesting. The core parameter package box features, which can harvest both the vibration
of PZT is piezoelectric modulus d33, which determine and stress energy of vehicles on the road (See Table 4).
the generation energy. Packaging box external size of the piezoelectric trans-
ducer is 300 mm * 300 mm * 100 mm, Is divided into a base
After overall consideration, PZT-5H material is a kind and lid, Package box makes full use of internal space,
of ideal material for application in pavements. divides to upper and lower two layer, lower cantilever
beam utilizes bottom height limit its amplitude, upper can-
tilever beam utilizes top box space height limit amplitude,
due to cantilever beam has been equipped with a mass
piece, cantilever beam itself due to gravity cause exists of
Table 3
PZT material parameters. bent sinking, so in limit amplitude upper and lower also
consider gravity sinking factors. If no height restrictions,
Material e33 d33 10-12 C/N kp Curie temperature °C
cantilever oscillation amplitude too large may result in can-
PZT-4 1300 250 0.54 300
tilever beam with piezoelectric patches on damage. Every
PZT-8 1020 220 0.50 310
PZT-5 H 2000 410 0.60 260
piece of cantilever beam using separate fixed blocks for
anchoring, fixed wire ducts on the bottom, with cantilever

Fig. 11. Stack – cantilever composite piezoelectric transducer SEM three views (top view, front view, left view).
 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395 393

Table 4
peak voltage in different loading condition.
Material Load Load area Stress Peak voltage in different loading condition (V)
2
N mm MPa 1 Hz 5 Hz 10 Hz
PZT4 300 1413.717 0.21 9.25 14.30 14.90
500 1413.717 0.35 15.40 23.00 24.30
1000 1413.717 0.71 31.00 48.50 49.40
PZT8 300 1413.717 0.21 7.61 13.95 14.80
500 1413.717 0.35 12.54 23.00 24.10
1000 1413.717 0.71 24.67 45.76 48.09
PZT-5H 300 1413.717 0.21 5.00 18.00 22.00
500 1413.717 0.35 19.00 28.00 36.00
1000 1413.717 0.71 17.00 56.00 70.00

beam piezoelectric patches on power export. Every piece of
cantilever beam arrangement of lines after end and side lay-
ing bridge rectifier circuit components, circuit boards after
the rectifier current through a wire hole. Top cover by
screw anchor, the ladder is designed to box are not affected
by the rain. Box as a whole are highly adapted to pavement
height, easy for construction buried (See Fig. 12).
3.3. SEM of piezoelectric transducer materials selection
The shells of packaging boxes are made of MC Nylon,
customized according to the structural design. Package
using silicone sealing ring between the upper and lower
part of the box according to the design of piezoelectric
box size for waterproof functions. The screws and nuts
of piezoelectric box divide into M4 bolts for gripping can-
tilever and M6 screws and bolts to install the package
with. To prevent water penetration and moisture affect
the circuit in the piezoelectric boxes, place desiccant in
them. Electronic encapsulation glue is used to seal the rec-
tifier bridge and solder and other locations to prevent box
vibration and moisture and other problems affect the nor-
mal operation of the circuit. Output cable is to use for the
box structure design, and be able to withstand vehicles
rolling road with FVN1.5 nylon jacketed wire (See
Table 5).
4. Road laying experiments of the piezoelectric transducer
boxes
4.1. Two laying types of piezoelectric transducers boxes
When laying on the road, the laying methods of piezo-
electric boxes need to been considered first. We experi-
mented with the laying type of burying in the
construction period road and grooving on the completed
road.
Buried in the hot pit during the construction period, the
advantages is that the strength of pavement has not devel-
oped, the process of laying is less difficult. Disadvantage is
that due to the size of mixture, burying hole size is difficult
to control, the gaps between the piezoelectric box and the
roads may be hard to control, and before the strength for-
mation of the sealant material, combination of pavement
around may not be well, and the bottom require additional
processing.

Fig. 12. The mix piezoelectric box SEM after assembling.

394 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395

Table 5
Piezoelectric box components table.
Serial Name of parts Material/model Cantilever Mix package Notes
number package
1 Packaged cover MC Nylon, custom 1 1 According to blueprint processing
2 Package carrier MC Nylon, custom 1 1 According to blueprint processing
3 Clamping blocks MC Nylon custom 8 4 According to blueprint processing
4 Stainless steel bezel 304 Stainless steel thickness 3 mm/4 mm 0 20 3 mm Actual thickness thickness stainless
Diameter 20 mm steel plate, 4 mm Actual thickness
thickness stainless steel plate
5 Piezoelectric cantilever PZT-5H Double chip series, custom 8 4
beam
6 Piezoelectric power PZT-5H, Stacked in parallel, custom 0 10
generating unit
7 Rectifier circuit board 12 Group rectifier bridge, custom 1 1 By design PCB Map making
8 Waterproofing seals Silicone, customized 1 1 Waterproof sealed
9 Bolts and nuts M6 Countersunk head screw 9 9
10 Bolt M4 Cross bolt 16 8 Fixed beam
11 Desiccant 10 g/ A number of A number of
12 Glass glue Dow Corning neutral glass glue A number of A number of Auxiliary seal
13 Electronic filling glue A:B = 10:1 A number of A number of Sealed circuit board and solder
14 Output cables Nylon covered wire FVN1.5 Red and blue Red and blue
20 m 20 m

Cutting holes in the completed construction with
machine-dug for laying the piezoelectric boxes, advantages
is that it is easy to accurately cut out the size of box buried
pit, and sealant with surrounding pavement materials with
higher strength well cemented. Shortcomings is that the
laying procedure need using cutting machine tools, and
cutting depth is not easy to control, second construction
will led to the difference between around material charac-
teristics, turns out affecting using performance of roads.
Also cutting construction will damage the original struc-
ture of pavement, lower road strength. The problem of
how long the traffic can open also need to be take into con-
sideration when doing laying job on roads that is in use,
requirements for materials and construction is high because
the time for cutting, and pit bottom processing, and laying
box, and cemented material forming strength of process is
short.
4.2. Selection of filling materials
Both buried in the pit during the construction and bur-
ied after the completion of construction of cutting, there
are some gaps between packaging boxes and the pavement,
causing water damage to roads and other problems,
materials for potting is necessary. Meanwhile, stacked
piezoelectric transducers mainly collect pavement micro-
deformation due to vehicle load. The bottom of stacked
piezoelectric transducer package needs rigid enough to
guarantee the car load vertical distortion can be passed
through the external packaging boxes on the piezoelectric.
Cantilever type piezoelectric transducer is mainly to collect
vehicle vibration caused by road surface vibration energy,
mainly through the bond of box walls and the road to pass.
Cantilever type piezoelectric transducer wall bond with the
pavement needs to have sufficient strength, meanwhile,
buried in pavement boxes need to have a certain amount
of buffer layer to protect packaging box from pavement
deformation damage.
Following this analysis, boxes of piezoelectric trans-
ducer construction encapsulating material needs to have
sufficient strength and durability, and should have a certain
flexibility to withstand deformation effects. Through inves-
tigation, chose Albert pouring glue, which has excellent
high temperature stability and low temperature brittle frac-
ture resistance, and is highly resistant to water damage and
ageing resistance and high adhesion, fast construction time,
crack-completed cooling 10–20 min to open traffic.
5. Piezoelectric technology in pavement energy harvesting
research
Piezoelectric box be installed in urban roads and
highways should have different requirements. Designing
several different laying ways and paving ways is feasible,
urban road has lower requirements on road driving than
Highway, laying piezoelectric boxes may affect road perfor-
mance, such as long-term run formed uniform settlement
and during the use of roads, second pressure may dense
the road again and piezoelectric boxes location high out
road; the design speed of urban road is lower, the vibration
frequency of piezoelectric producer should be lower, traffic
composition is complex, it is difficult to always keep the
piezoelectric boxes work at the perfect frequency. Highway
through remote suburb, power system is not perfect and
maintenance is difficult, through piezoelectric device of
road can power itself and solve the problem; laying on
highway should focused on the durability of piezoelectric
devices, guarantee no larger uniform settlement in long-term
 X. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 11 (2018) 388–395
run situation; Highway running speed is higher, the self-
vibration frequency of piezoelectric should be higher,
determined by road actual running speed, about 80% of
design speed. Not only limited to laying under road,
attachments can be embedded in the tracks, collecting
vibrational energy when rail traffic going through.
From the point of view of energy harvesting, as a kind
of potential, considerable scale, and renewable clean
energy, piezoelectric energy harvesting of road has huge
research and the application prospect. From the point
of view of pavement technology development, a large
number of sensors in intelligent road and all kinds of
information board, light, reflective road button and so
on all need the supply of energy, thus paving technology
development of road has huge demand of energy harvest-
ing technique.
The efficiency of piezoelectric box of energy collection
cannot meet the needs of large-scale power requirements,
in practical aspects may be more suitable to apply to traffic
facilities, such as traffic indicates brand, reminding on cars
in the opposite direction, its advantages is no need of far
distance power, traffic facilities can power themselves,
and it can adjust its working time according to the vehicle
density on the roads, energy-saving aim can be achieved;
piezoelectric devices can also be used to get traffic informa-
tion, such as the load and driving speed of vehicles and
deliver real-time data to the traffic control system database,
which can provide reliable information for road trans-
portation research studies.
According to the stress-strain and vibration condition of
asphalt pavement, developed high energy-convert efficient
and long-aged piezoelectric energy harvesting equipment.
Rely on the needs of construction, complete the construc-
tion technology of piezoelectric energy harvester, this is
the first application of piezoelectric energy harvesting in
construction in China, which can be helpful to decrease
the cost of the long-distance electricity transmitting.
395
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Research Institute of Highway
Ministry of Transport for providing the funds for the Tech-
nical Research of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting project.
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