Academic Seminar on:

Piezoelectric Asphalt
Pavements
 Prolusion
Energy is the power derived
from the utilization of
physical or chemical
resources.
Piezoelectric Effect
• Ability of certain material to generate electrical
charges in response to applied mechanical stresses.

• Observed in asymmetric crystals

• For example: Quartz

o Hexagonal prism
o Two ends in pyramid form
o Optic axis along which physical properties (refractive
index, velocity of light passing through the crystal)
remain constant.
o Properties change only about the direction
 Piezoelectric
Effect
X-X:
Electrical Axis
Y-Y:
Mechanical Axis

X-Cut Plate:
Generate longitudinal mode of
ultrasonic vibrations of frequencies
up to several hundred kHz.

Y-Cut Plate:
Generate transverse mode of
vibrations of frequencies ranging
from 1MHz to 10MHz.
 Frequency
X-cut frequency:
m = constant
𝑚 𝑦 y = Young’s modulus
f= ∗ Τ𝜌 Along the length
2𝑙
𝜌 = density
l = length of crystal plate
t = thickness of plate
𝑚 𝑦
f= ∗ Τ𝜌 Along the thickness
2𝑡 For given quartz crystal plate, frequency
of vibration is more along the thickness
than along the length.
 ++++++++++

V
QUARTZ

----------

When pressure is applied along two opposite faces of

quartz crystal, a potential difference is produced along
the perpendicular faces

Piezoelectric energy harvesting
from vehicles induced bending
deformation in pavements
considering the arrangement of
harvesters.
0307-904X/2019 Elsevier Inc.
Application of piezoelectric
transducer in energy harvesting
in pavement.
1996-6814/2017 Production
and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on
behalf of Chinese Society of
Pavement Engineering.
Literature Review
The authors have created a theoretical model for energy harvesting from piezoelectric pavements due to a moving vehicle. The main
motive behind working on this was to meet the increasing power demand of wireless electronic devices used in structural health
monitoring systems, traffic monitoring systems or even intelligent road, as the roadways contain huge amount of mechanical energy in
the form of vibrations and deformations. Numerical examples were conducted to show the effect of the vehicle types, the speed,
resistive load, etc. Following considerations are made for the mathematical modelling:
The pavement is simplified as a Bernoulli-Euler beam
• Winkler foundation is assumed on which the pavement is resting.
• The quarter car model is adopted to represent the vehicle-pavement interaction.
• The dynamic response of the pavement is derived by the modal superposition method.
Six popular types of piezoelectric transducers by finite element method to harvest energy from asphalt pavement were compared and
as a result, two types of them i.e. Bridge and Cymbal were brought ahead as they were reasonably efficient had moderate stiffness
closer to asphalt pavement. These can harvest 1.13mJ and 0.489mJ electrical energy at the load of 0.7MPa, respectively.
The authors conducted a PZT (Piezoelectric Transducer) generating capacity test. The PZT materials which were used are: PZT-4/ PZT-8/
PZT-5H. Inference was drawn from the test results that:
Voltage of PZT material is relevant to loading frequency, from 1Hz to 5Hz, voltage rises significantly whereas from 5Hz to 10Hz the
voltage rises slowly. When under d-33 mode, PZT material is under better working condition.
When loading frequency is above 5Hz, PZT-5H has a higher voltage and a higher relative dielectric constant, in the same size, PZT-5H
has larger capacitance and can generate more power under the same load.
By comparison, under d-33 mode, PZT-5H generate more power unit volume and is more suitable for piezoelectric energy harvesting.
The core parameter of PZT is piezoelectric modulus d-33, which determines the generation energy.
In order to withstand the climatic conditions, packaging of these transducers becomes important. The design of the packaging box
must fulfill the requirements like internal spatial structure, capacity, durability, etc.

Synergistic performance of
piezoelectric transducers
and asphalt pavement
1996-6814/ 2017 Chinese
Society of Pavement
Engineering.
Test and Analysis of Bridge
Transducers for Harvesting
Energy from Asphalt
Pavement
International Journal of
Transportation Science and
Technology. Vol 4. No 1.
2015
Piezoelectric Roads: Energy
Harvesting Method Using
Piezoelectric Technology
Innov Ener Res 2016, 5:1
Literature Review
Differential deformation in the asphalt pavement might cause damage to the transducers placed in it. But if the burial depth increases,
there is considerable decrease in the efficiency, which doesn’t serve the purpose up to the brim. This happens due to different stiffness
of both the components, the pavement and the transducer. The stiffness of PZT is found out to be more than 100GPa, which is more
than that of the asphalt pavement. As the PZT are embedded in the asphalt pavements, differential deformation may degrade their
performance and even cause cracking.
The transducer which the authors used for testing is Arch type Bridge transducer. It consists of a PZT disc surrounded by arched metal
caps. These metal caps are designed with such a geometry to transform the vertical stress into horizontal. There’s an air cavity
between the PZT disc and the metal caps which serves the purpose of decreasing the elastic modulus in vertical direction.
Because of its reasonable efficiency and moderate stiffness being close to that of the asphalt pavement, Bridge type transducers are
used for harnessing energy from the vibrations caused by moving vehicles. This paper has compared the performance of various types
of bridge through finite element analysis and laboratory tests. Out of these three, trapezoidal, arc and arch type transducers, the
trapezoidal Bride had the strongest capability to resist pressure. For arc and trapezoidal Bridge, the maximum tensile stress and shear
stress were both at the inner corner of the contact area between the cap and the PZT disc which on concentration lead to cracking of
PZT disc. For arch Bridge, the effect of stress concentration was reduced, and also the increased thickness of the metal cap shifted the
cracking area from edge to inner of contact area between the cap and PZT disc. Finally, the electric potential generated by the arch
Bridge decreased with increasing thickness and modulus of the metal cap. Hence the arch Bridge has been suggested as the optimum
transducer for harvesting energy from asphalt pavement, taking into consideration its stiffness and efficiency.
This paper presents the functionality of piezoelectricity in road to utilize energy generated from moving vehicles. The principle of
piezoelectricity lies behind the crystals. The researcher has used crystalline material to generate electricity, when the crystalline
material subjected to external force, pressure or strain electricity is generated. There are several types
of natural crystals, found at the surface or deep within the earth, which can be used today to apply piezoelectricity effect such as clear
quartz and amazonite. A variety of artificial crystals are formed by chemical compounds, as well. These include Barium Titanate, Lead
Titanate, and Lead Zirconate Titanate, etc. Efficiency of piezoelectric device is based on properties of crystals such as geometry,
thickness, loading mode, fixation and structure. According to the data calculated, approximately 90 pennies is required to power one
street light using fossil fuels in one day, or 12 h duty. Cost increases into 9 GBP when 10 lights are used. For the same electricity cost
provided by the UK government, power asphalts will save 60 GBP which is sufficient to power 10 street lights for 6 days, or 12 hr/dar
Construction
of road
 Material Composition

Asphalt Road

• Barium titanate
• Lead titanate
• Lead zirconate titanate
Piezoelectric Transducer • Lithium niobite
• Lithium tantalite
• Potassium niobite
• Sodium tungstate
Trapezoidal Arc

Arch
Transducer Stiffness
Multilayer High
THUNDER Low
Bridge Medium
Cymbal Medium
MFC Very low
Moonie Medium

Bridge Type Transducers

 Asphalt Plate
Casting
The PZT transducers
are to be placed at a
depth of about 10mm
from the top.

Casting is to be done in
PZT Transducers accordance with
ASTM D 1559
▪ Innowattech has conducted trials to demonstrate this energy at
the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa where a vehicle travelled
over a road under which IPEG (Innowattech Piezoelectric Electric
Generators) had been planted 6cm under the road level and at a
distance of 30cm apart.

▪ Innowattech's solution is capable of producing significant amounts of

electricity, about 400 kWh from a 1 km stretch of generators along the
dual carriageway (assuming 600 vehicles go through the road segment
in an hour), enough energy to power 600-800 homes.

▪ In Israel alone there are sufficient roads to produce 160 MWh of

energy using Innowattech's solution (thus, the roads can provide
about 2% of the country's electric energy consumption).
Case Study
Continued..

Photographs explicating the work carried out by Innowattech

Continued..

Photographs explicating the work carried out by Innowattech

Generators harvested the mechanical
energy of vehicles and converted it into
electrical energy. This technology had no
effect on the vehicles’ fuel usage or road
infrastructure.
 Conclusion
Sustainability is simply a shortcut to a long-term profit earnings
and an incentive towards harnessing the ‘greenies’ to expand
and produce clean energy products.