TENSYMP2022 1570798977

Implementation of an Energy Harvester Swing

1  
2  
Embedded with Internet of Things (IoT) Monitoring
3  
4  
Technology
5  
6   Hidalgo, M.L.N.E. Simon, D.M.R. Pacis, M.C.
7   School of Electrical, Electronics and School of Electrical, Electronics and School of Electrical, Electronics and
Computer Engineering Computer Engineering Computer Engineering
8  
Mapua University Mapua University Mapua University
9   Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines
10   mlnehidalgo@mymail.mapua.edu.ph dmrsimon@mymail.mapua.edu.ph mikeinmars@yahoo.com
11  
12  
13  
Abstract — Conversion of mechanical energy to electrical components such as chain drive, sprocket, dynamo, roller
14   energy is one of the common natural processes in producing bearing, spur gear, and freewheel. These can harvest energy
15   useful energy. In this paper, an energy harvesting swing was through the pendulum motion of the swing with the help of a
16   designed and tested to utilize waste energy from human motion. human using it. Based on a swing angle of 90-120 degrees, the
17   The swing consists of a DC generator and pulley system that is largest possible output voltage they obtained is 5.0-6.0 volts
18   integrated with IoT technology for wireless monitoring [3]. Also, a similar project that produces energy based on the
19   purposes. Several measured parameters were used to evaluate weight of a person has been tested by a 155 lb person results
20   the performance of the system which includes voltage, current, in an 11.252V output voltage [4]. S. Yathavan, G. Ramesh
and power. Gathered energy will be stored in a battery for
21   Kumar, and S. Gokulraj stated that the electricity produced is
future use like low voltage lighting purposes and charging
22   mobile phones. A charge controller was designed to effectively
environmentally friendly and does not require a great deal of
23   charge the battery by adding a buck-boost converter. The cost. This method of electricity production may be applied
24   through mechanical means in areas such as parks, playfields,
2022 IEEE Region 10 Symposium (TENSYMP) | 978-1-6654-6658-5/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/TENSYMP54529.2022.9864549

testing was conducted in a controlled environment with people

25   weigh between 25kg to 62kg. From different tests made, the DC etc., and may also be used for illumination and other energy
26   generator was able to produce a voltage up to 15V from the needs in certain regions, thus raising the pressure on the main
27   swinging action if the swing on a bi-directional way and was able grid [5].
28   to take the input which is the bu Open circuit voltage was able
In the previous research regarding this project, a low
to determine and it ranges from 6.82V from a user with a weight
29   of 25kg and 10.52V from a person with a weight of 62kg. The
voltage was produced, which was stored in a battery. This
30   maximum recorded loaded voltage and power delivered are
stored energy was used to light an LED bulb and charge a
31   15.72 V and 1.35 W respectively. The maximum charging mobile phone. Also, the designs of the actual swings are too
32   current accumulated when connected to the battery is 423 mA. bold or dangerous for a child to use. This thesis proposes
33   improving the design of the mechanical to electrical energy
34   Keywords— Renewable Energy, DC Generator, Pulley and conversion, as well as improving the regulation of the
Belt System, Swing, Internet of Things, Charge Controller generated voltage for effective charging.
35  
36   I. INTRODUCTION The main objective of this research is to design a swing
37   that can generate energy integrated with IoT technology. The
38   In this modern sector electricity demand is getting higher specific objectives of this study are: (1) to design a swing that
every single day. In this case, renewable energy and electricity
39   can effectively convert energy from human motion to
generated on a local basis can help to meet the increasing electrical (2) to design an IoT circuit that transfers data
40   demand for energy [1]. Conversion of mechanical energy to
41   wirelessly (3) to design the charging controller circuit (4) to
electrical energy can be obtained by using different human- integrate the design with IoT technology for monitoring (5) to
42   powered projects that can be seen on public playgrounds such evaluate the performance of the prototype.
43   as merry-go-round, see-saw, and swing. According to the
44   study of Rajat Wairagade, a power generator is based on a Many are switching to a new environmental-friendly
45   pendulum motion that supports its movement with low source of electricity: renewable energy such as solar, wind,
46   maintenance, providing voltage output peaks from the and water. This paper emphasizes renewable energy that uses
47   mechanical structure [2]. Human energy can be easily human effort to harness and convert it into electrical energy.
48   converted from playgrounds where children are static relative Hyundai Engineering and Construction already designed a
49   to the moving playground mechanism such as a swing [3]. To playground harnessing electricity called the “National Energy
harvest these wasted human energy, chain drive, sprocket, Park”. It is a project which teaches children the importance of
50  
dynamo, roller bearing, spur gear, and freewheel components renewable energy using eco-friendly components [6]. Since it
51   is renewable energy and only uses human movement, it is
perform a successful role in electricity generation by
52   clean and does not harm the environment. The harnessed
producing swing strength [3]. A charge controller can be used
53   energy on this prototype can be useful in households such as
for charging batteries, where this wasted human energy can be
54   converted into useful energy such as lighting purposes and lighting, the use of small appliances, and the charging system.
55   charging of mobile phones [1]. The prototype can also be beneficial for kids and adults to
56   have fun and at the same time producing energy just by using
57   Ayneendra B., Vishwanath A V, Tejus Kumar R, and the swing [4].
60   Hemanth P. created a swing motion power generator with
61   978-1-6654-6658-5/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE
62  
63  
64  
65  

1
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 The scope of this study is centered on the design of the
swing, as well as the pulley and belt system used to convert
the swinging motion into electrical energy. The IoT is only for
monitoring voltage and current within the system. Since
power generation is limited only when in motion, the swing
generator is not for continuous charging and only for
emergency purposes. Also, the swing was made to be limited
to users with a weight of 70 kg.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework of the human-powered
swing generator is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for the Energy Harvesting
Device
The input of this prototype is the harnessed energy from
the motion of the swing. The swing is designed to generate
power based on the bi-directional motion of the pulley and belt
system. For the process, a DC generator (along with
rectification and regulation of the voltage produced into a
usable form) connected to the pulley and belt system converts
mechanical energy into electrical energy. The process also
includes the IoT circuit for data gathering. The output
corresponds to a battery, which serves as an energy storage
unit for charging devices such as a smartphone.
B. Flowchart of the Study
Figure 2 shows the overall flowchart of the study. The
flowchart starts with designing a swing that harnesses
mechanical energy from swinging motion.
Figure 2: Flowchart of the Study
2
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
The swinging motion rotates the pulley in a
bidirectional way, which in turn also rotates the generator
shaft via a belt. The generator used has a planetary gear system
incorporated in it, which will further increase the turns ratio.
Hereon, adjustments were made to the positions, number of
gears, and other modifications to the mechanical side of the
prototype until enough voltage is produced due to swinging
motion. The IoT circuit was designed for wireless
transmission of data. The charge controller circuit was also
designed since the generator produces a sinusoidal voltage, a
full-bridge rectifier was used to turn it into a pulsating DC
voltage. The IoT circuit was integrated into the generator as a
means of gathering data such as supply voltage, load current,
and load voltage. The battery needs a regulated voltage to be
charged, which was compensated by using a buck-boost
converter. The effectiveness of the system could then be
evaluated using the data gathered.
C. Block Diagram
Figure 3 shows the block diagram of a swing
generator. The diagram shows that human motion transfers
mechanical energy to the swing via bidirectional motion.
Figure 3: Block Diagram of Swing Generator
The swing in turn feeds this mechanical energy into
the DC generator, converting it into electrical energy. By
integrating IoT Technology, no manual measurements of
certain parameters to perform. Since the voltage generated is
sinusoidal, a full-bridge rectifier is used to convert it into a
pulsating DC voltage. To effectively charge a battery, a buck-
boost converter is used which will regulate the pulsating DC
voltage.
D. Swing
Figure 4 shows the design of the swing, including
the attached pulley on the swinging pole. The beams used for
the framework were made of 20 mm tubular galvanized iron.
Figure 5 shows the actual swing design. Assuming the mass
of the person is 70 kg, the weight would be the product of
mass and gravitational acceleration:
= Eq. (1)
= 70 9.8 = 686
 = = 343

Figure 7: Shearing Force Diagram

The base of the triangle can be computed using similar

triangles:

0.75 0.5
= = 0.625
2

From here the bending moment can be computed by solving

Figure 4: Overall Design of the Swing the area of the triangle:
1
= "ℎ
2
= "$ = 107.1875

The stress can be computed using the bending moment,

neutral axis, and moment of inertia. For a 1 ½ ‘’ GI pipe, the
inner and outer diameter is 35.7mm and 38.1mm. The
moment of inertia is:
& ( (
%= ) * + , Eq. (3)
'(

% = 23701.688 (

45.+66
-./012 1 3 = = 19.05

The stress can be computed using the formula:

Figure 5: Actual Prototype with User
E. Structural Steel Standard
The AISC Steel Construction Manual requires that
the maximum bending allowed is only 60% of the maximum
yield strength of tubing for safety [7]. This was used for the
design of the swing. To ensure that the pipe would not bend
from the weight of the person, the shearing force and bending
moment were computed. The 1 1/2 ‘’ pipe is 2 meters long.
$8 9
7= Eq. (4)
:
7 = 86.15 ;1
The GI pipe must be able to withstand 86.15 MPa
due to the person on the swing. The maximum yield strength
of the tubing is 30000 psi, which is also equivalent to 206.84
MPa. But from AISC Steel Construction Manual, the
maximum bending allowed is only 60% of the maximum
yield strength of tubing or 124.104 MPa for safety. From
here, we can see that the maximum bending is greater than
the stress (124.104 MPa > 86.15 MPa), ensuring that there
will be no bending on the GI pipe.

F. Charge Controller Circuit

The circuit design for charging the lead-acid battery
is based on a buck-boost converter with LM2596 and
LM2577. The input of this module ranges from 3.5V to 28V,
Figure 6: Loading Diagram and output ranging from 1.25V to 26V. However, the buck-
boost converter only accepts a DC input voltage, so a rectifier
From Figure 6, the forces at points A and B can be is necessary. Figure 8 shows the schematic diagram of the
computed using the equation: circuit.
∑ = Eq. (2)

3
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 weight of the user. The graph shown in Figure 10 shows an
almost linear relationship between the two. However, this
relationship is only applicable for an open circuit, as observed
in the next tests.

Figure 8: Charging Circuit

The full-bridge rectifier is made of a 1N4001

general purpose diode, which can handle peak current up to
30A and forward current of 1A. Between the capacitor and
buck-boost converter, the open circuit is connected to Vin+
and Vin- of the INA219 module to monitor the current.
G. Graphical User Interface
The data sent by ESP8266 can be received by a
smartphone installed with RemoteXY software. The GUI of
Figure 10: Weight vs Voltage Graph with Constant Swing
the software shows the voltage and current in graphical and
Angle
text form. Figure 9 shows the monitoring of the parameters
such as voltage and current through a smartphone using the
Standard resistor values were used for Table 2, ranging from
installed application RemoteXY by wireless connection.
100 ohms up to 100-kilo ohms. The buck-boost converter is
not connected in this test, which means that the voltage
supplying the load resistors was simply a pulsating DC. This
is to remove the effects of switching regulation of buck-boost
converters such as harmonics. This results simply shows that
with different load, there will be a variability for further
comparision in two different weight of the user that shows the
higher the weight the higher the voltage generated.
Table 2: Comparison Between Voltages with Different
Weight of User
Trial Load Resistance Voltage
25 kg 55 kg
1 100 kΩ 7.28 V 8.40 V
2 50 kΩ 7.18 V 7.78 V
Figure 9: Monitoring voltage and current on smartphone 3 10 kΩ 7.50 V 7.65 V
4 2.2 kΩ 7.38 V 7.39 V
5 1 kΩ 6.76 V 7.44 V
H. Results and Discussion
6 470 Ω 5.31 V 7.33 V
For the first test, the peak open-circuit voltage was 7 220 Ω 5.13 V 6.02 V
recorded based on the weight of the user. In each trial, the 8 100 Ω 4.18 V 5.38 V
swing angle is kept as close as possible to around 35 degrees
to limit the variability of each trial to the weight of the user. Figure 11 shows the graph for measured terminal
This was done by having the user trying to align voltage from users with different weights.
himself/herself to the triangular support poles of the swing
(which is 35 degrees in between).

Table 1: Weight Vs. Voltage Generated

Open Circuit
Trial Weight
Voltage
1 25 kg 6.82 V
2 31 kg 7.23 V
3 35 kg 7.50 V
4 40 kg 7.66 V
5 44 kg 8.11 V
6 50 kg 8.22 V
7 55 kg 9.09 V Figure 11: Terminal Voltage measured from Users with
8 62 kg 10.52 V Two Different Weight
Table 1 shows that the voltage rises with the For the second test, different values of resistors were
increase in the weight of the user. From the data, it can be used as a passive load to test the effectiveness of the swing
seen that there is a steady increase of voltage relative to the

4
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
generator by recording the voltage, current, and power within
the system. The values recorded in each trial are the peak
value reached by the voltage. The person swinging weights
55 kg. The swinging has been made with as much force as
possible by the user for the maximum swing angle and radial
velocity. Since there are 6 readings (5 intervals), the duration
of the pulse is 250 milliseconds or 0.25 seconds. The amount
of energy produced in each swing was recorded by
multiplying the power produced and the duration of the pulse.
Table 3: Circuit Parameters with Resistors as Load
From Table 3, it was noticeable that as the power
required to drive a load increases, the supply voltage drops.
This would mean that the generator would be limited to
certain loads and would not be able to supply loads that have
high power requirements. Further tests indicate that the
power supplied by the generator peaked at up to 1.35 W.
The effective RMS voltage is required to evaluate
the performance of the generator since the peak voltage
shown in Table 3 only lasts for a fraction of a second.
Samples of the voltage and current were obtained, with a 50-
millisecond interval per reading.
Table 4: RMS Values of Voltage and Current
Table 4 also shows the radical drop in the average
power compared to the peak power the generator produced in
the test. Even though the voltage can reach up to 15V, since
the duration is very fast, the average power is low.
I. Battery Charging
For the final test, the generator is connected to a
buck-boost converter to boost the output of the generator and
regulate the voltage. The voltage at the output of the
5
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
converter is set to 14V which is enough to charge the 12V
battery with a rating of 7.2Ah/20HR. Since the generator can
only produce a minimal amount of current, the charging time
for the battery to fully charged is around minimum of 25.7
Hours if continuous charging. The generator can send a
charging current up to 400 mA. Two methods were used to
evaluate the performance of the charging circuit: percent
battery charge and voltage regulation. The percent battery
charge can be computed using the formula:
> B>
%"= = 1 * ?@A CDE × 100 Eq. (5)
>?@A B>?FG
Where Vmax is the maximum voltage the battery
can withstand, Vmin is the minimum voltage the battery
holds when drained, and Vout is the output voltage under
charging conditions [8]. The maximum voltage the battery
can withstand as given on the datasheet is 13.5V at 20°C
(which is used as the charging voltage). The test was
conducted on a partially used battery with an open-circuit
voltage of 11.6 V, which is used as a minimum.
13.5 * 12.9
%"= = I1 * J 100 = 68.4%
13.5 * 11.6
The voltage regulation can be computed using the
formula:
>MNB>ON
%KL = 100
Eq. (6)
>ON
Where VNL is the no-load voltage and VFL is the
full load voltage. The no-load voltage in this case is the set
output voltage of the charging circuit, which is 13.5V. The
full-load voltage corresponds to the terminal voltage when
the battery is connected. Since the voltage drop to 12.9V
when the battery is connected, the percent voltage regulation
is:
13.5K * 12.9K
%KL = 100 = 4.44%
13.5K
J. Statistical Analysis
The data for the test in Table 2 were used for the
statistical analysis. The samples compared were the open-
circuit voltage for the eight trials as sample size. The T-test
is used to determine whether there is a significant difference
between the two. The null hypothesis H0 is when there is no
effect in the generated voltage when a user weighs more (H0
> 0.05). The alternate hypothesis is when the user weighs
more, there is an increase in the voltage generated (H1 <
0.05).
Table 13: Data Used for Calculating the P-Value
 The mean of sample 1 (trials with a weight of user International Conference on Smart Electric Drives and Power System.
Nagpur, India: IEEE.
equal to 25kg) minus sample 2 (trials with a weight of user
[2] Gajbhiye, M., Boke, M., Kelwadkar, A., & Mude, S. (2016). Electrical
equal to 55kg) is equal to -0.8338. From this difference (- Energy Harvesting By Using Pendulum Power Generator. International
1.3673 to -0.3002), there is a 95% confidence interval. The Research Journal of Engineering and Technology.
intermediate values used for the calculation were t = 3.6953, [3] Ayneendra, B., Vishwanath, A. V., Tejus Kumar, R., & Hemanth, P.
df = 7, and a standard error difference of 0.226. From the (2017). Fabrication of Swing Motion Power Generation. International
results above, the two-tailed P-value is equal to 0.0077. Since Journal of Latest Engineering Research and Applications, 18-26.
the computed P-value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis is [4] Avelar, J., Galindo, J., & Ramos, J. (2013). Swing Human Powered
Generator: For the DC House Project. California Polytechnic State
rejected, and the alternate hypothesis is accepted. This means University-San Luis Obispo.
that the difference between the two samples is statistically [5] Yathavan, S., Ramesh Kumar, G., & Gokulraj, S. (2016). A Novel
significant. Design & Fabrication of Energy Generating Oscillatory Swing – A
Play way Technique for Public Parks. 5th International Conference of
III. CONCLUSION Materials Processing and Characterization, 1740-1743.
[6] Gammon, K. (2019, June 25). 6 Future Playgrounds That Harness
Based on the objectives presented and the results Kids’ Energy While They Play. Retrieved from Fast Company:
from the tests, the main objective of the study was satisfied. https://www.fastcompany.com/2680066/6-future-playgrounds-that-
The first objective, in which we are to design a swing set that harness-kids-energy-while-they-playK. Elissa, “Title of paper if
can gather and convert mechanical energy to electrical, was known,” unpublished.
properly met. The swing was designed to comply with the [7] Khan, A., & Saeed, A. (2017). Self-energy sustainable playgrounds for
children. 2017 IEEE 3rd International Conference on Engineering
standards (AISC Steel Construction) and would demonstrate Technologies and Social Sciences (ICETSS) (pp. 1-6). Bangkok,
the best placement of the components that would show Thailand: IEEE.
acceptable results of 15V produced voltage of the DC [8] S. R. Pandian, "A human power conversion system based on children's
generator. The charging controller circuit was based on a full- play," 2004 International Symposium on Technology and Society
bridge rectifier and buck-boost converter, which takes an (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37548), 2004, pp. 54-61, doi:
10.1109/ISTAS.2004.1314326.
input voltage and outputs the necessary voltage for charging
[9] AISC Manual (n.d.). Retrieved from
and the results shows that it was able to take the input and https://www.aisc.org/globalassets/aisc/manual/15th-ed-ref-
output voltages. The sub-objective to integrate the design list/specification-for-structural-steel-buildings-allowable-stress-
with IoT monitoring technology was met that the outcome design-and-plastic-design.pdf
was able to establish acceptable results and was able to shoe [10] Alcazar, A. G., Fernan, M. G., Ngo, K. G., Santos, A. J. S., Chua, E.
E., & Pacis, M. C. (2019). Voltage characterization of magnesium-
the real-time data. The performance of the prototype was doped zinc oxide by electrodeposition method for solar photovoltaic
evaluated by assessing the voltage and current within the (PV) cells. Paper presented at the 2019 IEEE 11th International
system. The maximum power recorded that the generator was Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology,
able to deliver was 1.35 W. The second objective, which was Communication and Control, Environment, and Management,
HNICEM 2019, doi:10.1109/HNICEM48295.2019.9073593
to integrate the swing with IoT, was also achieved. The Retrieved from www.scopus.com
smartphone serving as the receiver properly displays the bus
voltage produced by the generator, as well as the current. The
design of the charging controller circuit based on a buck-
boost converter was able to provide enough current to charge
the battery. Lastly, the evaluation of the performance of the
prototype shows good results. Compared to previous research
that can only reach a charging current of 24mA, the highest
recorded charging current peaked at up to 400 mA.
IV. RECOMMENDATION
The prototype for the thesis was not completed
without encountering challenges. The main problem comes
with the slippage of the belt on the pulley whenever a higher
demand of current is required. Since a higher torque is
required when the current demand of the load is higher, the
belt tends to slip instead of turning the shaft of the generator.
This limits the amount of current the generator can supply.
One viable solution is a customized pulley along with a
timing belt. Another recommendation is to use a larger
battery so that in terms of charging it can accumulate a much
higher percentage of mobile phones and it can accommodate
a much higher load. Also, the dips in bus voltage could be
solved by using a larger DC generator that accepts a low
torque for higher voltage output.
REFERENCES
[1] Nahale, A., Ganvir, P., Bansod, A., & Ranjan, A. (2018). Electricity
Generation by Human Efforts in Swing and Mobile Charging System.

6
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mapua University. Downloaded on September 16,2022 at 12:45:28 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.