Applications of the pressure effect on the electrical energy: Piezoelectric example

Energy needs have increased due to the rapid development of technology from the past to the present, rapid population growth and associated production increase. Fossil fuels are generally used to meet this need. In recent years in all countries; due to the facts that fossil fuels will be depleted and the use of these fuels harms nature, a vast amount of resources are spared for researches of alternative energy sources. The facts that they do not harm the nature, they will not be exhausted in the future, they use various sources (solar, wind, water, geothermal...), and that there is one or more alternatives appropriate for each country have increased interest in renewable energy sources. In this study; the transformation of the movements of the living things (basically human) into electrical energy using piezoelectric materials was investigated. For this purpose, floor of 1 m2, which can harvest was formed. The energy harvesting floor is designed using low-cost materials. In the floor design, piezodiscs with thicknesses of 0.33 mm and 1mm were used separately to analyze the floor. For the floor formed with piezodiscs of 0.33 mm thickness, $ 28.58 was spent and a maximum of 3,976 mW was produced as a result of the walking of a person weighing 60 kg for 1 minute. Approximately $ 50.16 was spent for the floor created with 1mm thick piezodiscs, and 4,029 mW was produced as a result of the walking of a person weighing 60 kg on it for 1 minute. The result of the experiment is that the current produced is very small, and that the costs of the renewal of damaged materials, initial installation and operating costs are quite high. It was observed that the cost of storage of the energy generated from the floor does not have economic value when coupled with production cost, material and operating costs. At the same time, the energy produced does not have the power to be used. In a much larger area, with a greater number of people (Shopping entrances, factory establishments...) a certain level of energy can be obtained but it will not be efficient. Therefore, it is not possible to operate with piezoelectric materials by establishing an efficient clean energy system with the design in the study or with similar designs. The different design works need to be sustained in order to use the materials in the industrial area. It is believed that the thesis study will be the source of further studies in this field. For this purpose, all the design steps are shown, the materials are introduced and the technical information is included faultlessly in the study.