The application of empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers of oil palm for the development of light structure materials and products

Abstract

We have been involved in developing the use of EFB fibers for several light structural products, such as speed bumps, parking stoppers, helmets, and horse shoes. This paper presents our current research work on parking bumper made of EFB fibers to be utilized for power generation. The products are designed and produced in full scale covering the whole width of vehicles passing over the bumpers. The ideas are how to reserve kinetic energy harvested from the vehicles to convert into electricity to be stored in a battery. To obtain a structural integrity-proof material, the speed bumps were subjected several tests, e.g. static and impact tests as well as live body test using the kinetic energy obtained from vehicles pass over the speed bumps. For this, a speed bump station parallel to street zebra-cross was prepared. It was obtained that A-5 concrete foam type is suitable for 3B class road. The structural response of speed bumps were checked using ANSYS 17.0.