A vibration energy harvester for freight train track self-powered application

Genshuo Liu; Zheng Fang; Zutao Zhang; Xing Tan; Chutian Dai; Xiaoping Wu; Zhou Jin; Dongyang Li

iScience (Oct 2022)

A vibration energy harvester for freight train track self-powered application

Genshuo Liu,
Zheng Fang,
Zutao Zhang,
Xing Tan,
Chutian Dai,
Xiaoping Wu,
Zhou Jin,
Dongyang Li

Affiliations

Genshuo Liu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China
Zheng Fang: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China
Zutao Zhang: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China; Corresponding author
Xing Tan: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China
Chutian Dai: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China
Xiaoping Wu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, PR. China; Yibin Research Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University, Yibin 644000, PR. China
Zhou Jin: China Railway Wuhan Electrification Bureau Group Shanghai Electric Co., Ltd, Shanghai 201799, PR. China
Dongyang Li: China Railway Wuhan Electrification Bureau Group Shanghai Electric Co., Ltd, Shanghai 201799, PR. China

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 25, no. 10
p. 105155

Abstract

Read online

Summary: The safe and stable operation of the widely distributed freight trains urgently needs to solve the power supply problem of the freight train track monitoring network. In this article, an innovative and efficient energy harvesting mechanism is designed based on a mechanical vibration rectifier (MVR), with four modules of motion conversion, motion rectification, generator, and storage. The motion conversion module converts the linear vibration of the rail into rotational motion through the ball screw. The motion rectification module integrates mechanical rectification and transmission speed-up and converts the bidirectional rotation of the transmission shaft into a faster unidirectional rotation of the generator. Experiments show that the power and mechanical efficiency of the proposed vibration energy harvester can reach 28.0416W and 75.92%, respectively. This high-performance MVR can meet the power demand of wireless sensor networks by harvesting vibration energy to ensure the normal operation of freight trains.

Published in iScience

ISSN: 2589-0042 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.cell.com/iscience/home

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords