IC201P: Design Practicum
Report 2 – Problem Definition and Solution Methodology
Power Generation Through Speed Breakers
Team number: 19
Team members
Roll. no. Name Mobile No. E-mail I.D.
B17049 Navya Varakantham 8628903034 b17049@[Link]
B17086 Hardik Aggarwal 9416521628 b17086@[Link]
B17029 Utkarsh Jain 8219892080 b17029@[Link]
B17092 Manvi Gupta 7580078791 b17092@[Link]
B17005 Aman Kumar 9113715021 b17005@[Link]
B17127 Manmohan Meena 8905830700 b17127@[Link]
Faculty mentors:
1. Dr. Subhamoy Sen
2. Dr. Shubhajit Roy Chowdhury
Team photograph
(From left to right) Navya Varakantham, Hardik Aggarwal, Utkarsh Jain, Manvi Gupta, Aman Kumar
Contributions by Individuals:
Navya Varakantham: Searched about the electrical components required, ordered components and worked on the
report part. I shall be working on the implementation of toll tax.
Hardik Aggarwal: As from the electrical department I worked on the electrical part of the project. I decided the
type of generator required and process of obtaining energy and storing it in batteries. I designed the circuit of the
report and shall be working on the implementation of obtaining and storing the energy..
Utkarsh Jain: Went to buy the components and worked on the report part.I shall be working on joining rack,
pinion, gears and also on implementing the toll tax idea.
Manvi Gupta: I have always given my best to my project and the team. I put forth my ideas and have always
been responsible for the course. I did the necessary calculations for the amount of energy being produced by the
speed breakers. I did my research in choosing what all components to order and worked on the project
presentation and Report. I accompanied my team mates to buy the required components. Currently, I shall be
working on the metallic base and also the method to calculate toll tax automatically.
Aman Kumar: Made the Complete Project Design along with simulation. Calculated the gears and rack sizes
required.I shall be working on mechanical parts.
Manmohan Meena: Contributed a little on solid works design. I shall be working on the mechanical parts.
Abstract: Nowadays power has become the major need for human life. Energy is responsible for major
developments of any country’s economy. The availability of regular conventional fossil fuels will be the major
source of generating power but soon they will get exhausted. So, we must investigate in other types of renewable
sources. We should focus on non-conventional sources for power generation. We propose a non-conventional
power generating system based on the pressure exerted on the speed breakers which generates electricity without
using any commercial fossil fuels, thus not producing any pollutants. The major principle involved is the
conversion of Kinetic Energy of the moving vehicles into rotational energy and further conversion into electrical
energy. In addition to this, we are planning to install an automatic toll taxation method in which we will use a
neural network to distinguish between different kind of vehicles and the toll they have to pay. This will help to
reduce traffic congestion and also speeding up the process of toll tax payment.
(Fig. 1)
Introduction
1) Our Product is all about inventing a new method of producing energy using a non-conventional method.
In this project, we will be using the jerking pressure of vehicle which is lost as waste when they pass
over the speed breaker. Our idea is to harness this energy and utilize it to lighten up the street lights at
night.
2) Day by day the population is increasing and conventional sources of energy are decreasing.
Conventional sources of energy are limited as well as they are a major cause of rising pollution. Our
motivation is to invent a new way to produce energy using a non-conventional method so that we can
contribute towards a cleaner future.
3) Energy is a major demand in every industry and it’s a resource in everyone's life. The energy produced in
our project will be used in street light which is used by the public and hence it will benefit
4) Coming up with a new non-conventional source of energy is an innovation.
Problem Definition:
The project aims at producing energy using the pressure exerted by vehicles moving on the speed breakers. Also,
it aims at improvising the toll tax method in which the toll would be taken on the basis of the weight of the
vehicles.
Team’s Final Idea and Design
**All dimensions are in inches.
Proposed solution:
Initially, we thought of implementing this in various ways like Piezo Patches and hydraulic press mechanism. the
former couldn’t work because piezo patches were too costly and had a comparatively lesser energy conversion
rate. The problem with the hydraulic system was that the kind of hydraulic press required was not available in
the market and thinking of making one on our own coul not work as it required high precision machinery and
heavy duty metals. So, finally, we came up with the idea of rotational motion.
In this research, vehicle pressure on the speed breaker which is converted into rotary energy through rack and
pinion. Consequently, this rotary energy rotates generator that generates electrical power which is being stored
through battery using a charging circuit. The whole system is represented in Fig. 1.
When the vehicle load acted upon the speed breaker system is transmitted to rack and pinion arrangements.
Because of the weight of the vehicle, the top portion of the speed breaker moves downwards with the rack
attached to it. The rack is further connected to a pinion which is getting rotated from the movement of rack
backward and forward. Since the pinion is small in our case we have attached a bigger gear with the pinion in its
center. This larger gear is then connected to a smaller gear with is directly attached to an AC generator. The
generator converts rotational energy into electrical energy and this energy is converted to DC and stored in a
battery. When the vehicle passes the speed breaker, the expansion of springs takes the speed breaker at previous
state which done the system reverse.
The charging circuit charges a battery. The Inverter circuit converts this DC voltage into AC voltage and a step
up transformer stepped up the AC voltage. A dark sensing circuit is used to sense the night so that the street light
lit on.
Block diagram
Once this is done, we will install sensors which will measure the pressure exerted by the vehicles to get the
energy peak graphs. Using this data set we will develop a neural network which will be able to sense the type of
vehicle which has passed over the speed breaker and the toll tax it has to pay on toll booth.
The network will be trained in a way that it can tell the amount one has to pay according to the vehicle’s load.
Below is the circuit diagram showing how the energy conversion will take place from rotating the gears to finally
storing it in a battery:
● Cost Incurred (Estimated)
● Time Needed: Approx 2 months
● Impact of the product on society:
Since the energy generated from the speed-breaker is used to lighten up street lights at night, this will
benefit everyone who travels by road. The listed system is non-conventional and the way of power
generation technique is also environment-friendly. Also, mass production of such speed breakers in
factories will create job demand.
Other ideas :
No. Idea Intended beneficiary(ies)
Introducing the concept of airbags in two-wheelers It would protect the driver in case of a
1.
jerk/accident
Will help physically handicapped
2. Stair climbing wheelchair people
Will help babies suffering from
3. Designing a “bili” blanket jaundice at low cost
Automatic vegetable peeler and cutter Peeling of vegetables would become
4. easy and less time consuming
5. Airlines baggage tracking using RFID tags It would track any lost airline baggage
6. Automatic exterior wall painting bot It would save human labor
Automatic grass cutter and sprinkler It would save human labor
7.
and help in agriculture
Energy generation using speed breakers Generating a non-conventional source
8.
of energy
Timeline (Gantt chart)
Major concerns
1. On repeated back and forth motion of spring, it may break or get permanently deformed in case of high
traffic concentration.
2. Installation of such speed breaker on roads is a challenge.
3. Balancing the motion of springs together and controlling the rotation of gears with their teeth intact
without letting them lock.
Conclusion
The listed system is non-conventional and the way of power generation technique is also environment-friendly. It
has an advantage that it does not utilize any external source. By using this system we will able to reduce the
power crisis and load shedding. The stored electricity could satisfy the daily requirement for street lighting. The
toll taxation feature will help to reduce traffic jams on highways. We wish to implement this idea in an efficient
way so that we can take it to a higher level in the near future.
