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The tire pumps energy

28.11.2008

Belgian microelectronics engineers have created a cheap energy collector that can power a small sensor.

An energy collector is a device that converts waste mechanical energy into electrical energy. For example, a tire is rolling down the road. At the same time, it inevitably deforms. The deformation of the rubber could, in principle, be turned into electricity and powered by a sensor that would monitor the grip of the tire on the road and report this to the on-board computer. And he is already taking measures to prevent an accident.

In practice, to obtain such electricity, a miniature device like a cantilever with a weight is used. When the tire moves, the weight deflects up and down, deformation occurs at the base of the cantilever. If a piezoelectric is located there, it will turn the deformation into electricity. There is nothing surprising in such a device, and today it is only a matter of making the collector cheaper and more efficient.

Scientists from the Interuniversity Microelectronic Center located in Levin, Belgium, proposed taking aluminum nitride as a piezoelectric. It is applied to a platinum electrode, and covered with aluminum on top. Such collectors are easy to make in mass quantities using conventional microchip manufacturing technology, while its parameters are record-breaking: the output voltage is 60 μV, and the optimal oscillation frequency is only 500 times per second.

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