Determining the Optimum Parameters of an Energy harvesting System using Simulation
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Date
2019-05-31
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia has a small percentage of its population accessing electricity with some energy utilized
by the transportation sector, also there are frequent power outages at the Addis Ababa Light Rail
Transit Services which takes a long while to return. From this former statement, it is clear that
demand for energy is high and there is too much dependability on the current energy source. The
aim of this study is to simulate an energy harvesting system using vibration from the track using a
two degree of freedom oscillator. Secondary data was collected, then a damped Mass-spring-two
degree of freedom oscillator was modeled and the energy harvested from the system simulated.
This oscillator produces mechanical energy to power signaling and communication equipment of
the railway line. The optimum parameters of the energy harvester were determined; the mass of 1
kg, a spring stiffness of 0.12 N/m and a damping coefficient of 5.5Ns/m. The cumulative
mechanical power harvested by Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit’s lowest speed was calculated to
be 8.06 ��. The damped two-degree-of-freedom oscillator produces higher mechanical energy,
therefore meeting the energy demand of the signaling and communication equipment.
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Keywords
Electricity, energy harvested, vibration, mechanical energy, two degree of freedom oscillator