Development of a Suspended Backpack for Harvesting Biomechanical Energy

Abstract

In this study, a harvesting device embedded into a suspended backpack was developed to harness part of a human's biomechanical energy and reduce dynamic force of the backpack on the carrier. The harvester utilized a spring mass damping system to translate the human body's vertical movement during walking into the rotation of a gear train, which then drives rotary generators to produce electricity. A prototype was built to examine the theoretical study, which showed that the experimental tests agreed with the simulation. Compared with previous work, the harvester in this work had a 40% higher harvesting energy efficiency.