Generation of Electricity Using Piezoelectric Material: Study on Asphalt Pavement Structure on Rural Road

Abstract

Poor visibility plays an important role in causing road accidents at night. To minimize accidents, road lighting is needed, but this leads to an increase in electricity consumption. The generation of electricity from fossil fuels causes scarcity in fossil fuels and pollutes the environment. Because of this, researchers have shown interest in the generation of electricity from renewable energy resources. In the meantime, the energy released during vehicle movement, and walking, remained unutilized. This paper aims to show how energy is generated from piezoelectric material by using pressure created by pedestrians and the movement of vehicles. Laboratory studies conducted include wheel tracking tests at various pressures to generate power under certain load repetition. Test samples are prepared based on the Marshall Mix design. The results show that the asphalt pavement prepared with stone aggregate and overburned brick aggregate (OBBA), generates a voltage corresponding to 700 repetitions at 0.56 MPa pressure are 9.21 and 8.89 V respectively. A comprehensive cost analysis is also performed for the economic evaluation of the approach. There is a reduction of cost to the amount of 7.21% in the case of OBBA roads for street lighting compared to the expenditure on the existing stone aggregate roads without lighting. This approach shows a new prospect of low-cost street lighting in rural roads made by OBBA instead of stone aggregate.