Assessment of Power Generation, Dynamic Interaction and Human Comfort of a Suspended Energy Harvesting Backpack

Electronics, wearable devices are important in nowadays informationalized lifestyle. One prominent problem with those electronic devices is that almost all of them depend on batteries as power sources, which has become a bottleneck due to the limited life span. Constantly replacing or recharging batteries is inconvenient, burdensome, and sometimes even impossible. This problem is more intractable when the power cannot be accessed conveniently (such as during fieldwork, hiking, and military missions). What’s more, no matter how much energy the battery stores, it will drain eventually. In addition, large battery will add extra weight and occupy space. Substitute power supply that conquer these aforementioned dilemmas are thus highly desirable. Energy harvesting by its nature could be an inexhaustible replacement for batteries. This insight inspires so many energy harvesting researchers tirelessly working and trying to make it happen. Suspended backpack is an effective way to harvest energy from human motions.This study evaluates different energy harvesting backpack configurations and comprehensively assessed the power generation, dynamic interaction and human comfort. Dynamic modelling considering the dynamic interaction between human body and backpack is established to optimize the design. Bench tests and treadmill tests are carried out to evaluate the real performance. Experimental results show that the harvesting energy from human motion via a suspended energy-harvesting backpack could incessantly generate considerable electricity applicable for charging carry-on electronic devices. The potential application scenarios of this technology include solders, field-workers as well as outdoor adventure.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Mi, Jia

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Zuo, Lei
• Tafti, Danesh K

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Barry, Oumar

• Energy Harvesting
• Suspended Backpack
• Treadmill Experiment
• Dynamic Interaction
• Ground Reaction Force
• Human Comfort

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/110945

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/110945