The Application of Piezoelectric Sensor as Energy Harvester from Small-scale Hydropower

School of Ocean Engineering, University of Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala, Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.

^* Corresponding author: hidayatul@umt.edu.my

Abstract

Renewable energy technology nowadays is advancing in research and application as an alternative for non-renewable energy sources including fossil fuels and coals since it is considerably less hazardous for the environment. In recent years, many studies to harvest energy from water energy including ocean waves and hydropower has been conducted. The inherent characteristic of the piezoelectric sensor which can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy has created an alternative to generate energy from renewable sources. The main aim of this research is to harvest energy from water movements which include self-generated water waves, automated water waves, flowing water and falling water. The piezoelectric sensor used in this research is a pressure-based piezoelectric sensor which means when there is a pressure exerted on the surface, it will generate electricity. A prototype was designed and simulated by Proteus software and the prototype was fabricated for energy harvesting from water movements. In this study, four methods had been used to harvest energy from small scale hydropower where two methods are from water waves generated from a hairdryer and ultrasonic cleaner and another two methods from falling water and flowing water. The results obtained shows that harvested energy from falling water gives the best results in which it has accumulated up to 13V in the same amount of time as compared to water waves and water flow.