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Energy harvesting on road pavements: State of the art

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DOI: 10.1680/jener.15.00005

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Energy Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jener.15.00005
Energy harvesting on road pavements: Paper 1500005
Received 11/02/2015 Accepted 28/08/2015
state of the art
Keywords: energy/renewable energy/roads & highways
Duarte and Ferreira

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Energy harvesting on road

pavements: state of the art
Francisco Duarte MSc Adelino Ferreira PhD
PhD Student, Pavement Mechanics Laboratory, CITTA, Department of Civil Director, Pavement Mechanics Laboratory, CITTA, Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

With the growing need for alternative energy sources, research into energy harvesting technologies has increased
considerably in recent years. The particular case of energy harvesting on road pavements is a very recent area of
research. This paper deals with the development of energy harvesting technologies for road pavements, identifies
the technologies that are being studied and developed, examines how such technologies can be divided into
different classes and gives a technical analysis and comparison of those technologies, using the results achieved with
prototypes.

Notation
generate electrical energy from small energy variations, such
ΔT thermal gradient of the road pavement
as thermal gradients, pressure, vibrations, radiofrequency or
η energy conversion efficiency
electromagnetic radiation, among others (Khaligh and Onar,
2010). Road surfaces are continuously exposed to two phenom-
ena: solar radiation and vehicle loads. From both of these it is
1. Introduction possible to extract energy, which, using specific technologies,
The increasing movement of human beings from rural areas to can be transformed into electrical energy (Andriopoulou,
the city has led to an exponential increase in the consumption 2012). Within cities, there are roads that carry vehicles, the
of the planet’s resources in recent years. Energy, and in particu- main option for mobility. Vehicles consume energy to work
lar electrical energy, is one of the resources with greatly their engines and release energy in different ways, by way of
increased demand. Currently, and for the first time in history, different components. Part of the energy released by vehicles
more than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities goes into the road pavement. Around 15–21% of the energy is
(Buhaug and Urdal, 2013) and, by 2050, this number will transferred to the vehicle’s wheels (Hendrowati et al., 2012;
increase by more than 3 billion people, leading to global urbanis- IEA, 2012). As vehicles abound in all cities in developed
ation, which will lead to further increases in energy consump- countries, this means that a considerable amount of energy is
tion, especially in cities. transferred to road pavements without being used. Roads are
also exposed to solar radiation, which induces thermal gradi-
With the present energetic paradigm, most electrical energy ents between their layers. This solar radiation and the resulting
production uses fossil fuel combustion, which makes econom- thermal gradients can also be transformed into useful energy.
ies dependent on fuel costs. This is also leading to irreversible So road pavements represent a considerable source of energy
environmental damage. According to the International Energy ready to be harvested and converted into useful forms of
Agency (IEA, 2013), in 2011, globally, more than 80% of energy, such as electrical energy, at the same time reducing the
energy production came from fossil fuels. Urgent action is re- need to ‘import’ energy from distant places.
quired to change the paradigm of electrical energy generation
as, presently, energy is mostly produced outside cities, con- This paper aims to review the energy harvesting technologies
suming non-renewable resources and inducing energy losses with possible implementation on road pavements, using both
between the point of production and the point of consump- solar energy and vehicle-released energy as an energy source.
tion. Energy production must be based on renewable resources,
decentralised, happen near the point of consumption and, pre-
2. Road pavement energy harvesting
ferably, when it is needed.
technologies
In the area of renewable energies, besides the major energy 2.1 Introduction
sources (hydro, solar, wind, waves), energy harvesting has Energy harvesting is described as a concept by which energy is
recently been adopted on a micro-scale, where it is possible to captured, converted, stored and utilised using various sources,

1
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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by employing interfaces, storage devices and other units conductive particles in the asphalt mixture provides self-
(Khaligh and Onar, 2010; Priya and Inman, 2009). Simplified, healing capacities autonomously at high temperatures by
energy harvesting is the conversion of ambient energy present harvesting solar radiation. The second group is related to tech-
in the environment into other useful forms of energy – for nologies that make use of the mechanical energy transferred
example, electrical energy (Kazmierski and Beeby, 2009). from vehicles to the road surface. This can be harvested
directly by piezoelectric harvesters, which generate electrical
Energy harvesting is divided into two main groups: macro- energy; or it can be harvested by hydraulic, pneumatic, electro-
energy harvesting sources, associated with solar, wind, hydro mechanical or micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
and ocean energy; and micro-energy harvesting, associated that transfer the harvested energy to electromagnetic gen-
with electromagnetic, electrostatic, heat, thermal variations, erators, which produce electrical energy. In the case of MEMS,
mechanical vibrations, acoustic and human body motion as they can also transfer the harvested energy to piezoelectric
energy sources (Harb, 2010; Khaligh and Onar, 2010; Yildiz, generators.
2009). Macro-energy harvesting is related to large-scale energy
harvesting, usually in the order of kilojoules or more. Micro-
2.2 Solar energy harvesting on road pavements
energy harvesting is related to small-scale energy harvesting,
usually in the order of a joule or less. 2.2.1 Photovoltaic technology
Researchers from the Korea Institute (Kang-Won and Correia,
From the energy harvesting technologies identified by Harb 2010) have investigated the possibility of harvesting solar
(2010), two groups of technologies have a great potential for energy from road pavements, using solar cells embedded into
implementation on pavements: one uses solar radiation as an the pavement infrastructure. They have concluded that the
energy source and the other uses the mechanical energy from current thin-film solar cells are difficult to use on surfaces that
vehicle loads. Considering these energy sources, different tech- receive mechanical loads and environmental conditions can
nologies and systems have been developed and tested in recent cause premature corrosion and wear. For these reasons, the
years. The main energy harvesting technologies applicable on researchers are developing new thin-film solar cells that meet
road pavement can be divided into two main groups, as pre- the requirements for use on road surfaces.
sented in Figure 1. The first group is related to technologies
that make use of the solar exposure on the road pavement. Julie and Scott Brusaw proposed a solar collector system
Solar radiation can be directly harvested by photovoltaic cells to replace the upper layer of the road pavement, called Solar
and transformed into electrical energy; it can induce thermal Roadway (SR, 2015). The Solar Roadway is a series of structu-
gradients between the road pavement layers, which can be used rally engineered solar panels that are able to support traffic
to power thermoelectric generators (TEGs), which produce loads and are applied on the road surface transforming
electrical energy, or be harvested by asphalt solar collectors solar radiation into electrical energy. Each panel has an
(ASC), which extract the temperature accumulated on the road installed power of 36 W and measures 0·37 m2. They have
pavement. Induction heating is a concept in which introducing patented the upper layer of the product with a design patent

Road pavement
energy harvesting

Vehicle mechanical
Solar energy
energy

Solar radiation Thermal gradients Vibration or surface

(road surface) on RP layers displacement

Photovoltaic TEGs ASC Induction MEMS Hydraulic / pneumatic Electromechanical

cells heating harvesting harvesting harvesting

Piezoelectric Electromagnetic
generation generation

Figure 1. Road pavement energy harvesting technologies

2
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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(Brusaw and Brusaw, 2014). The Brusaws indicate a conversion that the efficiency of the electronic system was 41·3%, which
efficiency of the system of 11·2% (SR, 2015), a value that results in a global efficiency of the TEG system of 1·6%. The
cannot be confirmed in any scientific publication or product prototype, which used a 7·7 cm3 TEG unit, was able to
certification. One of the major challenges of this project is to produce a maximum output power of 0·02 W, for a thermal
offer safety and the appropriate conditions for the mobility of gradient of 6·44 K on the TEG (Wu and Yu, 2013).
the vehicles passing over the panels. At the same time, the
upper layer needs to guarantee the transmission of the solar Due to their low conversion efficiency, none of these studies
radiation to the photovoltaic cells beneath it in order to have led to a product available on the market. Kelk (2015),
present good conversion efficiency. a Japanese company, has different products based on TEGs,
and sells the TEG cells individually, but none of their available
In the Netherlands, Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk products have been developed for implementation on road
Onderzoek (TNO), along with other technological partners, pavements so far.
have developed a pilot project consisting of a modular cycle
path system, named SolaRoad (SolaRoad, 2014; TNO, 2014). 2.2.3 ASC technology
The cycle path is constructed of concrete elements that are An alternative way of using the thermal gradients between the
covered by a 1·0 cm-thick glass top layer. Underneath this road pavement layers is to transform the pavement into a solar
glass layer, crystal silicon solar cells are laid, although the collector, using pipes and pumps, arranged specifically in order
values of the installed power and energy conversion efficiency to capture solar energy and convert it into thermal energy.
are not presented. The modules are embedded in concrete This is a method that has been studied in recent years by
slabs and applied on the base layer of the pavement. The different authors, called ASC (Bobes-Jesus et al., 2013).
authors of the project indicate that the next step will be to
adapt the system for application on roads (SolaRoad, 2014). Sullivan et al. (2007) proposed an ASC system for heating and
cooling road pavements and other infrastructures, using the
heat-absorbing property of asphalt concrete applied on the
2.2.2 Thermoelectric technology construction of flexible pavements. The ASC system consists
TEGs produce electrical energy due to the Seebeck effect, of an asphalt pavement layer with water pipes in it. The ASC
described by Schreier et al. (2013) as a voltage difference on a system is linked to two underground water storage reservoirs,
material, resulting from a temperature gradient imposed one for cold water and another for warm water (RES, 2007),
between its surfaces. The greater the temperature gradient, the involving seasonal storage. Solar radiation induces an increase
more the energy generated. in the temperature of the road surface, which is absorbed by
the road pavement materials and transferred to a water piping
Hasebe et al. (2006) developed a pavement-cooling system system applied under the road surface and is then stored in the
using a TEG incorporated into the pavement. Solar heat is soil or other storage tanks (Sullivan et al., 2007).
collected by a water piping system embedded in the road pave-
ment, and this water is cooled by river water. The water first The real-world performance of ASCs has been demonstrated
passes on the hot side of the TEG, and then on the cold side by systems installed in different places around the world,
of the TEG, installed under the road. The maximum power working in different climatic conditions. In Switzerland, the
output of the prototype tested was 5 W, using 19 Bi-Te cells Solar Energy Recuperation from the Road Pavement
(1·23 cm3 each), for a ΔT of 40·5°C. For a ΔT of 25·9°C, (SERSO) system, presented by Lund (2000), was successfully
the maximum output power was 2·9 W, and for a ΔT of installed with the main purpose of melting ice on roads. In
11·5°C, the maximum output power was 0·9 W. The conversion the Netherlands, Road Energy Systems, developed by Ooms
efficiency of the system was not presented. (Sullivan et al., 2007) and TNO (Loomans et al., 2003), has
been commercialised in recent years, with the main advantages
Wu and Yu (2012) studied the implementation of TEGs on presented by the company being a focus on increased road
the surface of pavements. They propose the connection of safety (RES, 2007).
the lower part of the module with the subgrade soil by way of
highly thermal-conductive materials in order to facilitate heat In the UK, ICAX (ICAX, 2014) develops and implements
conduction and thus increase electrical energy production. ASC solutions. In Japan, the Gaia system has been developed
They have concluded that its maximum efficiency reached 4% during the last decade, with different studies being performed
using Quantum Well structured (QW) materials, instead of focused more on the snow-melting heat-storage capacity (Gao
Bi-Te cells, but the problem was the storage of that energy. et al., 2010; Morita and Tago, 2000). The authors say that the
Tests were performed with a pavement ΔT of 50°C, which heat collecting capacity is between 150 and 250 W/m2 under
generated 300 mV with one TEG cell. They have concluded normal summer weather conditions (Gao et al., 2010). Other

3
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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applications have been developed in China (Tu et al., 2010) Innowattech on a product called Innowattech Piezo Electric
and the USA (Mallick et al., 2009). Generator (IPEG) (Innowattech, 2014). There are no published
results for the generated energy, or for the conversion efficiency.
2.3 Vehicle mechanical energy harvesting on road
Abramovich et al. (2010b, 2012) have developed a system
pavements
with new methodologies to increase energy generation and
The mechanical energy transmitted by vehicle wheels to the
simplified the installation process, as well as using a new meth-
road surface can induce two types of action on the road pave-
odology to multiply the forces of the vehicles delivered to
ment: vibrations or surface displacement. This energy can be
the piezoelectric transducers (Klein et al., 2012). Nevertheless,
harvested using different methods and different technologies.
there were no scientific results presented for any of these systems.

2.3.1 Piezoelectric technology Bowen and Near (2000) have patented a piezoelectric actuator
Piezoelectric materials fall within a class of multiple solid-state for road pavements, which was developed recently (Near,
materials that can generate electrical energy with the application 2013), presenting an energy harvesting product based on piezo-
of pressure or vibrations (Beeby et al., 2006). Both vehicle electric components for use on road pavements. With this pro-
pressure and vibrations induced on the road pavement can be duct, Near (2013) created the Genziko company in the USA
used to actuate piezoelectric transducers, in order to convert (Genziko, 2014).
mechanical energy into electrical energy (Xiang et al., 2013).
Hill et al. (2014) have compared the products developed by
Zhao et al. (2010) proposed and studied the application Innowattech and Genziko using data provided by both com-
of cymbal piezoelectric transducers on road pavements. The panies. From Innowattech, they present an energy generation
amount of generated energy was of 1·2 mW at 20 Hz for one per module, per vehicle, of 5·76 J, while Genziko have pre-
vehicle passage. This was equivalent to 0·06 J per vehicle sented an energy generation per module, per vehicle, of 40 J,
passage and a conversion efficiency of lower than 15%. almost seven times more than that of Innowattech. However,
the authors of the study have concluded that none of these com-
Zhao et al. (2013) studied different piezoelectric materials in panies have enough real-environment validations to support
order to determine how to adapt them for use on road pave- the presented energy generation values.
ments. They have identified that none of the typical piezoelec-
tric transducers made of lead zirconate titanate were suitable
2.3.2 Electromagnetic technology
for the asphalt pavement environment. They suggest a specific
Electromagnetic generators operate based on electromagnetic
design and optimisation process to adapt the piezoelectric
induction, known as Faraday’s law, where, if an electric conduc-
materials for road pavement application.
tor is moved in relation to a magnetic field, electric current will
be induced in the conductor (Beeby et al., 2006). These genera-
Xiong et al. (2012) have defined two coupling modes of piezo-
tors are mostly used in big power plants, based on both non-
electric components: 31-mode and 33-mode. With 31-mode,
renewable and renewable sources. In energy harvesting, smaller
the piezoelectric material generates electrical energy from trans-
electromagnetic generators have been developed over the last
verse displacement. On the 33-mode, the power output of the
decade in order to convert environmental energy sources (mech-
system increases linearly with the deflection of the pavement or
anical vibrations, mostly) into electrical energy (Arroyo and
the stress along the poling direction of the material. They have
Badel, 2011; Beeby et al., 2007; Elliott and Zilletti, 2014;
stated that the usual power generation capacity of piezoelectric
Munaz et al., 2013; Peralta et al., 2014; Saha, 2011).
transducers is about 300 μW/cm3.

Electromagnetic generators are different from piezoelectric

Wischke et al. (2011) studied the application of piezoelectric
systems in that they are not actuated directly by the mechanical
modules in road pavements in tunnels. They concluded that
energy of vehicles. Interfaces are applied where the harvester
the vibrations caused by vehicles were small due to vehicle
units are based on hydraulic or pneumatic systems, electrome-
suspension.
chanical systems or MEMS, which will be presented in the fol-
lowing sections.
The patent applications US20050127677 (Luttrull, 2005)
and US20100045111 A1 (Abramovich et al., 2010a) relate
to systems that make use of piezoelectric transducers on road 2.3.2.1 HYDRAULIC AND PNEUMATIC HARVESTING
pavements that produce electrical energy while being deformed SYSTEMS
due to the passage of vehicles. The system presented by A hydraulic system consists of a drive or transmission system
Abramovich et al. (2010a) was tested in a real environment by that uses a pressurised hydraulic fluid to transmit forces and

4
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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actuate mechanical components, which are usually actuated by MotionPower (NewEnergyTechnologies, 2015), based on his
electric machines. In the case of pneumatic systems, the differ- patents. Real-environment tests were performed with this tech-
ence is in the working fluid; air is used instead of liquid (Parr, nology but the company has not published the results.
2011). In road pavements, hydraulic systems can be used in the
opposite way, transmitting the mechanical energy of the 2.3.2.2 ELECTROMECHANICAL HARVESTING SYSTEMS
vehicles to actuate electric machines. In electromechanical systems, electrical devices are operated by
mechanical components or vice versa. In the case of electrome-
Some companies and individual inventors have registered chanical energy harvesting systems, mechanical energy is used
patents where they use hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms to to actuate an electrical machine, which produces electrical
harvest energy released from vehicles and convert it into elec- energy.
trical energy. These systems are designed to be implemented
on roads, as are related patent applications US5634774 In the case of road pavement energy harvesting, the electrome-
(Angel and Gomez, 1997), GB2290115A (Nakatsu, 1994), chanical systems can be divided into four classes.
US6376925B1 (Galich, 2002), US20040130158A1 (Kenney,
2004), US20070246940A1 (Valon, 2007), WO2007045087 & Conversion of rotational motion of a surface into a
(Horianopoulos and Horianopoulos, 2007), US20100192561A1 rotational motion of an electric generator (Rot–Rot).
(Hendrickson, 2010a), WO2010081113A1 (Hendrickson, 2010b), & Conversion of linear motion of a surface into a rotational
US20110215593A1 (Chang and Lee, 2011) and GB2476826A motion of an electric generator (Lin–Rot).
(Houghton, 2011) for hydraulic systems, and US4173431 & Conversion of linear motion of a surface into a linear
(Smith, 1979) and GB2408074A (Morley et al., 2005) for motion of an electric generator (Lin–Lin).
pneumatic systems. & Conversion of rotational motion of a surface into a linear
motion of an electric generator (Rot–Lin).
Horianopoulos and Horianopoulos (2007) developed a hydrau-
lic device that harvests energy on road pavements, claiming an Table 1 summarises the electromechanical systems that are
energy generation capacity of 51 kWh with 10 000 vehicle pas- being developed according to the motion conversion principle.
sages along 50 m (Kinergy Power, 2014). This is proportional to From this table, it can be seen that most of the systems have a
367 (J/m)/vehicle, an average of 91·8 J/wheel, which is a very rotational output motion.
high value. However, this value is not supported by any scientific
evidence, and the average vehicle weight used in the study is not On the basis of the systems presented in the patents
presented. In their patent (Horianopoulos and Horianopoulos, WO2004067850A1 (Hughes et al., 2004) and WO2009101448A1
2007), the working principles of the technology are described (Hughes et al., 2009), the company Highway Energy Services
without reference to the conversion efficiency. On the basis of was created (HES, 2015) in the UK. Besides the information
this system, they have created the product KinerBump, and the presented in their patents, no technical data are available on
company KinergyPower International Corporation (Kinergy these systems.
Power, 2014) in USA.
Pirisi (2012), following his patent, has developed a prototype
Moreover, Hendrickson (2010a, 2010b) has created the of the technology which, together with researchers from
company New Energy Technologies with a product line called Politecnico di Milano, he has tested and presented the results

Input motion

Rotational Linear

Output motion
Rotational US4238687 (Martinez, 1980), US6767161B1 (Calvo US4434374 (Lundgren, 1984), US20070181372A1
and Calvo, 2004), US7102244B2 (Hunter, 2006), (Davis, 2007), WO2009101448A1 (Hughes et al.,
US20090315334A1 (Chen, 2009), US7714456B1 2009), WO2011145057A2 (Duarte and Casimiro,
(Daya, 2010), US20110187125A1 (Jang, 2011) 2011) and WO2013114253A1 (Duarte and Casimiro,
and WO2012099706A2 (Mansfield et al., 2012) 2013)
Linear US20120248788A1 (Pirisi, 2012) WO2004067850A1 (Hughes et al., 2004)

Table 1. Patents related to electromechanical systems

5
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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(Pirisi et al., 2012a, 2012b, 2013). The generator is described Harb (2010) studied and tested different MEMS systems in
as a tubular permanent magnet linear generator, an electrome- laboratory, actuating electromagnetic microgenerators. These
chanical device able to convert linear motion into electrical generators presented a maximum energy conversion efficiency
energy; using a 1:10 scale prototype in the laboratory, they of 18%, with ten cells and a buck converter.
claim a conversion efficiency of 85% (Pirisi et al., 2013)
between the mechanical energy applied to the slider of the gen- Zorlu and Külah (2013) developed a MEMS-based energy har-
erator and the electrical output efficiency. This value does not vesting device to generate electrical energy from vibrations,
include power electronics, but presents only the conversion effi- with implementation on road pavements being one of the poss-
ciency of the generator. In laboratory tests, the system was ap- ible applications. In laboratory tests with a prototype, a
plied on the top of the road surface. The authors of this system maximum output of 3·2 mW/cm3 was achieved, which is a
have created the company Underground Power, which is devel- high power density for this type of application. However, when
oping a product called ‘LYBRA’ (Underground Power, 2014). a prototype was developed to be tested in a real environment,
the energy generation was 6·0 μW/cm3, 500 times lower than in
In the USA, the authors of the patent WO2012099706A2 laboratory tests. So, the technology presents some potential
(Mansfield et al., 2012), a class-1 system, have created the but, when applied in a real environment, its efficiency
company Energy Intelligence. So far, there have been no scien- decreased considerably.
tific results presented for the project. The authors maintain
that the system will be embedded in the road surface, replacing The patent US20130193930A1 (Baugher, 2013) presents a
the upper layers of the road pavement (EnergyIntelligence, system consisting of a microstructure for implementation under
2014). the road surface, which uses vibrations to actuate piezoelectric
materials to generate electrical energy. No commercial appli-
Following the development of a suitable system to convert cation of this system has been developed so far, nor have tech-
people-released energy into electrical energy (Duarte and nical results of experiments been published, as the system is
Casimiro, 2011), with a 60% conversion efficiency (Duarte et al., under development.
2013a, 2013b), Duarte and co-authors have developed the system
presented in the patent WO2013114253A1 (Duarte and 3. Technical analysis
Casimiro, 2013), with a class-2 system, suited for application on
roads. The authors, together with the company Waydip, have 3.1 Introduction
tested a real-scale prototype, naming the project Waynergy To perform a technical analysis and evaluate an energy gener-
Vehicles (Waydip, 2015). Laboratory tests with the prototype ation technology, the most commonly used parameters are the
obtained experimental energy generation data, achieving a con- installed power (per area or volume), conversion efficiency,
version efficiency of about 50% for the mechanical energy deliv- power density and the energy generation of the technology in
ered to the system and the electrical energy output delivered to normal operating conditions (Table 2). In the specific case of
an electric load (Duarte et al., 2014, 2016). The system was road pavement energy harvesting, it is also important to clas-
applied on the upper layer of the road pavement. sify the technologies according to the installation method
(IM), as this is an important issue regarding the final cost of
the solution, the driving and safety conditions and the main-
2.3.2.3 MEMS HARVESTING SYSTEMS tenance operations of the equipment. Finally, as these are
MEMS is a technology that is usually defined as miniaturised mostly new technologies, it is important to classify them
mechanical and electromechanical elements, made using the regarding their development status – in this case, using tech-
techniques of microfabrication, which can vary from relatively nology readiness levels (TRLs).
simple structures having no moving parts to extremely complex
electromechanical systems with multiple moving parts, usually A detailed description of the working principles of each tech-
under the control of integrated microelectronics. There has nology, its maturity and scale, the tested scenarios, the techni-
been much recent interest in using MEMS to harvest energy cal and commercial barriers and opportunities, and a critical
from ambient vibration and transform it into electrical energy analysis are presented in the supplementary data file accompa-
(Stephen, 2006). nying this paper online.

To find optimal architectures for maximal power generation 3.2 Comparison of technologies
under the different operating constraints, analysis and verifica- Following the analysis of the different technologies presented
tion by simulation of three classes of MEMS-based vibration- in this study, the main characteristics of each one are presented
driven microgenerator architectures were presented by in Table 3. For this analysis, the technologies that convert both
Mitcheson et al. (2004). solar and vehicle mechanical energy into useful electrical

6
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

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Parameter Description

Installed The installed power of an electrical energy generation device is its energy generation capacity in nominal
power conditions – that is, the maximum theoretical power it can generate. It is related to the output power and is
expressed in watts (W). In many cases, it is expressed by comparing the installed power with the occupied area
of the device (W/m2), or with the occupied volume of the device (W/m3). In micro-energy harvesting devices, the
analysis is usually done in regard to volume
Conversion Energy conversion efficiency (η) is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion device and the
efficiency energy input. In the case of electrical machines, the output is electrical energy measured in joules (J), or
electrical power measured in watts (W). The energy conversion efficiency is a dimensionless parameter, usually
expressed as a percentage
Energy Energy generation is used to quantify the amount of electrical energy generated under the operating conditions. It
generation gives the energy input of the system, its efficiency and the installed power. Usually, it is expressed in joules, but
in some micro-energy harvesting devices it can also be related to the volume (J/m3). In the analysis of energy
harvesting devices, sometimes power generation is also presented, related to the volume of the device (W/m3)
IM The different energy harvesting devices can be installed in the road pavement using different techniques, and in
different layers of the road pavement. Four main IMs were identified
TRL TRLs are measures used to evaluate the maturity of a technology during its developmental stages. These levels
were initially defined by NASA (Mankins, 1995), but are now commonly used in project evaluations

Table 2. Parameters for performing a technical analysis

Installed Conversion
Technology Company/R&D institute power: W/m2 efficiency: % Energy generation IMa TRLb

Photovoltaic Solar Roadways 97·3 11·2 NA 1 4

TNO NA NA NA 2 7c
TEG Hasabe et al. NA NA 38·0 mW/cm3 3 3
Wu and Yu NA 1·6 2·6 mW/cm3 3 3
Piezoelectric Innowattech NA NA 5·8 J/veh m 3 4
Genziko 1942·0 NA 40·0 J/veh m 3 4
Hydraulic Kinergy NA NA 188·0 J/veh m 1/2 4
New Energy Technologies NA NA NA 1/2 4
Electromechanical Waydip 833·0 50·0 680·0 μW/cm3 2 4
180·0 J/veh m
Underground Power NA 85·0d NA 1/2 4
HES NA NA NA 2 3
Energy Intelligence NA NA NA 2 3

a
IM 1 – on the road pavement surface, fixed to the upper layer (the device surface becomes the new road surface);
IM 2 – embedded in the road pavement, upper layer, surface exposed (the device surface becomes the new road surface);
IM 3 – embedded in the road pavement, upper layer, surface covered by road pavement material; IM 4 – embedded in the
road pavement, lower layer, surface covered by road pavement material
b
TRL 1 – basic principles observed and reported; TRL 2 – technology concept and/or application formulated; TRL 3 – analytical
and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept; TRL 4 – component validation in laboratory
environment; TRL 5 – component validation in relevant environment; TRL 6 – system/subsystem model or prototype
demonstration in a relevant environment; TRL 7 – system prototype demonstration in an operational environment; TRL 8 – actual
system completed and qualified through tests and demonstration; TRL 9 – actual system proven in operational environment
c
For cycle lanes. For road pavements, it has only been conceptualised, not prototyped (TRL 1/2)
d
Efficiency on a 1:10 scale, and not considering the losses of control, storage and deliver energy to an electrical load

Table 3. Technical analysis of different road pavement energy

harvesting technologies

7
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

Offprint provided courtesy of www.icevirtuallibrary.com

Author copy for personal use, not for distribution

energy and which have been tested on road pavements were in the literature, making very limited information available
considered. So, ASC, induction healing and MEMS technol- about the experimental tests and results obtained. It is clear
ogies were excluded from the analysis. that none of the developed technologies have been fully devel-
oped and validated, as none of them have entered the market
From Table 3, it may be seen that most of the studies do not with a finished and certified product (with the exception of
meet all the parameters required to perform a complete techni- ASC, which is an energy harvesting system, but not to generate
cal analysis, hindering a more detailed and direct comparison electrical energy). In the road pavement energy harvesting
of all the technologies. Most researchers or companies present field, most of the technologies are at a laboratorial and proto-
only the energy generation capacity and IM of the developed typing validation stage.
devices and only a few studies present the installed power and
the conversion efficiency of the technologies. From this analy- Comparing the technologies that make use of solar energy as
sis, one can conclude that the systems that make use of vehicle their energy source with the technologies that make use of
mechanical energy have a higher conversion efficiency and vehicle mechanical energy, the former is at a more advanced
energy generation capacity than the systems that make use of developmental stage, as it makes use of more mature systems
solar radiation. In terms of energy generation, hydraulic and and technologies. However, presently, most research and devel-
electromechanical systems present higher capacities. opment is being performed on the latter, mainly due to the
higher potential that these systems present, in terms of energy
In terms of IMs, photovoltaic systems are mainly applied using conversion efficiency, energy generation and adaptability to road
IM 1, while TEG systems are applied under the road surface, pavement conditions.
using IMs 3 and 4. Piezoelectric systems are also applied using
IM 3, while hydraulic and electromechanical systems can both Comparing the technologies that make use of solar energy as
be installed using methods 1 or 2, with their surface in direct an energy source, photovoltaic systems are the most efficient
contact with vehicle wheels, to maximise the energy input to and mature. However, the implementation on road pavements
the system. is still a challenge, as glass has been used on the photovoltaic
cells, causing difficulties for vehicle adherence, which is essen-
In terms of development status, one can conclude that none tial to guarantee rolling capacity and safety conditions.
of these devices are fully validated and available on the Systems that make use of TEGs are easier to install on the
market; they are generally at TRL 3 or 4. The TNO system is road pavement; however, efficiency is considerably reduced.
on TRL 7, but this is for cycle path application and does not
present any evidence of application on roads. Comparing the technologies that make use of vehicle mechan-
ical energy as an energy source, piezoelectric technology was
To determine fully whether any technology is viable, an econ- the first to get the attention of researchers. However, due to its
omic analysis should also be performed. In such an analysis, lower energy conversion efficiency, the developments with this
the most important factor is the levelised cost of electricity, technology have decreased in the last 2 or 3 years. On the other
which determines the cost per watt produced, relating the total hand, there has been an increase in research and development
economic investment in a technology to the energy generated of electromechanical systems that harvest vehicle mechanical
(EIA, 2014). However, no technology is fully developed and energy and, using electromagnetic generators, generate electri-
available on the market. So, no economic data of any product cal energy. These, together with hydraulic systems, have regis-
are yet available and such an analysis cannot be performed at tered the highest energy generation values in experimental tests.
this stage. Their installation is also simpler than the installation of piezo-
electric devices and they currently present a higher likelihood
of success as an effective solution to transform vehicle mechan-
4. Conclusions ical energy into electrical energy effectively.
The concept of road pavement energy harvesting has become
increasingly popular over the last few years. Unlike the case of MEMS also present potential in this field since they have been
wind energy, the present situation shows a wide variety of successful in other applications. However, in the case of road
energy harvesting systems, at several stages of development, pavement energy harvesting, they have been applied to harvest-
competing against each other to get an opportunity in the ing pavement vibrations instead of directly harvesting vehicle
market. In the last 15 years or so, the research and develop- mechanical energy. Pavement vibrations represent a small
ment activity in road pavement energy harvesting has been amount of the available energy, leading to a low level of
developed more by companies than by universities, leading to energy generation. In the future, these systems should also be
a lack of scientific evidence being available on the developed developed to harvest vehicle mechanical energy in order to
technologies. The tests performed were not fully characterised maximise energy generation.

8
Energy Energy harvesting on road pavements:
state of the art
Duarte and Ferreira

Offprint provided courtesy of www.icevirtuallibrary.com

Author copy for personal use, not for distribution

Acknowledgements Calvo R and Calvo J (2004) Highway Electric Power Generator.

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