Design, modelling and practical tests on a high-voltage kinetic energy harvesting (EH) system for a renewable road tunnel based on linear alternators

In this paper, we present a novel high-voltage kinetic energy harvesting system installed at the entrance and exit of a road tunnel. It harvests power wasted by vehicles passing over the harvester. The proposed system consists of four main steps: speed bump, suspension, generator and the power storage modules. Acting as the energy input, the speed bump module harvests kinetic energy created by running vehicles. The suspension module resets the speed bump by driving it upwards after vehicles depart from the speed bump. Meanwhile, the generator module generates electricity from the kinetic energy collected by the speed bump module. The power storage module rectifies the current and then stores the electrical energy in batteries. The high voltage obtained in the simulation and field tests is a proof that the retrofit mechanism of the energy harvesting system is beneficial and practical in generating energy used for renewable road tunnels.136