JAYA JAYA SANK AR A H AR A H AR A SANK AR A

2011 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference

LOW COST BIO-MECHANICAL ENERGY GENERATOR FOR OFF-GRID USERS Dr. Venkat Natarajan, Amit Baxi, Ramanath Padmanabhan, Vincent Mageshkumar Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore, India 560001 Venkat.natarajan@intel.com
ABSTRACT
In this study, we present a low-cost bio-mechanical energy generator designed to meet the basic power needs of off-grid users in emerging markets. Targeted usecases include providing power to charge a cellphone, rural lighting applications, charging low-power computing devices such as netbooks. Bio-Mechanical energy generation is well suited to provide low cost off-grid power in emerging markets due to availability of large low-cost labor pools in emerging markets, easy integration of bio-mechanical into lifestyle of rural consumer and sustainability of bio-mechanical technologies. In this work, the bio-mechanical generator is designed using stringent constraints on cost and performance. A detailed performance characterization of the generator device is reported in this study. The energy expenditure of the user during the process of energy generation is characterized by a wearable body sensor . INTRODUCTION One of the major barriers to the penetration of computing in emerging markets like India is the total lack of access to electricity (off-grid) as well as highly unreliable power grids when such access is present. Indian power grid, like many other emerging market grid, is characterized by huge shortages, according to World Economic Study conducted by International Monetary Fund. According to several studies, close to 700 Million people (~200 Million House Holds) have no access to power (ref. 1-6). There are thousands of rural schools in emerging markets (India, Brazil, Africa) where computing environments are not feasible due to lack of electrical power. Alternate energy solutions are needed urgently to enable the successful deployment of technology to enhance the lives of these populations. However, mainstream alternate energy solutions such as solar are still too expensive for broad adoption in emerging markets. Bio-Mechanical energy generation is aptly suited to provide low cost power in emerging markets because of several reasons: large lowcost labor pools in emerging markets, easy integration of bio-mechanical into lifestyle of rural consumers, bicycles are still primary mode of transport for rural population (~70% of rural population in India (~700Million), staggering number of installed base of cycles in emerging markets (700 million in India alone). In this work, a low978-0-7695-4595-0/11 $26.00 2011 IEEE DOI 10.1109/GHTC.2011.10 273 253

cost bio-mechanical energy generator technology is presented as an alternate energy power source for off-grid applications in emerging markets. This technology is targeted at the following segments: rural consumer, rural small and medium businesses (such as craftsmen), telemedicine centers and off-grid educational applications. The power shortage in India is despite the fact Indian power sector has shown impressive growth in size and capacity over years. The installed generation capacity has grown from 1.362 GW in 1947 to 144.564 GW in 2008 according to the report by Ministry of Power. The overall gross generation was 704 billion units in 2008. Per-capita consumption of electricity is close on 1000 kwhr per annum- much lower than world average of 2500 kwhr per annum and even Chinas average of 1800 kwhr. The situation is so bad that CEA (Central Electricity Authority, a Government of India Policy Making Body) estimates that even with 6% year on year increase in generation capacity, the situation of India being a power deficit county will persist. In fact, as India tries supply electricity to 700 Million people who have no access to electricity, the peak shortages and energy deficit is likely to worsen. MOTIVATION FOR BIO MECHANICAL ENERGY GENERATION Given the above constrains in the energy grid; a low cost decentralized generation is only viable option to provide cost effective electricity to masses. Alternate technologies like Solar and Wind are still handicapped by high capital cost and high cost of support and maintenance. Wind power is a good option, but wind availability is confined to very small areas in southern and western states. In addition, alternate energy output can vary significantly due to weather. Given these constrains there is a need for a low cost, always available on demand power generation capability suitable for emerging markets. One way to lower the cost of delivering power in a scalable, distributed way is look for technologies that leverages existing installed based and requires very little end user training. Fortunately, emerging market like India has very large installed base of bicycles. End users require very little training on how to pedal and hence can generate energy. Bicycle vendors have existing channel to

distribute and maintain bicycles in nook an nd corner of the country. Besides, emerging markets like India are still very labor driven and hence we hypothesiz ze that end users will be willing to input manual energy to create low to support their volumes of electricity which is sufficient t day to day lifestyles (an example usecas se in Figure 1). One of our hypotheses is also that a typica al lower middle class household or a small retail business c can significantly improve their lifestyle or increase thei ir business by generating small amounts of power than can run configuration of 2 light bulbs mobile phon ne charger, a fan and a television.

can generate enough energy (~ ~50W average power / 100W peak power) to power com mputing infrastructure for several off-grid use cases (e.g. ( tele-conferencing infrastructure of rural schools or r tele-medicine centers, multiple netbooks in a rural cyber r-caf or BPO, charging mobile POS devices used for finan ncial inclusion etc.).

BIOMECHANICAL ENERGY SOURCE

Current Limit

Voltage Limit DC-DC CONVERTER BUCK-BOOST Battery level Sense LOAD

CHARGE CIRCUIT BATTERY

Figure 2 Block Diagram of Bio-Mechanical Energy Generator System.

s room Figure 1 Rural Off-grid Tele Class In this present study, we present an off-grid electricity generator that works with a bicycle. The co onstraints of our design are specifically targeted to the following constranits: Constraints for our Biomechanical power generator design 1. Low-Cost External Adaptor to a L Legacy Bicycle 2. Power Cell Phone for 2 hours in 2 minutes 3. Power One LED Light for 2 hours s in 2 minutes minutes 4. Power Netbook for 1 hour in <15 m In this study, we tested the bike generator r prototype with 3 users to characterize the performance and understand any variance between users. In the follow wing section, we describe our experimental setup includi ing the energy generator and battery setup. P EXPERIMENTAL SETUP The key ingredients of the low-cost bio-mechanical generation system include a low-cost me echanical setup, low cost generator and low-cost electron nics for battery charging. For a given configuration, th he main input parameters that characterize the bio-mecha anical generator include human effort (measured in-situ) ) and the bike rotation rpm. The output parameters inc clude generator voltage, current, battery charging voltage/c current and state, neration system charging circuit parameters. The energy gen comprises of electro-mechanical comp ponents i.e. a stationary spinning bike driving an al lternator which converts mechanical effort (pedaling) into electrical energy. It also integrates a battery as w well as battery charger and regulator circuits. In this current embodiment,
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The system (Figure 2) consists of a bio-mechanical energy source, a charge control circuit, battery, b a DC-DC buck boost converter and the load. The e Bio-mechanical energy source in this system is a DC generator g attached to a generic cycle stand. When a cycle is mounted on the stand and pedaled, the wheel transfers th he rotational energy to a shaft by friction. This shaft ro otates the generator to produce power. This power is fe ed to the charge circuit. This low cost charge control circu uit performs current and voltage limiting to protect the bat ttery. The charge circuit also monitors the battery voltage e to displays the battery power status through LEDs. Sin nce the voltage of the battery lower as power is consum med from the battery, a DC-DC buck boost converter is us sed to provide a constant voltage output for the load.

Figure 3 Body Sensor for measu uring real time energy expenditure e

To understand the user energy expenditure e to generate energy (a system efficiency para ameter), we designed a body sensor (Figure 3) that can measure m the input energy of the user. The sensor is worn on the upper arm and collects a variety of physiologic c data through multiple sensors (a two-axis accelerometer r, heat flux sensor, skin temperature sensor, near-body amb bient temperature sensor, and galvanic skin response senso or) that can be uploaded and analyzed using computer software. s The multiple

sensor array was designed to overcome th he limitations of other objective energy expenditure assessm ment tools.

RESULTS
The test results (generator voltage, current and power) are presented for our current bike generator for r three different users. As expected, the current gener ration from a biomechanical source is highly variant and d fluctuating. To understand the trends, we have drawn a 200 data/sec average curve to overlay on the actual insta antaneous data. The generated voltage from the system is s shown in Figure 4 for all users. The generated voltage flu uctuates in two levels. On following the RPM at which t the generated is operated. This accounts for the major var riation which is not cyclic. There is also a minor fluctuation n every instance the pedal is pushed and released. This is m more periodic in nature and is approximately 1 to 1.5V. The startup voltage is instantaneous; there is no visibl le startup delay for voltage generation. The peak voltage se een is ~22V.

Figure 5(a) Performance Data D from User 1

Figure 5(b) Performance Data D from User 2

Figure 4 Bio-Mechanical Energy Generator r Performance Voltage Vs Time for 3 Users

Figure 5 shows the generated currents for the three users. It is noted that the current fluctuates with th he RPM and the power applied on the pedal. The current flu uctuation can be as high as ~2A every cycle. This can a attributes to the ability of the battery to take higher curr rents at slightly elevated voltage than the battery volta age. This will account for the high current fluctuation fo or small voltage fluctuation. In the user 1 current vs. time profile, we can d at ~ 4.25A. also see the current limiting circuit enabled Figure 6 shows the nominal generated pow wer for the three users for a time period of upto 30 minut utes. The power generation depends on the following key fa actors: Speed of pedaling, power transfer method from m the bike to generator, charging capability of the b battery, system efficiency of charging the battery. Based on the body energy sensor measurements, the av verage energy expenditure is measured in a range of ~13 3KJ-17KJ for a period or 2 minutes.
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D from User 3 Figure 5(c) Performance Data

b 3 Users Vs. Pedal Time Figure 6 Nominal Power Generated by

CONCLUSIONS
In this work, we have developed a low-cost biomechanical energy generation using a bicycle with an external conversion and energy storage system. This technology is targeted at off-grid users and specifically, communities who need basic power to charge cell, lights, and computing equipment such as a netbook. The key ingredients of the low-cost bio-mechanical generation system include a low-cost mechanical setup, low cost generator and low-cost electronics for battery charging. The current design of the bike generator and its performance characteristics, we are able to deliver sufficient power to drive multiple usecases in emerging markets. A body sensor to measure the energy expenditure of the user is developed and real-time energy expenditure data is measured. This information is of immense importance to characterize the overall system efficiency and optimization.
REFERENCES 1. Technology: Enabling the transformation of power distribution, roadmap and reforms, A joint report by Ministry of power India, Centre for Study of Science, technology and policy (CSTEP), Bangalore & Infosys Technologies, 2008 3. Nationmaster percap energy electricity consumption per capita Database 4. World Bank Electrical Power Consumption Database 5. Power Annual report 2009-2010, Central Electricity Authority, Government of India 6. Electricity Supply Monitoring Initiative(ESMI),Prayas, India

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