Author : Kiran Kolhe and Amar Pandhare

Energy is the prime necessity of survival of each and every organism in the universe. Everything happening in the environment is a result of the flow of energy in one or other forms. Energy can be converted into a number of forms that can be measured in various ways. In this busy and fast moving world, population is multiplying continuously and the conventional sources of energy are getting exhausted at a great pace. The substantial usage of energy has led to an energy crisis over a few years. In order to overcome this problem, we need to execute the techniques of optimum use of conventional sources for conservation of energy. One such technique is explained here. The count of vehicles passing over speed breakers on roads has increased these days. Such speed breakers are designed for heavy vehicles, as it increases the input torque and ultimately results in increasing the power as output. The kinetic energy of the moving vehicles at the speed breaker can be converted into mechanical energy of the shaft by using rack and pinion mechanism. Then, this mechanical energy can be transformed to electrical energy using generator or dynamo which can be stored with the use of a battery. All these conversions take place in an electro-mechanical unit. This energy saved during the daytime can be used at night to light the street lamps. Therefore, by using this arrangement a large amount of energy can be conserved which can be used to fulfill our future demands. The first ever generation of electricity was done by using Faraday’s dynamo in the 1800’s. Generating electricity by speed breakers is an ingenious and useful concept as it has more advantages as compared to its faults and it is best suited for the current situations.

Keywords: Speed breaker, Power generation, Rack and pinion, Electricity, Energy, Electro-mechanical unit, Non-conventional sources, Kinetic energy, Mechanical energy, Vehicles.

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.3 (June-2017)