Rack and Pinion Based Electricity Generation through a Speed Breaker: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

Electricity is an essential power source for the economic performance of a developing country like Bangladesh. Due to significant system losses, delays in the installation of new plants, low plant efficiency, and lack of incentives for power plant maintenance, the country's energy-producing facilities have been unable to fulfill the present demand. To meet up this enormous demand, a very simple electricity generation technology was designed. The objectives of the study were to design and fabricate a considerable electricity generation system from a speed breaker and finally determine the technical performance of the system. The production plant was set up using a rack and pinion system. The Damper system comprised of a spring that pushed the speed breaker upwards when it was pushed upon by the weight of the vehicle downwards during trafficking of any vehicles over the speed breakers. As a result, the Rack moved downward, transmitting power to the pinion as motion. The production unit was able to produce 4.2 watts, 6.72 watts, and 0.84 watts, respectively, using a motorcycle, a car, and an easy bike. Our fabricated plant has a total power output of 2683 kW. The unit's entire annual cost, including starting costs and total running costs, is projected to be around $269.65. The capital recovery factor and capital consumption were 0.395 and $44.87 respectively. The proposed design will be helpful to reduce the energy crisis problem in Bangladesh because nowadays in our country the number of vehicles is in increasing trend.