Scientific Question: How much electrical energy could be harnessed via roller coasters vibrational energy?
Location: Global
For context, vibration energy is a potential source of renewable energy. A system called VEHD or Vibration Energy Harvesting Device was designed to harness vibration energy and convert it into electrical energy with the use of a Piezoelectric Transducer. Previously, researchers were able to verify that the greater the percent unbalanced of the line currents, the greater the generated voltage.
M. C. Pacis and R. F. Bersano, "A study on vibration energy harvesting in electric generators," TENCON 2017 - 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference, 2017, pp. 3012-3017, doi: 10.1109/TENCON.2017.8228378.
On the other hand, motion and vibration analysis of a roller coaster running in a 3D trajectory is a common analysis. The equation of motion of the roller coaster is derived in which the restriction in the trajectory is dealt with by using differential-algebraic equations (DAE) method. The effects of a parameter variation of the roller coaster to the vibration of the passenger are investigated in simulation analysis. The simulation result shows that when the parameter associated with the stiffness of the wheels of the roller coaster decreases, the passenger’s vibration increased. In addition, it shows that the discontinuity of the rate of increment of the trajectory induces large vibration.
Fujita, K, Kimura, T, & Yamamoto, Y. "Motion and Vibration Analysis of a Roller Coaster." Proceedings of the ASME 2001 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 6A: 18th Biennial Conference on Mechanical Vibration and Noise. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. September 9–12, 2001. pp. 319-326. ASME.
However, in lieu of the passengers, the question we ask is how we can transfer the innate vibrations from roller coasters into electrical energy or even better, could we harness humans vibrational energy and convert to electrical energy?
When testing your hypothesis, first ask yourself:
- Are my hypotheses specific and attainable?
- Are my hypotheses measurable?
- Are my experiments time-bounded?
- Are my results realistic?
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