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ENERGY FLOORS.

12/23/2013

 
   Energy Floors, a Netherlands-based company, wants to be a player in the sustainable energy market. They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk … literally. Their products, the Sustainable Energy Floor and Sustainable Dance Floor, convert footsteps into electricity. As a person steps on an Energy Floor tile, the tile flexes about 10 mm. That movement is converted into electricity - 15 Watts on average, and up to 25 Watts peak. The tiles are modular; connect 40 tiles together and the network can generate up to 1 kW. They wouldn’t give me details on the generator, except to say that it’s not piezoelectric. Based on the diagram below, it looks like a rack-and-pinion that drives a small permanent magnet generator.

   In addition to the tiles, the system includes a controller module that directs the flow of electricity. The 12V output can light LEDs (as in the Sustainable Dance Floor or a lighted walkway), power an external low-voltage device, or charge a battery. 

   They’ll also investigate the use of this technology to harvest energy from the movement of cars and trains. They’re less efficient than electromagnetic generators, but they might be more durable under heavy vehicular traffic.