A ground reaction force analysis for designing a sustainable energy-harvesting stairway

There are many issues of how energy is currently generated and consumed. These include the cost of harvesting energy, the ever-growing demand for it, and the ever-decreasing reserve of current most applicable energy resources. Numerous ways to exploit new sustainable potential energy sources have been pursued, one of which is to create an energy-harvester; a device that captures free potential energy, scattered around in its environment, and transform it into another form of energy. Using NPD approach, Puspitarini, Suzianti, and Al Rasyid (2016) has developed a conceptual design of an energy-harvesting device, which includes a selection of product specification options and a gear set layout design. In this study, a mockup was built for the experiment based on those product specification options. The experiment was conducted using AMTI Force Platform, and its results were processed using Factorial Design. This effort is to test which product specification option contributes the most to Ground Reaction Force (GRF) generation. The greater the generated GRF, the greater amount of electricity produced. A theoretical calculation of electromotive force was also conducted based on the experiment result and the gear set layout design. The result of this study was later discussed and used as a basis to develop further the stairway design.