The energy harvesting method from roadway by thermoelectric generator

The harvesting of unused energy from roadway pavement has attracted attention due to the potential for sustainable heat during solar radiation exposure. In this study, the temperature difference between pavement surface and soil was utilized to generate electricity using thermoelectric generator (TEGs) technology. The electricity generation system consisting of a heat collector, thermoelectric generator, heat conductor, and cooling section (heatsink with cooler) was developed and fabricated. The performance of TEG system was experimented on for two different collectors (asphalt and concrete) in four days of experiments. The results show that asphalt and concrete pavement harvesting system prototypes could generate sufficient energy to run low-powered sensors used for data communications in transportation infrastructure.