Low Cost Bio-Mechanical Energy Generator for Off-grid Users

In this study, we present a low-cost bio-mechanical energy generator designed to meet the basic power needs of off-grid users in emerging markets. Targeted usecases include providing power to charge a cellphone, rural lighting applications, charging low-power computing devices such as netbooks. Bio-Mechanical energy generation is well suited to provide low cost off-grid power in emerging markets due to availability of large low-cost labor pools in emerging markets, easy integration of bio-mechanical into lifestyle of rural consumer and sustainability of bio-mechanical technologies. In this work, the bio-mechanical generator is designed using stringent constraints on cost and performance. A detailed performance characterization of the generator device is reported in this study. The energy expenditure of the user during the process of energy generation is characterized by a wearable body sensor.