Energy Harnessing Shoe Attachments

BiMA is an Energy Harnessing Shoe Attachment. It has the ability to harness the mechanical energy of waking and create useable electricity. Human power is a incredible abundant and reliable resource.

We were inspired by many of the other energy generating shoe projects that exist, but for this project we wanted to create an attachment that could be places on any shoe and would be more versatile.

Wear it on you run, wear it to work or wear it to a concert. With BiMA you can create energy where ever you go!

Here are the parts you will need to make 2 shoe attachments:

Parts/ Materials:

-2x Female USB connector

-Piezoelectric Transducers (3x)

-1N4007 Rectifier Diodes (4x)

-Hookup Wire (at least 12")

-Dragon skin silicone

-Aircraft plywood (11"x12" roughly)

-8x Rivits (1/2")

-velcro (3/4")

-2x elastic (10" long, 1inch wide")

-2x Buckle

-6x df04m bridge rectifier

-2x pkcell LP503035 3.7 volt 500mAH

-PETG plastic for the vacuum former to make the mold for the silicone (there are many other ways to make the mold for the silicone, for this project we had access to a vacuums former)

Contact AdhesiveTools & Equipment:

- Digital Multimeter

- Multitool (w/ pliers)

Optional: - 100nF Mylar Capacitor (for testing)

- Hoop & Loop Fastener (Velcro)

- solder wire

- Superglue (for fixing wires)

-Sil-Poxy (silicone adhesive)

-wood glue

-band saw

-sewing machine

- Vacuume former

The components you will need are

Parts/ Materials:

- Cheap/ Generic USB Powerbank

- Piezoelectric Transducers (6x)

- 1N4007 Rectifier Diodes (4x)

- Hookup Wire (at least 12")

- Old Pair Of Shoes- Contact AdhesiveTools & Equipment:

- Digital Multimeter

- Multitool (w/ pliers)

Optional:

- 100nF Mylar Capacitor (for testing)

- Hoop & Loop Fastener (Velcro)

- LED Indicators (for testing)

- Superglue (for fixing wires)

- Smartphone Sport Strap

- 5v Switching Regulator (w/ supercap)

Alternatives: (since not all can afford them)

- PowerBank > Old phone batteries + Recycled 5v Inverter

- Peizo Transducers > A pair of old & outdated earpiece

- Rotary tool > Hot Nail (for melting plastic)

- Multitool > A pair of pliers will do

Sauder 6 pazieoelectric transducers, one wire touching the inner portion, the other the other gold ring. the wire should be roughly 5".

Next is building the outer casing. We began by cutting the Aircraft plywood into 1 1/4" strips. You will need an outer and an inner shell, so in total you will have 8 strips. Half with the grain going vertical and half with it going horizontal. The reason why the you need to pay attention to the grain is because it will be stronger when you laminate them together. the vertical grain is more flexible then the horizontal.

Next step is to create the MDF mold to shape the aircraft plywood around. the shape should be slightly wider then the plywood. our two shapes were 3 3/4" inches wide. the smaller one was __________ and the larger one was__________. each layer was cut individually, glued and then sanded down.

After you have your MDF shapes, and 8 aircraft plywood strips (4 short, 4 Long) it is time to make the outer casing. Pair up the eight strips in the correct sizes Remember that horizontal grain is paired with the vertical grain. Apply a thin layer of glue to both sides, and attach. Promptly after press the freshly glued aircraft plywood toy the MDF form and then wrap a crank strap around. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Repeat till all are done.

We used Dragon skin silicone to make the bottom portion of the shoe attachments that would house the 3 piezoelectric transducers. This shape was not ideal, it would have been more affective if we actually embedded them into the silicone when we casted it.

We began by creating the MDF dorm we were going to vacuum form for our mold. the shape we created was 7" x 15" and we added radiused to the edges. Using PETG we vacuum formed the MDF mold, and got our desired shape. Then we mixed and poured the silicone. Next we sliced the silicone along the edge so we could slide the Piezoelectric transducers in.

To make the strap we used 1 1/4" elastic which we cut into 10" strips.

Begin by cutting the velcro and the elastic down to size, the velcro will be 2" long.

Sew the 2" velcro onto the elastic strap. The hook side of the velcro will be 2 inches away from the end of the elastic and the loop side will be only 1/4" from the end. The two velcro partners will be placed on the same side of the elastic.

Next is cutting 2" of elastic that will be used to attach the buckle to the outer casing.

The lids

For the lids, start off with tracing the shapes of each side onto a ¼ inch plywood. Then cut out the inner side of the lid. Do not cut out the outer part just yet. First sand the inner side; you’ll have more stability sanding it with the piece still attached to the wood. Afterwards cut out the outer side of the lids. Once done, begin sanding the outer side of the lid. The top lid requires quite a bit a sanding, keep going until the lid fits into the top part of the application. Glue the bottom lid onto the bottom side of the application, and then slip in the top lid. Sand along the edges to give is a clean finish.

Last but not least is the assembly step!

Begin by lining the silicone, and the aircraft plywood. The silicone is perpendicular to the outer casing, and is 1/4" away from the edge of the plywood.

Next drill 2 1/4" holes from the edge of the aircraft plywood, through the silicone and both the inner and the outer layer of the plywood. These will be where the rivets go.

Line up the straps on either side of the casing. On the outer side is the 2" elastic and the buckle, each end of the elastic should be sandwiched between the plywood and the rubber. On the inner side is the longer strap with the velcro, which should only have one end sandwiched between the rubber and the plywood.

Now that the parts are lined up us the glue to attach the silicone, elastic and plywood together, making sure that the holes for the rivets still line up.

Once the glue has set, attach the rivets.

Next slide 3 piezoelectric transducers into the silicone flap. The wires should be concealed buy the silicone, and extend into the outer casing.

Glue the open seam of the silicone.

Attach the wires of the piezoelectric transducers to the circuit board

Connect the positive and negative ports of the USB to the battery

Glue the remaining bottom's on and place the lids in place.

Good luck!

Please comment any feedback!