Obtaining power from a renewable energy source is in high demand because of current environmental and economic issues. One way to obtain this power is by taking advantage of energy that can be harvested from the vibrations and the sounds that musical instruments produce. The goal of this project is to design and test a system that harvests energy from vibrations and sound of musical instruments into a usable electrical energy. Existing energy harvesting devices were researched to launch design ideas for this project to obtain a better grasp of what designs would be successful or unsuccessful. From there, design ideas from existing harvesting energies were generated and modeled for this specific application.
For this project, the group is designing and testing a product that will be able to harvest energy from the sound and vibrations produced by musical instruments. Sound is among the most abundant yet underutilized resources of energy. The energy harvesting device will transform vibrational and sound wave energy into useful electricity, funneling it into a central battery unit for an array of uses.
First, in order to convert the sound to voltage, various sensors, including ones that utilize piezoelectric material, will be used. These sensors are able to convert strain, force, or pressure into electrical charge. Then, this charge will enter a power distribution circuit, which will enable the group to direct multiple sources of energy into one unit. This energy will charge a battery that can be used for musicians’ utilities, such as a metronome, tuner, LED stand light, or Bluetooth page- turner.
Ultimately, the group aims to create a system that will have the ability to harvest enough energy to deter costs incurred by large symphony rehearsals and performances, or on a smaller scale, to power a low voltage device for a musician practicing at home. Furthermore, this product encourages utilization of green resources, in particular sound, an up and coming resource. While this concept is currently being designed and tested on a small scale, the group is working toward creating a system that can harvest energy from multiple types of instruments at once.