EnerGATE · 2024–2025 · Energy harvesting · Mechanical design
Every crossing has a little energy.
A hybrid turnstile study that asks whether repeated pedestrian movement can become a useful source of small-scale electrical charge.
Follow a crossing through the system.
A crossing turns the arm. Gears transfer this rotation to the energy-harvesting mechanism.
Original concept diagram. Motion and electrical output are illustrative, not calculated from a physical simulation.
Evidence from the paper
- Modelled traffic period
- 30 days
An Ansys digital-twin evaluation using metro-station traffic data.
- Pedestrian interactions
- 115,293
The interactions represented in the reported evaluation.
- mAh reported
- 24,083
Electrical charge reported by the study, not a power rating in watts.
Source: Next Research, DOI 10.1016/j.nexres.2024.100096. Published online in 2024, in the March 2025 issue. These are digital-twin results, not a month-long installed turnstile trial.
Begin with movement that already happens
A turnstile repeats a mechanical action throughout the day. EnerGATE investigates combining piezoelectric disks with a mechanical generator to capture part of that motion for low-power loads.
Make the force reach the material
The related application describes gears transferring arm rotation to disks containing weight blocks. Their movement applies force to piezoelectric elements. The concept diagram follows that path from a pedestrian crossing to electrical output; it is not a manufacturing drawing.
Evaluate the small things honestly
The paper reports a 30-day digital-twin evaluation and 87.5% efficiency under its modelled conditions. Its practical focus is low-power devices such as LEDs. Charge in mAh cannot establish energy or continuous power on its own; the voltage and operating conditions matter too.