Project Title:

Speed bump electric generator

 

Question:

• Can we generate electricity from the movable Speed Bump (which can move up and down little bit) by installing gears and wind turbine motors under the Speed Bump?

• How can we recover a moving vehicle’s energy (kinetic energy) and convert it into electrical energy?

 

Photo Sources: https://www.reliance-foundry.com/blog/speed-humps-vs-speed-bumps

 

Hypothesis:

I think, the DC motor (wind turbine motor) under the movable Speed Bump (which can move up and down little bit) will generate electricity, because the vehicles pass over the speed bump will push the speed bump and the small gears - Rack and Pinion gears (‘Press and Go’ Toy Cars) under the movable Speed Bump will rotate the DC motor (wind turbine motor).

 

Prediction:

If I modify one movable Speed Bump (which can move up and down little bit) by installing gears and wind turbine motors under the Speed Bump, but not others, then the motor will generate electricity when a vehicle passes over the modified movable Speed bump than the non-modified Speed bump.

 

Photo Sources: https://grabcad.com/library/animated-round-rack-and-pinion-gear-1

 

Background Research:

 

Big Topic: Energy

 

Why is this important for society:

• Energy is very important in our daily life.

• Electrical energy powers many electronic daily items. (Smartphones and Computers etc.)
• Electrical energy is also essential for our home. (Heating and Cooling, Refrigerators, Washers etc.)
• Transportation completely depends on energy (electricity or gas).

 

What do we already know about the topic:

• Alternative Energy is the energy from renewable sources or natural sources: Wind, Solar, Water, Soil

• Alternative Energy is non-polluting and clean energy
• Examples of Alternative Energy: Wind energy, Solar energy, Hydraulic energy, Geothermal energy, Tidal energy

 

What are we missing?

                How do we produce clean energy (electricity) from the Speed Bump with the help of gears and wind turbine motors under the Speed Bump?

 

How my topic solves a problem

• We can generate energy (electricity) by modifying the movable speed bump (which can move up and down little bit)

  • (Install gears and wind turbine motors under the Speed Bump)
• When a vehicle passes over the movable Speed bump, the motor will generate electricity.
• We can use kinetic energy (motion of vehicle) and convert it into electrical energy.
• We can recover a moving vehicle’s energy (kinetic energy) and convert it into electrical energy.

 

 

Variables:

 

Independent Variable (What I change)	Dependent Variables (What I observe)	Controlled Variables (What I keep the same)
- Movable Speed Bump (which can move up and down little bit) with small gears - Rack and Pinion gears (‘Press and Go’ Toy Cars), and generator (DC motor) under the Speed Bump,        Measured in numbers of gears and number of generators	- Electricity Generation,      Measured in Voltage with a multimeter   - Electricity Generation,      Measured by the number of light bulbs	- Same vehicles or cars - Same type of road - Same type of road sign for the speed bump - Same size of the speed bump - Same height of the speed bump

 

Material used for Working Model:

- 4 Small wind turbine DC motor (5 Volts)

- Gears ‘Press and Go’ Toy Cars (4 quantities)

- 2 LED light bulbs (5mm), & 1 Multimeter

- Electrical Wires (approx. 1 meter), & Wire Connectors

- Plastic storage box, Cardboard

- 1 Toy Car for an experiment on a Speed bump

- Small Wooden pieces or Wooden box

- Wooden rolling pin, Wooden chopping board

- Hot Glue Gun and Sticks, & Glue (1 small bottle 150ml)

- Electrical Tape (1 roll), Clear Tape (1 roll)

- Scissors, Other Craft items

 

 

Procedure: (Experiment on a Working Model)

- First, I made a road with a movable speed bump (which can move up and down little bit) on the storage box.

Here, the movable speed bump is an independent variable that I will change by putting a mechanism (gears and DC motors) under it.

 

- Gears - Rack and Pinion gears (‘Press and Go’ toy cars) are installed under the movable speed bump.

The toy cars are placed on a small piece of wood in such a way that the wheels of the toy cars do not touch the ground when it will rotate.

 

- Then, two wind turbine DC motors (generator) are connected to the wheels of the toy car.

Here, I measured the independent variable in numbers of gears and number of generator motors attached under the movable speed bump.

 

- Next, two motors are connected to an LED light bulb (5mm) and a multimeter by using an electrical wire.

 

- Now, we can test our working model. And we can check that when a vehicle pushes the speed bump, the gears under the speed bump rotate and generate electricity. The generated electricity can be seen on an LED light bulb and a multimeter.

Here, the electricity generation is a dependent variable that I measured in Voltage with a multimer and by the number of light bulbs.

 

 

Diagram of the Working Model

 

Observations:

Result: (Experiment on a Working Model)

- I drove a small toy car a few times on the road with the movable speed bump (which can move up and down little bit).

- When a car passed over the speed bump, it pushed the speed bump.

- Small gears - Rack and Pinion gears (‘Press and Go’ Toy Cars) under the Speed Bump rotated.

- The DC motor connected with the gears generated electricity.

- The generated electricity could be seen on an LED light bulb and a multimeter.

- I measured the generated electricity in Voltage with a multimeter and the number of LED light bulbs.

- We can generate electricity from the movable Speed Bump with the help of the wind turbine concept.

- All my observations/counts (in a table form) are noted when the electricity was generated after pushing the movable Speed Bump.

 

 

Analysis 1:

 

 

Project Title: Speed bump electric generator

Result: Observation

(Experiment on a Working Model)

 

Final Experiment Date: February 02, 2025

By Param Panchal

# of Experiment	LED Light Turn ON / OFF	Reading on a Multimeter In Volts	Note
1	ON	7.2
2	ON	13.1	Fast gear spin
3	ON	9.4
4	ON	8.2
5	ON	3.7	Slow gear spin
6	ON	12.3	Fast gear spin
7	ON	9.5
8	ON	2.4	Slow gear spin
9	ON	8.2
10	ON	6.8
11	ON	10.1
12	ON	7.3
13	ON	4.4	Slow gear spin
14	ON	5.1
15	ON	6.8
Total		114.5 Volts
Average		7.63 Volts (114.5 / 15 = 7.63)

 

 

Analysis 2:

 

Conclusion:

• My hypothesis is true:

  • We can generate electricity (Dependent Variables) by modifying the movable speed bump (Independent Variables) by installing gears and wind turbine motors (Independent Variables) under the Speed Bump.
• My experiment answers the missing piece of my background research:
  • We can use kinetic energy (motion of vehicle) and convert it into electrical energy.
  • In other words, we can recover a moving vehicle’s energy (kinetic energy) and convert it into electrical energy.
• Importance of energy to the world:
  • We found another way to generate energy (electricity) in addition of Wind energy, Solar energy, Hydraulic energy, Geothermal energy, and Tidal energy.

 

Application: Next Steps

• In Calgary: (Based on Traffic Survey at a Speed bump)
  • About 124 Vehicles passes over one Speed Bump in 15 minutes
  • About 5,952 Vehicles pass over one Speed Bump per day (in 720 minutes: 7 am to 7 pm).

• In Calgary: Total 206 communities (as per City of Calgary)
  • About 8 Speed Bumps in one Community on a busy/main road (Counted in one Community)
  • About 1,400 Speed Bumps in Calgary
• In Calgary: (approximation)
  • About 8.3 million Vehicles pass over the speed Bumps per day (5,952 x 1,400 = 8.3 Million)
  • (1,061,681 Vehicles registered for Calgary as of March 31, 2024: as per Alberta Govt.)

(https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/number-of-motorized-vehicles-registered-in-alberta-as-of-march-31-years)

• The Speed bump generator may rotate 8.3 million per day, and generate electricity for the City of Calgary.
• The city can use the electricity for street lights or transmit it for household use.
• I would like to request the city of Calgary to consider my project and check with the expert engineers for the practicability of my project.
• The city of Calgary can be the first city to generate electricity with a ‘Speed bump electric generator.’

 

 

Traffic Survey at Speed bump

(By using Tally Chart)

By Param Panchal

Calgary Location à Date: January 12, 2025	School Area Tally	Shopping Area Tally
Morning (5 minutes)	19 (in 5 minutes)	39 (in 5 minutes)
Afternoon (5 minutes)	44 (in 5 minutes)	83 (in 5 minutes)
Evening (5 minutes)	22 (in 5 minutes)	41 (in 5 minutes)
Estimated total # of Vehicle at Speed bump	85 (in 15 minutes)	163 (in 15 minutes)
Average Estimated total # of Vehicle at Speed bump	85 + 163 = 248 248 / 2 = 124   124 (in 15 minutes)
Estimated total # of Vehicle at Speed bump (per day per bump) (in 720 minutes: 12 hours)	720 / 15 = 48 48 X 124 = 5,952 5,952 (per day per bump: in 720 minutes)

 

Sources of Error:

 

Measurement Errors: (during conducting experiments)

• • • During the observation of my working model, the generated electricity was measured in Voltage.

• • • Higher Voltage is generated when the mechanism spins faster.
    • Lower Voltage is generated when the mechanism spins slowly.

 

Machine / Mechanism errors:

• • • While experimenting multiple times, the gears - Rack and Pinion gears (‘Press and Go’ Toy Cars) were not working smoothly.
    • A mechanism (gears and DC motors) may not work smoothly for a longer time if maintenance/service of the mechanism is not performed regularly.

 

Sources: Citations

 

Websites: For Project Research

 

Renewable Energy

https://www.alliantenergykids.com/renewableenergy/renewableenergyhome

https://www.alliantenergykids.com/renewableenergy/windenergy

https://www.alliantenergykids.com/renewableenergy/solarenergy

https://www.alliantenergykids.com/renewableenergy/hydroenergy

https://www.alliantenergykids.com/renewableenergy/biomassenergy

 

Renewable Energy in Canada

https://natural-resources.canada.ca/our-natural-resources/energy-sources-distribution/renewable-energy/about-renewable-energy-canada/7295

https://www.canadaaction.ca/canadian-renewable-energy-facts

 

Canadian Centre for Energy Information

Energy Fact Book, 2024-2025

https://energy-information.canada.ca/en/energy-facts

 

Rack and Pinion gear information

https://www.developingexperts.com/glossary/rack-and-pinion?info=secondary#:~:text=The%20rack%20is%20a%20straight,of%20rotation%20of%20the%20pinion.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Gear

https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Rack_and_pinion

 

Calgary’s community information

https://newsroom.calgary.ca/the-city-of-calgary-releases-community-and-ward-profiles/

 

Websites: For Image (including gif file) for ppt slides

https://www.freepik.com/

https://pngtree.com/free-backgrounds-photos/saving-energy

https://www.reliance-foundry.com/blog/speed-humps-vs-speed-bumps

https://grabcad.com/library/animated-round-rack-and-pinion-gear-1

https://cad.grabcad.com/library/dc-motor--11

https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/5mm-rainbow-led-pack-of-10?variant=2833384833034

https://tenor.com/view/bounce-bumpy-ride-bouncy-ride-gif-3550911

 

Image of ‘Press & Go Toy Cars’ from Amazon

https://www.amazon.ca/

 

Grade 5: Study material on Energy

- Renewable vs Non-Renewable Energy

- Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Hydro Energy, Biomass and Tidal Energy, Geothermal Energy

- Nuclear Energy

- Alberta’s Energy Usage

- Conserving Energy, Energy Efficiency

 

Books from Calgary Public Library: For Project Research

- Brick Science, STEM Tips and Tricks for Experimenting With your LEGO Bricks by Fisher, Jacquie, Book - 2021

- The Lego Ideas Book, Unlock your Imagination by Lipkowitz, Daniel, Book - 2011

- Tech Lab Brilliant Builds for Super Makers by Challoner, Jack, Book - 2019 | First American edition

- Doable Renewables16 Alternative Energy Projects for Young Scientists by Rigsby, Mike, Book - 2010

- Wind Energy by Grady, Colin, Book – 2017

- Renewable Energy Discover the Fuel of the Future : With 20 Projects by Sneideman, Joshua, Book - 2016

- Electricity Circuits, Static, and Electromagnets With Hands-on Science Activities for Kids by Van Vleet, Carmella, Book - 2022

 

Acknowledgement:

 

First, I would like to thank my science fair coordinator, Mr. Jason Rip, for continuous guidance and support on every step of my project.

Also, I am grateful to Mr. Klaassen for motivating me for the project.

My parents inspired me to participate in the Science Fair and gave valuable suggestions and constructive feedback all the time.

Finally, I would like to thank all my teachers and all those who supported me during my project.