An innovative thermo-energy harvesting Module for asphalt roadway pavement

This research tackles one of today’s greatest challenges of rising traffic fatalities in the rural transportation systems by integrating novel concepts of energy harvesting from asphalt roadway pavements. The concepts are aimed to convert waste thermal energy in pavement into useable low power for lighting and signals warning. The goal of this study is to develop and implement a novel robust self-powered Pavement Energy Conversion Module (PECM) for cooling pavement surface and powering LED lighting with limited utility power network. The module will absorb the pavement heat and convert it into electrical power using Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) devices to cool the pavement where these modules are installed. The harvested power can be used in numerous applications including lighting and sensing applications. The proposed module will be embedded in asphalt pavement roadways for: (1) cooling the pavement temperature by at least 5°C, and (2) improving lighting in remote areas, and (3) powering sensors for collecting traffic data.

• Record URL:
  https://transet.lsu.edu/research-in-progress/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $ 138001
• Contract Numbers:

  20PUTSA42

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Transportation Consortium of South-Central States (Tran-SET)

  Louisiana State University
  Baton Rouge, LA  United States  70803
• Project Managers:

  Mousa, Momen

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Texas at San Antonio

  One UTSA Circle
  San Antonio, TX  United States  78249
• Principal Investigators:

  Dessouky, Samer

• Start Date: 20200801
• Expected Completion Date: 20220201
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt pavements; Cooling; Energy conversion; Light emitting diodes; Lighting; Pavement design; Sensors; Thermoelectric materials
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01757548
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Consortium of South-Central States (Tran-SET)
• Contract Numbers: 20PUTSA42
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 10 2020 11:25AM