Harvesting of Rifle Recoil Energy

KaZaK Composites proposes to design and demonstrate a device for harvesting energy from rifle recoil associated with firing projectiles. The innovative device will use piezoelectric generators coupled with a load transfer mechanism to convert shock from firing into electrical energy, providing for supplemental charging of batteries. The device will be compact enough to fit into the space available inside an M16 or M4 rifle buttstock, with no modification required to its external geometry. When implemented using novel high performance single crystal piezoelectric materials, the device will have the potential to generate enough power to operate various hardware used by soldiers in the field. Being compact and self-contained, the device will be easy to incorporate into new rifles and retrofit into existing ones. Perhaps the most attractive feature of the system, in contrast to regular batteries, is its potentially unlimited operating life. KaZaK will draw upon our directly related experience with harvesting energy from cannon fire to allow us to produce and demonstrate a full scale prototype device in Phase I. In addition, a novel usage for the energy harvested from rifle shots that addresses the intermittent availability of recoil generated power will be evaluated.