Hybrid Energy Harvesting Using Electroactive Polymers Combined with Piezoelectric Materials

Abstract:

Electroactive polymers (EAP) are relatively soft and flexible materials, easy to integrate and able to undergo large deformations by applying an electric field (usually some 10 V/μm). This coupling between strain and electric field (quadratic by nature) as well as particular mechanical properties have already been used advantageously to design actuators. As energy harvesters, EAP have also shown good abilities by providing energy densities up to 0.4 J/g/cycle (generator integrated in a shoe). Moreover, they present some advantages over other techniques as electromagnetic or piezoelectric as they have low resonance frequency response and high elasticity which enable them to be used in situations where large displacements are available. The main drawback of EAP as energy harvesters is that they don't experience direct coupling between strain and electric field, such as the piezoelectric effect. It is therefore essential to use an external electrical polarization source in order to create energy cycles induced by the EAP capacitance variations when it is subject to external stress. The goal of this work is to combine the EAP and piezoelectric materials using the advantages of both, for a hybrid energy harvesting. Different possible configurations and their performances are studied and a comparison with existing techniques is made.

• Periodical: Advances in Science and Technology (Volume 96)
• Pages: 117-123
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AST.96.117
• Online since: October 2014
• Authors: Alexandru Cornogolub*, Pierre Jean Cottinet, Lionel Petit
• Keywords: Dielectric Polymer, Hybrid Energy Harvesting, Optimal Energy Transfer, Piezoelectric Material

References

[1] R. Pelrine, R. Kornbluh, J. Eckerle, P. Jeuck, S. OH, Q. Pei, S. Stanford Dielectric elastomer : generator mode fundamentals and applications, , SRI International, USA, Conference on Electroactive polymer actuators and devices, 2001 SPIE vol 4329.

DOI: 10.1117/12.432640

[2] C. Jean-Mistral, S. Basrour and J. J. Chaillout Dielectric polymer: scavenging energy from human motion, Proc. SPIE 6927 692716 (2008).

DOI: 10.1117/12.776879

[3] S. Chiba, M. Waki, T. Wada, Y. Hirakawa, K. Masuda, T. Ikoma, Consistent ocean wave energy harvesting using electroactive polymer (dielectric elastomer) artificial muscle generators, Applied Energy, Volume 104, April 2013, Pages 497-502, ISSN 0306-2619.

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.10.052

[4] P. Brochu, W. Yuan, H. Zhang and Q. Pei, Dielectric Elastomers for Direct Wind-to-Electricity Power Generation, ASME 2009 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, Volume 1: Active Materials, Mechanics and Behavior; Modeling, Simulation and Control, Oxnard, California, USA, September 21–23, (2009).

DOI: 10.1115/smasis2009-1335

[5] Carpi, F.; De-Rossi, D., Electroactive polymer-based devices for e-textiles in biomedicine, Information Technology in Biomedicine, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 9, no. 3, p.295, 318, Sept. (2005).

DOI: 10.1109/titb.2005.854514

[6] Jin Adrian Koh, Soo; Keplinger, Christoph; Li, Tiefeng; Bauer, Siegfried; Suo, Zhigang, Dielectric Elastomer Generators: How Much Energy Can Be Converted?, Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on , vol. 16, no. 1, p.33, 41, Feb. (2011).

DOI: 10.1109/tmech.2010.2089635

[7] Tashiro R.; Kabei N.; Katayama K.; Ishizuka Y.; Tsuboi F.; Tsuchiya K. Development of an Electrostatic Generator that Harnesses the Motion of a Living Body. Use of a Resonant Phenomenon., JSME International Journal Series C, vol. 43, issue 4, pp.916-922.

DOI: 10.1299/jsmec.43.916