scholarly journals Deep Insight into the Influences of the Intrinsic Properties of Dielectric Elastomer on the Energy-Harvesting Performance of the Dielectric Elastomer Generator

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4202
Author(s):  
Yingjie Jiang ◽  
Yujia Li ◽  
Haibo Yang ◽  
Nanying Ning ◽  
Ming Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Breakdown Field ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
High Permittivity ◽  
The Relationship

The dielectric elastomer (DE) generator (DEG), which can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, has attracted considerable attention in the last decade. Currently, the energy-harvesting performances of the DEG still require improvement. One major reason is that the mechanical and electrical properties of DE materials are not well coordinated. To provide guidance for producing high-performance DE materials for the DEG, the relationship between the intrinsic properties of DE materials and the energy-harvesting performances of the DEG must be revealed. In this study, a simplified but validated electromechanical model based on an actual circuit is developed to study the relationship between the intrinsic properties of DE materials and the energy-harvesting performance. Experimental verification of the model is performed, and the results indicate the validity of the proposed model, which can well predict the energy-harvesting performances. The influences of six intrinsic properties of DE materials on energy-harvesting performances is systematically studied. The results indicate that a high breakdown field strength, low conductivity and high elasticity of DE materials are the prerequisites for obtaining high energy density and conversion efficiency. DE materials with high elongation at break, high permittivity and moderate modulus can further improve the energy density and conversion efficiency of the DEG. The ratio of permittivity and the modulus of the DE should be tailored to be moderate to optimize conversion efficiency (η) of the DEG because using DE with high permittivity but extremely low modulus may lead to a reduction in η due to the occurrence of premature “loss of tension”.

Conductive, self-healing and recyclable electrodes for dielectric elastomer generator with high energy density

2022 ◽  
Vol 429 ◽  
pp. 132258
Author(s):  
Wenpeng Zang ◽  
Xueying Liu ◽  
Junjie Li ◽  
Yingjie Jiang ◽  
Bing Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Self Healing

scholarly journals Optimizing the Energy Harvesting Cycle of a Dissipative Dielectric Elastomer Generator for Performance Improvement

Polymers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Fan ◽  
Hualing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
Enhancement Effect ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Optimal Transfer ◽  
Conversion Performance ◽  
Good Agreement

This paper optimizes the energy harvesting cycle of dissipative dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) to explore possible approaches for improving the energy harvesting performance. By utilizing the developed theoretical framework, the dissipative performance of the DEG with a constant voltage cycle is analyzed, which shows good agreement with the existing experimental data. On this basis, we design a novel energy harvesting cycle and a corresponding energy harvesting circuit in which a transfer capacitor is utilized to store the charge transferred from the DEG. Then, the energy conversion performance of the DEG with the novel energy harvesting cycle is investigated. The results indicate that both the energy density and conversion efficiency are improved by choosing a high voltage during the discharging process and that as the R-C time constant increases, the enhancement effect of the voltage increases and then approaches to the saturation. In addition, there is an optimal transfer capacitor that can maximize energy density or conversion efficiency, and the optimal transfer capacitor increases with the increase in the R-C time constant. These results and methods are expected to guide the optimal design and assessment of DEGs.

Dielectric Elastomer Energy Harvesting and its Application to Human Walking

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Lai ◽  
Chin An Tan ◽  
Yong Xu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Knee Joint ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Human Walking ◽  
Wide Range

Human walking requires sophisticated coordination of muscles, tendons, and ligaments working together to provide a constantly changing combination of force, stiffness and damping. In particular, the human knee joint acts as a variable damper, dissipating greater amounts of energy when the knee undergoes large rotational displacements during walking, running or hopping. Typically, this damping results from the dissipation, or loss, of metabolic energy. It has been proven to be possible however; to collect this otherwise wasted energy through the use of electromechanical transducers of several different types which convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. When properly controlled, this type of device not only provides desirable structural damping effects, but the energy generated can be stored for use in a wide range of applications. A novel approach to an energy harvesting knee joint damper is presented using a dielectric elastomer (DE) smart material based electromechanical transducer. Dielectric elastomers are extremely elastic materials with high electrical permittivity which operate based on electrostatic effects. By placing compliant electrodes on either side of a dielectric elastomer film, a specialized capacitor is created, which couples mechanical and electrical energy using induced electrostatic stresses. Dielectric elastomer energy harvesting devices not only have a high energy density, but the material properties are similar to that of human tissue, making it highly suitable for wearable applications. A theoretical framework for dielectric elastomer energy harvesting is presented along with a mapping of the active phases of the energy harvesting to the appropriate phases of the walking stride. Experimental results demonstrating the energy harvesting capability of a DE generator undergoing strains similar to those experienced during walking are provided for the purpose of verifying the theoretical results. The work presented here can be applied to devices for use in rehabilitation of patients with muscular dysfunction and transfemoral prosthesis as well as energy generation for able-bodied wearers.

scholarly journals Analysis on Mechanical Behavior of Acrylate Dielectric Elastomers

2019 ◽  
Vol 804 ◽  
pp. 59-62
Author(s):  
Min Wei ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Zhen Qiang Song ◽  
Shijie Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Mechanical Behavior ◽  
Artificial Muscle ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Flexible Robot ◽  
Deformation Ability

The dielectric elastomer (DE) has the advantages of large deformation ability, fast response speed, low price and high energy density. Therefore, DE has great prospects as artificial muscle and flexible robot. The purpose of the research is to clarify the mechanical behavior for acrylate dielectric elastomer by tensile test, fatigue test and viscoelasticity measurement.

High Energy Density Piezoelectric Ceramics for Energy Harvesting Devices

2011 ◽  
Vol 94 (11) ◽  
pp. 3629-3631 ◽  
Author(s):  
In-Tae Seo ◽  
Yu-Joung Cha ◽  
In-Young Kang ◽  
Jae-Hong Choi ◽  
Sahn Nahm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Piezoelectric Ceramics ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Energy Harvesting Devices

Modeling of Inhomogeneous Deformation in a Dielectric Elastomer Generator for Energy Harvesting

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiefeng Li ◽  
Christoph Keplinger ◽  
Liwu Liu ◽  
Richard Baumgartner ◽  
Shaoxing Qu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
Optimal Operation ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Chamber Pressure ◽  
Inhomogeneous Deformation ◽  
Air Chamber ◽  
Compliant Electrodes

Dielectric elastomer transducers promise to combine high energy density at low cost and lightweight when used as actuators or for energy harvesting generators. A cornucopia of possible applications have been demonstrated over the last years including soft matter based actuators for robotics, tunable optics, medical devices, space robotics and energy harvesters. Prestretch effects and the electromechanical instability have been shown to highly influence the performance of dielectric elastomer transducers. Nevertheless only sparse research has been done on instability and prestretch effects of dielectric elastomer membranes under inhomogeneous deformation. Dielectric elastomer transducers consist of an elastomer membrane sandwiched between a pair of compliant electrodes and can be considered as deformable capacitors with variable capacitance. Here we focus on a specific experimental setup well suited to study the performance of dielectric elastomer materials for energy harvesting. In this setup an elastomer membrane is equibiaxially prestretched and fixed on top of an air chamber which is connected to a compressed air reservoir, the source of mechanical energy for thegenerator. From the electrical point of view the compliant electrodes on the elastomer membrane can be connected to both a high and low voltage charge reservoir. Thus the change in capacitance during deformation can be used to boost charges from the low voltage reservoir to the high voltage reservoir. Experimentally, different constant voltages are applied to the elastomer membrane during inflation and the air chamber pressure is recorded together with the shape and the volume of the balloon for different initial prestretches. The usual instability in the pressure-volume curves of ballon inflation experiments are shown to be influenced by applied voltage and prestretch. Theoretically, the setup is modeled as a thermodynamic system, with static electric and mechanical load where quasi-static equilibrium states can be achieved. To describe the inhomogeneous deformation and to correctly account for the hyperelastic behavior of the material over the whole deformation range an asymmetric model is built based on the Arruda-Boyce material model. The results of the numerical simulation are fitted to the experimental data to obtain significant material parameters in order to predict the optimal operation regime of the dielectric elastomer generator. The experimental results accompanied by the theoretical analysis may be used as a benchmark for the applicability of dielectric elastomer generators and pave ways for understanding the dielectric elastomer behavior under inhomogeneous deformation.

Poly(Vinyldene Fluoride-Trifluoroethylene-Chlorofluoroethylene) Terpolymer as High-energy-density Capacitor Materials

2005 ◽  
Vol 889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baojin Chu ◽  
Xin Zhou ◽  
Bret Neese ◽  
Q. M. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Large Change ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dielectric Behavior ◽  
Polymer Materials ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Breakdown Field ◽  
Field Energy ◽  
Penn State ◽  
Field Energy Density

ABSTRACTRecently, PVDF-TrFE-CFE terpolymer was developed in Penn State University. The polymer exhibits relaxor ferroelectric behavior. At room temperature, the low-field dielectric constant can be as high as 50-60, more than ten times larger than other dielectric polymer materials, such as Polypropylene, the most widely-used polymer materials for capacitor applications. Due to the large change of electric field induced polarization and high breakdown field, energy density of the terpolymer can reach ∼10 J/cm3, much larger than other polymer materials. In this paper, experimental results on energy density and non-linear dielectric behavior of the terpolymer will be reported.

Trends of the macroscopic behaviors of energetic compounds: insights from first-principles calculations

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (43) ◽  
pp. 24034-24041
Author(s):  
Chuli Sun ◽  
Weijing Zhang ◽  
Yongjun Lü ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Wei Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
First Principles ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
First Principles Calculations ◽  
Energetic Compounds ◽  
High Energy Density Materials ◽  
The Relationship

Studies on the relationship between the microscopic properties and macroscopic behaviors of energetic compounds may provide clues for the synthesis and assessment of novel high energy density materials.

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