Energy harvesting by dielectric elastomer generator and self-priming circuit: verification by radio transmission

Toru Ikegame; Kentaro Takagi; Takamasa Ito; Hiroki Kojima; Hitoshi Yoshikawa

doi:10.1117/12.2259937

17 April 2017 Energy harvesting by dielectric elastomer generator and self-priming circuit: verification by radio transmission

Toru Ikegame, Kentaro Takagi, Takamasa Ito, Hiroki Kojima, Hitoshi Yoshikawa

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10163, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2017; 1016331 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2259937
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2017, Portland, Oregon, United States

Abstract

This paper discusses energy harvesting and its application using dielectric elastomer and self-priming circuit. With the self-priming circuit attached to the dielectric elastomer, the generated voltage increases exponentially according to the variation of the capacitance caused by applied deformation to the elastomer. Two-stage self-priming circuit is selected for optimal harvesting. The self-priming harvesting technique is able to increase the voltage of the dielectric elastomer from a few volts to kV order, however in this paper the generated voltage is limited up to 1kV in order to avoid the destruction of the dielectric elastomer. The ability of energy harvesting using dielectric elastomer and self-priming circuit is confirmed by both numerical simulation and experiments. In the experiment, the dielectric elastomer is deformed by an electric motor, and the harvested energy is stored to a charging capacitor through Zener diodes. A low-power microcomputer which has a radio transmitter is connected to the charging capacitor for the application example. The experimental results show that the temperature data can be transmitted only by the harvested energy. In addition, the efficiency of the energy harvesting is calculated by comparing the generated power with the charged power.

Citation Download Citation

Toru Ikegame, Kentaro Takagi, Takamasa Ito, Hiroki Kojima, and Hitoshi Yoshikawa "Energy harvesting by dielectric elastomer generator and self-priming circuit: verification by radio transmission", Proc. SPIE 10163, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2017, 1016331 (17 April 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2259937

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