Dielectric elastomer generators

Other efforts which could be made are to put these dielectric elastomer generators on the suspensions of automobiles to aid in the electricity use during operation. This would make things easier on the charging system of the automobile which could possibly save fuel consumption. 

Prahlad et al. have described the configuration of dielectric elastomer generators for conversion of wind or wave energy to produce localized electrical power and also suggested the relevance of this work to rural or other remote areas to fulfill their power requirement where existence of a rehable and centralized power stiU remained a distant possibility. 

Pelrine R, Kombluh R, Eckerle J, Jeuck P, Oh S, Pei Q, StanfOTd S (2001) Dielectric elastomers generator mode fundamentals and applications. Proc SPIE 4329 148... 

The next section focuses in more detail on lifetime issues and their implications for practical adoption of the technology. We highlight examples of long lifetime dielectric elastomer generator elements and discuss the issues involved in achieving such lifetimes and the imphcations for various generator applications. 

Fig. 3.1 Basic operational element of a dielectric elastomer generator...

The following sections give examples of dielectric elastomer generators in several categories of energy source, size, transducer configuration, coupling type, and purpose. 

The dielectric elastomer generator unit has a cylindrical shape (diameter of 40 cm and height of 1.2 m) as shown in Fig. 3.4. Two dielectric elastomer elements were installed into the generator module. Each element consisted of an active amount of dielectric elastomer film of 150 g, which was wrapped to form a roll with a diameter of 30 cm and a length of 20 cm (active length in the stretched condition). The maximum measured electrical output capacity, verified in laboratory tests, was 12 J for one cycle of operation (0.08 J/g). The mechanical structure that stretched and contracted the dielectric elastomer rolls was quite simple. A mass of 62 kg was attached to the rolls. The inertial force of the mass in response to the wave-induced motion of the buoy causes the stretching and contraction of the rolls. 

There have been few studies on the lifetime of dielectric elastomer transducers and fewer still that consider lifetime of dielectric elastomer generators. Plante and Dubowsky [32] smdied failures in acrylic materials and identified factors to predict performance limitations. Kornbluh et al. [33] did report some generator lifetime results, which will be highlighted here. The requirement for long lifetime can have... 

Koh SJA, Keplinger C, Li T, Bauer S, Suo Z (2011) Dielectric elastomer generators how much energy can be converted. lEEE/ASME Trans Mechatron 16 3-41... 

McKay T, O Brien B, Calius E, Anderson I (2010) Self-priming dielectric elastomer generators. Smart Mater Struct 19(5) 055025... 

Anderson I, leropoulos I, McKay T, O Brien B, MeUiuish C (2010) A hybrid microbial dielectric elastomer generator for autonomous robots. EAPAD 2010, Proc. of SPIE 7642 7642iY-l-76421Y-ll. doi 10.1117/12.847379... 

PeMne, R., Kornbluh, R., Eckerle, J., et al. (2000) Dielectric Elastomers Generator Mode Fundamentals and Applications, in Smart Structures and Materials 2001 Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, Proceedings of SPIE (ed. Bar-Cohen, Y.), 4329, 148 56. 

Moretti G, Fontana M, Vertechy R (2014) Parallelogram-shaped dielectric elastomer generators analytical model and experimental validation. J Intell Mater Syst Stmct 26(6) 740-751 MoBinger H, Haus H, Kauer M et al (2014) Tactile feedback to the palm using arbitrarily shaped DEA. Proc SPIE 9056 90563C... 

Dielectric Blastomer Actuator (DBA) Dielectric Elastomer Generator (DEG) silicone membrane Comphant electrodes VHB Dielectric Elastomer Minimum Energy Stracture (DEMES)... 

Fig. 8 Operating principle of a dielectric elastomer generator (Reproduced with permission irom Kaltseis et al. (2014). Copyright 2014, RSC Publications)...

The basic components of a DE harvesting circuit for the above cycle consist of an input electric source (4>j ), a dielectric elastomer generator (DEG), and an electrical load or storage device ( out) to receive the output power (Fig. 10). 

Huang J, Shian S, Suo Z, Clarke DR (2013) Maximizing the energy density of dielectric elastomer generators using equal-biaxial loading. Adv Funct Mater 23 5056-5061. doi 10.1002/... 

Smart Mater Struct 19 055025. doi 10.1088/0964-1726/l 9/5/055025 Pelrine R, Kombluh RD, Pei Q, Joseph J (2000) High-speed electrically actuated elastomers with strain greater than 100%. Science 287(5454) 836-839. doi 10.1126/science.287.5454.836 Pelrine R, Kombluh RD, Eckerle J, Jeuck P, Oh S, Pei Q, Stanford S (2001) Dielectric elastomers generator mode fundamentals and applications. In Proceedings of SPIE 4329, smart structures and materials 2001 electroactive polymer actuators and devices, vol 148. doi 10.1117/ 12.432640... 

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