Application of dielectric elastomers (DE) has remarkably increased in mechatronics because they are suitable candidates for energy harvesting due to their low cost,light weight,and high energy density.The dielectric e...Application of dielectric elastomers (DE) has remarkably increased in mechatronics because they are suitable candidates for energy harvesting due to their low cost,light weight,and high energy density.The dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) exhibit high performance regardless of the applications scale.However,functioning as a generator,a DE may lose its efficiency due to several failure modes including material rupture,loss of tension (LT),electrical breakdown (EB),and electromechanical instability (EMI).The failure modes confine the area of allowable states for generation process.Dielectric constant and dielectric strength of such elastomers depend on the amount of applied deformation and also working temperature,which are often ignored in theoretical simulations.In this paper,variations of the above-mentioned parameters are considered in mechanical and electrical modellings to investigate their effects on energy density and efficiency of generators.Obtained results show that,ignoring the variations of material dielectric constant and dielectric strength leads to overestimation of the specific energy.Furthermore,it is shown that,for an acrylic-based generator,the specific energy sharply decreases with temperature rise.展开更多
Rotational energy is a type of common energy source that can be harvested for supplying low-powered electronic devices.This paper proposes and investigates a novel cam-like dielectric elastomer generator(CDEG)for high...Rotational energy is a type of common energy source that can be harvested for supplying low-powered electronic devices.This paper proposes and investigates a novel cam-like dielectric elastomer generator(CDEG)for high-performance rotational energy harvesting.A mushroom-head clamp is designed to form a type of advanced conical dielectric elastomer membranes(DEMs).Moreover,a type of multi-protrusion cam mechanism is designed in the CDEG to effectively convert any external rotational excitation into a linear reciprocating motion,which can be further converted into electricity through the DEMs.First,the operating principle of the system under external rotational excitation is analyzed theoretically by deducing the deformation condition of the DEMs and the electrical output of the system.Second,the prototype is fabricated,and the rotational-to-linear motion conversion rule of its cam-like mechanism and the DEM capacitance calculation approach are validated.The experimental results show that adequate charging time and discharging time of the DEMs,which can be realized through the proposed cam-like mechanisms,are beneficial to the energy harvesting(EH)performance of the system.Third,with the validated theoretical model,numerical simulations are conducted to further study the system dynamics and the influences of important system parameters on the EH performance to provide a guideline for system improvement.Finally,the genetic algorithm is adopted to obtain the optimal system parameters and the corresponding electrical output of the proposed CDEG,demonstrating its superior output power at ultralow rotational frequencies compared with other typical rotational energy harvesters in the literature.展开更多
基金Project supported by the Research Grant of University of Tabriz(No.817)
文摘Application of dielectric elastomers (DE) has remarkably increased in mechatronics because they are suitable candidates for energy harvesting due to their low cost,light weight,and high energy density.The dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) exhibit high performance regardless of the applications scale.However,functioning as a generator,a DE may lose its efficiency due to several failure modes including material rupture,loss of tension (LT),electrical breakdown (EB),and electromechanical instability (EMI).The failure modes confine the area of allowable states for generation process.Dielectric constant and dielectric strength of such elastomers depend on the amount of applied deformation and also working temperature,which are often ignored in theoretical simulations.In this paper,variations of the above-mentioned parameters are considered in mechanical and electrical modellings to investigate their effects on energy density and efficiency of generators.Obtained results show that,ignoring the variations of material dielectric constant and dielectric strength leads to overestimation of the specific energy.Furthermore,it is shown that,for an acrylic-based generator,the specific energy sharply decreases with temperature rise.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52205114,51905349,U2013603)Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(Grant Nos.2022A1515010126,2023A1515012921,2020A1515011509)+1 种基金Excellent Science and Technology Creative Talent Training Program of Shenzhen,China(Grant No.RCBS20221008093252089)Shenzhen Natural Science Fund(the Stable Support Plan Program 20220809181431001)。
文摘Rotational energy is a type of common energy source that can be harvested for supplying low-powered electronic devices.This paper proposes and investigates a novel cam-like dielectric elastomer generator(CDEG)for high-performance rotational energy harvesting.A mushroom-head clamp is designed to form a type of advanced conical dielectric elastomer membranes(DEMs).Moreover,a type of multi-protrusion cam mechanism is designed in the CDEG to effectively convert any external rotational excitation into a linear reciprocating motion,which can be further converted into electricity through the DEMs.First,the operating principle of the system under external rotational excitation is analyzed theoretically by deducing the deformation condition of the DEMs and the electrical output of the system.Second,the prototype is fabricated,and the rotational-to-linear motion conversion rule of its cam-like mechanism and the DEM capacitance calculation approach are validated.The experimental results show that adequate charging time and discharging time of the DEMs,which can be realized through the proposed cam-like mechanisms,are beneficial to the energy harvesting(EH)performance of the system.Third,with the validated theoretical model,numerical simulations are conducted to further study the system dynamics and the influences of important system parameters on the EH performance to provide a guideline for system improvement.Finally,the genetic algorithm is adopted to obtain the optimal system parameters and the corresponding electrical output of the proposed CDEG,demonstrating its superior output power at ultralow rotational frequencies compared with other typical rotational energy harvesters in the literature.
