Experimental investigation on energy conversion for dielectric electroactive polymer generator

Dielectric electroactive polymer shows considerable promise for harvesting energy from environmental sources such as wind, water current, and ocean waves. Based on the analysis of an energy conversion cycle, circular energy conversion unit is implemented to conduct experiment. Two main factors, namely, bias voltage and stretch displacement, are subsequently determined to investigate their effect on the generated energy and efficiency. Analytical results indicate that the generated energy and efficiency increase as the bias voltage and displacement increase in a certain range of bias voltage, while over high electrical field reduces electrical energy and efficiency due to charge leakage. Furthermore, the effect of stretch speed on transformed voltage is analyzed. Antagonistic connection of two same energy conversion units is investigated, which can boost the total efficiency to 20% because the retracting force of one energy conversion unit is used to stretch the other. To make full use of the input mechanical energy, a generator with multiple energy conversion units, which are deformed by slider–crank mechanisms, is analyzed. The torque needed to actuate generator with more than two energy conversion units is positive in the whole cycle, which means all the mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. Moreover, fluctuation of torque becomes smaller as the number of energy conversion units increases.