We present a simplified dielectric elastomer energy harvesting model to explore the effects of various materials and operating parameters on both the amount of energy generated and the efficiency of dielectric elastomer generators and show that high energy output and efficiency can be obtained in various materials systems. The amount of energy generated increases with increasing values of bias voltage and applied stretch while the efficiency is shown to depend strongly on bias voltage but only weakly on stretch. We show that increasing the dielectric constant can have significant impacts on the amount of energy generated in certain systems and that stiffening the elastomer has the main effect of shifting the regions of high efficiency to lower strains and larger voltages. Using these results as a basis we explore one particular material system experimentally and compare with the results from our model. The impacts of electrode resistance and elastomer viscoelasticity are also explored.

Date Published: 9 April 2010
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 7642, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010, 76422J (9 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.847736

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7642:
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)