Abstract
Dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) provide a new solution for vibrational energy harvesting. Currently, a type of impact-based DEGs, which can harvest energy from ambient vibrations, has been proposed and studied through simulations. However, the energy conversion mechanism and the performance evaluation approach of such impact-based DEGs have not been fully studied yet, thus limiting the reliability of the research on the system design/optimization and performance evaluation. In this paper, a single-sided impact (SSI) model is proposed to reveal the impact-based energy conversion mechanism. Based on this model, a complete four-stage impact process is analyzed to reveal the energy conversion mechanism, and the electrical outputs and energy conversion efficiency are derived as the energy harvesting performance evaluation indexes. To use the developed analytical model to predict the system electrical response accurately, some important parameters including the coefficient of restitution (COR) and largest deflection of the membrane at impacts were obtained experimentally, and the system output voltages at impacts were measured to verify the theoretical approaches in calculating the system electrical outputs and studying the parameters’ influences. Furthermore, the influences of the pre-stretched ratio, impact velocity, and input voltage on the system energy harvesting performance are studied through simulations. The research results can provide guidelines to improve the energy harvesting performance of the impact-based DEGs in real applications.
Highlights
As is well-known, energy crises are becoming a worldwide problem
In this paper, a single-sided impact (SSI) model based on the free fall of a rigid ball was proposed to study the energy conversion mechanism and performance of a type of impact-based dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs)
The impact-based energy conversion mechanism was revealed first by analyzing the energy conversion process according to energy conservation law, and the electrical outputs and the energy conversion efficiency were further derived
Summary
As is well-known, energy crises are becoming a worldwide problem. Researchers around the world are actively exploring green sustainable energy and developing corresponding energy conversion devices. It must be noted that in the preliminary research, the impact-based energy conversion process has not been fully revealed, and only the output voltage of the system at each impact was considered, which means that the VEH performance of the impact-based DEGs cannot be evaluated reasonably These studies focused on the numerical simulations where some values of the parameters were roughly estimated, leading to the system output results being not accurate enough. VA and vR are the impact and rebound velocities of the ball; E is the largest elastic energy stored in the DEM; T1 and T2 are the energy dissipation during the deformation and recovery stages, respectively; Wi and Wo represent the input/output electrical energies of the SSI model. The energy harvesting mechanism of the impact-based DEGs can be fully revealed
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