Electrostrictive polymer harvesting using a nonlinear approach

Abstract This paper presents a new application of the ‘synchronized switch harvesting on inductor’ (SSHI) applied to electrostrictive polymers for DC energy harvesting. It is demonstrated that this technique is very effective for harvesting energy from ambient vibrations using electrostrictive polymers. The method consists in adding an electrical switching device connected in parallel with the electrostrictive elements. The switch triggers on maxima or minima of the voltage and realizes a voltage inversion through an inductor. It is shown that, when applied to electrostrictive polymers, the SSHI technique increases the harvesting process efficiency by 700% compared to the classical approach.

[1]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Efficiency Enhancement of a Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Device in Pulsed Operation by Synchronous Charge Inversion , 2005 .

[2]  Paul K. Wright,et al.  A piezoelectric vibration based generator for wireless electronics , 2004 .

[3]  Zhang,et al.  Giant electrostriction and relaxor ferroelectric behavior in electron-irradiated poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) copolymer , 1998, Science.

[4]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Toward energy harvesting using active materials and conversion improvement by nonlinear processing , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[5]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  Performance aware tasking for environmentally powered sensor networks , 2004, SIGMETRICS '04/Performance '04.

[6]  Heath Hofmann,et al.  Damping as a result of piezoelectric energy harvesting , 2004 .

[7]  Salvatore Graziani,et al.  Characterization of the harvesting capabilities of an ionic polymer metal composite device , 2008 .

[8]  Benoit Guiffard,et al.  Modeling and experimentation on an electrostrictive polymer composite for energy harvesting , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[9]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Electrostrictive conversion enhancement of polymer composites using a nonlinear approach , 2011 .

[10]  E. Balizer,et al.  Electrostrictive effect in polyurethanes , 2003 .

[11]  Yong Wang,et al.  A compact electroactive polymer actuator suitable for refreshable Braille display , 2008 .

[12]  R. Pelrine,et al.  Electrostriction of polymer dielectrics with compliant electrodes as a means of actuation , 1998 .

[13]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  A study of low level vibrations as a power source for wireless sensor nodes , 2003, Comput. Commun..

[14]  Wen-Jong Wu,et al.  An improved analysis of the SSHI interface in piezoelectric energy harvesting , 2007 .

[15]  Ron Pelrine,et al.  Dielectric elastomers: generator mode fundamentals and applications , 2001, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[16]  D. Inman,et al.  Comparison of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices for Recharging Batteries , 2005 .

[17]  Yi-Chung Shu,et al.  Analysis of power output for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems , 2006 .

[18]  Benoit Guiffard,et al.  Analysis of AC-DC conversion for energy harvesting using an electrostrictive polymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[19]  Wei-Hsin Liao,et al.  Sensitivity Analysis and Energy Harvesting for a Self-Powered Piezoelectric Sensor , 2005 .

[20]  Benoit Guiffard,et al.  Evaluation of energy harvesting performance of electrostrictive polymer and carbon-filled terpolymer composites , 2010 .

[21]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Effects of copper filler sizes on the dielectric properties and the energy harvesting capability of nonpercolated polyurethane composites , 2011 .

[22]  Daniel Guyomar,et al.  Toward Heat Energy Harvesting using Pyroelectric Material , 2009 .

[23]  Heath Hofmann,et al.  An active energy harvesting scheme with an electroactive polymer , 2007 .

[24]  Yiming Liu,et al.  Investigation of electrostrictive polymers for energy harvesting , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[25]  F. Xia,et al.  An all-organic composite actuator material with a high dielectric constant , 2002, Nature.

[26]  Jaedo Nam,et al.  Actuator model of electrostrictive polymers (EPs) for microactuators , 2001, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[27]  Jae Wook Jeon,et al.  Development of micro inchworm robot actuated by electrostrictive polymer actuator , 2001, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[28]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Ambient Energy Harvesting Using Electrostrictive Polymer Composite , 2010, 2010 First International Conference on Sensor Device Technologies and Applications.

[29]  S. Muensit,et al.  Electrostrictive energy conversion in polyurethane nanocomposites , 2009 .

[30]  Mickaël Lallart,et al.  Energy harvesting in electroactive materials: a comparison between ferroelectrics and electrostrictive polymers , 2011, Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.