Method for Measuring Energy Generation and Efficiency of Dielectric Elastomer Generators
Dielectric elastomer generators convert mechanical into electrical energy at high energy density, showing promise for large and small scale energy harvesting. We present an experiment to monitor electrical and mechanical energy flows separately and show the cycle of energy conversion in work-conjugate planes. A specific electrical energy generated per cycle of 102mJ/g, at a specific average power of 17mW/g, is demonstrated with an acrylic elastomer in a showcase generation cycle. The measured mechanical to electrical energy conversion efficiency is 7.5%. The experiment may be used to assess the aptitude of specifically designed elastomers for energy harvesting.
| Author(s): | Rainer Kaltseis and Christoph Keplinger and Richard Baumgartner and Martin Kaltenbrunner and Tiefeng Li and Philipp Mächler and Reinhard Schwödiauer and Zhigang Suo and Siegfried Bauer |
| Journal: | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume: | 99 |
| Number (issue): | 16 |
| Pages: | 162904 |
| Year: | 2011 |
| Month: | October |
| Bibtex Type: | Article (article) |
| DOI: | 10.1063/1.3653239 |
| State: | Published |
| Electronic Archiving: | grant_archive |
BibTex
@article{Keplinger11-AIP-MeasuringGenerators,
title = {Method for Measuring Energy Generation and Efficiency of Dielectric Elastomer Generators},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
abstract = {Dielectric elastomer generators convert mechanical into electrical energy at high energy density, showing promise for large and small scale energy harvesting. We present an experiment to monitor electrical and mechanical energy flows separately and show the cycle of energy conversion in work-conjugate planes. A specific electrical energy generated per cycle of 102mJ/g, at a specific average power of 17mW/g, is demonstrated with an acrylic elastomer in a showcase generation cycle. The measured mechanical to electrical energy conversion efficiency is 7.5%. The experiment may be used to assess the aptitude of specifically designed elastomers for energy harvesting.},
volume = {99},
number = {16},
pages = {162904},
month = oct,
year = {2011},
slug = {keplinger11-apl-measuringgenerators},
author = {Kaltseis, Rainer and Keplinger, Christoph and Baumgartner, Richard and Kaltenbrunner, Martin and Li, Tiefeng and M{\"a}chler, Philipp and Schw{\"o}diauer, Reinhard and Suo, Zhigang and Bauer, Siegfried},
month_numeric = {10}
}