paper8

Performance of dissipative dielectric elastomer generators

Dielectric elastomers show great promise for energy harvesting due to their higher energy density and efficiency, as compared to competitive technologies like piezoelectrics and electromagnetic generators. In this work, along with collaborators from Johannes Kepler University in Austria, we analyze a dielectric elastomer generator with two dissipative processes: viscoelasticity and current leakage. We discuss trade-offs between large electrical energy and power output and poor conversion efficiency. Excessive current leakage results in negative efficiency—the dielectric elastomer generator wastes energy instead of generating it.

Contour plot showing the effect of maximum stretch and period on the mechano-electrical energy conversion efficiency (%) of a dissipative generator.

Citation Info.

Choon Chiang Foo, Soo Jin Adrian Koh, Christoph Keplinger, Rainer Kaltseis, Siegfried Bauer, Zhigang Suo. Performance of dissipative dielectric elastomer generators. Journal of Applied Physics, 111(9), 094107, (2012).