Ocean wave power is recognized as a particularly attractive form of clean energy source. Generally Dielectric ElectroActive Polymers (DEAP) have has been used to transform electrical to mechanical energy in an actuator mode. However it has been seldom applied in a generator mode. DEAP has good characteristics for generator mode, such as low cost, light weight, flexible form, non-toxic and non-corrosion properties, high energy densities and high conversion efficiency, which make them potentially well suited for development of ocean wavepowered generators. This paper investigates the principle of a DEAP generator, simulate it's behavior, verifies experiment results and discusses practical issues. DEAP has proved to provide electrical energy with density as high as 1.5J.g -1. This value is much higher compared with the density of piezoelectric polymer (0.3J.g-1). DEAP shows large deformation as high as 380% when submitted to an electric field. The prototype of an ocean wave-powered generator based on DEAP material has been developed at KD Laboratory, at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The film of DEAP used is fabricated by Danfoss PolyPower A/S using smart compliant electrode technology in conjunction with a silicone elastomer. The film is 1.5 m-2 in area and 30 micro meter in thickness. We use the Mooney-Rivlin theory to develop the model of DEAP transducer. The DEAP prototype could be extended to other application areas, such as human-power generator, vibrationpower generators, and wind-power applications.
Ocean wave-powered generator based on dielectric electroactive polymer
2010
6 Seiten, 16 Quellen
Conference paper
English