Energy harvesting with Di-Electro Active Polymers

This article presents a way of using Di-Electro Active Polymers (D-EAPs) for harvesting mechanical energy sources. The article describes the basics of energy harvesting with D-EAPs, and an electrical model of a D-EAP is suggested. This leads to a converter design which is able to extract the electrical energy harvested by the D-EAP. This converter is simulated and realized. Through experimental results both the model of the D-EAP and the converter are verified. It is found that it is possible to harvest energy with a D-EAP and build a converter that can extract the harvested energy.