Hybrid energy harvesting systems, using piezoelectric elements and dielectric polymers
Résumé
Interest in energy harvesting applications has increased a lot during recent years. This is especially true for systems using electroactive materials like dielectric polymers or piezoelectric materials. Unfortunately, these materials despite multiple advantages, present some important drawbacks. For example, many dielectric polymers demonstrated high energy densities; they are cheap, easy to process and can be easily integrated in many different structures. But at the same time, dielectric polymer generators require an external energy supply which could greatly compromise their autonomy. Piezoelectric systems, on the other hand, are completely autonomous and can be easily miniaturized. However, most common piezoelectric materials present a high rigidity and are brittle by nature and therefore their integration could be difficult. This paper investigates the possibility of using hybrid systems combining piezoelectric elements and dielectric polymers for mechanical energy harvesting applications and it is focused mainly on the problem of electrical energy transfer. Our objective is to show that such systems can be interesting and that it is possible to benefit from the advantages of both materials. For this, different configurations were considered and the problem of their optimization was addressed. The experimental work enabled us to prove the concept and identify the main practical limitations. � 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Mots clés
Dielectric materials
Energy harvesting
Energy transfer
Hybrid systems
Piezoelectric devices
Piezoelectric materials
Piezoelectricity
Autonomous systems
Dielectric polymers
Different structure
Electroactive material
High energy densities
Mechanical energies
Piezoelectric elements
Piezoelectric system
Polymers