SBIR Phase I: Electro-active Polymer-based Energy Harvesting

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在展示一种基于电活性聚合物的能量收集系统，为便携式电子设备和远程设备提供动力。随着便携式无线电子设备和无线传感器变得无处不在，它们的电源(电池)仍然是它们可靠性的限制因素。从一个典型的便携式设备的运动中获取足够的能量为其供电的能力一直难以捉摸。以前的努力不足，主要是因为能源转移效率低下。最先进的电活性聚合物(EAP)和创新的机械和电阻抗匹配设计将被用于开发一种能量收集系统，其收集的能量密度远远高于标准EAP。能量采集系统效率低下的原因有三个方面：机械阻抗失配、电阻抗失配和低效机电转换材料特性。这项拟议的工作通过一种新型的电活性聚合物能量收集系统解决了所有这三个方面的问题。该系统将最新开发的电活性聚合物材料与新颖的电子设计相结合，最大限度地将能量从机械运动转移到存储的电能。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是基于利用过去十年开发的电活性聚合物收集能源的独特机会。到目前为止，先前对电活性聚合物材料开发的投资创造的潜力还没有实现。该项目旨在提高对这些材料在有用的市场应用中的理解。根据潜在的市场规模、广泛的影响和展示电活性聚合物能量收集的全能力的能力，我们选择了两种目标应用：1)手持设备上的按钮激活和2)脚踝的行走运动。选择按钮激活是因为它将在手持电子消费市场产生巨大影响。选择步行运动应用程序来演示如何将EAP采集系统完全集成到结构的功能中，在本例中为截肢者的假脚。交付给消费电子原始设备制造商的按钮式收割机，预计每年的总可用市场规模将达到1亿美元。用于假肢和便携式电子产品的行走能量收集器预计每年的总市场规模将达到1000万美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to demonstrate an electro-active polymer-based energy harvesting system to power portable electronics and remote devices. As portable wireless electronics and wireless sensors become ubiquitous, their power sources (batteries) continue to be the limiting factor in their dependability. The ability to harvest enough energy from the motion of a typical portable device to power it has been elusive. Prior efforts have been insufficient primarily due to inefficient energy transfer. Start-of-the-art electro-active polymers (EAPs) and innovative mechanical and electrical impedance matching designs will be used to develop an energy harvesting system with harvested energy density well above standard EAPs. Inefficiencies result from three aspects of the energy harvesting system, mechanical impedance mismatch, electrical impedance mismatch, and inefficient electromechanical conversion material properties. The proposed effort addresses all three of these aspects with a novel electro-active polymer-based energy harvesting system. The system combines recently developed electro-active polymer materials with novel electronic design to maximize the energy transfer from mechanical motion into stored electrical energy. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is based on leveraging the unique opportunity for energy harvesting from electro-active polymers developed during the past decade. Heretofore, the potential created by the prior investments into electro-active polymer material development have been unrealized. This project is designed to enhance the understanding of these materials in useful market applications. Two target applications have been chosen based on their potential market size, broad impact, and ability to demonstrate the full capability the electro-active polymer energy harvesting ? 1) button activation on a handheld device and 2) walking motion in the ankle. The button activation is chosen for the large impact it will have in the handheld electronics consumer market. The walking motion application is chosen to demonstrate how an EAP harvesting system can be fully integrated into the functionality of a structure, in this case a prosthetic foot for amputees. Button-push harvesters delivered to consumer electronics OEMs is expected to have a total available market of $100M annually. The walking energy harvesters for prosthetics and portable electronics are expected to have a total available market of $10M annually.