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

这个小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供电。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）仍然是其可靠性的限制因素。从一个典型的便携式设备的运动中获取足够的能量来为它供电的能力一直是难以捉摸的。以前的努力是不够的，主要是由于能量转移效率低下。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用于开发能量收集系统，其收集的能量密度远高于标准eap。能量收集系统的低效率源于三个方面：机械阻抗失配、电阻抗失配和机电转换材料性能的低效率。提出的努力解决所有这三个方面的一个新的电活性聚合物为基础的能量收集系统。该系统结合了最新开发的电活性聚合物材料和新颖的电子设计，最大限度地将机械运动的能量转化为存储的电能。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力是基于利用过去十年中开发的电活性聚合物的能量收集的独特机会。到目前为止，对电活性聚合物材料开发的先前投资所产生的潜力尚未实现。该项目旨在加强对这些材料在有用的市场应用中的理解。根据其潜在的市场规模、广泛的影响和展示电活性聚合物能量收集功能的能力，选择了两个目标应用。1)手持设备上的按钮激活2)脚踝上的行走运动。选择按钮激活是因为它将对手持电子产品消费市场产生巨大影响。选择行走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，在这种情况下是截肢者的假肢脚。交付给消费电子oem的按钮式收割机预计每年可获得1亿美元的总市场。用于假肢和便携式电子设备的行走能量收集器预计每年的可用市场总额将达到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.