Analysis of ac-dc Conversion for Energy Harvesting Using an Electrostrictive Polymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)

Harvesting systems capable of transforming unused environmental energy into useful electrical energy have been extensively studied for the last two decades. The recent development of electrostrictive polymers has generated new opportunities for harvesting energy. The contribution of this study lies in the design and validation of electrostrictive polymer- based harvesters able to deliver dc output voltage to the load terminal, making the practical application of such material for self-powered devices much more realistic. Theoretical analysis supported by experimental investigations showed that an energy harvesting module with ac-to-dc conversion allows scavenging power up to 7 mu W using a bias electric field of 10 V/mu m and a transverse strain of 0.2%. This represents a power density of 280 mu W/cm(3) at 100 Hz, which is much higher than the corresponding values of most piezo-based harvesters.