Patent ID: 9735706
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: H02N

Claim:
1. Method for harvesting energy using an EAP based deformable body, the EAP based deformable body being a elastically deformable body comprising an arrangement of stretchable synthetic material and electrodes being arranged as a variable capacitor with a capacitance that varies as the deformable body stretches and relaxes, the method comprising: looping through an energy harvesting cycle with a) stretching the deformable body from a minimal relaxed size L b) at the maximal stretched size electrically charging of the variable capacitor to create an electric field over the capacitor with an upper electric field level value; and subsequently c) a relaxation step from maximal stretched size to the minimal relaxed size; d) at the minimal relaxed size of the deformable body, electrically discharging the capacitor to a minimal charge level and a minimal electric field level value, wherein the charging starts during stretching of the deformable body and is initiated at a first stretched size L the discharging starts during relaxation of the deformable body and is initiated at a second stretched size L