Currently, dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) demonstrate high energy density, rapid response, and simple structure in the field of energy harvesting (EH). However, the efficient multi-directional dielectric EH in complex vibrational environments, particularly at ultra-low frequencies (0–3 Hz), remains a significant challenge. To solve this issue, a pendulum-type annular DEG (PA-DEG) is designed in this paper to harvest multi-directional ultra-low-frequency vibrational energy. The PA-DEG consists of an annular dielectric elastomer membrane (DEM) that can be deformed by a pendulum structure, which swings under multi-directional vibrations. The dynamics model of the proposed PA-DEG under multi-directional vibrational excitations is established and verified through experiments. The PA-DEG under vibrational excitations exhibits rich dynamical behaviors resulting from the DEM’s resonance, the pendulum’s response and the system’s 1:2 internal resonance, which are revealed through numerical simulations. Moreover, the electrical model of the PA-DEG is established to study its potential for ultra-low-frequency EH under different vibration directions. It is found that the PA-DEG can harvest ultra-low-frequency vibrational energy, whose EH performance is significantly influenced by the excitation parameters and the structural parameters. A comparative study between the PA-DEG and the system without a pendulum swing is further conducted under swept frequency excitation. Research results show that the PA-DEG can achieve higher output power within an ultra-low-frequency range with the help of the pendulum, thus demonstrating its superiority in high-performance ultra-low-frequency multi-directional vibration energy harvesting.

中文翻译：

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一种用于多向超低频振动能量收集的摆式环形介电弹性体发生器


目前，介电弹性体发电机（DEG）在能量收集（EH）领域表现出高能量密度、快速响应和简单的结构。然而，在复杂振动环境中，特别是在超低频 (0–3 Hz) 下，高效的多向介电 EH 仍然是一个重大挑战。为了解决这个问题，本文设计了一种摆式环形DEG（PA-DEG）来收集多方向超低频振动能量。 PA-DEG 由环形介电弹性体膜 (DEM) 组成，该膜可通过摆结构变形，在多向振动下摆动。建立了多向振动激励下PA-DEG的动力学模型并通过实验进行了验证。通过数值模拟揭示了振动激励下的 PA-DEG 表现出丰富的动力学行为，这些行为是由 DEM 共振、摆锤响应和系统 1:2 内部共振引起的。此外，还建立了PA-DEG的电模型来研究其在不同振动方向下的超低频EH潜力。研究发现PA-DEG可以收集超低频振动能量，其EH性能受激励参数和结构参数的影响显着。进一步在扫频激励下对PA-DEG与无摆摆系统进行了对比研究。研究结果表明，PA-DEG可以借助摆锤在超低频范围内实现更高的输出功率，从而展现出其在高性能超低频多向振动能量收集方面的优越性。