Wireless Power Generation Strategy Using EAP Actuated Energy Harvester for Marine Information Acquisition

The energy of a radio wave is reduced through the dispersion, the refraction and the absorption because the medium transferring the vibration of a radio wave is the seawater. In the end the reduced energy of a radio wave causes the reduced transmitting length for communication, the long postponed communication and the frequent error. The subsea communication for the marine environment monitoring which must overcome the weak points of the RF wave and the most practical method for the marine sensor network realization is to use the acoustic wave method, but the energy consumption rate of the acoustic wave communication method is about 100 times greater than the one of the RF wave method. So, the power supply of the sensor node in the marine sensor network system is the most important interest field. In this study, the sample which consists of an acrylic elastomer (VHB4905 film from 3 M), conductible carbon grease(from MG chemical) and electric wire for the basic study of an energy harvesting strategy and technique using EAP actuator was fabricated, and the conductible carbon grease was used for an electrode. The characteristics of the fabricated sample were analyzed through the experiment. We also mixed carbon grease with aluminum powder for conductibility improvement, and the effect of the mixed electrode was confirmed through the conductivity measurement.