Measurement of Molecule Alignment in Liquid-Crystal-Enhanced Electret Vibration Energy Harvester

Abstract

In this paper, quantitative measurements of liquid crystal (LC) alignment inside an operating electret-based vibration energy harvester is reported for the first time. Instantaneous LC alignment inside operating vibration energy harvester elucidates the direct effect of LC on its capacitance change, leading to more accurate electrical model of the harvester. Electret vibration generator filled with LC is installed in an environmental chamber with an optical window, in such a way that instantaneous LC alignment of operating generator is measured with an inverted polarized optical microscope (POM) equipped with a high-speed camera.