Dielectric Elastomers as EAPs: How to Start Experimenting with Them 34 Herbert Shea, Soo Jin Adrian Koh, Ingrid Graz, and Jun Shintake Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................. 768 2 Membrane Materials ......................................................................... 769 3 Actuators ..................................................................................... 770 3.1 Expanding Circle ...................................................................... 771 3.2 Minimum Energy Structure ........................................................... 772 3.3 kV DEA Drive Circuit ................................................................ 773 4 Energy Harvesters ........................................................................... 773 4.1 Principle of Operation ................................................................. 773 4.2 Cycle of Operation and Harvesting Circuit Design .................................. 777 4.3 Characterizing the Performance of DE Energy Harvesters .......................... 779 4.4 Collecting Data and Analysis of Results ............................................. 782 4.5 Direct Demonstration of Energy Harvesting ......................................... 784 References ....................................................................................... 786 H. Shea (*) LMTS: Microsystems For Space Technologies Lab, EPFL, Neuchatel, Switzerland e-mail: herbert.shea@epfl.ch S.J.A. Koh Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore e-mail: adrian_koh@nus.edu.sg I. Graz Soft Matter Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria e-mail: Ingrid.graz@jku.at J. Shintake LIS: Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland e-mail: jun.shintake@epfl.ch # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 F. Carpi (ed.), Electromechanically Active Polymers, Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31530-0_34 767