Design and realization of an ultra‐low power sensing RF energy harvesting module with its RF and DC sub‐components

Herein, design, development, and analysis of ultra‐low power sensing energy harvesting modules and their subcomponents for ISM band applications have been studied with a holistic approach in an effort to achieve a feasible and high efficient RF energy harvesting performance. The complete harvester system designed and developed here consists of a zero‐bias RF energy rectifying antenna (rectenna), DC boost converters and energy storage super‐capacitors. Compared with the counterpart energy sources, the surrounding or transmitted wireless energy has low intensity which requires designs with high efficiency. To achieve a successful harvester performance, rectifier circuits with high sensitivity Schottky diodes and proper impedance matching circuits are designed. Dedicated RF signals at various levels from nanowatts to miliwatts are applied at the input of the rectenna and the measured input power versus the scavenged DC output voltage are tabulated. Furthermore, by connecting the rectifier to a high gain antenna and using a RF signal transmitter, the wireless RF power harvesting performance at 2.4 GHz was tested up to 5 m. The performance of the rectenna is analyzed for both low‐power detection and efficiencies. Impedance matching network is implemented to reduce the reflected input RF power, DC to DC converters are evaluated for their compatibility to the rectifiers, and super‐capacitor behaviors are investigated for their charging and storage capabilities. The measured results indicate that a wide operating power range with an ultra‐low power sensing and conversion performance have been achieved by optimizing the efficiency of the Schottky rectifier as low as ?50 dBm. The system can be used for battery free applications or expanding battery life for ultra‐low power electronics, such as; RFID, LoRa, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and low power remote sensor systems.     

A modified Hilbert fractal resonator based rectenna design for GSM900 band RF energy harvesting applications

This article proposes a novel rectenna design based on modified Hilbert fractal shaped microstrip antenna and Villard voltage doubler rectifying circuit for RF energy harvesting applications operating at Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 900 MHz band. The energy harvesting antenna is numerically optimized and fabricated on a Rogers RO4003 substrate of thickness 1.52 mm with a compact overall physical sizes of 80 mm × 82 mm (λ₀/4.16 × λ₀/4.06). Various geometric parameters and circuit component values of the proposed energy harvesting system are optimized in order to achieve a matched input impedance with good radiation performance of high gain for the input power level less than ?20 dBm. The numerical and experimental results point out the technical potential of the proposed rectenna design to be utilized in DC power supply modules of low voltage, low power electronic devices.     

The design of radio frequency energy harvesting and radio frequency‐based wireless power transfer system for battery‐less self‐sustaining applications

In this paper, the RF energy harvesting system and RF‐based wireless power transfer system are proposed and designed for battery‐less self‐sustaining application. For energy harvesting, the designed antenna array improves the received RF power effectively and also can harvest RF energy in multi‐frequency bands. For wireless power transfer, the proposed helical antenna realizes the system design in miniaturization. Subsequently, the T shape LC matching network are designed between the antenna and the rectifying circuit to obtain more power transmission. The measured results show that the proposed Wi‐Fi rectifier and 433 MHz rectifier offer a maximum conversion efficiency of 66.8% and 76% in case of the input power is ?3 dBm and 0 dBm, respectively. Finally, the performance of the RF‐based wireless power transfer system and RF energy harvesting system are attested by experimentally measurement, the measured results indicate that these systems can be used to power electronic.     

An efficient dual‐band rectenna using symmetrical rectifying circuit and slotted monopole antenna array

In this article, an efficient dual‐band rectenna making use of the newly proposed symmetrical rectifying circuit working at the frequency of 1.8 and 2.45 GHz, is proposed. The proposed dual‐band rectifying circuit is combined with an array of compact wideband planar monopole modified circular slot antenna in order to facilitate the efficient rectenna design. The rectifying circuit employs symmetrical matching network in addition to the symmetrical rectifier thereby facilitating the suppression of the odd order harmonics. This eventually results into the higher output voltage as compared to the conventional rectifier circuits. Moreover, the dual‐band topology of the proposed rectenna increases the overall voltage by harvesting energy from two independent RF sources. The measured results of the fabricated structure show that the maximum RF to dc conversion efficiency of the proposed rectifier circuit reaches up to 70% at 9 dBm input RF power. From application point of view, the proposed rectenna circuit is tested to extract the RF energy from 1.8 GHz cellular and 2.45 GHz Wi‐Fi bands to energize a low‐power LED. The overall rectenna structure is reasonably compact providing good performance, which can potentially be employed for efficient wireless power transmission system.     

Dual‐polarized high gain resonant cavity antenna for radio frequency energy harvesting

A Fabry pérot antenna with a multilayer superstrate having nonuniform unit cells has been investigated as a receiving antenna for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting applications. Here, the primary radiator is selected as a dual‐polarized aperture coupled microstrip antenna with a double‐layer superstrate. This antenna excites orthogonal polarizations, vertical (V) and horizontal (H) in the frequency band of 6.2 and 5.8 GHz, respectively, due to the presence of two orthogonal H‐shaped slots in its ground plane. The proposed antenna provides a gain enhancement of 9.8 and 10.1 dBi at the respective frequencies. The rectifying circuit is designed for a frequency of 5.8 GHz using a voltage doubler topology. The circuit provides a power conversion efficiency of 41% at 0 dBm input power.     

Design of an efficiency‐enhanced Greinacher rectifier operating in the GSM 1800 band by using rat‐race coupler for RF energy harvesting applications

Radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) circuits can convert the power of communication signals from radio frequencies (RF) in the environment into direct current and voltage (DC power). In this study, the Greinacher full‐wave rectifier circuit topology was combined with a 180° hybrid ring (rat‐race) coupler which was a passive RF/microwave circuit. Thus, higher RF‐DC conversion efficiency was obtained. First, using the Greinacher rectifier topology, RFEH circuit operating at the center frequency of 1850 MHz was designed. Then, at this frequency, designing of the rat‐race coupler having 1000 MHz bandwidth was made. The S‐parameter measurements and simulation data of the designed coupler circuit were compared. Finally, the high efficiency rectifier circuit where these two circuits were used together was designed. The proposed rectifier circuit was constructed on 70 × 70 × 1.6 mm³ FR4 substrate material with a permittivity of 4.3 (ε_r = 4.3). The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the rectifier circuit, which had 125 MHz bandwidth at the center frequency of 1850 MHz and was developed with rat‐race coupler, was calculated as 71% at 4.7 dBm input power. In addition, with this study, at ?15 dBm input power, which was a relatively low power level, 40% PCE value was obtained.     

A wideband rectifier array on dual‐polarized differential‐feed fractal slotted ground antenna for RF energy harvesting

This article reports a novel wideband rectenna for RF energy harvesting applications. A wideband fractal slotted ground antenna (SGA) is adopted. The operating frequency bands of the antenna are GSM, UMTS, Wi‐Fi, and LTE2600/4G bands. The antenna is fed by a dual‐polarized and differential‐feed (DP‐DF) microstrip lines disposed with an angle of 90° each relative to the other. The feed lines are etched on the bottom side of the substrate and connected to an array of four wideband RF‐to‐DC rectifiers. A nonuniform transmission lines filter ensures wideband behavior for each rectifier. The rectenna performances are simulated and measured. The experiments show an output DC voltage of 1 V at a power density of 26.6 μW/cm² over the frequency band of operation with a peak efficiency of 50%. The proposed rectenna is suitable for energy harvesting applications in urban environments.     

A wind-flutter energy converter for powering wireless sensors

This paper describes a low-speed wind energy harvesting system that transfers aerodynamically induced flutter energy into electrical energy. A random airflow generates mechanical vibrations due to the fluid-structure interaction between a flexible belt and the airflow. An electromagnetic resonator with copper coils and a permanent magnet is designed to efficiently harvest electrical energy from the induced mechanical vibrations. Different groups of springs are compared at various wind conditions to maximize the power output. Typically ∼7 mW of electrical energy can be obtained at ∼3 m/s wind speed with a 1 m long belt. A power conditioning circuit with a charge pump and a DC-DC converter is used to convert the generated voltage into a stable 3.3 V DC for consumption. It is demonstrated that this generator can be used to drive a commercial wireless temperature sensor.     

Power reduction using adiabatic charge method for PDP driver circuit

Abstract— By applying an energy‐recovery method to their driver circuits, the circuit power consumption of plasma displays can be reduced. However, further power reduction is necessary for large‐sized higher‐resolution displays such as used for Super HDTV. The ideal adiabatic charge method has been proven to be able to minimize circuit resistive element power consumption to 81 % of the conventional energy‐recovery‐circuit resistive‐element loss. An experimental pseudo‐adiabatic charge circuit that reduces the power consumption to about 90% of a conventional circuit has been demonstrated. The power consumption caused by both the resistance loss and the discharge loss of the switching‐element parasitic capacitances was analyzed.     

A novel meander line integrated E‐shaped rectenna for energy harvesting applications

In this article, design of a novel meander integrated E‐shaped rectenna is presented. The designed rectenna operates at ISM frequency range from 2.2 to 2.5 GHz with acceptable reflection coefficients, gain and VSWR values. The designed rectenna is simulated using HFSS 15 (High Frequency Electromagnetic Field Simulation) and FR4 epoxy material is used in rectenna design for low cost having dielectric constant of 4.4 and thickness of 1.6 mm. In the rectifying stage full wave voltage doubler circuit is designed for DC power generation with SMS7630 Schottky diode and lumped circuit elements. The impedance matching circuit between the antenna and the rectifier is designed and simulated using advanced design system (ADS) software for efficient power transmission from the antenna to the load. The simulation and measurement results with different load and input power levels prove that the designed and implemented system can be used for low power energy harvesting applications in order to feed electronic components and battery free sensor networks.     

A parameter extraction method of the PIN diode for physics‐based circuit simulation over a wide frequency range

The accurate physical parameters of the semiconductor devices are critical to the physics‐based circuit simulation, which solves the carrier transport equations to model the semiconductor devices. However, the conventional method extracts physical parameters from low‐frequency measurements such as the DC I‐V curve, which cannot work at high frequencies. To overcome this problem, we propose a physical parameter extraction method of the PIN diode working well from DC to microwave frequencies. Specifically, because the transit‐time effects are dependent on the working frequencies and input power levels, the operation modes of the PIN diode can be divided into three cases from DC to microwave frequencies; therefore, the proposed method extracts the parameters from three measured curves, including the DC I‐V curve, a small‐signal, and a large‐signal voltage waveform both at a microwave frequency. Experiments of a PIN diode SMP1330 circuit show that the error of the conventional method is about 45% at frequencies above 300 MHz, but the maximum error of the proposed method is only 9.5% from DC to 2 GHz. Moreover, the conventional method is unable to characterize the conductance modulation phenomenon, which leads to unexpected signal reflections in PIN limiter circuits and the missing of information in radio transceivers.     

Dual‐band aperture‐coupled rectenna for radio frequency energy harvesting

The article presents a dual‐band aperture‐coupled rectenna for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting at 2.45 and 5 GHz application. The rectenna consists of a dual‐band π‐shaped slot‐etched aperture‐coupled antenna, designed at the lower substrate of two FR4 substrate layers and a dual‐band rectifier. The proposed antenna design also introduces the harmonic suppression of third‐ and higher order harmonics, ranging from 6 up to 10 GHz from the asymmetrical stubs design at the transmission feedline. The dual‐band rectifier is designed to operate at 2.45 and 5 GHz frequency, successfully achieving high conversion efficiency at 68.83% and 49.90% with the optimum load resistor of value 700 Ω and 1.1 kΩ. The minimum DC voltage of 0.167 and 0.236 V with 0 dBm RF input power can be increased when greater RF power is being applied to it, increasing its flexibility to cater various low‐power applications.     

Design of dual‐band microstrip patch antenna with right‐angle triangular aperture slot for energy transfer application

This work focusing on the dual‐band antenna design with rectifying circuit for energy transfer system technology for enhancement gain performance. The air gap technique is applied on this microstrip antenna design work to enhance the antenna gain. The work begins with designing and analyzing the antenna via the CST Microwave Studio software. After validation on acceptable performance in simulation side is obtained, the return loss, S₁₁ of the antenna is measured using vector network analyzer equipment. The rectifier circuit is used to convert the captured signal to DC voltage. This projected dual‐band antenna has successfully accomplished the target on return loss of ?44.707 dB and ?32.163 dB at dual resonant frequencies for 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively. This proposed antenna design benefits in low cost fabrication and has achieved high gain of 6.31 dBi and 7.82 dBi for dual‐band functioning frequencies.     

Design and performance analysis of broadband rectenna for an efficient RF energy harvesting application

This article proposes the design of coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed broadband rectenna for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting application. The rectenna is designed to operate in the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band of 5.8 GHz. For designing the proposed rectenna, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) dielectric material was used to design, fabricate the CPW fed slot antenna. It was observed that the proposed antenna exhibits the |S₁₁| of ?23.43 dB and achieves the peak antenna gain of 8.56 dBi at 5.8 GHz. Secondly, the CPW fed rectifier circuit which comprises of the matching circuit, rectifying unit, and filter was designed. The measured results showed that the |S₁₁| of ?19 dB and it was perfectly matched with 50 Ω impedance. Finally, the rectenna was designed by integration of antenna with rectifier circuit. The simulated results showed the maximum RF to direct current (DC) conversion efficiency and the output DC voltage of 88% and 445 mV at the load resistance of 1 kΩ. The measured results show the maximum RF to DC conversion efficiency of 73.4% with the output DC voltage of 540 mV at the load resistance of 1 kΩ.     

RF energy harvesting systems: An overview and design issues

One of the main challenges in implementing sensor devices for internet of things (IoTs), is the means for the operating power supply. RF energy harvesting (RFEH) presents a promising solution as RF power is a suitable choice particularly for cases where solar harvesting is not feasible. However, in spite of RF communication system design being a well‐established, there are several challenges poised for the implementation of the RFEH systems especially for harvesting the ambient RF signals. The challenges can be widely categorized as the overall conversion efficiency, bandwidth, and form factor. In this article, an exhaustive survey on the different RFEH system that is reported is carried out and discussed. Important design issues are identified with insights drawn. First, we have presented the challenges in designing antennas for RFEH systems. This is followed by rectifier circuits and matching networks, and eventually a general frame work for designing of ambient RFEH systems is deduced.     

Neural‐space mapping‐based large‐signal modeling for MOSFET

In this article, a large‐signal modeling approach based on the combination of equivalent circuit and neuro‐space mapping modeling techniques is proposed for MOSFET. In order to account for the dispersion effects, two neuro‐space (S) mapping based models are used to model the drain current at DC and RF conditions, respectively. Corresponding training process in our approach is also presented. Good agreement is obtained between the model and data of the DC, S parameter, and harmonic performance for a 0.13 μm channel length, 5 μm channel width per finger and 20 fingers MOSFET over a wide range of bias points, demonstrating the proposed model is valid for DC, small‐signal and nonlinear operation. Comparison of DC, S‐parameter, and harmonic performance between proposed model and empirical model further reveals the better accuracy of the proposed model. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE , 2011.     

An empirical HBT large‐signal model for CAD

A new, simple heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) large‐signal model for use in CAD is proposed and experimentally evaluated. The important development in this model is that the main model parameters are derived directly from the measurements taken during typical operating conditions. The model was evaluated with extensive measurements at different temperatures by DC, S, and power‐spectrum measurements. Good correspondence was obtained between the measurement and experimental results. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 13, 518–533, 2003.     

Microwave antennas—An intrinsic part of RF energy harvesting systems: A contingent study about its design methodologies and state‐of‐art technologies in current scenario

With the significant rise of low power embedded devices in various applications of both consumer and commercial usage, the surge for continuous power requirements has initiated promising research toward alternative sources of energy. It includes the domain of wireless power transmission, internet‐of‐things, wireless sensor nodes, machine‐to‐machine, and radio frequency identification. Thus, the overall scope of this review article is to witness microwave antennas and its implementation in RF energy harvesting system through ambient RF signals. For this reason, unified understanding of classical electromagnetism is needed; beginning with the fundamentals of RF transmission and the exploration of concepts such as Fraunhofer's Distance and Friis Transmission Equation. It is followed up by the analogy of dependency of parameters like circuit build‐up, conversion efficiencies and amount of power harvested, which is quite crucial from the rectifier point‐of‐view. For better improvisement in RF energy harvesting systems, five different cases of monopole antennas are explored with reflector surfaces such as PEC (perfect electrical conductor) and AMC (artificial magnetic conductor) integrated with the rectifier circuit. Implementation with wide diversity has proposed a generalized solution for achieving tradeoffs: polarization and pattern diversity with consistent system efficiency; leads to clean and sustainable energy for low power‐embedded devices.     

基于自适应并联电感同步开关控制的压电能量俘获电路设计

并联电感同步开关（P-SSHI）电路可以提高压电能量俘获能力,但其能量俘获效率受到开关控制精准性、整流电路导通压降等因素的影响。因此,本文提出了一种将超低压降有源整流与自适应P-SSHI结构相结合的高效压电能量俘获电路。其中,超低压降有源整流的上半桥采用交叉耦合被动开关的PMOS对管结构,下半桥则采用有源电路控制开关的NMOS对管结构,从而有效地降低了整流电路的导通压降。为进一步提高电路的压电俘获效率,本文采用自适应同步开关控制的P-SSHI结构以提高开关控制的精准性。该结构通过对整流电路中的电流进行过零检测确定同步开关的闭合时刻,对L-C振荡回路中的电流进行过零检测确定同步开关的断开时刻。实验结果表明,所提电路可以实现同步开关的自适应控制,并可有效提高压电能量俘获电路的整体效率。与全桥整流电路相比,本文所提电路可将输出功率提高到235%。     

家用小功率光伏发电系统的设计

文中首先介绍了光伏发电系统的国内外研究现状,并得出了理论研究较多,涉及到实际产品研发较少的结论。在此背景下分析了光伏发电系统基本架构和逆变器拓扑结构,重点对比研究了工频变压器隔离并网型（DC/AC+AC/AC）、非隔离式并网型（DC/DC+DC/AC）、高频变压器隔离并网型（DC/AC/DC+DC/AC）等3种常见逆变器结构;然后结合家用这一实际情况对这3种结构进行了一一剖析,在此基础上提出了DC/DC+DC/AC/DC+DC/AC的3级架构设计方案,其中包括斩波电路、推挽升压电路、逆变电路三部分;最后以STM32ZET6单片机为系统核心控制器件,设计并完成光伏发电系统中各个硬件板卡的焊接和调试功能,通过测试样机得到实验数据。实验结果表明文中提出的DC/DC+DC/AC/DC+DC/AC架构设计方案易实现,实验样机能源利用效率和稳定性较高,体积小,能够满足家用要求。