A microwave wireless energy harvesting system with a wideband antenna array

Abstract

This paper is focused on a microwave wireless energy harvesting system using a rectenna (rectifying antenna), which consists of a wideband antenna array, a microwave low-pass filter and a voltage doubling rectifying circuit. The wideband antenna array is formed by two double-sided planar cross dipoles. The rectenna operates in the frequency range 1.6–2.5 GHz. Both simulation and experiment studies have been carried out for the rectenna with the input power density levels ranging from 1 to 100 µW/cm², which are typical in urban environments. The simulated and measured results of the rectenna are compared and showed good agreement. The results demonstrate that the maximum conversion efficiency of the rectenna is above 32% in the frequency range 1.9–2.3 GHz, and the overall conversion efficiency is greater than 20% when the power density is more than 5 µW/cm². This new wideband rectenna has great potential for harvesting wireless energy in the GSM/3G/4G and ISM 2.4-GHz bands.

Keywords

Antenna arrays rectifying antennas wideband dipole antennas

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