A High-Efficiency and Reconfigurable Rectenna Array for Dynamic Output DC Power Control

Yuchao Wang,Qiang Chen,Shaonan Chen,Yangkun Song,Bohan Zhang,Cheng Zhang

doi:10.3389/fphy.2022.866656

Abstract

In this paper, an output power reconfigurable rectenna array is proposed for the first time to harvest RF energy. The proposed rectenna array can be used to capture abundant RF energy with high conversion efficiency in a wide range of input power levels and load impedance at 1.88, 2.35, 3.5, and 4.9 GHz simultaneously. The output DC power of the proposed rectenna array can be changed exponentially by altering the on-off state of the switches located between the antenna and the rectifier. The measured result shows that the output power is linearly related to the number of opened switches. Therefore, the proposed rectenna array can be flexibly applied to battery-free or low-power-requiring devices according to their different power needs.

Highlights

Considering the above two aims, many rectennas with the characteristics of high efficiency [6, 7], broadband [8–10], multiband [11–13], or multiport [14, 15] have been extensively investigated by researchers in recent decades, driving the improvement of wireless energy usage
The rectifier array is designed to operate at four frequency bands to harvest abundant RF energy, and the conversion efficiency of the proposed rectifier can achieve 53, 52, 49, and 45% at 1.88, 2.35, 3.5, and 4.9 GHz, respectively, when the input power level is −10 dBm
The receiving antenna is composed of four monopole antennas and an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure to increase the gain of the antenna

Summary

INTRODUCTION

To realize the interconnection of all things, wireless sensing networks are widely applied in our daily lives. The rectifier array is designed to operate at four frequency bands to harvest abundant RF energy, and the conversion efficiency of the proposed rectifier can achieve 53, 52, 49, and 45% at 1.88, 2.35, 3.5, and 4.9 GHz, respectively, when the input power level is −10 dBm. The receiving antenna is composed of four monopole antennas and an AMC structure to increase the gain of the antenna. To reduce the omnidirectional radiation of the monopole, an AMC was FIGURE 3 | (A) Measured reflection coefficient of the proposed rectifier at different input power levels for a load resistance of 2000 Ω. In practice, different numbers of RF switches can be turned on according to the power required by the load

CONCLUSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT