Voltage Doubler Rectifier Research Articles

Using Piezoelectric Elements to Convert Bio-Mechanical Pulsations into Electrical Energy for Energy Harvesting

On the Internet of Things (IoT) where all electronic devices are connected to the internet, a secure power supply is necessary. Energy harvesting technology is attracting attention as ”enabling technology” that expands the use and opportunities of IoT utilization. This technology harvests energy that dissipates around us, in the form of electromagnetic waves, heat, vibration, etc. and converts it into easy-to-use electric energy. Alternating current signals can be extracted from bio-mechanical pulsations using skin-attached piezoelectric elements with a protrusion, as we reported previously. However, we found that the maximum voltage of the extracted signal was unstable and low. This study demonstrates that piezoelectric elements can be stacked to stabilize and increase the maximum voltage, and that the extracted signal can be used to charge a capacitor, after rectification using a voltage-doubler rectifier circuit with Schottky barrier diodes.

Improved Natural Current Sharing and Phase-Shedding Operation in LLC Resonant Converters With Voltage-Doubler Rectifier

Improved Natural Current Sharing and Phase-Shedding Operation in <i>LLC</i> Resonant Converters With Voltage-Doubler Rectifier

Dual-band low-power RF-to-DC signal converter circuits for energy harvesting

This article presents dual-band low-power, high-sensitive radio-frequency (RF)-to-direct current (DC) signal converter circuits, operating at 2.45 and 5.5 GHz bands, for radio frequency energy harvesting applications. In particular, it focuses on the lumped element and microstrip transmission line model circuits. The lumped element RF-to-DC converter circuit is composed of a dual-band impedance matching circuit, voltage-doubler rectifier, and DC-pass filter with a resistive load of 5 kΩ. This converter circuit gives a DC output voltage of 48 mV at 2.45 GHz and 25 mV at 5.5 GHz on −25 dBm input power. Maximum conversion efficiency is 47% at the 2.45 GHz band and 27% at the 5.5 GHz band when the input power is set to −10 dBm. Circuit design steps, matching conditions, performance parameters, and so on, are presented using Advanced Design System simulation. To validate the concept of the lumped element model, a microstrip transmission line RF-to-DC converter model is simulated and fabricated. It also composes of a dual-band matching network, voltage-doubler, and DC-pass filter with a load resistance of 5 kΩ. At a low input power of −18 dBm, it gives an output voltage of 21 mV in measurement. An appropriate match between the simulation and measurement is noted.

A Light-Load Efficiency Improvement Technique for an Inductive Power Transfer System through a Reconfigurable Circuit

Constant voltage (CV) charging and efficiency improvement are the most basic and main targets to be achieved in inductive power transfer (IPT) systems. However, efficiency may be jeopardized as battery charging progresses, especially under a light-load condition, which accounts for most of the charging time. Traditional maximum-efficiency tracking (MET) control provides an effective solution to the above issues. However, MET control not only brings the difficulties of complicated control and increased cost/volume, but also increases the additional power losses because of the introduction of additional converters or hard-switching in dual-shift phase control. To address the above difficulty, a light-load efficiency improvement (LLEI) technique is presented in this study. Under a heavy-load condition, both the inverter and rectifier operate in conventional full-bridge mode with satisfactory efficiency. Under a light-load condition, both the rectifier and inverter are reconfigured as a voltage-doubler rectifier and half-bridge inverter, respectively, to achieve two targets: one is to keep the charging voltage roughly unchanged, and the other is to force the equivalent load resistance (ELR) approach to the optimal point to improve system power transfer efficiency. A demonstrative experimental prototype with a charging voltage of 60 V is constructed and tested to validate the LLEI method proposed in this study. The experimental results show that the proposal can ensure stable CV charging and significantly improve the system efficiency under a light-load condition over the whole charging process.

Push-pull forward LLC resonant converter for low input voltage applications

A push-pull forward LLC resonant converter suitable for renewable energy power generation systems is proposed in this paper. The converter introduces the LLC resonant tank into the traditional push-pull forward converter and adopts pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control, which solves the problem of voltage spike of switches of the conventional push-pull converter, realizes the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of the switches and has high conversion efficiency. In addition, the rectifier part of the structure adopts voltage doubling rectifier technology, which is beneficial to reduce the turn ratio and optimize the leakage inductance of the transformer. In this paper, the working principle of the converter is described in detail, and its gain characteristics and soft switching conditions are analyzed. Finally, an experimental prototype of 1 kW is built, and the output voltage of 380 V is achieved when the rated input voltage is 48–72 V, and its efficiency is up to 96.1 %.

A Wearable All-Printed Textile-Based 6.78 MHz 15 W-Output Wireless Power Transfer System and Its Screen-Printed Joule Heater Application

While research in passive flexible circuits for Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) such as coils and resonators continues to advance, limitations in their power handling and low efficiency have hindered the realization of efficient all-printed high-power wearable WPT receivers. Here, we propose a screen-printed textile-based 6.78 MHz resonant inductive WPT system using planar inductors with concealed metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tuning capacitors. A printed voltage doubler rectifier based on Silicon Carbide (SiC) diodes is designed and integrated with the coils, showing a power conversion efficiency of 80-90% for 2-40 W inputs over a wide load range. Compared to prior wearable WPT receivers, it offers an order of magnitude improvement in power handling along with higher efficiency (approaching 60%), while using all-printed passives and a compact rectifier. The coils exhibit a simulated Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) under 0.4 W/kg for 25 W received power, and under 21 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula> C increase in the coils' temperature for a 15 W DC output. Additional fabric shielding is investigated, reducing harmonics emissions by up to 17 dB. We finally demonstrate a wirelessly-powered textile-based carbon-silver Joule heater, capable of reaching up to 60 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula> C at 2 cm separation from the transmitter, as a wearable application which can only be wireless-powered using the proposed system.

Vibration Energy Harvesting with Printed P(VDF:TrFE) Transducers to Power Condition Monitoring Sensors for Industrial and Manufacturing Equipment

A vibration energy harvesting system based on fully printed piezoelectric transducers is realized. The transducers have a butterfly‐like architecture based on two single‐optimized cantilevers with a resonance frequency tuned to 49.5 Hz and can be easily mounted to an industrial engine. By comparing single‐ and multistack configurations of the piezoelectric layers combined with full‐wave or voltage doubler rectifiers, the power transfer characteristics and impedance can be matched to the electrical requirements of the sensing circuitry. A single stack with 21 μm thickness results in the maximum power output of 14.4 μW at a vibration velocity of 11.5 mm s−1, typical for industrial engines. The system is used to power a wireless sensor node on a 1 kW rotary pump in normal operation. The system can harvest up to 138 mJ within 24 h, sufficient for daily remote monitoring of the engine's vibration spectrum and temperature state. The system is thus suitable as a low‐cost, ecofriendly power source for industrial IoT applications.

A novel high-efficiency class-F voltage doubler rectifier for RF energy harvesting

A novel high-efficiency class-F voltage doubler rectifier for RF energy harvesting

Analysis and design of voltage doubling rectifier circuit for power supply of neutron source device towards BNCT

With the rapid development of DC high voltage accelerator, higher requirements have been raised for the design of DC high voltage power supply, requiring more stable high voltage with lower output ripple. Therefore, it also puts forward higher requirements for the parameter design of the voltage doubling rectifier circuit, which is the core component of the DC high voltage power supply. In order to obtain output voltage with better performance, the effects of the working frequency, the stage capacitance and the load resistance on the output voltage of the voltage doubling rectifier circuit are studied in detail by simulation. It can be concluded that the higher the working frequency of the transformer, the larger the stage capacitance, the larger the load resistance and the better the output voltage performance in a certain range. Based on this, a 2.5 MV voltage doubling rectifier circuit driven by a 120 kHz frequency transformer is designed, developed and tested for the power supply of the neutron source device towards BNCT. Experimental results show that this voltage doubling rectifier circuit can satisfy the design requirements, laying a certain foundation for the engineering design of DC high voltage power supply of neutron source device.

Multiphase BHB-CLL Resonant Converter Based on Secondary-Side VDR With Automatic Current Sharing Characteristic

A multiphase bidirectional half-bridge (BHB) CLL resonant converter with automatic current sharing characteristics is proposed in this paper for high-power bidirectional energy storage applications. The CLL converter is obtained by placing the resonant inductor in the voltage doubling rectifier (VDR). Compared with LLC resonant converter, the circulating current related to the magnetizing current of the transformer is removed from the resonant inductor. Without extra components and control schemes, the excellent current sharing performance can be achieved only by connecting two wires in the two-phase resonant tanks even when the resonant parameters have 10% tolerance. The current sharing performance of the proposed converter is analyzed by FHA method, and a 1200W experimental prototype is built to verify the superiority of the proposed converter. Under the full load condition, the measured peak efficiency in forward and backward operation mode is 97.99% and 97.8%, the output current sharing error is 0.51% and 4.0%, respectively.

An Output Power Fluctuation Suppression Method of DWPT Systems Based on Dual-Receiver Coils and Voltage Doubler Rectifier

In Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) systems, the power oscillation phenomena caused by coupling fluctuation are always hard to avoid. Moreover, if the adjacent track coils are excited by different inverters without synchronized drive signals, there will be severe power oscillations due to the frequency difference between the track coil currents. To address these issues, this work proposes a novel DWPT system based on dual-receiver coils and the Voltage Doubler (VD) rectifier. Depending on whether the induced voltages of the two receiver coils are balanced, the rectifier will switch between full-bridge mode and VD mode with no extra controller to maintain the system output under different positions. By designing the dimensions of the coupler, the DWPT system can achieve excellent output stability while avoiding the oscillation caused by the frequency difference between the track coil currents. In addition, the operation characteristic, power divisions, and boundary conditions of each operation mode are clarified. Finally, a 2.2 m 220 V-800 W prototype is built. The experimental results show that even with the track current frequency difference, the output voltage fluctuation is limited to 3.4% during motion, and the system efficiency remains above 90.76% in the case of an 8 cm air gap.

Compact high-efficiency energy harvesting positive and negative DC supplies voltage for battery-less CMOS receiver

In this paper, novel compact high-efficiency multi-band rectifiers that supply positive and negative output voltages are demonstrated for energy harvesting applications. The proposed voltage doubler circuits are used as real DC voltage supplies of radio frequency mm-wave CMOS receivers. Operating multi-band rectifiers have a complicated structure that required more resonance networks to force the rectifier to work in multi-band. Novel series and parallel resonance networks are implemented to force the rectifier to operate in dual-band at frequencies of 850 and 1400 MHz. The proposed resonance network eliminates the Schottky diode impedance variation as the input power or frequency changes and supports the impedance matching and minimizes the insertion loss. A novel high-quality sine-shape micro-strip inductor that obtains a quality factor above 65 over the frequency band from 200 to 1400 MHz and inductance equal to 14 ± 2 nH is designed to improve efficiency and enhance performance at low power levels. The first suggested RF voltage doubler rectifier with series resonance feedback between the input and cathode of the diode and parallel resonance operates at two frequency bands of 850 and 1400 MHz and obtains a peak conversion efficiency of 59%, a saturated output DC voltage is 2.5 V, and the conversion efficiency is 40% at RF-input-power of − 10 dBm. This voltage doubler achieves the required DC supply parameter (1.1 V and 450 uA) for biasing the mm-wave receiver at an RF input power of 0 dBm. Otherwise, the second suggested negative voltage rectifier has a maximum simulated conversion efficiency of 65%, saturated negative DC-voltage is − 3.5 V, and the conversion efficiency is 45% at an RF input power of − 10 dBm. The negative voltage rectifier obtains DC supply parameters (− 0.5 V and no current condition used for a gate bias) at − 10 dBm input power.

Interleaved Boost-Integrated LC Series Resonant Converter With Frequency-Free Designed Transformer for Wide Voltage Range Applications

This paper presents a novel interleaved boost integrated LC series resonant converter with two output rectification modes, which are voltage-doubler rectifier mode and voltage-quadrupler rectifier mode with constant output voltage for wide input voltage range applications. Due to the symmetrical configuration of the rectifier, the voltage stress of switches and diodes on the secondary side are only half of the output voltage. With the proposed pulse frequency modulation, the maximum magnetic flux density <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">B_m</i> of high frequency transformer is only related with the resonant frequency rather than the switching frequency. Hence, the transformer can be frequency-free designed. The zero-voltage-switching of the primary switches and zero-current-switching of the secondary switches and diodes are achieved, respectively. Moreover, the design procedure for some key parameters is presented. Finally, a 470 W prototype with a switching frequency range from 50 kHz to 140 kHz is built to verify the operation principles of the proposed converter and modulation.

Design of a 2.4 &amp; 5.8 GHz Efficient Circularly Polarized Rectenna for Wireless Power Transfer Applications

In this paper, we proposed a novel dual-band circularly polarized rectifier antenna for collecting environmental electromagnetic energy at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. The receiving antenna is a circularly polarized microstrip slot antenna that achieves circular polarization in the low-frequency band (2.4 GHz) and high-frequency band (5.8 GHz) through the use of the “U” slot of the ground and the “L” branch of the upper patch, respectively. The antenna exhibits impedance bandwidths of 320 MHz (2.18–2.50 GHz) and 3.73 GHz (5.33–9.06 GHz) in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands, respectively, while the 3 dB axis specific bandwidths are 260 MHz (2.32–2.58 GHz) and 420 MHz (5.66–6.08 GHz), respectively. The antenna gains are 3.5 dBi and 6.2 dBi at 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, a dual-frequency voltage doubling rectifier circuit was designed to operate with the antenna. A dual-branch matching circuit was used to achieve impedance matching between the antenna and the rectifier circuit, and the output was optimized to suppress high-order harmonics through sector branches to improve the rectification efficiency. The simulation results show that the maximum rectification efficiency of the circuit is more than 80%, with a measured efficiency of over 60%. This 2.4–5.8 GHz dual-band circularly polarized rectifier antenna has the potential to self-power low-power devices in the Internet of Things, making it a valuable contribution to the field of wireless energy harvesting.

A self-powered P–SSHI and boost hybrid interface circuit for Multi-PZTs and low voltage electromagnetic energy extraction

This paper presents a self-powered P–SSHI and boost hybrid interface circuit for multi-piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) and low-voltage electromagnetic energy extraction (MI-PSSHI-BOOST-HEC). The MI-PSSHI-BOOST-HEC uses a bridgeless voltage doubler rectifier to reduce the number of traditional rectifier bridge diodes and thus losses. Simulations and experiments show that the proposed circuit can extract energy from multiple PZTs with an arbitrary phase difference. The energy extracted from the EMG can be improved by a voltage doubler rectifier and boost structure. The described MI-PSSHI-BOOST-HEC circuit can extract 2.02 mW of the RMS power from a dual PZT input with an open-circuit amplitude of 12 V (30 Hz, 28 Hz) and an EMG (5 Hz) input with an open-circuit amplitude of 2 V. In addition, the oscillator in the boost structure is completely powered by the EMG, which means that the electric energy in the traditional energy storage capacitor is not consumed. This provides an alternative solution for extracting energy from EMGs and multi-PZTs.

A Review of Miniaturized Advanced IC Rectenna for Energy Harvesting Applications

This article presents a review of different types of miniaturized rectenna integrated circuits IC used for energy harvesting applications such as medical applications. The rectenna design consists of two basic components: an embedded antenna that collects radio-frequency RF energy from the surrounding environment, and the rectifier circuit that converts AC-RF energy values into DC voltage for usage in low-power electronics devices such as implantable medical devices (IMDs). Microwave Schottky diodes HSMS-285x and SMS-763x series are used as a voltage doubler rectifier with an implanted antenna to improve conversion efficiency and the output voltage at a given input power and appropriate load. There are many challenges in the implantable rectenna IC design such as biocompatibility, miniaturization, patient safety, compact size, resonant frequency, bandwidth, radiation efficiency, and insensitivity to detuning. This review article summarizes the overall rectenna research carried out for new different design strategies in implant medical applications that operated at industrial scientific, and medical (ISM) bands such as 2.45GHz and 5.8GHz.

Power supply circuit model and sliding mode control of supercritical unit boiler system commissioning

AbstractIn the process of power control and commissioning of supercritical unit boiler system, there are some problems such as large steady‐state error and slow response speed. In order to optimize the control performance of supercritical unit boiler system, the power supply loop model and sliding mode control method of supercritical unit boiler system debugging power supply are proposed. Firstly, the power supply circuit model is established according to the data of voltage doubling rectifier circuit, inverter circuit, high frequency transformer and LC resonant circuit. Secondly, the capacitance voltage value and the inductance current value are calculated in the power supply circuit model. Finally, based on the numerical results, a terminal sliding mode controller and a linear sliding mode controller are established to complete the double closed‐loop terminal sliding mode control and realize the power control of the debugging power supply. The experimental results show that when the input voltage is 50 V and the current is 14 V, the input voltage and current waveforms remain stable. When the input voltage is between 40 and 50 V, the change of switching frequency is small, only increasing from 22 to 26 kHz. The steady state of the power supply is high, and when the input voltage increases, the DC offset is 21.2. The convergence time in the calculation process is less than 200 ms. The instantaneous change of inductance is 0.7 A. The steady‐state error is less than 0.005 V. The output voltage distortion rate is less than 4%. It is proved that this method has strong control performance in the supercritical unit boiler system.

A miniaturized advanced rectenna integrated circuit for implantable applications

This paper presents analysis and design of a new miniaturized advanced rectenna integrated circuit for RF energy harvesting applications. The rectenna circuits consist of (antenna, rectifying circuit) and matching network connected together. The 1 × 4.5 mm2 planar L-shaped dipole antenna implanted inside human ‘s body arm for operation in ISM dual-bands like 1.5GHz and 5.8GHz. The new device quantum well asymmetric spacer tunnel layer (QW-ASPAT) rectifier diodes based on GaAs and InGaAs platforms have been used for the mesa size area of 10 × 10 μm2. The DC, RF, and C-V characteristics of the new rectifier diodes were performed and modelled by using SILVACO ATLAS software. The highest extracted curvature coefficient, kv value of the both QW-ASPAT devices at zero bias was about 33 V−1 compared with the standard structures was 13 V−1. The cut off frequency of the proposed QW-GaAs and QW-InGaAs devices are 26GHz and 46GHz respectively. The fully integrated rectenna circuit was performed by Advanced Design System (ADS) software. The maximum DC output voltage and power of the proposed rectenna system were 0.7 V,1.5 V and 167 μw, 325 μw when used single, and double stage voltage doubler rectifiers respectively at the input RF power of 0 dBm.

Energy Harvesting Rectenna Using High-Gain Triple-Band Antenna for Powering Internet-of-Things (IoT) Devices in a Smart Office

A new rectenna that can be utilized for sending/receiving data and scavenging radio frequency (RF) waves for linking and powering the Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices is proposed. The rectenna has three operating frequency bands; the lower frequency band is used for energy harvesting, and the other two frequency bands are assigned for data communication. It comprises a stacked four-layer antenna integrated with a voltage doubler rectifier. The antenna consists of a driven element, a planar reflector, and a planar director composed of a periodic structure of a square patch with a hexagonal slot in its center. The measurement results show that the proposed antenna covers 1.86–2.65, 2.84–3.64, and 5.34–6 GHz with an impedance bandwidth of 35%, 24.7%, and 11.64%, respectively. The antenna exhibits a high measured gain of 8.1, 8.9, and 9 dBi at 2.3, 3.5, and 5.7 GHz, respectively. The Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.45-GHz frequency band is selected for energy harvesting. Moreover, specific absorption rate (SAR) calculations are done for the antenna using the Hugo model to ensure lower absorption operation. The proposed antenna provides acceptable values of SAR; the values are under the safety standard limits for RF exposure. Then, a rectifier circuit is designed, fabricated, and tested separately. Finally, the rectifier is integrated with the proposed enhanced-gain antenna to produce a rectenna system. The rectenna presents a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 69.7% and a dc output voltage of 1.9 V at an input power of 2 dBm. The PCE of the proposed rectenna is over 50% at a range of input power from −6.5 to 4.7 dBm.

Design of Dual ISM Bands Low Power Rectenna for Indoor Wireless Power Transfer Application

The paper concentrates on the design of a dual-band rectenna which consists of a receiving antenna, impedance matching, single-stage voltage doubler rectifier as well as a load. The rectenna is designed using HSMS 280C Schottky diodes as its main component and combined with the lumped elements, microstrip lines as well as quasi-Yagi with semi-bowtie as the driven element. The quasi-Yagi antenna with a semi-bowtie driven element is designed using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) and its Touchstone file is imported into the Advanced Design System (ADS) for simulation with the other components of the rectenna. The rectenna with an input power of −6dBm has an optimal Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of 32.1% while receiving a signal from the ISM 0.868GHz band transmitter and 18.8% using the input power of −7dBm at ISM 0.915GHz band. Both PCEs are obtained using 700Ω and 900Ω as load and producing minimum output voltage (Vo) of 0.3V and 0.28V respectively. The rectenna operates in both Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) 0.868GHz and 0.915GHz bands since both are unlicensed bands. The ISM 0.868GHz band is normally used in Europe while ISM 0.915 GHz band is widely used in the United States as well as Japan. The dual-band rectenna can be used for powering a power management unit such as EM8500 or AEM30300 in an indoor environment.