Study on Millimeter-Wave Vivaldi Rectenna and Arrays with High Conversion Efficiency

A novel Vivaldi rectenna operated at 35 GHz with high millimeter wave to direct current (MMW-to-DC) conversion efficiency is presented and the arrays are investigated. The measured conversion efficiency is 51.6% at 35 GHz and the efficiency higher than 30% is from 33.2 GHz to 36.6 GHz when the input MMW power is 79.4 mW. The receiving Vivaldi antenna loaded with metamaterial units has a high gain of 10.4 dBi at 35 GHz. A SIW- (substrate integrated waveguide-) to-microstrip transition is designed not only to integrate the antenna with the rectifying circuit directly but also to provide the DC bypass for the rectifying circuit. When the power density is 8.7 mW/cm2, the received MMW power of the antenna is 5.6 mW, and the maximum conversion efficiency of the rectenna element is 31.5%. The output DC voltage of the element is nearly the same as that of the parallel array and is about half of the series array. The DC power obtained by the 1 × 2 rectenna arrays is about two times as much as that of the element. The conversion efficiencies of the arrays are very close to that of the element. Large scale arrays could be expended for collecting more DC power.

[1]  Fan Yang,et al.  A Novel Compact Printed Rectenna for Data Communication Systems , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[2]  Veronique Kuhn,et al.  A Multi-Band Stacked RF Energy Harvester With RF-to-DC Efficiency Up to 84% , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[3]  Cong Wang,et al.  Design of a Compact Planar Rectenna for Wireless Power Transfer in the ISM Band , 2014 .

[4]  Hwann-Kaeo Chiou,et al.  High-Efficiency Dual-Band On-Chip Rectenna for 35- and 94-GHz Wireless Power Transmission in 0.13-$\mu{\hbox {m}}$ CMOS Technology , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[5]  Kai Chang,et al.  Compact 5.8-GHz Rectenna Using Stepped-Impedance Dipole Antenna , 2007, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[6]  W. C. Brown.  Free-space transmission , 1964, IEEE Spectrum.

[7]  William C. Brown,et al.  The technology and application of free-space power transmission by microwave beam , 1974 .

[8]  P. Glaser.  Power from the sun: its future. , 1968, Science.

[9]  William C. Brown.  Satellite power stations: a new source of energy? , 1973, IEEE Spectrum.

[10]  Ke Wu,et al.  Nonlinear Modeling and Harmonic Recycling of Millimeter-Wave Rectifier Circuit , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[11]  Y.-J. Ren,et al.  35 GHz rectifying antenna for wireless power transmission , 2007 .

[12]  M.C. van Beurden,et al.  Analytical models for low-power rectenna design , 2005, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[13]  Kai Chang,et al.  Microwave Power Transmission: Historical Milestones and System Components , 2013, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[14]  Jong-Won Yu,et al.  Compact folded dipole rectenna with RF-based energy harvesting for IoT smart sensors , 2015 .

[15]  Kai Chang,et al.  Theoretical and experimental development of 10 and 35 GHz rectennas , 1992 .

[16]  J. McSpadden,et al.  Diode characterization in a microstrip measurement system for high power microwave power transmission , 1992, 1992 IEEE Microwave Symposium Digest MTT-S.