Design of 2.45 GHz Rectifier for Low-Power RF Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

The rising demand across various applications has spurred growth in the energy harvesting, which is a novel means to generate energy and provide energy to low-power devices utilizing the available resources. The primary part of energy harvesting systems that convert RF energy to DC power from existing sources is known as a rectifier. The objective of this study is to create an innovative rectifying circuit designed for energy harvesting at 2.45 GHz. The primary aim is to enhance the output voltage compared to existing rectifier circuits such as the Dickson and Cockcroft-Walton configurations. The proposed rectifier circuit exhibits exceptional output threshold and maximum output voltage. Moreover, it achieves a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE), with an enhancement of 43% for the Dickson rectifier and 47% for the Cockcroft-Walton rectifier. To develop and evaluate the suggested rectifier circuit, simulations are performed utilizing the Schottky diode HSMS 285C. The input power range considered for the simulations varies from -20 dBm to 35 dBm. To validate the simulation results, fabricated models for the three prominent topologies have been developed, and the simulation and measurement outcomes agree well, confirming the suitability of the proposed topology for harvesting RF Wi-Fi signals. Results demonstrate that the presented rectifier surpasses the operational attributes of the conventional the rectifying networks in relation to output voltage and PCE.