Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting Using Full-Wave Rectification

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to realizing full-wave rectification for electromagnetic energy harvesting. Instead of using one antenna to feed one rectifier circuit, we propose utilizing two antennas connected to one rectifier to form a full-wave rectenna. This balanced configuration allows the received power to be rectified and transferred to a dc load between two antennas, making it very easy to channel the harvested power in rectenna arrays. The proposed concept is demonstrated in the microwave regime using an array of full-wave rectennas optimized for 2.45 GHz. The full-wave rectenna array is compared with an array of half-wave rectennas that occupy the same footprint and are optimized to maximize power absorption at the same frequency. Measurements showed that the proposed full-wave rectifier performed better than the half-wave rectifier and achieved 74% radiation-to-dc conversion efficiency. Here, without loss of generality, the proposed concept is demonstrated using T-matched dipole antennas at a specific frequency, but the concept can be applied to other antenna types and other frequencies.