Efficient Microwave Energy Harvesting Technology and Its Applications
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Efficient Microwave Energy Harvesting Technology and its Applications Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ugur Olgun, B.S., M.S. Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Professor John L. Volakis, Advisor Professor Chi-Chih Chen Professor Robert J. Burkholder c Copyright by Ugur Olgun 2012 Abstract Using wireless transmitters to create an ocean of radio frequency (RF) energy and to power remote devices have been a dream since Nikola Tesla invented wireless communications. Recently, wireless power technology has been embedded into a plethora of consumer electronics to improve device reliability and extend battery life. Soon enough, miniature wireless sensors adapting microwave energy harvesting modules for power will be located at spots where it would be otherwise inconvenient, such as, to change their batteries. These spots include locations inside human body, within the steel or concrete of buildings, and in the dangerous innards of chemical plants. However today, even the most robust nodes can be counted on to last only a few years due to the existance of a battery. Ideally, engineers need a sensor that can last forever without external power sources or battery changes. According to research presented in this dissertation that dream is now within reach. While solar energy harvesting has been widely used for years to power remote devices, several other types of energy-harvesting approaches have also emerged for micropower applications including vibration, thermal, mechanical, and RF. Of these technologies, RF energy is the only one that can provide either intentional or ambient power source for batteryless applications. Thanks to mobile and Wi-Fi networks, ambient RF energy is ubiquitous. Note that more than a million smartphones phones are activated every day, representing a large source of transmitters for RF energy ii harvesting. Moreover, when more power or more predictable energy is needed than what is available from ambient sources, RF energy can be broadcasted in unlicensed frequency bands. Of particular interest is the efficient harvesting of low power RF signals, which would possibly mean range improvements for dedicated microwave power transmission and considerably more DC power from ambient RF energy harvesting. Hence, in this dissertation, we propose a new class of microwave energy harvesting system which exhibits substantially improved conversion efficiency than the ones available off-the-shelf or in literature. The enhancement is due to novel rectifier circuits that can approach theoretical efficiency bounds by handling the best components on the market. Although the developed energy harvester offers game-changing efficiency perfor- mance, maximum power supplied by a single module is usually not enough to energize most consumer electronics. Accordingly, a mathematical tool is presented to predict the optimal way of interconnecting multiple microwave energy harvesters. Subse- quently, an energy harvesting array with nine elements is designed to power up a commercial thermometer and its LCD display using nothing more than ambient Wi- Fi signals in an office environment. In the end, the operational bandwidth of the designed ambient energy harvester is widened to include all cell phone bands and Wi-Fi to harvest more RF power from the environment. iii Dedicated to my parents and my lovely sister... iv Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Prof. John L. Volakis for his guidance and support both in my personal and academic life. His endless energy, vision, and pursuit for excellence have shaped my personality and have made this dissertation possible. It is an honor for me to be his student. I am also very grateful to my co-advisor Prof. Chi-Chih Chen for all his support in the technical details of my doctoral work. I consider myself very lucky for knowing and working with him. I would like to thank my committee member Prof. Robert J. Burkholder for reviewing my work and providing suggestions. I am deeply grateful to my undergraduate mentor, Dr. Celal Alp Tunc. Without his guidance, I would have made very different life choices and not a single chapter of this dissertation would exist. Special thanks goes to Murat Can Alkan, Sercan Ozbay, and Nathan Smith for always being there for me. I would like to thank Jon Doane, Nick Host, Erdinc Irci, Yasir Karisan, Mustafa Kuloglu, and Zheyu Wang for fruitful technical discussions. Additionally, I thank Yonca Atalay, Ozan Basciftci, Ming Chen, Gil Young Lee, Will Moulder, Tao Peng, Kiansin Seah, Brandan Strojny, Georgios Trichopoulos, Ioannis Tzanidis, Sehribani Ulusoy, Feng Wang, Lanlin Zhang, and Jing Zhao for their valu- able friendships. I would like to acknowledge Asimenia Kiourti, Julie Wickenheiser, and Stephanie Zhong for their comments and recommendations on my dissertation. v Vita May 12, 1986 ...............................Born- Tokat,Turkey 2008 . ...................................... B.S.ElectricalandElectronicsEng., Bilkent University, Turkey 2011 . ...................................... M.S.ElectricalandComputer Eng., The Ohio State University, USA 2008-present . ...............................GraduateResearch Associate, ElectroScience Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Eng., The Ohio State University Publications Research Publications 1. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Design of an Efficient Ambient WiFi Energy Harvesting System,” accepted to IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, 2012. 2. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “High Efficiency Rectifier Circuit for Batteryless Wireless Sensors,” accepted to Electronics Letters, 2012. 3. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis “Investigation of Rectenna Array Con- figurations for Enhanced RF Power Harvesting,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Prop- agation Letters, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 262 - 265, 2011. 4. C. A. Tunc, U. Olgun, V. B. Erturk, and A. Altintas “On the Capacity of Printed Planar Rectangular Patch Antenna Arrays in the MIMO Channel: Analysis and Measurements,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 181 - 193, Dec. 2010. vi 5. U. Olgun, C. A. Tunc, D. Aktas, V. B. Erturk, and A. Altintas “Particle Swarm Optimization of Dipole Arrays for Superior MIMO Capacity,” Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 333 - 337, Feb. 2009. Conference Publications 1. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Efficient Ambient WiFi Energy Har- vesting Technology and its Applications,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 2, July 2012, Chicago, IL, USA. 2. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “A Conformal X-Band Cylindrical Patch Antenna Array System,” Proceedings of 33rd Annual AMTA Symposium,vol.1,pp. 1 - 6, October 2011, Denver, CO, USA. 3. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Comparative Analysis of Rectenna Array Configurations for Optimal Power Harvesting,” Proceedings of 32nd Annual AMTA Symposium, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 6, October 2011, Atlanta, GA, USA. 4. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Wireless Power Harvesting with Planar Rectennas for 2.45 GHz RFIDs,” Proceedings of 2010 URSI International Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory, Aug. 2010, Berlin, Germany. 5. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Low-Profile Planar Rectenna for Batteryless RFID Sensors,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 4, July 2010, Toronto, ON, Canada. 6. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, and J. L. Volakis, “Improving the Read Range of RFID Sensors,” IEEE Sensors International Symposium, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 4, September 2009, Christchurch, New Zealand. 7. U. Olgun, C.-C Chen, D. Psychoudakis, and J. L. Volakis, “High Gain Lightweight Array for Harmonic Portable RADAR,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 4, June 2009, Charleston, SC, USA. vii Fields of Study Major Field: Electrical and Computer Engineering Studies in: Antenna Design Prof. C.-C Chen, Prof. J. L. Volakis Electromagnetics Prof. C.-C Chen, Prof. J. L. Volakis RF Circuits Prof. C.-C Chen, Prof. J. L. Volakis viii Table of Contents Page Abstract....................................... ii Dedication...................................... iv Acknowledgments.................................. v Vita......................................... vi ListofTables.................................... xi ListofFigures................................... xii 1. Introduction.................................. 1 2. Fundamentals of Microwave Energy Harvesting .............. 11 2.1ElectricalCharacteristicsandPhysicsofDiodes........... 13 2.2 Schottky Detectors as Rectifier Circuits ............... 18 2.3 Voltage Doublers as Rectifier Circuits ................ 26 2.4DicksonChargePump......................... 29 2.5Conclusion............................... 32 3. Novel High Efficiency Rectifier Circuits for Microwave Energy Harvesting Applications .................................. 34 3.1 An Improved Voltage Doubler ..................... 38 3.2 Modified Greinacher Rectifier ..................... 41 3.3 A Planar Rectenna with a Modified Greinacher Rectifier ...... 46 3.4Conclusion............................... 48 ix 4. Investigation of Rectenna Array Configurations for Enhanced RF Power Harvesting................................... 50 4.1 Analytical Approach .......................... 52 4.1.1 Outdoor Propagation ..................... 53 4.1.2 Indoor Propagation