A Novel Split-Ring Resonator and Voltage Multiplier based Rectenna Design for 900 MHz Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel rectenna design for the compact RF energy harvesting system operating at 900 MHz. The rectenna design is based on a probe fed split-ring resonator on an elliptical slotted ground plane and an RF-DC rectifying circuit in the form of Villard voltage doubler circuit. The energy harvesting antenna is numerically modeled and fabricated on a 1.524 mm thick Rogers RO4003C substrate with a compact overall size of 81.25 mm x 87.5 mm (λ0/4.1 x λ0/3.8). The measured reflection coefficient indicates the proposed energy harvesting antenna to operate at 890 MHz with 51.3 MHz bandwidth covering GSM 900 band. As an RF-DC rectifying electronic circuit, a one stage voltage doubler circuit based on zero bias Schottky barrier diode in conjunction with the inductive impedance matching and λ/4 impedance transformer circuits has been designed. The DC voltage of nonlinear RF rectifier circuit is obtained as 1.7 V at the output load for -11 dBm input power level. The measured and simulated results confirm the proposed rectenna system to have a technical potential for the operation of low power and low voltage electronic devices.