Modeling of Schottky diode and optimal matching circuit design for low power RF energy harvesting

Abdelmalek Reddaf; Mounir Boudjerda; Islem Bouchachi; Badreddine Babes; Ali Elrashidi; Kareem M AboRas; Enas Ali; Sherif S M Ghoneim; Mahmoud Elsisi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27792

Modeling of Schottky diode and optimal matching circuit design for low power RF energy harvesting

Heliyon. 2024 Mar 19;10(6):e27792. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27792. eCollection 2024 Mar 30.

Authors

Abdelmalek Reddaf¹, Mounir Boudjerda¹, Islem Bouchachi², Badreddine Babes¹, Ali Elrashidi^{3

4}, Kareem M AboRas⁵, Enas Ali⁶, Sherif S M Ghoneim⁷, Mahmoud Elsisi^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center in Industrial Technologies CRTI, ex CSC B. P. 64, Cheraga, Algiers, Algeria.
² Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Technologies Avancées, Algiers, Algeria.
³ Engineering Mathematics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt.
⁴ Electrical Engineering Department, University of Business and Technology, ArRawdah, Jeddah, 23435, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Electrical Power and Machines, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt.
⁶ Centre of Research Impact and Outcome, Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Rajpura-140401, Punjab, India.
⁷ Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. BOX 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Electrical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 807618, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Shoubra, Benha University, Cairo 11629, Egypt.

Abstract

This work designs and implements a single-stage rectifier-based RF energy harvesting device. This device integrates a receiving antenna and a rectifying circuit to convert ambient electromagnetic energy into useful DC power efficiently. The rectenna is carefully engineered with an optimal matching circuit, achieving high efficiency with a return loss of less than -10 dB. The design uses a practical model of the Schottky diode, where both RF and DC characteristics are derived through extensive experimental measurements. The results from both experiments and simulations confirm the effectiveness of the design, showing its proficiency in efficient RF energy harvesting under low-power conditions. The antenna produced operates in the wifi band with a gain close to 4 dBi and a bandwidth of 100 MHz. With a load resistance of 1600 Ω, the proposed device achieves an impressive RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of approximately 52% at a low incident power of -5 dBm. These findings highlight the potential and reliability of rectenna systems for practical and efficient RF energy harvesting applications. The study significantly contributes to our understanding of rectenna-based energy harvesting, providing valuable insights for future design considerations and applications in low-power RF systems.

Keywords: Antenna; Energy harvesting; Low power; Matching network; Rectenna; Rectifier.