International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)

Vol. 5, No. 5, October 2015, pp. 967~974

ISSN: 2088-8708  967

Investigation of Rectifier Circuit Configurations for Microwave

Power Transmission System Operating at S Band

Doan Huu Chuc*, Bach Gia Duong**

* Department of Electrical and Electronics, Hai Phong Private University
** Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, VNU University of Engineering and Technology

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: The purpose of this work is to propose rectifier circuit topologies for
microwave power transmission system operating at ISM band. This paper
Received Feb 10, 2015 particularly presents in detail the proposed rectifier circuit configurations
Revised May 14, 2015 including series diode half wave rectifier and voltage doubler rectifier. The
Accepted Jun 10, 2015 maximum conversion efficiency of rectifier using series diode half wave
rectifier is 40.17 % with 220  load resistance whereas it is 70.06 % with
330  load resistance for voltage doubler rectifier. Compared to the series
Keyword: rectifier circuit, it is significant to note that the voltage doubler rectifier
Conversion efficiency circuit has higher efficiency. The circuits presented are tuned for a center
frequency of 2.45 GHz. The rectifiers were fabricated using microstrip
HSMS2820 technology. The design, fabrication and measurement results were obtained
Microwave power transmission using a well-known professional design software for microwave engineering,
Rectifier Advanced Design System 2009 (ADS 2009). All design and measurement
Wireless power transmission results will be reported.
Copyright © 2015 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.

Corresponding Author:
Doan Huu Chuc,
Department of Electrical and Electronics,
Hai Phong Private University,
36 Dan Lap Road, Le Chan Dist, Hai Phong City, Vietnam
Email: chucdh@hpu.edu.vn

1. INTRODUCTION
Microwave power transmission (MPT) is one of the hot topics in microwave and millimeter wave
devices, circuit, and systems. Microwave power transmission has had a long history before the more recent
movement toward wireless power transmission (WPT). MPT research has been driven primarily by the desire
to remotely power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and by the concept of space solar power (SPS) first by
Dr. Peter Glaser of the Arthur D. Little Company in 1968 [1]. MPT can be applied not only to beam type
point to point WPT but also to an energy harvesting system fed from distributed or broadcasting radio waves.
A rectifying antenna (Rectenna), which is used to convert the microwave power to the direct current (DC)
power, is one of the key components of the MPT system. A rectenna is a passive element with rectifying
diodes that operates without an internal power source. It can receive and rectify microwave power to DC
power [2]-[5]. A general block diagram of a conventional rectenna is shown in Figure 1. Rectenna mainly
consists of a receiving antenna, low pass filter, rectifying circuit (rectifier) and output filter (DC filter). The
output voltage of rectenna is fed to load resistance.
We can apply various antennas and rectifying circuits. The selection depends on requirements for
the systems and its users. When we use a rectenna array, the antennas in the rectennas can absorb 100 % of
input microwaves. Higher efficiency rectifying circuits are required because the MPT system is an energy
system. There are various rectifying circuits that can reach 100 % efficiency in theory [6].
Working frequency is also an important parameter to consider when designing a rectenna. It is often
dictated by the desired application. At low frequencies (below 1GHz), high gain antennas tend to be quite

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968  ISSN: 2088-8708

large. Increasing the frequency thus allows the use of more compact antennas. On the other hand, the amount
of available power at a certain distance from an emitter is given by Friis equation [6-8].

Figure 1. Block diagram of rectenna.

∙ ∙ ∙ (1)
4

Where Pt is the power of the emitter, Gt and Gr are the emitter and receiver antenna gain
respectively,  is the wavelength used and R is the distance separating the emitter and the receiver. This
means that available power at a certain distance from the emitter decreases as the frequency increases.
Frequencies in the 1 GHz – 3 GHz range are considered to provide a good compromise between free space
attenuation and antenna dimensions. In this paper, we focused on the microwave capture and conversion in
the ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) band at 2.45 GHz.
Rectifier is a nonlinear circuit, which converts RF power into DC power. The mathematical relation
that describes the conversion efficiency is given by (2) [6].

P V /R
η (2)
P P

Where VR (V) is the output voltage drop across the load, RL () is the load value, Pr is the RF input
power at the receiving antenna’s output port, and PDC is the DC power entering at the load RL.
In general, a rectifier consists of a rectifying diode, an input and output matching networks, a band
pass or low pass filter, and a DC filter. The output DC filter is often constituted by a lumped shunt capacitor,
a distributed microstrip low pass filter or a radial stub. The microwave-to-DC rectifier can take several
configurations. The single series and shunt diode half wave rectifier circuit configurations are the most
popular. The voltage doubler topologies can be used so as to enhance the output DC voltage[9].
In [5], the authors propose an ISM band rectenna operating at 2.45 GHz. It consists of a circular
microstrip patch antenna and a series diode half wave rectifier. The maximum microwave-to-DC conversion
efficiency in this configuration is 34 % at -10 dBm of the RF incident upon the diode.
The four microwave rectifier circuits are reported in [9]. The rectifier configurations are single
series, shunt diode, voltage doubler and Villard voltage doubler. The highest conversion efficiency is 56.6 %.
In [10], the paper shows all the activities addressed to design a wideband system to recover wideband energy
from electromagnetic sources present in the environment for wireless sensor node. RF-DC conversion
efficiency reaches 37 %.
In this paper, we are presenting the design, simulation and fabrication of two rectifier circuit
topologies for microwave power transmission operating at S band. The first part of this paper presents several
design challenges of rectifier circuit. Fabrication and measurement of the proposed rectifier models are
presented in the subsequent parts. The printed circuit board (PCB) technology is used to minimize the circuit
size and losses. Finally, conclusions and future work of this research are discussed.

2. RECTIFIER CIRCUIT CONFIGURATIONS

2.1. Series Diode Half Wave Rectifier

Series diode half wave rectifier is made up of a diode and a capacitor. The rectifier blocks the
negative half cycle [9]. The basic structure of a series diode half wave rectifier is shown in Figure 2. The

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IJECE ISSN: 2088-8708  969

input impedance match network consists of microstrip lines TL1, TL2 and short stub TL3 working at S-
band. The choice of diodes plays an important role in the power conversion circuit. Accordingly, the diode
must have low reverse recovery time and the conversion efficiency must be high [11]. Schottky diode
HSMS2820 is chosen as conversion device for the design of rectenna system in the research. It has the
equivalent circuit parameters as follows, series resistance RS = 6 , zero bias junction capacitor Cj0 = 0.7 pF,
forward voltage VF = 0.34 V, and breakdown voltage VB = 15V. The output filter is composed of a chip
capacitor and a quarter-wavelength transmission line λ/4, which smoothes the DC voltage and reutilizes
harmonics energy [12]-[14]. Since the diode is connected in series, the harmonic waves are directly reflected
back, and then they are re-rectified by the diode. The DC power is collected by a load resistance. The circuit
is simulated in double sided FR4 (Dielectric constant = 4.34, Height = 1.6 mm, Thickness = 0.035 mm).
Rectifier circuits have a highly nonlinear behavior mostly because of the diode rectification process.
It is not practical to design sub parts separately because they highly interact with each other. The load of the
input filter depends on the diode and the output filter. For this reason, a global circuit optimization technique
must be used for dimensioning the passive components of the filter elements [6]. These optimizations were
made with the software ADS from Agilent Technologies. The ADS is chosen because of its excellence
features such as flexibility in schematic and layout editing and time efficient simulation. The detail
parameters of Schottky diodes that are used in both rectifier circuits can be obtained directly from the
component library in ADS [9].

Figure 2. The schematic of the series diode half wave rectifier

Our design is exported in terms of layout and fabricated by mean of LPFK Protomat – C40. The
layout dimension of the rectifier system is 4.2 cm  2.4 cm. It was fabricated using FR4 substrate. The
fabrication of the series diode half wave rectifier is illustrated in Figure 3.

(a) (b)

Figure 3. Layout (a) and Fabrication (b) of Series diode half wave rectifier

Investigation of Rectifier Circuit Configurations for Microwave Power Transmission … (Doan Huu Chuc)
970  ISSN: 2088-8708

The microwave signal generator Aligent 8648C is used as the microwave source for the power
amplifier using E-pHEMT MMG20271H. The DC voltage VRL on the load RL is measured by a voltage
meter. With the series diode half wave rectifier, it has been found in the experiment that this rectifying circuit
has the DC voltage of 5.7 V at 2.45 GHz with the load resistance of 220  when input power level is 26 dBm
(the maximum power level of the power amplifier MMG20271H). The output voltage and the measured RF-
DC conversion efficiency of the series rectifier are shown in Figure 4.
The highest conversion efficiency reaches 40.17 % with the load resistance of 220  at the input
power of 24 dBm. The conversion efficiency increases gradually with the input power when the input power
is less than 24dBm. The efficiency drops when the input power is more than 24 dBm. Between 22 dBm and
25 dBm input power, the efficiency exceeds 37%. The DC output voltage is 2.85 V @ 20 dBm, 4.2 V @ 23
dBm and reaches 5.7 V @ 26 dBm input power respectively. For practical applications, the antenna and
rectifier circuit can be integrated directly on one substrate by omitting SMA connectors. Eliminating the loss
of SMAs, the microwave to DC conversion efficiency can be higher.

10 50
Voltage
Efficiency

Conversion efficiency [%]

8
Output Voltage [V]

40
6

4
30

0 20
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
Input Power (dBm)

Figure 4. The output voltage and measured conversion efficiency of Series diode half wave rectifier

3.2. Voltage Doubler Rectifier

The voltage doubler rectifier (VDR) is an amplitude amplifying circuit that uses dual diodes. The
voltage doubler rectifier is composed of a peak rectifier formed by diode D1 and capacitor C1 and a voltage
clamp formed by diode D2 and capacitor C2 [6]. A dual diodes voltage doubler with only single capacitor is
unpopular but the VDR is a well defined single stage voltage doubler that doubling the amplitude of input
signals. In our design a HSMS2820 Schottky diode was also used in voltage doubler rectifier, and has a
voltage drop of 340mV. This low voltage drop provides high switching speed and better system efficiency.
The schematic of a VDR is shown in Figure 5. The microstrip lines required for efficient charging and
impedance transformation are shorter as compared to the other configurations. As a result, this configuration
has the potential to allocate smaller footprint. The merit of smaller form factor is significant because multiple
rectifiers are essential in rectenna array. In this circuit, the microstrip line TL2 is used for input matching and
the microstrip line TL3 is used for output matching.The circuit was designed, simulated and optimized using
Advance Design System (ADS), then it was fabricated on FR4 substrate for verification.

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IJECE ISSN: 2088-8708  971

Figure 5. The schematic of the voltage doubler rectifier

The layout and fabrication of the voltage doubler rectifier are shown in Figure 6. The dimension of
the rectifier system is 4 cm  1.4 cm. The PCB (Printed Circuit Board) was manufactured by a computer-
controlled machine LPFK Protomat - C40. Compared to the series diode half wave rectifier, the size of the
voltage double rectifier is smaller.

Figure 6. The layout and fabrication of the voltage doubler rectifier

The conversion efficiency is measured with respect to the rectifier load at range of 10 dBm to 26
dBm of input power. The optimal load resistance is around 330 for +23dBm input power at the frequency
of 2.45 GHz. The measured efficiency values are plotted in Figure 7. Accordingly, the maximum conversion
efficiency of 70.06 % is reached at 23 dBm of input power. From Figure 7, as can be seen that the conversion
efficiency increases until the input power reaches 23 dBm, then conversion efficiency decreases rapidly.
Between 16dBm and 25dBm input power, the conversion efficiency exceeds 60 %. The DC voltage output
level is 4.75 V @ 20 dBm, 6.8 V @ 23 dBm and 8.7V @ 26 dBm input power respectively. For practical
applications, the antenna and rectifier circuit can be integrated directly on one substrate omitting SMA
connectors. Without the loss of SMAs, the microwave to DC conversion efficiency can be higher.

Investigation of Rectifier Circuit Configurations for Microwave Power Transmission … (Doan Huu Chuc)
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Figure 7. Measured DC voltage and conversion efficiency of the voltage doubler rectifier

Figure 8 shows the measured conversion efficiency as a function of load resistance with respect to
different input powers. Accordingly, the measured rectifying efficiency is higher than 54% when the load
resistance is between 150 Ohm to 560 Ohm. The maximum DC output voltage is 11V with 560 Ohm load
resistance, the efficiency reaches 54.3 %. The highest efficiency attains 70.6 % with 330 Ohm load
resistance. The conversion efficiency also increases when the input power is less than 24 dBm. Then the
conversion efficiency drops rapidly when the input power is more than 24dBm because the diode voltage has
exceeded the breakdown voltage. As can be seen that the optimal load resistance is around 330  for all
input power levels at the frequency of 2.45 GHz. Compared to the series diode half wave rectifier, the VDR
has higher conversion efficiency as can be seen in Figure 7 and Figure 8. From this analysis, we conclude
that the voltage doubler rectifier has better performance compared to the series diode half rectifier.

Figure 8. Measured conversion efficiency versus load resistances

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3. CONCLUSION
A rectifier is one of the key technologies for microwave power transmission and energy harvesting.
Series diodes half wave and voltage double rectifier circuit configurations have been researched, designed
and measured for different load resistances. Good performances have been obtained in terms of microwave-
to-DC conversion efficiency. The measured conversion efficiency of voltage doubler rectifier is over 70 %.
The proposed rectifier circuits can be used for microwave power transmission systems applications. For
future work, the objective is to increase the rectifier performance in term of microwave – to – DC conversion
efficiency.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been sponsored by Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), under Project No.
QG.15.27.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS

Doan Huu Chuc was born in Hai Phong City, Vietnam, in 1978. He received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in engineering electronics from the Vietnam National University (VNU), Hanoi in 2000
and 2007, respectively. He is a Lecturer of Department of Electrical and Electronics, Hai Phong
Private University. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering at VNU,
where his dissertation is focused on microwave circuit designs for wireless power transmission
and high power semiconductor amplifiers.
Email: chucdh@hpu.edu.vn

Investigation of Rectifier Circuit Configurations for Microwave Power Transmission … (Doan Huu Chuc)
974  ISSN: 2088-8708

Assoc. Prof. Bach Gia Duong was born in Ha Dong Dist, Hanoi, Viet Nam, in 1950. He
received the B.S degree in radio physics in 1972 and the Ph.D. degree in wireless physics from
University of Science, in 1988. Since 2006, he is a Lecturer and Head of Electronics and
Telecommunication Center, University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National
University. He is the author of three books and more than 80 articles. His research focuses on RF
Analog Signal Processing, RF chip design, Radar Engineering and Technology, Automatic
Control.
Email: duongbg@vnu.edu.vn

IJECE Vol. 5, No. 5, October 2015 : 967 – 974