A feasibility study on a voltage-doubler-type rectenna

We propose a voltage-doubler-type rectenna as a simple, compact and lightweight rectenna. As a feasibility study, we evaluate a 2.45 GHz voltage-doubler-type rectenna, in which Schottky diodes are mounted both in series and in shunt at the feed point of a half-wave dipole antenna, from measurements and circuit simulations. The measured rf-dc conversion efficiency of the prototype rectenna was 47.4 % at the output load of 1.5 kΩ and the receiving power density of 1 mW/cm2. From circuit simulations, the maximum efficiency of 63.5 % was obtained at 600 Ω under the assumed receiving power density of 1.6 mW/cm2.