Design of RF energy harvesting platforms for power management unit with start-up circuits

13th International Conference on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications

物理学;能源学

Costanzo, Alessandra^1 ; Masotti, Diego^1

DEI, University of Bologna, Italy^1

关键词: Application circuits;    Input power;    Power management unit;    Power management units (PMU);    Rectifier topologies;    RF energy harvesting;    Start up circuits;    Steady-state power;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/476/1/012043/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/476/1/012043

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

In this contribution we discuss an unconventional rectifier design dedicated to RF energy harvesting from ultra-low sources, such as ambient RF sources which are typically of the order of few to few tens of μW. In such conditions unsuccessful results may occur if the rectenna is directly connected to its actual load since either the minimum power or the minimum activation voltage may not be simultaneously available. For this reason a double-branch rectifier topology is considered for the power management unit (PMU), instead of traditional single-branch one. The new PMU, interposed between the rectenna and application circuits, allows the system to operate with significantly lower input power with respect to the traditional solution, while preserving efficiency during steady-state power conversion.