Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MSECE)

Department

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Abdullah Eroglu

Abstract

Wireless sensors are used in many industrial and commercial applications. However powering up those sensors is challenging, because batteries have limited lifetime, require periodic maintenance, and their depositions are toxic to the environment. One of the new methods to power up those small sensors is to capture energy from ambient sources and convert it into a steady dc output voltage, which is known as energy harvesting or scavenging. In this thesis, we propose an energy harvesting method by scavenging the electromagnetic (EM), or radio frequency (RF) energy in the ambient and converting it into a steady dc output voltage that can be used to power up those sensors using novel rectification technique. That harvesting technique is called radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH). The proposed RFEH harvests energy in frequency bands between (900 MHz - 2.4 GHz) to generate a steady dc output voltage. The RFEH design consists of three stages dual-band rectifier based on Dickson’s topology, broadband matching circuit, and a step-up dc-dc boost converter. The aim of the proposed design method is to generate a steady dc output voltage that can charge a Lithium-Ion battery or a super-capacitor that eventually can energize sensors. Both the rectifier and booster were designed and then simulated in Advanced Design System 2019 (ADS) to determine the output characteristics and efficiency when the input power is low (-19 to -23 dBm, rectifier’s input power). The simulation results verified that three stages dual-band rectifier outperformed even larger stages in terms of efficiency. Each of the rectifier and booster circuits have been tested separately and then interfaced with each other to measure the final dc output voltage of the RFEH.

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