Enhanced RF to DC converter with LC resonant circuit

Presented in this paper is an experimental comparison of the conventional and proposed design circuit of a radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting. RF to DC energy harvester simply consists of antenna and rectifier block for receiving electromagnetic radiation signal and to produce a DC voltage, respectively. In addition to this conventional circuit, the proposed design includes LC tank circuit as receiving block of a well-designed antenna radio frequency receiver. Proper choice of an antenna type, realizing of point contact Germanium diodes as rectifier and correct design values for the LC passive components, greatly improved the measurement of the maximum output power, giving approximately a 100% increase compared to the conventional method. Experimental results of the enhanced RF to DC converter measured a maximum output power of 1.80 mW at a distance of 77.84 meters from a TV signal tower operating at 165 MHz. Thus, the harvested signal was enough to supply a low power wireless device applications without battery maintenance.