JP2011050171A - Electromagnetic wave conversion device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manufacture a rectenna device high in voltage by connecting a large number of rectenna elements arranged on the same board in series without using a board which needs a complicated manufacturing method as in the case of a through-hole board. <P>SOLUTION: The rectenna device is manufactured by connecting the plurality of rectenna elements each having a wave receiving means which creates a high-frequency current by receiving an electromagnetic wave, and a rectification means which rectifies the high-frequency current fed by the wave receiving means. As the rectification means used in the device, there is employed a voltage-doubling circuit at which two output terminals can be formed on the same surface of the board, the respective rectenna elements are independent from one another, and any portion for connecting the respective rectenna elements in a continuous flow manner other than a connecting line for connecting the outputs of the rectenna elements in series is avoided to be formed, thus preventing interference between the rectenna elements and solving the problem. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for converting electromagnetic waves (mainly microwaves) into DC power.

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for a means of transporting electricity that does not use electric wires. As an example, it has been studied to place a solar cell in a satellite orbit around the earth and send the generated power to the earth as a microwave. The present invention was developed as an efficient device for receiving electromagnetic waves transmitted for the purpose of power transportation, including microwaves transmitted from this satellite, and converting them into DC power.

For an electromagnetic wave conversion device that converts electromagnetic waves into DC power, it is desirable that the output voltage is as high as possible. A method of increasing the output voltage by connecting a large number of elements in series may be used. In this case, a simple connection method without using a through hole or the like is desired. A known technique developed for such a purpose is disclosed in Patent Document 1 as a “rectenna apparatus”. The rectenna of this rectenna device is derived from rectifying antenna. This terminology is also used in the present invention. A combination of an antenna, a filter and a rectifier circuit is called a rectenna element, and a combination of a plurality of rectenna elements is used as a single electromagnetic wave conversion device. To do. The filter in the rectenna element can be omitted depending on conditions.

JP 2000-278887 A

There is a serious misconception about the rectenna device disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, and it seems that this rectenna device does not operate as intended by the inventor of Patent Document 1 due to interference between rectenna elements. It is. In view of such a current situation, the present invention provides a rectenna capable of obtaining a high output voltage by connecting a large number of rectenna elements in series without using a substrate such as a through-hole substrate that requires a complicated process. The task was to produce a device.

The present invention is characterized in that a plurality of rectenna elements are connected in series, and the total output voltage of the individual rectenna elements can be obtained as an output without interfering with each other. To that end, it is necessary to take measures to prevent the rectenna elements from interfering with each other, and this measure solved the problem. The specific method will be described in the “Description of Embodiments”.

According to the present invention, high-voltage DC power corresponding to the number of connected rectenna elements is output from the rectenna device.

It is a block diagram which shows the rectenna apparatus which becomes this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows a rectifier circuit. It is a circuit diagram of the rectifier circuit part of the rectenna apparatus which connected the 2nd input terminal in common.

Hereinafter, detailed embodiments of an electromagnetic wave conversion device according to the present invention and problems of known techniques will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and reference numerals attached thereto.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a rectenna device 10 which is an electromagnetic wave conversion device according to the present invention. The rectenna device 10 is a device in which a plurality of rectenna elements 11 composed of a wave receiving means comprising a wave receiving device 13 including an antenna 12 for receiving radio waves, a rectifying means comprising a filter 14 and a rectifier circuit 15 are connected in series by a connection line 16. It is. The filter 14 is not absolutely necessary, but is effective in preventing harmonics generated when high-frequency current passes through a non-linear element such as a diode from being radiated from the antenna 12.

A point to be noted here is a kind of interference between circuits that occurs when a plurality of rectenna elements 11 are connected. In order to avoid this interference, the rectenna elements 11 are all made independent, and there is no portion for connecting the rectenna elements 11 in a DC connection other than the connection line 16 for connecting the outputs of the rectenna elements 11 in series. is important.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram specifically showing the rectifier circuit 15 used as the rectifier of the rectenna element 11. This circuit has long been known as a double voltage rectification method or a double pressure detection method. A forward diode 23 and a reverse diode 24 are connected to the first input terminal 21 which is one of the pair of input terminals, and the other end of the forward diode 23 is connected to a capacitor 25. A connection point between the diode 23 and the capacitor 25 is connected to a first output terminal 27 serving as a positive pole of the output. The other end of the capacitor 25 is connected to the second input terminal 22 which is the other input terminal. The high frequency current (pulsating current) rectified by the diode 23 is stored in the capacitor 25.

Similarly, the other end of the diode 24 in the reverse direction is connected to another capacitor 26, and the connection point between the diode 24 and the capacitor 26 is connected to the second output terminal 28 which is the negative pole of the output. The other end of the capacitor 26 is also connected to the second input terminal 22. The reverse high-frequency current (pulsating flow) rectified by the diode 24 is stored in the capacitor 26. The capacitor 25 and the capacitor 26 are connected in series, and the output is taken out from both ends of the capacitors connected in series. The feature of this rectifier circuit is that the capacitor is connected in series, so that the output voltage is double that in the case of single-wave rectification, and the first output terminal and the second output terminal can be formed on the same surface of the substrate. .

This circuit can be configured as a lumped constant circuit or a distributed constant circuit, but when configured as a distributed constant circuit, the back conductor serving as the intermediate point of capacitors connected in series is another rectenna element. It is important to insulate the back conductor for each rectenna element so that it does not connect to the middle point of the capacitor.

The rectenna device 10 manufactured as described above has a large number of rectenna elements 11 connected in series without using a through-hole that requires a complicated process for manufacturing a substrate, regardless of whether the rectenna device 10 is constituted by a lumped constant circuit or a distributed constant circuit. It becomes possible to connect and manufacture, and high-voltage DC power corresponding to the number of connected rectenna elements 11 is output.

In the present invention, each rectenna element is insulated from each other, and there is no portion for connecting each rectenna element in a direct current other than a connection line for connecting outputs obtained by rectifying means in series. However, what kind of problem will occur if the second input terminals of the rectifier element rectifier circuit are commonly connected to each other now?

FIG. 3 is shown as a reference diagram. The second input terminal of each rectifier circuit is connected to a common planar conductor 31, and the output terminal of each rectifier circuit is connected to the rectenna element in series by a connection line 32. It is the rectifier circuit part of the connected rectenna device. In this figure, the rectifier circuit is shown as an actual circuit, not a block diagram.
When an actual circuit is inserted in this manner, a circuit of one rectenna element and a circuit of the next rectenna element are of a kind by the plane conductor 31 in which the connection line 32 for series connection and the second input terminal are commonly connected. It becomes apparent that an unexpected loop circuit indicated by a dotted line is formed. By this loop, two intermediate capacitors excluding the uppermost and lowermost capacitors are paired and short-circuited. Therefore, no matter how many rectifier circuits are connected in series, the output of the intermediate rectifier circuit is 0, and the overall output is not different from the case of one rectenna element.

When the second input terminal of the rectifier circuit is connected in common, the capacitor is short-circuited unless the input and the output are completely separated from each other by a transformer, a mutual induction coil, etc., and only a voltage corresponding to one rectenna element can be obtained. It will be. The rectenna device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is in this state, and it is assumed that only a voltage corresponding to one rectenna element can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rectenna apparatus 11 Rectenna element 12 Antenna 13 Receiver 14 Filter 15 Rectifier circuit 16 Connection line 21 First input terminal 22 Second input terminal 23 Diode 24 Diode 25 Capacitor 26 Capacitor 27 First output terminal 28 Second output terminal 31 Plane Conductor 32 Connection line

Claims (1)

A rectenna device comprising a plurality of rectenna elements each having a wave receiving means for generating a high-frequency current in response to an electromagnetic wave and a rectifying means for rectifying the high-frequency current supplied by the wave receiving means, and connecting them in series. Using a voltage doubler rectifier circuit that can form the first output terminal and the second output terminal on the same surface of the substrate as rectifying means, making all the rectenna elements independent and connecting lines connecting the outputs of the rectenna elements in series Other than the above, there is no part to connect each rectenna element in a direct current manner.