Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting Using a Glass Window

Abstract In this work, a new constructive and conceptual model for rectenna, using glass as dielectric substrate, was proposed. This research aims to produce a window for building facades that can harvest the electromagnetic energy available in the environment. For this proposal, a slotted patch antenna was designed with two main objectives: to have a low value of S11 parameter and to allow the maximum visibility through the glass. In order to accomplish an efficient radio frequency to direct current conversion, a voltage doubler rectifier was designed and built in the same glass substrate, directly connected to the antenna. The final system is a window composed of eight individual rectennas associated in parallel. For improving the window energy harvesting ability, a metamaterial structure was added to each rectenna element, which acts in order increases the patch antenna gain. Each rectenna was designed by using both Advanced Design System and Computer Simulation Technology softwares and optimized to operate at 2.45 GHz. The measured results show that the proposed rectenna model is an efficient solution to improve the total amount of harvested energy, which is enough to power a low consumption load.