A Two-Stage Rectifier With Adaptive Power Distribution for Extending the Input Power Range

A two-stage rectifier with an adaptive power distribution network (APDN) to achieve high conversion efficiency over an extended input power range is proposed. The circuit consists of two diodes as rectifying elements for operating at low input-power and high input-power levels, respectively. The adaptive power distribution strategy allows nonlinear power division according to the input power levels. The power flowing into each rectifier cell is optimized to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) within a wide input power range. In this letter, the first-stage and the second-stage rectifiers are, respectively, designed for low input-power and high input-power rectification. A prototype of the two-stage rectifier operating at 2.4 GHz is fabricated and measured for demonstration. The results show that the conversion efficiency can maintain exceeding 50% within the input power range of −1.6 to 24.4 dBm, with a peak PCE of 71.2% at an input power of 12 dBm.