Effects of Weather Events on Wireless Power Receiver Arrays

This talk describes environmental testing of a 5×5 array of 10-GHz patch antenna rectifier antennas (rectennas), composed of unit cell modules (Montgomery et al., European Microwave Conference, Sept. 2024). These arrays can be scaled to larger sizes, including up to 25×25 elements to form a one meter by one meter array. The main substrate of the array is flexible PTFE foam, chosen for its hydrophobic properties and ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures. For the ground plane, a copper fabric is chosen for mechanical flexibility. The top substrate with metallization for the antennas and circuitry is polyamide with copper cladding, with silicon Schottky diodes soldered to rectify the received RF incident waves and deliver power to a dc load. The motivation for the design of the scalable rectenna arrays is to quickly provide power in energy denied environments regardless of conditions such as weather or time of day. The rectenna array therefore needs to be able to withstand a variety of weather conditions with little to no deterioration in its operation.