Antenas bioinspiradas em plantas para recuperação de energia eletromagnética do ambiente.

Abstract

In order to power low-consumption systems, an alternative to conventional batteries is energy harvesting, which consists in converting energy forms that already exist in nature in electric energy. This work aims at the implementation of antennas for rectenna systems, which harvest electromagnetic energy from waves and convert them in DC voltage. In order to do so, bio-inspired shapes for antennas were studied using Gielis’ superformula, which allows the mathematical description of natural contours. Furthermore, electromagnetic power in the environment was measured for the frequency band between 1 and 4 GHz in indoor and outdoor environments in order to identify the frequency bands that concentrate the biggest amount of energy. From the maximum measured values, three bio-inspired antennas were proposed to be used in rectennas: raspberry flower, tulip and anemone flower. The topologies were simulated in HFSS software and tested with vector network analyzer. Then, for each proposed antenna, tests were performed with spectrum analyzer, in order to verify their good operation when used as power harvesting element. Experimental results confirm their suitability for such systems.