High-performance mobile power antennas

• US 6,400,274 B1
• Filed: 10/25/1999
• Issued: 06/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Bardwell-Jones, Ian, Ruggiero, Lou, Friedman, Daniel J., Duan, Dah-Weih, Heinrich, Harley Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): TWEEL JR, JOHN ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US09/426,235
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.7, 340/572.6, 340/572.4, 340/10.1, 340/10.34, 340/539, 340/551, 342/27, 342/44, 342/51
• US Class Current: 340/572.7
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/758 using a signal generator powered by the interrogation signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/29 Combinations of different interacting antenna units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q25/00 takes precedence

Abstract

An RFID tag'"'"'s mobility can be increased and cost can be decreased by using high-performance mobile power antennas instead of battery powered tags. Disclosed are some power antennas that include a half wave rectifier, a full wave rectifier, and a voltage multiplier. These antennas can be cascaded to boost the power or voltage gain. Additionally, planar elements can be added to increase efficiency without decreasing mobility.

Claims

1. An RF tag system for collecting power from an electromagnetic field with a carrier frequency comprising:

an antenna configuration that is substantially resonant at the carrier frequency and is excited by the electromagnetic field to cause an induced current to be present at antenna terminals of the antenna configuration, the induced current being at the carrier frequency;

one or more rectifiers that rectifies the induced current at the antenna terminals;

one or more capacitors that collects the rectified induced current to develop a voltage sufficient to power an electric circuit; and

attached RF tag circuitry comprising the electric circuit.

2. An antenna power collector system for collecting power from an electromagnetic field with a carrier frequency comprising:

a dipole antenna that is substantially resonant with the carrier frequency and is excited by the electromagnetic field that causes an induced current to be present at two antenna terminals, the induced current being at the carrier frequency;

one or more rectifiers that rectifies the induced current at the antenna terminals;

a modulation circuit that shorts and opens the antenna terminals at a modulation frequency in order to change the antenna impedance;

one or more capacitors that collect the rectified induced current to develop a voltage sufficient to power an electric circuit, the voltage being developed within one period of the modulation frequency.

3. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 2, where the rectifier and capacitor form a half wave rectifier.

4. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 3, where the dipole antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

5. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 3, where the dipole antenna is a bent dipole antenna.

6. An antenna power collector system as in claim 3, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

7. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 2, where the rectifier and capicitor form a full wave recifier.

8. An antenna power collector system as in claim 7, where the dipole antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

9. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 7, where the dipole antenna is a bent dipole antenna.

10. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 7, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

11. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 2, where the recifier and capicitor form a voltage doubling circuit.

12. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 11, where the dipole antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

13. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 11, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

14. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 11, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

15. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 2, where the rectifier and capacitor form a voltage N multiplier circuit.

16. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 15, where the dipole antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

17. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 15, where the dipole antenna is a bent dipole antenna.

18. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 15, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

19. An antenna power collector system for collecting power from an electromagnetic field with a carrier frequency comprising:

a dipole antenna that is resonant with the carrier frequency and is excited by the electromagnetic field that causes an induced current to be present at two antenna terminals, the induced current being at the carrier frequency;

one or more rectifiers that rectifies the induced current at the antenna terminals;

a modulation circuit that shorts and opens the antenna terminals at a modulation frequency in order to change the antenna impedance;

one or more capacitors that collect the rectified induced current to develop a voltage sufficient to power an electric circuit, the voltage being developed within one period of the modulation frequency, the capacitors combined with the rectifiers to form two or more rectifier circuits that are connected in series to increase the voltage that powers the electric circuit.

20. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 19, where the rectifier circuits can be any of the type including a half wave rectifier, a full wave rectifier, a voltage doubler, and a voltage multiplier.

21. An antenna power collector syste, as in claim 20, where the dipole antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

22. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 20, where the dipole antenna is a bent dipole antenna.

23. An antenna power collector system, as in claim 20, where the dipole antenna is a bent, folded dipole antenna.

24. An antenna power collector system for collecting power from an electromagnetic field with a carrier frequency comprising:

p1 an array of two or more dipole antennas that are resonant at the carrier frequency and are excited by the electromagnetic field to cause an induced current to be present at two antenna terminals on each of the antennas, the induced current being at the carrier frequency;

one or more rectifiers associated with each antenna that rectifies the induced current at the antenna terminals of each antenna respectively;

a modulation circuit that shorts and opens all the antenna terminals at a modulation frequency in order to change the antenna impedance of each antenna;

one more capacitors associated with each antenna that collects the rectified induced current and together with the rectifier associated with the respective antenna forms a rectifier circuit for each antenna;

whereby the rectifier circuit for each antenna is connected in series to develop a voltage sufficient to power an electric circuit, the voltage being developed within one period of the modulation frequency.

25. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 24, where one or more of the rectifying circuits is a half wave rectifier.

26. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 24, where one or more of the rectifying circuits is a full wave rectifier.

27. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 24, where one or more of the rectifying circuits is a voltage doubler.

28. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 24, where one or more of the rectifying circuits is a voltage multiplier.

29. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 24, where one or more of the dipoles is coplanar with the connections connecting the rectifier circuits.

30. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 29, where one or more of the dipoles is a folded dipole antenna.

31. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 29, where one or more of the dipole antennas is a bent dipole antenna.

32. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 29, where one or more of the dipole antennas is a folded, bent dipole antenna.

33. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 30, where one or more of the folded dipole antnas surrounds one or more other folded dipole antennas.

34. An antenna power collecting system, as in claim 33, where the folded dipole antennas are within twenty percent of each other in length.