The present disclosure relates to a Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure, an electromagnetic wave energy absorber, a thermoelectric energy harvester, a photoconductive antenna, an array antenna and a rectenna. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an ultra-wideband omnidirectional and polarization insensitive Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure applied to an electromagnetic wave energy absorber, a thermoelectric energy harvester, a photoconductive antenna, an array antenna and a rectenna.
The power is often the limiting factor, as the modern society is being highly dependent on battery sources for ultra-low power electronic devices, This leads to the tedious task of disposing and replacing large numbers of batteries that cause environmental pollution. Ambient electromagnetic (EM) energy harvesting offers a green and sustainable approach to this problem. To date, numerous approaches have been investigated for collecting such freely available EM radiation energy. Among them, some of the research groups proposed and experimentally demonstrated mechanically flexible, strongly polarization independent and near unity broadband absorbers. However, the structures of the broadband absorbers in prior art can only work within a limited frequency band, which limits their practical applications.
The concept of capturing EM energy using antenna has been around few decades. This involves collecting ambient EM radiation and converts it into electrical energy for powering the low power electronic devices. An energy harvester can do the job to convert such ambient EM energy into useable electrical energy. Among all the visible energy harvesting is primarily implemented on an industrial scale using photovoltaic (PV) and thermal solar cells. However, these cells suffer from performance due to certain factors such as narrowband absorption, bad weather and only daytime supply of visible light. Therefore, an alternative approach that can alleviate such problems is highly desirable. Moreover, the traditional solar cells are not collecting most of the solar radiation in the IR region. In order to deal with the current renewable energy crisis, collect waste heat at infrared wavelengths and even longer wavelengths and turn it into usable energy is highly desirable.
In view of the problems, how to establish the perfect broadband absorbers minimizing reflection and transmission and maximizing the absorption bandwidth in the broad frequency range are indeed highly anticipated by the public and become the goal and the direction of relevant industry efforts.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure includes a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer and a second conductive layer. The first conductive layer includes a plurality of first metal units and a plurality of second metal units. The first metal units are arranged around each other to form a first tapered hole. The second metal units are located in the first tapered hole and arranged around each other to form a second tapered hole. The dielectric layer is connected to the first conductive layer, and includes a plurality of third metal units and a plurality of fourth metal units. The third metal units are aligned with the first metal units, respectively. The fourth metal units are aligned with the second metal units, respectively. The second conductive layer is connected to the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer is located between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The first tapered hole has at least one first center line passed through a center of the first tapered hole. The second tapered hole has at least one second center line passed through a center of the second tapered hole. An included angle between the at least one first center line and the at least one second center line is 45 degrees.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an electromagnetic wave energy absorber includes a nanoantenna. The nanoantenna includes at least one Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect. The nanoantenna is configured to absorb an incident radiation, and a frequency of the incident radiation is f, and the following condition is satisfied: 25 THz<f≤800 THz.
According to one another aspect of the present disclosure, thermoelectric energy harvester includes a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer, a second conductive layer, a contact electrode and a coaxial cable. The first conductive layer receives a heat radiation, and includes a plurality of first metal units and a plurality of second metal units. The first metal units are arranged around each other to form a first tapered hole. The second metal units are located in the first tapered hole and arranged around each other to form a second tapered hole. The dielectric layer is connected to the first conductive layer. The second conductive layer is connected to the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer is located between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The contact electrode is disposed through the dielectric layer and electrically connected between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The coaxial cable is electrically connected to the contact electrode and converts the heat radiation into a direct current according to a Seebeck effect. The first tapered hole has at least one first center line passed through a center of the first tapered hole. The second tapered hole has at least one second center line passed through a center of the second tapered hole. An included angle between the at least one first center line and the at least one second center line is 45 degrees.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, photoconductive antenna is configured to replace one of a spiral antenna and a bow tie antenna. The photoconductive antenna includes the first conductive layer of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect, a photo-absorbing semiconductor layer and the second conductive layer of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect. The photo-absorbing semiconductor layer is connected to the first conductive layer, and a structure of the photo-absorbing semiconductor layer is same as a structure of the dielectric layer of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect. The second conductive layer is connected to the photo-absorbing semiconductor layer, and the photo-absorbing semiconductor layer is located between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, an array antenna includes a plurality of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect. A plurality of the first conductive layers of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structures are arranged at intervals. A plurality of the dielectric layers of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structures are arranged at intervals. A plurality of the second conductive layers of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure are connected to each other or formed integrally.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, a rectenna is used for a communication or an energy harvesting device and includes the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure of the aforementioned aspect and a rectifier module. The Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure receives a radio frequency signal or a radiation. The rectifier module is electrically connected to the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure and converts the radio frequency signal or the radiation from an alternating current into a direct current.
The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
The embodiment will be described with the drawings. For clarity, some practical details will be described below. However, it should be noted that the present disclosure should not be limited by the practical details, that is, in some embodiment, the practical details is unnecessary. In addition, for simplifying the drawings, some conventional structures and elements will be simply illustrated, and repeated elements may be represented by the same labels,
It will be understood that when an element (or device) is referred to as be “connected to” another element, it can be directly connected to the other element, or it can be indirectly connected to the other element, that is, intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as be “directly connected to” another element, there are no intervening elements present. In addition, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used herein to describe various elements or components, these elements or components should not be limited by these terms. Consequently, a first element or component discussed below could be termed a second element or component.
Please refer to
The first conductive layer 200 includes a plurality of first metal units 210 and a plurality of second metal units 220. The first metal units 210 are arranged around each other to form a first tapered hole 230. The second metal units 220 are located in the first tapered hole 230 and arranged around each other to form a second tapered hole 240.
The dielectric layer 300 is connected to the first conductive layer 200, and includes a plurality of third metal units 310 and a plurality of fourth metal units 320. The third metal units 310 are arranged around each other to form a third tapered hole 330. The fourth metal units 320 are located in the third tapered hole 330 and arranged around each other to form a fourth tapered hole 340. In addition, the third metal units 310 are aligned with the first metal units 210, respectively. The fourth metal units 320 are aligned with the second metal units 220, respectively.
The second conductive layer 400 is connected to the dielectric layer 300. The dielectric layer 300 is located between the first conductive layer 200 and the second conductive layer 400. The second conductive layer 400 can include a surface 401. Each of the first metal units 210 and each of the third metal units 310 are laminated and cover the surface 401, and each of the second metal units 220 and each of the fourth metal units 320 are laminated and cover the surface 401; in other words, the pattern of the first conductive layer 200 is the same as the pattern of the dielectric layer 300.
It is worth explaining that the first tapered hole 230 has at least one first center line CL1 passed through a center of the first tapered hole 230. The second tapered hole 240 has at least one second center line CL2 passed through a center of the second tapered hole 240. The center of the first tapered hole 230 and the center of the second tapered hole 240 are the same, and the center is located at the middle of the first conductive layer 200. In detail, a number of the at least one first center line CL1 can be two, and a number of the at least one second center line CL2 can be two. The two first center lines CL1 are perpendicular to each other, and the two second center lines CL2 are perpendicular to each other. It is worth noting that, an included angle θ between the at least one first center line CL1 and the at least one second center line CL2 is 45 degrees. As same as the first conductive layer 200, the third tapered hole 330 in the dielectric layer 300 has at least one third center line (not shown) passed through a center of the third tapered hole 330, the fourth tapered hole 340 in the dielectric layer 300 has at least one fourth center line (not shown) passed through a center of the fourth tapered hole 340, and an included angle between the at least one third center line and the at least one fourth center line is 45 degrees.
In particular, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 of the present disclosure can be applied to an electromagnetic (EM) wave absorber for EM energy harvesting. Perfect EM wave absorber is a device in which all incident radiation is absorbed efficiently at the operating wavelengths. Once the radiation is absorbed by the device, it transformed into ohmic heat or other form of energies. Thus, reflection, transmission, scattering and all other waves propagation are not observed as they pass through the perfect EM wave absorber. In general, the conventional absorbers are made of materials with high intrinsic losses, but the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 of the present disclosure can be mainly made of noble metals.
In detail, the first conductive layer 200 consists of lossy metal nickel (Ni). The dielectric layer 300 consists of a highly insulated material, and the highly insulated material is SU-8. The second conductive layer 400 consists of lossy metal gold (Au). The first conductive layer 200 and the dielectric layer 300 are patterned whereas the second conductive layer 400 dose not pattern, instead it is kept continuous layer to avoid transmission of EM waves. The dielectric layer 300 is sandwiched between the first conductive layer 200 and the second conductive layer 400. Properties of the aforementioned materials are listed in Table 1, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
Further, a thickness of the first conductive layer 200 is Z1, a thickness of the dielectric layer 300 is Z2, a thickness of the second conductive layer 400 is Z3, and the following condition is satisfied: Z1=Z3≤Z2. The thickness Z1 of the first conductive layer 200 is greater than a skin depth of the first conductive layer 200, the thickness Z2 of the dielectric layer 300 is greater than a penetration depth of the dielectric layer 300, and the thickness Z3 of the second conductive layer 400 is greater than a skin depth of the second conductive layer 400. In the first embodiment, the thickness Z1 of the first conductive layer 200 and the thickness Z3 of the second conductive layer 400 are 200 nm. The thickness Z2 of the dielectric layer 300 is 500 nm with a relative permittivity (ϵr) of 2.8. The overall thickness of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 is 900 nm. Both of a length L and a width W of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 are 1000 nm, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
Please refer to
Further, each of the second metal units 220 can include an outer curved surface 221 and an inner curved surface 222. The outer curved surface 221 and the inner curved surface 222 form a leaf pattern on the surface of the first conductive layer 200. The inner curved surfaces 222 of each two of the second metal units 220 adjacent to each other are connected to each other. The inner curved surfaces 222 of the second metal units 220 form four peaks 223, two of the peaks 223 are located on one of the second center lines CL2, and another two of the peaks 223 are located on the other of the second center lines CL2.
In detail, the structure of the first conductive layer 200 is tapered in such a way that generates four identical flower petals (i.e., the first metal units 210). The identical flower petals are around four identical leaf patterns (i.e., the second metal units 220) in the center of the first conductive layer 200. Each of the second metal units 220 near the center of the first conductive layer 200 is planned by using six spline curves in SOLIDWORKS®, and then the structure formed by the second metal units 220 is rotated by 90° relative to the structure formed by the first metal units 210. In the same way, the structure of the dielectric layer 300 is not described again herein. Therefore, such tapered structure of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 of the present disclosure can combine with a nanoantenna to confine Infrared (IR), entire visible and part of UV-visible band. In addition, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 includes a Metal-Dielectric-Metal (MDM) configuration in which both the first conductive layer 200 and the dielectric layer 300 are tapered to generate a groove-like structure (e.g., Duo Aloe Vera cruces Concentricis, in Latin language) which can confine and cover the wavelength of different frequencies. Due to the symmetry of the structure of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100, it allows polarization not to be a factor in the detection of plane waves. The second metal units 220 inside the first conductive layer 200 cover the higher frequency regime whereas the first metal units 210 outside the first conductive layer 200 cover the layer frequency regime for the absorption of EM waves. The Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 of the present disclosure is described in more detail with the drawing and the embodiment below.
A taper structure of the first conductive layer 200 is defined as exponential curves in the x-y plane as shown in
In the equations (1), (2) and (3), the opening rate R is represented as R. A x-coordinate of the x-y plane is represented as x. A y-coordinate of the x-y plane is represented as y. A x-coordinate of the point P1 is represented as x1. A y-coordinate of the point P1 is represented as y1. A x-coordinate of the point P2 is represented as x2. A y-coordinate of the point P2 is represented as y2. A first variable value is represented as c1, and a second variable value is represented as c2.
As shown in
For the exponential taper defined by the equation (1), the taper slope (i.e., S) changes continuously from S1 to S2, where S11 and S2 are the taper slopes at x=x1 and at x=x2, respectively, and S1<S<S2 for R>0.
In the same way, for each of the second metal units 220, a profile of both the outer curved surface 221 and the inner curved surface 222 can also be another exponential taper. The another exponential taper is defined by an opening rate R′ and two points P2, P2′ in the x-y plane and satisfies a plurality of following equations (7), (8) and (9):
In the equations (7), (8) and (9), the opening rate R′ is represented as R′. A x-coordinate of the x-y plane is represented as x. A y-coordinate of the x-y plane is represented as y. A x-coordinate of the point P2 is represented as x2. A y-coordinate of the point P2 is represented as y2. A x-coordinate of the point P2′ is represented as x′2. A y-coordinate of the point P1 is represented as y′2. A first variable value is represented as c′1, and a second variable value is represented as c′2.
As shown in
For the another exponential taper defined by the equation (7), the taper slope (i.e., S′) changes continuously from S′1 to S′2, where S′1 and S′2 are the taper slopes at x=x2 and at x=x′2, respectively, and S′1<S′<S′2 for R′>0. The parameters and dimensions of the first conductive layer 200 are listed in Table 2, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
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It should be noted that the dielectric layer 620 in
100611 The thermoelectric energy harvester 600 can be a portable or wearable thermoelectric generator, which uses the flexible conductive thermoelectric materials and the ultra-wideband antenna as one of the heat receiving end of thermoelectric (TE) module so that ambient energy from the surrounding can be captured. The TE module is basically a circuit consists of two distinct thermoelectric materials that when combine can generate electricity from heat directly. The TE module consists of two dissimilar thermoelectric materials Joining in their ends. One end makes of an N-type (electron rich) semiconductor, the other one makes of a P-type (electron lacking) semiconductor. In detail, the first conductive layer 610 consists of a P-type semiconductor, and the second conductive layer 630 consists of an N-type semiconductor. In particular, the P-type semiconductor of the first conductive layer 610 consists of nickel or one of a plurality of P-type conductive materials, and the N-type semiconductor of the second conductive layer consists of gold or one of a plurality of N-type conductive materials. The first conductive layer 610 utilizes the two concentric tapering crosses structure as a heat receiving end of the thermoelectric energy harvester 600 to improve energy absorption and frequency range.
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In the following part, the characteristics of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structures 100 and the array antenna 800 are tested, and the results thereof will be discussed.
<Test for Reflectance, Transmittance and Absorptance>
In order to shed light on the physical origin of ultra-wideband (UWB) absorption, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 and the array antenna 800 are tested under normal incidence to obtain reflectance, transmittance and absorptance. Please refer to
This UWB and high absorption originates from the mutual coupling and overlapping between the consecutive resonances in the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100. The interaction between the incoming waves and the tapered structure of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 causes more energy to be consumed by the antenna. In this case, most of the reflected waves are destructively coherent with each other within the operating frequency range, and therefore less amount incident wave is reflected back from the surface, resulting in a wide band absorption.
<Test for Impedance>
Please refer to
The incident wave will be reflected or absorbed as it propagates as a plane wave on the tapered structure of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100, depending on the mismatch of impedance of the structure to the free space impedance. The strong impedance matching between the array antenna 800 and the surrounding free space is a reason to achieve this broadband characteristic. The second conductive layer 400 of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 is sufficiently larger than the skin depth in the operating frequency regime, which causes negligible transmission (nearly zero) and results in high structural absorption.
<Test for Electric Field Distribution>
In order to figure out the underlying physics behind such ultra.-wideband absorption, an electric field distribution of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 is investigated. Please refer to
<Test for Power Flow>
Please refer to
<Tests for Transverse Electric (TE) mode and Transverse Magnetic (TM) Mode>
For the practical applications, the polarization-independent performance and a wide-angle incident wave are vitally important, since in some situations the incident wave is obliquely incident to the device. Therefore, polarization insensitivity of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 is tested for normal as well as oblique incidences. Please refer to
In
In
<Tests for Farfield Directivity and Gain>
Please refer to
The gain of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100, which is a measure of the maximum effectiveness with which the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 can radiate or absorb the power delivered to/ received by it from the external power or radiation source. More specifically, it is defined as the maximum radiation intensity produced/absorbed by the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 100 compared to that given by a lossless isotropic antenna supplied with or received by the same amount of power. In
Please refer to
The first conductive layer 911 of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 910 receives a radio frequency signal Rf or a radiation (not shown). The rectifier module 920 is electrically connected to the second conductive layer 913 of the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure 910 and converts the radio frequency signal Rf or the radiation from an alternating current AC into a direct current DC. The direct current DC is delivered to a load RL and provides a power source for the load RL. Specifically, in response to determining that the rectenna 900 receives RF signals, the rectenna 900 can be used for the communication. In response to determining that the rectenna 900 receives the radiation, the rectenna 900 can be used for energy harvesting. It is worth noting that, the rectenna 900 of the sixth embodiment is a completely different energy harvesting device from the thermoelectric energy harvester 600 of
In summary, the present disclosure has the following advantages. First, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure has an excellent absorption bandwidth of 84.5% absorbance reaches as high as 775 THz from 25 to 800 THz under the normal incidence. Second, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure generates less than 5% absorption deviation between normal to 45° incident angle and 0.05% absorption deviation between and 90° polarization for both TE and TM modes. Third, the Duo Aloe Vera Cruces Concentricis antenna structure is omnidirectional due to its HPBW or 3 dB bandwidth of 209.8° at 278.5 THz.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fail within the scope of the following claims.