Electron cyclotron converters of microwaves in wireless power transmission systems

A proposal to use special electron cyclotron devices as effective converters of electromagnetic waves into direct current in modern microwave systems for wireless transmission of electrical energy to the Earth via a microwave channel from solar space power plants located on board geostationary satellites is considered. Such converters are a product of domestic development, they can have a conversion efficiency of more than 80%, they are insensitive to overloads and are several orders of magnitude more economical than the well-known semiconductor rectennas (rectifying antennas). Semiconductor rectennas, assembled from a multitude of individual semiconductor diodes with a Schottky barrier, in the process of nonlinear conversion of microwaves, generate parasitic radiation that forms a powerful electromagnetic background, which seriously interferes with the stable operation of information systems of special and general civil communications. In addition, the cost of semiconductor rectennas is several orders of magnitude higher than that of electron-cyclotron converters with the same input microwave power. Due to the high compactness of the electronic converters, they can also be installed on an intermediate satellite platform in the stratosphere, receiving the energy of the Sun through a laser beam from a geostationary orbit and transmitting it to the Earth with practically no loss through the microwave channel. The possibilities of using electron cyclotron converters in ground-based systems for wireless energy transmission are also promising. Already the first electron cyclotron converters, created at the “Torii” enterprise according to the project of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, had an efficiency of over 60% at an input microwave power of 10 kW.