A soft waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies and a method for preparing the same

Abstract

A soft waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies and a preparation method thereof, comprising a metal tube, the outer surface of which is distributed with a plurality of outer grooves, and the metal tube adopts a hollow structure; the inner surface of the metal tube is distributed with a plurality of inner grooves, and the inner surface and outer surface of the metal tube are provided with a first coating and a second coating respectively; one end of the metal tube is connected to a first flange, and the other end of the metal tube is connected to a second flange; the outer side of the metal tube is sleeved with a sheath. The present invention can be bent within the range allowed by the bending radius without affecting the electrical performance indicators of the soft waveguide itself; at the same time, it can also be stretched or compressed in the axial direction, and its own electrical performance indicators are not affected during the stretching or compression process; the structure also has a certain airtightness, and can achieve an airtight function without the need for additional coating protection of rubber or other materials.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of soft waveguide processing, and in particular relates to a soft waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequency and a preparation method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Among the high-frequency electromagnetic wave 50GHz transmission solutions, common methods include hard waveguides, coaxial cables, microstrip lines, etc. Compared with soft waveguides, hard waveguides themselves cannot be bent, have a fixed length, and cannot be flexibly adapted to various application scenarios; although coaxial cables can be bent flexibly, their own insertion loss is large, and their voltage standing wave ratio is relatively high, and their electrical performance is worse than that of soft waveguides; although microstrip lines have high integration and small size, their structure is fixed and not flexible enough, and their transmission performance is not as good as that of soft waveguides.

[0003] At present, the soft waveguides in the industry are formed by two methods: winding silver-plated copper tape or extruding thin-walled copper tubes to achieve a corrugated corrugated structure. The highest frequency of the waveguides produced by these two methods can cover soft waveguide products below 50GHz. With the rapid development of communication technology, the frequency of electromagnetic waves in various laboratories and engineering application scenarios is gradually increasing. However, with the increase in frequency, the cross-sectional size of the soft waveguide becomes smaller, and it is no longer possible to produce soft waveguide products with smaller calibers based on the existing traditional processes. This greatly restricts the development of high-frequency communication technology above 50GHz. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies and a preparation method thereof. The specific technical solution is as follows:

[0005] A flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies, comprising a metal tube, wherein the outer surface of the metal tube is provided with a plurality of outer grooves, and the metal tube is hollow; the inner surface of the metal tube is provided with a plurality of inner grooves, and the inner surface and the outer surface of the metal tube are provided with a first coating and a second coating respectively;

[0006] One end of the metal pipe is connected to the first flange, and the other end of the metal pipe is connected to the second flange; the outer side of the metal pipe is sleeved with a sheath.

[0007] Furthermore, the inner grooves and the outer grooves are distributed at equal distances, and the inner grooves and the outer grooves are formed by chemical etching or laser etching.

[0008] Furthermore, the width of the inner groove and the outer groove is 0.1 mm, the depth is 0.05 mm, and the spacing between the inner grooves and the spacing between the outer grooves is 0.1 mm.

[0009] Furthermore, a socket is provided at the center of the first flange and the second flange, and both ends of the metal pipe are inserted into and connected to the sockets of the first flange and the second flange by welding or resin bonding.

[0010] Furthermore, the first plating layer and the second plating layer are silver plating layers, and the thickness of the first plating layer and the second plating layer is 3-5 μm.

[0011] A method for preparing a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies, the method comprising:

[0012] Forming a hollow metal tube by machining;

[0013] Forming inner and outer grooves on the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube by chemical etching or laser etching;

[0014] silver plating the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube;

[0015] Connecting the two ends of the silver-plated hollow metal tube to flanges;

[0016] A sheath is formed on the outer side of the metal pipe after the flange is connected.

[0017] Furthermore, the mechanical processing method includes one of wire cutting and drawing.

[0018] Furthermore, the sheath is formed by manually brushing or molding the outer side of the metal tube with room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber.

[0019] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0020] The present invention can be bent within the range allowed by the bending radius without affecting the electrical performance indicators of the soft waveguide itself; at the same time, it can also be stretched or compressed in the axial direction, and its own electrical performance indicators are not affected during the stretching or compression process; the structure also has a certain airtightness, and the airtightness function can be achieved without the need for additional coating layer protection of rubber and other materials; the present invention improves the transmission frequency of the soft waveguide, and its excellent softness is flexibly applied to various mechanical compensation positions, which can greatly reduce the design difficulty of high-frequency device products and reduce the processing cycle and manufacturing cost of high-frequency electromagnetic wave systems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 The overall structural diagram of an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0022] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the internal structure of the sheath according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0023] Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of the connection between a metal pipe and a flange in an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0024] As shown in the figure: 1. first flange, 11. socket, 2. sheath, 3. second flange, 4. metal tube, 41. outer groove, 42. inner groove, 5. first coating, 6. second coating. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0026] A soft waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequency comprises a metal tube, wherein the outer surface of the metal tube is distributed with a plurality of outer grooves, and the metal tube adopts a hollow structure; the inner surface of the metal tube is distributed with a plurality of inner grooves, and the inner surface and the outer surface of the metal tube are respectively provided with a first coating and a second coating; one end of the metal tube is connected to a first flange, and the other end of the metal tube is connected to a second flange; the outer side of the metal tube is sleeved with a sheath; the present invention can be bent within the range allowed by the bending radius without affecting the electrical performance index of the soft waveguide itself; at the same time, it can also be stretched or compressed in the axial direction, and its own electrical performance index is not affected during the stretching or compression process, and the soft performance of the soft waveguide structure is flexibly applied to various mechanical compensation positions, which can greatly reduce the design difficulty of high-frequency device products and reduce the processing cycle and manufacturing cost of high-frequency electromagnetic wave systems.

[0027] As an improvement of the above technical solution, the inner grooves and the outer grooves are evenly distributed, and the inner grooves and the outer grooves are formed by chemical etching or laser etching, which facilitates the preparation of soft waveguide products with smaller calibers.

[0028] As an improvement of the above technical solution, the width of the inner groove and the outer groove is 0.1 mm, the depth is 0.05 mm, and the spacing between the inner grooves and the spacing between the outer grooves is 0.1 mm.

[0029] As an improvement of the above technical solution, a socket is provided at the center of the first flange and the second flange, and both ends of the metal pipe are inserted into and connected to the inside of the socket of the first flange and the second flange by welding or resin bonding, and the connection is firm and stable.

[0030] As an improvement of the above technical solution, the first coating and the second coating are silver coatings, and the thickness of the first coating and the second coating is 3-5 μm, which effectively reduces the insertion loss of the flexible waveguide.

[0031] Figure 1 The overall structure diagram of an embodiment of the present invention is shown, for example, Figure 1 As shown, the structure of the flexible waveguide includes a sheath 2 , a first flange 1 is provided at the left end of the sheath 2 , and a second flange 3 is provided at the right end of the sheath 2 .

[0032] Figure 2 FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the sheath according to an embodiment of the present invention, for example, Figure 2 As shown, a metal tube 4 is provided inside the sheath 2, an outer side of the metal tube 4 is provided with an outer groove 41, and an inner wall of the metal tube 4 is provided with an inner groove 42; and a first coating layer 5 is provided on the inner side of the metal tube 4, and a second coating layer 6 is provided on the outer side of the metal tube 4.

[0033] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the structure of the metal pipe and the flange connection in the embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 3 As shown, the left end of the metal tube 4 is inserted into the insertion hole 11 of the first flange 1 , and the right end of the metal tube 4 is inserted into the insertion hole 11 of the second flange 3 .

[0034] A method for preparing a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies, the method comprising:

[0035] Forming a hollow metal tube by machining;

[0036] Forming inner and outer grooves on the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube by chemical etching or laser etching;

[0037] silver plating the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube;

[0038] Connecting the two ends of the silver-plated hollow metal tube to flanges;

[0039] A sheath is formed on the outer side of the metal pipe after the flange is connected.

[0040] As an improvement of the above technical solution, the mechanical processing method includes one of wire cutting and drawing.

[0041] As an improvement of the above technical solution, the sheath is made by manually brushing or molding the outer side of the metal tube with room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber.

[0042] Implementation case, step 1: processing a thin-walled rectangular metal hollow tube, specifically, using a mechanical processing method, such as a wire cutting method or a drawing method, to process a hollow metal tube with a hollow center and a rectangular cross section; in this embodiment, the selected material is H62 brass, the wall thickness is 0.18mm, and the inner diameter size of the rectangle is 2.54mm*1.27mm;

[0043] Step 2: Processing the groove structure of the inner and outer tube walls. Specifically, using chemical etching or laser etching and other methods, grooves are processed on the inner and outer walls of the rectangular hollow metal tube processed in step 1; in this embodiment, the groove width is 0.1mm, the groove depth is 0.05mm, and the groove spacing is 0.1mm; but it is not limited to this, and the size can be adjusted according to the actual processing technology.

[0044] Step 3: Silver plating of the tube wall. Specifically, silver is plated on the inner and outer walls of the corrugated tube processed in step 2 to improve the conductivity of the tube body and reduce the insertion loss of the soft waveguide. In this embodiment, the thickness of the silver plating layer can be 3-5 microns.

[0045] Step 4: Welding the flange. Specifically, connect the silver-plated bellows processed in step 3 to the flange. The connection can be made by heating with solder material, or by bonding with conductive resin at room temperature.

[0046] Step 5: Sheath processing. Specifically, a sheath is manufactured on the outside of the waveguide assembly processed in step 4 by methods such as manual brushing or molding of materials such as room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber.

[0047] The present invention can be bent within the range allowed by the bending radius without affecting the electrical performance indicators of the soft waveguide itself; at the same time, it can also be stretched or compressed in the axial direction, and its own electrical performance indicators are not affected during the stretching or compression process; the structure also has a certain airtightness, and the airtightness function can be achieved without the need for additional coating layer protection of rubber and other materials; the present invention improves the transmission frequency of the soft waveguide, and its excellent softness is flexibly applied to various mechanical compensation positions, which can greatly reduce the design difficulty of high-frequency device products and reduce the processing cycle and manufacturing cost of high-frequency electromagnetic wave systems.

[0048] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies, characterized in that: It comprises a metal tube, wherein the outer surface of the metal tube is provided with a plurality of outer grooves, and the metal tube adopts a hollow structure; the inner surface of the metal tube is provided with a plurality of inner grooves, and the inner surface and the outer surface of the metal tube are provided with a first coating and a second coating respectively; One end of the metal pipe is connected to the first flange, and the other end of the metal pipe is connected to the second flange; the outer side of the metal pipe is sleeved with a sheath; The inner grooves and the outer grooves are equally spaced, and the inner grooves and the outer grooves are formed by chemical etching or laser etching; The width of the inner groove and the outer groove is 0.1 mm, the depth is 0.05 mm, and the spacing between the inner grooves and the spacing between the outer grooves is 0.1 mm; The centers of the first flange and the second flange are both provided with insertion holes, and both ends of the metal pipe are inserted into and connected to the insertion holes of the first flange and the second flange by welding or resin bonding.

2. A flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first plating layer and the second plating layer are silver plating layers, and the thickness of the first plating layer and the second plating layer is 3-5 μm.

3. A method for preparing a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies, characterized in that: The method for preparing the flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequency as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 2 comprises: Forming a hollow metal tube by machining; Forming inner and outer grooves on the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube by chemical etching or laser etching; silver plating the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow metal tube; Connecting the two ends of the silver-plated hollow metal tube to flanges; A sheath is formed on the outer side of the metal pipe after the flange is connected.

4. The method for preparing a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies according to claim 3, characterized in that: The mechanical processing method includes one of wire cutting and drawing.

5. The method for preparing a flexible waveguide structure for millimeter wave frequencies according to claim 3, characterized in that: The sheath is formed by hand-brushing or room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber and molded on the outer side of the metal tube.

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