Antenna and phase shifter, phase shifter unit
By combining dielectric substrate and movable circuits, the microstrip line structure is formed using elastic snaps and metal formations, which solves the problems of complex structure and large size of the existing phase shifter, realizes miniaturization and structure simplification, and enhances stability and conduction efficiency.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN201911424007.5
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2019-12-31
- Publication Date
- 2024-12-24
- Estimated Expiration
- 2039-12-31
AI Technical Summary
Due to the complex structure and large size of existing phase shifters, the stability and simplified structure are difficult to achieve.
The dielectric substrate and movable circuit are combined to form a fixed line layer and a movable line layer with the metal formation through elastic snaps to realize a microstrip structure, simplifying the structure without using other fixing parts.
The phase shifter unit is miniaturized and structural simplified, maintaining the stable coupling between the movable line layer and the fixed line layer, simplifying the microwave signal conduction path, and reducing weight and design complexity.
Smart Images
Figure CN111129666B_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and in particular to an antenna and a phase shifter and a phase shifter unit thereof. Background Art
[0002] In the coverage of mobile communication networks, the electrically adjustable base station antenna is one of the key devices for the coverage network, and the phase shifter is the core component of the electrically adjustable base station antenna. Existing phase shifters mainly achieve phase shifting in two ways, including dielectric sliding type and conductor sliding type.
[0003] The conductor sliding phase shifter changes the electrical length of the phase shifter by moving the conductor to achieve the purpose of phase change. It generally includes a fixed circuit, a movable coupling circuit, and the coupling circuit is pressed against the fixed circuit by a plastic part. In order to ensure the reliability of the coupling between the coupling circuit and the fixed circuit, it is generally necessary to use more fixing parts to press the coupling circuit against the surface of the fixed circuit. However, this will make the structure of the phase shifter complicated and the volume larger. Summary of the invention
[0004] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a miniaturized phase shifter unit to address the problem of large stable volume of existing phase shifters.
[0005] A phase shifter unit, comprising:
[0006] A dielectric substrate, comprising a plate body and an elastic buckle located on one side of the plate body and integrally formed with the plate body, a side of the plate body facing away from the elastic buckle is covered with a metal layer, and a side of the dielectric substrate facing away from the metal layer is formed with a metal circuit to constitute a fixed circuit layer; and
[0007] The movable circuit has a movable circuit layer. The movable circuit is clamped by the elastic buckle and adheres tightly to the surface of the board, and the movable circuit layer is coupled and connected with the fixed circuit layer. The movable circuit can slide along the surface of the board.
[0008] In one embodiment, the metal circuits are distributed on the surface of the board.
[0009] In one embodiment, the metal circuit is distributed on the surface of the plate and the elastic buckle.
[0010] In one of the embodiments, the elastic buckle includes two limiting plates that are arranged opposite to each other, and each limiting plate has a bent plate at one end away from the plate body that is bent toward the other limiting plate.
[0011] In one of the embodiments, the plate body is provided with a hollow groove, and the orthographic projection of the bent plate on the surface of the plate body is located in the hollow groove.
[0012] In one embodiment, the limiting plate is in the shape of an elongated strip and extends along the sliding direction of the movable circuit.
[0013] In one of the embodiments, the movable circuit layer and the fixed circuit layer have the same circuit extension direction.
[0014] In one embodiment, the fixed circuit layer includes two parallel and spaced transmission lines, the movable circuit layer includes two parallel and spaced branch lines, and the two branch lines are respectively coupled to the two transmission lines.
[0015] The present invention also provides a phase shifter, comprising:
[0016] A plurality of phase shifter units as described in any one of the above preferred embodiments, wherein the plurality of phase shifter units are arranged into at least two queues, and different queues have different operating frequencies; and
[0017] The combiners are arranged on the dielectric substrate, each of which has at least two input ends and is electrically connected to at least two phase shifter units located in different queues.
[0018] In one embodiment, a plurality of the phase shifter units share the dielectric substrate, and a clamping fixture is formed on one side of the plate body, and a mating portion for mating with the clamping fixture is formed at a position corresponding to the clamping fixture on the other side.
[0019] In the above-mentioned phase shifter unit and phase shifter, the fixed circuit layer is formed on the surface of the dielectric substrate, and the movable circuit is tightly attached to the surface of the board body through an elastic clip integrally formed with the board body, thereby maintaining the coupling stability between the movable circuit layer and the fixed circuit layer, and no other plastic fixation is required. Furthermore, the metal ground layer can be used as the ground layer of the fixed circuit layer and the movable circuit layer, so that the fixed circuit layer and the movable circuit layer are in the form of microstrip lines, thereby replacing the PCB strip line form in the traditional phase shifter. In this way, microwave signals can be conducted in the fixed circuit layer and the movable circuit layer without the aid of a metal cavity, thereby effectively simplifying the structure of the phase shifter unit. It can be seen that the structure of the above-mentioned phase shifter unit and phase shifter is significantly simplified, thereby achieving miniaturization.
[0020] The present invention further provides an antenna, comprising the phase shifter unit as described in any one of the above preferred embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] Figure 1 is an exploded view of a phase shifter unit in one embodiment of the present invention;
[0022] Figure 2 for Figure 1A schematic diagram of the assembly structure of the phase shifter unit shown;
[0023] Figure 3 is an exploded view of a phase shifter unit in another embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] Figure 4 for Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the assembly structure of the phase shifter unit shown;
[0025] Figure 5 for Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a fixed circuit layer in a phase shifter unit shown;
[0026] Figure 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifter in one embodiment of the present invention;
[0027] Figure 7 for Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the back structure of the phase shifter shown;
[0028] Figure 8 for Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the phase shifters shown superimposed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described more fully below with reference to the relevant drawings. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are provided in the drawings. However, the present invention can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the purpose of providing these embodiments is to make the understanding of the disclosure of the present invention more thorough and comprehensive.
[0030] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may be a central element. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be a central element at the same time. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right" and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only.
[0031] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art of the present invention. The terms used herein in the specification of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The term "and / or" used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more related listed items.
[0032] See also Figure 1 and Figure 2The present invention provides a phase shifter unit 100, comprising a dielectric substrate 110 and a movable circuit 120. In addition, the present invention also provides an antenna (not shown) comprising the phase shifter unit 100. By means of the phase shifter unit 100, the antenna can adjust the downtilt angle, thereby achieving better network coverage.
[0033] The dielectric substrate 110 may be a support structure formed of common plastic, resin or other materials. The dielectric substrate 110 includes a plate body 111 and an elastic buckle 113, wherein the elastic buckle 113 is located on one side of the plate body 111 and is integrally formed with the plate body 111. The elastic buckle 113 is used to buckle the movable circuit 120 onto the dielectric substrate 110. Since the elastic buckle 113 is integrally formed with the plate body 111, the connection between the elastic buckle 113 and the plate body 111 is reliable, and no other fixing parts are required to fix the movable circuit 120.
[0034] A metal circuit (not shown) is formed on one side of the dielectric substrate 110 to form a fixed circuit layer 115. The metal circuit can be formed on the surface of either or both of the plate body 111 and the elastic buckle 113. Good conductors such as copper and silver can be formed on the surface of the dielectric substrate 110 through plastic metallization processes such as electroplating and chemical plating. The fixed circuit layer 115 serves as the main channel for microwave signal transmission and has an input port 1151 and an output port 1153.
[0035] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, in one embodiment, the metal circuits are distributed on the surface of the board 111. Therefore, the obtained fixed circuit layer 115 is a single-sided circuit structure.
[0036] like Figures 3 to 5 As shown, in one example, the metal circuits are distributed on the surface of the board 111 and the elastic buckle 113. Obviously, the board 111 and the elastic buckle 113 are not in the same plane. Therefore, the obtained fixed circuit layer 115 is a three-dimensional circuit structure. Specifically, the fixed circuit layer 115 is composed of a metal circuit portion 1152 formed on the board 111 and a metal circuit portion 1154 formed on the elastic buckle 113. When the movable circuit 120 is buckled on the surface of the board 111 by the elastic buckle 113, the three-dimensional fixed circuit layer 115 can be arranged around the movable circuit 120.
[0037] Furthermore, a metal layer 117 is provided on the side of the plate body 111 facing away from the elastic buckle 113. The metal layer 117 can be formed in the same manner as the metal circuit layer. The fixed circuit layer 115 is located on the side of the dielectric substrate 110 facing away from the metal layer 117. Therefore, the metal layer 117 constitutes the layer of the fixed circuit layer 115, and the fixed circuit layer 115 is a microstrip line structure.
[0038] The movable circuit 120 can be a metal three-dimensional circuit, a PCB circuit or a plastic metallized circuit. The movable circuit 120 has a movable circuit layer 121, and the movable circuit layer 121 is used to transmit microwave signals. Specifically in this embodiment, the movable circuit 120 also includes a movable substrate 123, and the movable circuit layer 121 is formed on the surface of the movable substrate 123. The movable circuit 120 is clamped by the elastic buckle 113, and the elastic buckle 113 applies a holding force to the movable circuit 120, so that the movable circuit 120 is tightly attached to the surface of the board body 111. Moreover, the movable circuit 120 can slide along the surface of the board body 111.
[0039] Furthermore, the movable circuit layer 121 is coupled to the fixed circuit layer 115. Specifically, an insulating layer may be provided between the movable circuit 120 and the fixed circuit layer 115 to couple the two. Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, in one embodiment, since the fixed circuit layer 115 is a single-sided structure, the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 are attached to each other to achieve single-sided coupling. Figures 3 to 5 As shown, in another embodiment, since the fixed circuit layer 115 is a three-dimensional structure, it can surround the circumference of the movable circuit layer 121. Therefore, the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 are multi-faceted coupled, and the coupling effect between the two is significantly enhanced, which is beneficial to enhance the stability of the phase shifter unit 100.
[0040] The microwave signal is input from the input port 1151 and output from the output port 1153. By sliding the movable circuit 120, the coupling amount between the movable circuit layer 121 and the fixed circuit layer 115 can be changed, thereby changing the electrical length in the phase shifter unit 100 and thus changing the phase of the output port 1153.
[0041] At the same time, the metal ground layer 117 can also be used as the ground layer of the movable circuit layer 121, so that the movable circuit layer 121 can be in the form of a microstrip line. Therefore, the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 replace the PCB strip line in the traditional phase shifter. In this way, the microwave signal can be conducted in the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 without the help of a metal cavity, thereby effectively simplifying the structure of the phase shifter unit 100 and reducing the weight.
[0042] In one embodiment, the elastic buckle 113 includes two limiting plates 1131 that are oppositely disposed, and each limiting plate 1131 has a bent plate 1133 bent toward the other limiting plate 1131 at one end away from the plate body 111 .
[0043] Therefore, the limiting plate 1131 is substantially L-shaped. When the elastic buckle 113 is clamped with the movable circuit 120, the limiting plate 1131 can limit the movable circuit 120 from both sides and the top, which is conducive to keeping the movable circuit 120 stable.
[0044] In addition, the limiting plate 1131 is in a long strip shape and extends along the sliding direction of the movable circuit 120. Therefore, a long strip slideway (not shown) can be formed between two opposite limiting plates 1131. At this time, the elastic buckle 113 can not only hold the movable circuit 120, but also play a guiding role when the movable circuit 120 slides.
[0045] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the plate body 111 is provided with a hollow groove 101 , and the orthographic projection of the bent plate 1133 on the surface of the plate body 111 is located in the hollow groove 101 .
[0046] Specifically, the hollow groove 101 is provided to facilitate mold opening and is conducive to reducing the mass of the dielectric substrate 110. In addition, there is no dielectric in the hollow groove 101, which is filled with air. Therefore, the part of the circuit of the movable circuit 120 opposite to the hollow groove 101 is a microstrip circuit mixed with air and plastic (dielectric), and the equivalent dielectric constant is reduced. Therefore, when the movable circuit 120 moves the same distance, the phase change caused by the hollow groove 101 is smaller than the phase change caused by not having the hollow groove 101.
[0047] In this way, to achieve the same phase change, the travel of the movable circuit 120 needs to be enlarged. Therefore, the requirements for the motion accuracy of the movable circuit 120 can be appropriately reduced, thereby reducing the difficulty of designing the transmission structure, which is conducive to further simplifying the structure of the phase shifter unit 100. In one embodiment, the movable circuit layer 121 and the fixed circuit layer 115 have the same extension direction.
[0048] The line extension direction is consistent, which means that the orthographic projection of the movable line layer 121 on the board 111 at least partially overlaps with the orthographic projection of the fixed line layer 115 on the board 111. In this way, the coupling effect between the movable line layer 121 and the fixed line layer 115 is further enhanced at the same size.
[0049] For example, further, in one embodiment, the fixed circuit layer 115 includes two parallel and spaced transmission lines (not marked in the figure), the movable circuit layer 121 includes two parallel and spaced branch lines (not marked in the figure), and the two branch lines are respectively coupled to the two transmission lines.
[0050] Specifically, the input port 1151 and the output port 1153 can be respectively arranged on two transmission lines. Moreover, due to the different widths of the transmission lines, the corresponding impedances are also different. Therefore, by setting different widths of the transmission lines, the impedance matching of the phase shifter unit 100 can also be achieved. The movable line layer 121 generally also includes a connecting line connecting the two branch lines. Therefore, the movable line layer 121 is roughly U-shaped.
[0051] It can be understood that the shape of the fixed circuit layer 115 can also be adjusted to various shapes such as L-shape, S-shape, etc. according to needs, and the shape of the movable circuit layer 121 can be adjusted accordingly.
[0052] Please also read Figure 6 and Figure 7 The present invention further provides a phase shifter 10, which includes a plurality of the above-mentioned phase shifter units 100 and a combiner 200. Wherein:
[0053] The multiple phase shifter units 100 are arranged into at least two queues, and the different queues have different operating frequencies. Furthermore, each queue may contain multiple phase shifter units 100. Moreover, the operating frequencies of the multiple phase shifter units 100 in the same queue are the same. Figure 6 As shown, the plurality of phase shifter units 100 are divided into two rows, and each row includes four phase shifter units 100 .
[0054] The combiner 200 is disposed on the dielectric substrate 110. The combiner 200 is used to connect the phase shifter units 100 in different queues, and the number of the combiners 200 is determined by the number of the phase shifter units 100 in each queue. Figure 6 The phase shifter 10 shown includes four combiners.
[0055] Furthermore, each combiner 200 has at least two input terminals (not shown), and is electrically connected to at least two phase shifter units 100 located in different queues. Specifically in this embodiment, the combiner 200 has two input terminals, which are respectively connected to the corresponding phase shifter units 100 in the two queues. In this way, the two queues of phase shifter units 100 with different operating frequencies are connected as a whole, so that they can be used for dual-band antennas.
[0056] In this embodiment, multiple phase shifter units 100 share a dielectric substrate 110 , and a clamping fixture 119 is formed on one side of the plate 111 , and a mating portion (not shown) for mating with the clamping fixture 119 is formed at a position corresponding to the clamping fixture 119 on the other side.
[0057] Specifically, the common dielectric substrate 110 can avoid splicing, thereby eliminating the need for connectors, which is conducive to simplifying the structure of the phase shifter 10. Moreover, the common dielectric substrate 110 has a large area, and in order to increase its support strength, reinforcing ribs (not shown) can be provided on the surface of the plate 111.
[0058] By clamping the clamping fixture 119 with the matching part of another phase shifter 10, the stacking and fixing of the phase shifters 10 can be achieved. Therefore, it is convenient to combine multiple phase shifters 10 to form a multi-layer phase shifter structure according to the scale of the antenna. Figure 8 As shown, two phase shifters 10 are stacked to form a double-layer structure.
[0059] Further, the clamping fixture 119 includes a buckle 1191 and a positioning post 1193. Correspondingly, the matching portion includes a slot that can be engaged with the buckle 1191, and a positioning hole that cooperates with the positioning post 1193 to achieve positioning.
[0060] In the above-mentioned phase shifter unit 100 and phase shifter 10, the fixed circuit layer 115 is formed on the surface of the dielectric substrate 110, and the movable circuit 120 is tightly attached to the surface of the board body 111 through the elastic buckle 113 integrally formed with the board body 111, so as to maintain the coupling stability between the movable circuit layer 121 and the fixed circuit layer 115, without the need to use other plastic fixation. Furthermore, the metal ground layer 117 can be used as the ground layer of the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121, so that the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 are in the form of microstrip lines, thereby replacing the form of PCB strip lines in traditional phase shifters. In this way, microwave signals can be conducted in the fixed circuit layer 115 and the movable circuit layer 121 without the help of a metal cavity, thereby effectively simplifying the structure of the phase shifter unit 100. It can be seen that the structures of the above-mentioned phase shifter unit 100 and phase shifter 10 are significantly simplified, thereby achieving miniaturization.
[0061] The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.
[0062] The above-mentioned embodiments only express several implementation methods of the present invention, and the descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but they cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It should be pointed out that, for ordinary technicians in this field, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of the present invention shall be subject to the attached claims.
Claims
1. A phase shifter unit, characterized in that: include: The dielectric substrate comprises a plate body and an elastic buckle located on one side of the plate body and formed integrally with the plate body, the side of the plate body facing away from the elastic buckle is covered with a metal layer, and the side of the dielectric substrate facing away from the metal layer is formed with a metal circuit to form a fixed circuit layer; and A movable circuit has a movable circuit layer, the movable circuit is clamped by the elastic buckle and adheres to the surface of the plate body, and the movable circuit layer is coupled and connected with the fixed circuit layer, and the movable circuit can slide along the surface of the plate body; the elastic buckle includes two limiting plates arranged opposite to each other, and each of the limiting plates has a bent plate bent toward the other limiting plate at one end away from the plate body, the plate body is provided with a hollow groove, and the positive projection of the bent plate on the surface of the plate body is located in the hollow groove.
2. The phase shifter unit according to claim 1, characterized in that The metal circuits are distributed on the surface of the board.
3. The phase shifter unit according to claim 1, characterized in that The metal circuits are distributed on the surfaces of the plate body and the elastic buckles.
4. The phase shifter unit according to claim 3, characterized in that The fixed circuit layer is composed of a metal circuit part formed on the plate body and a metal circuit part formed on the elastic buckle.
5. The phase shifter unit according to claim 1, characterized in that The movable circuit may be a metal three-dimensional circuit, a PCB circuit or a plastic metallized circuit; the movable circuit also includes a movable substrate, and the movable circuit layer is formed on the surface of the movable substrate; an insulating layer is arranged between the movable circuit and the fixed circuit layer.
6. The phase shifter unit according to claim 1, characterized in that The limiting plate is in a long strip shape and extends along the sliding direction of the movable circuit.
7. The phase shifter unit according to claim 1, characterized in that The movable circuit layer and the fixed circuit layer have the same circuit extension direction.
8. The phase shifter unit according to claim 7, characterized in that The fixed circuit layer includes two transmission lines which are arranged in parallel and at intervals, and the movable circuit layer includes two branch lines which are arranged in parallel and at intervals, and the two branch lines are respectively coupled with the two transmission lines.
9. A phase shifter, characterized in that: include: A plurality of phase shifter units as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the plurality of phase shifter units are arranged into at least two queues, and different queues have different operating frequencies; and The combiners are arranged on the dielectric substrate, each of which has at least two input ends and is electrically connected to at least two phase shifter units located in different queues respectively.
10. The phase shifter according to claim 9, characterized in that The plurality of phase shifter units share the dielectric substrate, and a clamping fixture is formed on one side of the plate body, and a matching portion for matching with the clamping fixture is formed at a position corresponding to the clamping fixture on the other side.
11. An antenna, characterized in that: The invention comprises a phase shifter unit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.