Discrete support type antenna panel and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract

The present invention provides a discrete support type antenna panel and a manufacturing method thereof, belonging to the technical field of reflector antennas. The panel comprises a front skin and a rear skin, and the edge of the front skin has a flange; the rear skin and the front skin are connected by a plurality of support members; the types of support members include middle supports and corner supports evenly arranged on the upper surface of the rear skin; the rear skin includes a hollow part and a support part, and the corner supports are all located at the corners of the upper surface of the rear skin; the bottom and top of the middle support are both provided with extension arms for increasing the support surface, and the extension directions of the extension arms are opposite; the corner supports include two sides of a right-angled gusset, and a first support surface and a second support surface located at the top of the gusset, and the first support surface and the second support surface are located on opposite sides of the gusset; the lower surface of the front skin is provided with a reinforcing rib, and the cross section of the reinforcing rib is L-shaped. The present invention has the characteristics of reasonable structure, mechanical stability, high reliability, and easy flow operation and mass production.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of parabolic reflector antennas, and in particular to a discrete support type antenna panel and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of communication, measurement, and control, and deep space exploration technologies, the demand for parabolic reflector antennas, especially large-aperture reflector antennas, is increasing. The reflector surface of a parabolic antenna is composed of numerous reflective panels, and the precision of these panels directly impacts antenna performance. To improve antenna performance, scientists have been exploring methods for fabricating reflector surfaces with higher precision. However, as antenna apertures increase, the weight of the reflector panels becomes increasingly restrictive. If the weight of individual reflector panels cannot be reliably controlled, a reflector composed of thousands of them will be extremely heavy. This not only increases the difficulty of manufacturing the support and servo systems, but also causes greater overall deformation of the reflector, further compromising overall accuracy and antenna performance.

[0003] Currently, high-precision reflective panels mainly come in three types: traditional riveted aluminum alloy structures, carbon fiber skin sandwich structures, and aluminum alloy rubber band slotted and bonded structures. The aluminum alloy rubber band slotted and bonded structure offers advantages such as stress-free forming, reliable precision, and easy operability and production, making it widely used in medium and large-caliber reflector antennas. The main feature of this structure is that the Z-shaped ribs of the traditional back frame structure are evenly slotted in the vertical direction, reducing the stiffness of the Z-shaped ribs so that they naturally fit the curved skin and are formed into a single piece using stress-free gluing. Chinese Patent No. CN201010214168.4, "A High-Precision Antenna Reflector Panel and Its Manufacturing Method," details the panel's structure and manufacturing method.

[0004] Although this type of reflective panel is widely used, its weight characteristics do not have an advantage. The thick back rib structure and all-aluminum alloy material also make it difficult to reduce the weight. According to research, among the three structural forms of reflective panels, the carbon fiber honeycomb sandwich structure has a greater advantage in weight (equivalent unit area weight), but this type of panel is a closed structure with low reliability and poor weather resistance. At present, it is not suitable for mass production and application in large-diameter antennas. In addition to honeycomb sandwich and other limited structural forms, there are currently few structural innovations in carbon fiber reflective surfaces. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, the present invention provides a discrete support type antenna panel and a manufacturing method thereof. The antenna panel has the characteristics of reasonable structure, mechanical stability, high reliability, and easy assembly line operation and batch production.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0007] A discrete support antenna panel comprises a front skin and a rear skin, wherein the edge of the front skin has a flange; the rear skin and the front skin are connected by a support member; the support member comprises an intermediate support and corner supports evenly arranged on the upper surface of the rear skin; the rear skin comprises a hollow portion and a support portion, and the corner supports are all located at the folded corners of the upper surface of the rear skin; the bottom and top of the intermediate support are both provided with extension arms for increasing the support surface, and the extension directions of the extension arms are opposite; the corner supports comprise an angle plate with two sides perpendicular to each other and a first support surface and a second support surface located on the top of the angle plate, and the first support surface and the second support surface are located on opposite sides of the angle plate; the lower surface of the front skin is provided with a reinforcing rib, and the cross-section of the reinforcing rib is L-shaped.

[0008] Furthermore, the thickness of the front skin and the rear skin is 0.3mm to 1.5mm; the thickness of the middle support and the corner support is 0.5mm to 2mm; the thickness of the reinforcing rib is 0.3mm to 0.5mm; the height of the flange of the front skin is 5mm to 15mm; and the height of the reinforcing rib is 5mm to 10mm.

[0009] Furthermore, it also includes an anti-debonding structure for fixing the support member and the front skin, and the anti-debonding structure is a hollow rivet.

[0010] Furthermore, there is a spacing between adjacent support members.

[0011] Furthermore, the corner plates supported by the corner ends may be replaced with curved panels.

[0012] A method for manufacturing a discrete support type antenna panel is used to manufacture a discrete support type antenna panel as described above, and the specific steps are as follows:

[0013] Step 1: laying carbon fiber prepreg of predetermined thickness and designed hollow shape on a prefabricated curved mold, and curing to form a rigid skin;

[0014] Step 2: Place carbon fiber prepreg of a predetermined thickness and sufficient size on the curved mold, and use a flanging tool to perform flanging on all sides, with the flanging height being uniform; remove excess material, and perform initial shaping;

[0015] Step 3: Use tooling to bond the support structure of corner support 1, corner support 2, and internal support at the designed position; the internal support is made of rectangular carbon fiber prepreg and bent into a Z shape using a tooling mold; corner support 1 has a right-angled angle plate with perpendicular sides, and corner support 2 has a curved panel, both of which are directly formed using the tooling;

[0016] Step 4: Use long strips of carbon fiber prepreg and a flanging tool to bond reinforcement ribs to the rear of the front skin; the reinforcement ribs are spaced horizontally and vertically and continuously distributed in the middle area between the support structure and the edge of the front skin; the two ends of the reinforcement ribs are connected to the front skin flanging structure;

[0017] Step 5: Place the preformed rear skin on top of the corner supports, internal supports and other supporting structures according to the predetermined position, and bond them on the fitting surface;

[0018] Step 6: The bonded reflective surface structure is cured as a whole. After curing, the front and rear skins, reinforcement ribs, internal supports, and corner supports form a rigid whole.

[0019] Step 7: Drill holes in the center of the bonding surfaces between the corner supports, internal supports, and front and rear skins, and install anti-debonding structures.

[0020] Step 8: Remove the glue nodules, polish the edges, and perform a second trimming of the reflective surface; then perform surface treatment on the entire structure, dip-coating or spraying sealing materials to improve the weather resistance and appearance performance of the reflective surface.

[0021] The beneficial effects of the above technical solution of the present invention are:

[0022] 1. The present invention utilizes the advantage of carbon fiber material being easy to shape and designs an innovative form of discrete support with reasonable structure, mechanical stability and high reliability.

[0023] 2. The present invention fully utilizes the advantages of carbon fiber materials in terms of higher specific strength and higher specific stiffness than aluminum alloy materials, and significantly reduces the weight of the panel while ensuring the accuracy of the panel.

[0024] 3. The present invention utilizes molds and tooling for forming, has mature technology, and is easy to produce in batches through assembly line operation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 2 is a schematic diagram of the back structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the front structure.

[0027] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure after removing the rear skin of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the intermediate structure and tooling forming in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the corner support structure and tooling forming in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the second structural form of the corner support and the tooling forming.

[0031] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the reinforcing rib structure and tooling forming.

[0032] Figure 8 It is a cross-sectional view of the installation position of the anti-debonding structure.

[0033] In the figure: front skin 1, rear skin 2, middle support 3, corner support 1 4, corner support 2 5, reinforcement rib 6, anti-debonding structure 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0035] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0036] A carbon fiber panel with a discretely supported double-skin structure primarily includes a front skin, a rear skin, corner supports, internal supports, reinforcement ribs, and an anti-debonding structure. The front skin, rear skin, corner supports, internal supports, and reinforcement ribs are all made of carbon fiber. These carbon fiber components can be prefabricated and bonded individually, or they can be formed in one go using prepreg using a mold tool.

[0037] Among them, the front and rear skins are formed into curved surfaces on the mold using carbon fiber prepreg. The difference from the skins in traditional aluminum alloy ribbed slotted panels is that the carbon fiber skins are complete and have no gap structure set inward from the edges.

[0038] Furthermore, the thickness of the front skin and the rear skin is 0.3-1.5 mm, the front skin has a flange structure on all sides, and the flange height is 5-15 mm.

[0039] Furthermore, the rear skin is not integral but has a hollow structure.

[0040] The internal supports are Z-shaped ribs, made from rectangular prepreg folded into a Z-shaped cross-section through a mold and then cured. The length of the internal supports is relatively short, generally set at 0.8-2 times the height.

[0041] The corner support has a bidirectional structure, which can be a cross combination of two unidirectional internal support structures or a whole structure with bidirectional characteristics.

[0042] Furthermore, the thickness of the internal support and the corner support is 0.5 to 2 mm.

[0043] Different from other structural forms of carbon fiber reflective panels, the intermediate supports such as internal supports and corner supports in this panel are discretely distributed rather than continuous.

[0044] Ribs are attached to the back of the front skin and spaced between the support structure and the edge. Their function is to increase the local stiffness of the front skin. Ribs can be continuous or discontinuous.

[0045] Furthermore, the reinforcing rib has an L-shaped cross section, a thickness of 0.3-0.5 mm, and a height of 5-10 mm. The reinforcing rib is integrally formed with the skin, and its two ends are integrally connected to the internal support or corner support and the flange structure of the front skin.

[0046] Anti-debonding connections are installed at the junctions between the support structure and the front and rear skins. These connections are made of metal and extend through the backing and skin, with a large contact surface between the ends and the panels. They prevent the skin from falling off due to adhesive failure. These connections can be made with large hollow rivets, bolts and nuts with large flat washers, or other metal connection structures.

[0047] A carbon fiber panel with a discrete support double-skin structure, the main steps of forming it are as follows:

[0048] Step 1: Preform the front and rear skins. A predetermined number of layers of carbon fiber prepreg are laid onto a prefabricated curved mold and cured to form a rigid skin. The front skin is flanging molded around the edges and trimmed to the desired shape. The front skin can also be formed directly in a subsequent step without preforming.

[0049] Step 2: Form the corner supports and internal supports. Bond the corner supports and internal supports to the designated positions. The internal supports are made from rectangular carbon fiber prepreg, bent into a Z-shape using a tooling die. The corner supports can be formed by intersecting internal supports in two directions, or directly formed using a bidirectional arc-shaped tooling die.

[0050] Step 3: Form the ribs. Using long strips of carbon fiber prepreg and a flange fixture, bond the ribs to the rear of the front skin. The ribs are intermittently spaced between the support structure and the edge. Redundant length is left at each end of the ribs, which are then attached to the gap between the support structure and the front skin or to the flange structure of the front skin.

[0051] Step 4: Bond the rear skin. Place the preformed rear skin on top of the support structure according to the predetermined position and bond it to the mating surface of the support structure.

[0052] Step 5: Overall curing: The bonded reflector structure is cured as a whole. After curing, the front and rear skins, reinforcement ribs, internal supports, corner supports and other carbon fiber structures form a rigid whole.

[0053] Step 6: Install the anti-debonding structure. Drill holes in the center of the bonding surfaces between the corner supports, internal supports, and front and rear panels, and install the anti-debonding structure.

[0054] Step 7: Reshaping and surface treatment. Remove the glue bumps, polish the edges, and trim the shape of the reflective surface. Then, perform surface treatment on the entire structure, dip-coating or spraying the sealing material to improve the weather resistance and appearance of the reflective surface.

[0055] The following is a more specific embodiment:

[0056] Reference Figures 1 to 8 This embodiment primarily comprises a front skin 1, a rear skin 2, an intermediate support 3, a first corner support 4, a second corner support 5, a reinforcing rib 6, and an anti-debonding structure 7. The front skin 1, rear skin 2, intermediate support 3, first corner support 4, second corner support 5, and reinforcing rib 6 are all made of carbon fiber and can be formed from carbon fiber prepreg. The anti-debonding structure 7 is made of a rust-resistant aluminum alloy.

[0057] Among them, the front skin 1 is formed by directly laying out carbon fiber prepreg on the mold surface. The size is approximately 2.5m×1.5m, fan-shaped, with a certain curvature and a thickness of about 0.65mm. After the front skin is laid, it is flanging using a flanging tool, and the flanging height is uniformly 10mm.

[0058] The rear skin 2 is prefabricated with carbon fiber prepreg using the same method as the front skin, with a thickness of 0.5mm. Based on the dimensions of the front skin and the distribution of the supporting structure, the rear skin is designed as a hollow structure, meeting mechanical requirements while reducing material usage.

[0059] The middle support 3, corner support 1 4, and corner support 2 5 are all directly molded from 0.8mm carbon fiber prepreg on the back of the front skin 1 using a mold. Each support has the same height, designed to be 125mm in this embodiment. The length of each support is approximately 1.2 times its height.

[0060] Among them, the corner support 1 4 is a cross form of internal supports in two directions, and the corner support 2 5 is an arc shape with two-directional characteristics.

[0061] The reinforcement ribs 6 are 10mm tall and 0.3mm thick. They are formed by bonding long strips of carbon fiber prepreg and flange fixtures to the rear of the front panel. The reinforcement ribs are continuously and evenly distributed between the support structure and the edge of the front panel. Redundant length is left at each end of the reinforcement ribs to connect to the flange structure of the front panel.

[0062] The anti-debonding structure 7 is located midway between the overlapping bonding surfaces of the various intermediate support structures and the front and rear skins. It is prefabricated from rust-resistant aluminum alloy into a hollow rivet structure with a small diameter and a large brim. After the carbon fiber reflective panel is solidified, it is drilled through the designated locations and riveted securely to the front and rear skins and the intermediate support structure through its own deformation.

[0063] It's important to note that adhesive connections offer slightly less weather resistance than mechanical connections. Long-term exposure to outdoor conditions often leads to cracking and debonding. However, the anti-debonding structure prevents the skin from falling off even if it debonds from the backing, improving safety.

[0064] In this embodiment, the main steps for forming a carbon fiber panel with a discrete support double-skin structure are as follows:

[0065] Step 1: Preform the rear skin. Place carbon fiber prepreg of a predetermined thickness and designed hollow shape on a prefabricated curved mold and cure it to form a rigid skin.

[0066] Step 2: Lay out the front skin. Place carbon fiber prepreg of a predetermined thickness and sufficient size on the curved mold. Use a flanging tool to perform flanging all around, ensuring a uniform height. Remove any excess material and perform the initial trimming.

[0067] Step 3: Forming the corner supports and internal supports. Various support structures, including corner supports 1, 2, and the internal supports, are bonded together using tooling at the designed locations. The internal supports are made from rectangular carbon fiber prepreg, bent into a Z-shaped form using a tooling die. Corner support 1 features a bidirectional crossover of internal supports, while corner support 2 has a bidirectional arc shape. Both are formed directly using tooling.

[0068] Step 4: Form the reinforcement ribs. Using long strips of carbon fiber prepreg and a flange tool, bond the reinforcement ribs to the rear of the front skin. The reinforcement ribs are spaced horizontally and vertically, but continuously, between the support structure and the edge of the front skin. The ends of the reinforcement ribs are connected to the front skin flange structure.

[0069] Step 5: Bond the rear skin. Place the preformed rear skin on top of the corner supports, internal supports, and other supporting structures according to the predetermined position, and bond them on the fitting surface.

[0070] Step 6: Overall curing: The bonded reflector structure is cured as a whole. After curing, the carbon fiber structures including the front and rear skins, reinforcement ribs, internal supports, and corner supports form a rigid whole.

[0071] Step 7: Install the anti-debonding structure. Drill holes in the center of the bonding surfaces between the corner supports, internal supports, and front and rear panels, and install the anti-debonding structure.

[0072] Step 8: Reshaping and surface treatment. Remove the glue bumps, polish the edges, and perform a second shape trimming of the reflective surface. Then, perform surface treatment on the entire structure, dip-coating or spraying the sealing material to improve the weather resistance and appearance of the reflective surface.

[0073] In general, the technical solution provided by the patent of this invention fully utilizes the advantages of carbon fiber materials in terms of high specific strength, high specific stiffness, and ease of molding compared to aluminum alloy materials, and designs a new type of discrete support structure with reasonable structure, mechanical stability, and high reliability. In addition, while ensuring the accuracy of the curved surface, the lightweight of the reflective panel is effectively achieved, and it is suitable for the production of reflective panels with different boundary shapes. According to calculations, compared with the aluminum alloy reflective panels of the same size, the panel form of this structure made of carbon fiber material can reduce the weight by about 30%. The reduction in weight is of great significance for large-diameter reflective surface antennas. It directly and significantly reduces the overall weight of the reflector, which not only reduces the difficulty of designing and manufacturing the support and motion system of the antenna mount, but also reduces the operational stability and operating costs of the antenna.

[0074] It should be understood that the above description of the specific implementation methods of this patent is merely an exemplary description listed to facilitate ordinary technicians in this field to understand the patent solution, and does not imply that the scope of protection of this patent is limited to these individual examples. Ordinary technicians in this field can fully understand the technical solution of this patent and, without any creative work, obtain more specific implementation methods by combining technical features, replacing some technical features, adding more technical features, etc. to the examples listed in this patent. All these specific implementation methods are within the scope of the claims of this patent. Therefore, these new specific implementation methods should also be within the scope of protection of this patent.

[0075] In addition, for the purpose of simplifying the description, this patent may not list some common specific implementation plans. These plans can be naturally thought of by ordinary technicians in this field after understanding the technical solutions of this patent. Obviously, these plans should also be included in the scope of protection of this patent.

Claims

1. A discrete support antenna panel, characterized in that: It includes a front skin and a rear skin, and the edge of the front skin has a flange; the rear skin and the front skin are connected by a plurality of support members; the types of support members include intermediate supports and corner supports evenly arranged on the upper surface of the rear skin; the corner supports are located at the corners of the inner and outer contours of the rear skin; the rear skin includes a hollow part and a support part; the bottom and top of the intermediate support are provided with extension arms for increasing the support surface, and the extension directions of the extension arms are opposite; the corner supports include angle plates with two sides perpendicular to each other to form a right angle and a first support surface and a second support surface located on the top of the angle plate, and the first support surface and the second support surface are located on opposite sides of the angle plate; the lower surface of the front skin is provided with a reinforcing rib, and the cross-section of the reinforcing rib is L-shaped.

2. The discrete support antenna panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The thickness of the front skin and the rear skin is 0.3mm to 1.5mm; the thickness of the middle support and the corner support is 0.5mm to 2mm; the thickness of the reinforcing rib is 0.3mm to 0.5mm; the height of the flange of the front skin is 5mm to 15mm; the height of the reinforcing rib is 5mm to 10mm.

3. The discrete support antenna panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes an anti-debonding structure for fixing the support member and the front skin, and the anti-debonding structure is a hollow rivet.

4. The discrete support antenna panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: There is a gap between adjacent support members.

5. The discrete support antenna panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The corner plates of the corner end supports can be replaced with curved panels.

6. A method for manufacturing a discrete support type antenna panel, characterized in that: For manufacturing a discrete support antenna panel according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the specific steps are as follows: Step 1: laying carbon fiber prepreg of predetermined thickness and designed hollow shape on a prefabricated curved mold, and curing to form a rigid skin; Step 2: Place carbon fiber prepreg of a predetermined thickness and sufficient size on the curved mold, and use a flanging tool to perform flanging on all sides, ensuring that the flanging height is uniform; Remove excess material and perform initial reshaping; Step 3: Use the tooling to bond the support structure of the corner support 1, corner support 2 and internal support at the designed position; The internal support is made of rectangular carbon fiber prepreg bent into a Z-shape using a tooling mold; the first corner support has a right-angled angle plate with perpendicular sides, and the second corner support has a curved panel, both of which are directly formed using the tooling; Step 4: Use long strips of carbon fiber prepreg and a flanging tool to bond reinforcement ribs to the rear of the front skin; the reinforcement ribs are spaced horizontally and vertically and continuously distributed in the middle area between the support structure and the edge of the front skin; the two ends of the reinforcement ribs are connected to the front skin flanging structure; Step 5: Place the preformed rear skin on top of the corner supports, internal supports and other supporting structures according to the predetermined position, and bond them on the fitting surface; Step 6: The bonded reflective surface structure is cured as a whole. After curing, the front and rear skins, reinforcement ribs, internal supports, and corner supports form a rigid whole. Step 7: Drill holes in the center of the bonding surfaces between the corner supports, internal supports, and front and rear skins, and install anti-debonding structures. Step 8: Remove the glue nodules, polish the edges, and perform a second trimming of the reflective surface; then perform surface treatment on the entire structure, dip-coating or spraying sealing materials to improve the weather resistance and appearance performance of the reflective surface.

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