Phased array antenna

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of antennas, and discloses a phased-array antenna, which comprises an antenna array surface, M TR assemblies, a beam forming network module and a calibration network module, and is characterized in that the antenna array surface is electrically connected with the M TR assemblies, the M TR assemblies are electrically connected with the beam forming network module, and the M TR assemblies are electrically connected with the calibration network module; wherein M is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer. The problems that in the prior art, assembling is not easy, and the heat dissipation effect is poor are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of antennas, and in particular to a phased array antenna. Background Art

[0002] Active phased array antennas, with their scanning beam inertia-free agility, excellent RF performance, good channel redundancy and other characteristics, are widely used in radar, electronic warfare, communications and other fields. In order to obtain longer detection and communication distances, higher transmission rates, and improved resolution, active phased array antennas are usually required to have higher radiation power. At the same time, airborne platforms and other equipment have put forward requirements for miniaturization and lightweight use of active phased array antennas. This will inevitably lead to problems of high heat density and difficulty in heat dissipation in active phased array antennas.

[0003] The assembly direction of the components of the tile-type T / R assembly is parallel to the antenna array. It has the characteristics of high-density integration and low longitudinal profile, which can greatly reduce the longitudinal profile size and weight of the antenna. The brick-type T / R assembly can make full use of the longitudinal profile size and can more easily integrate more components, such as power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, phase shifters, filters, delays, etc. Brick-type T / R assemblies also have a larger heat dissipation area and size, and can generate higher RF output power per unit radiation unit. Therefore, for application scenarios with many components and high output power, brick-type T / R assemblies are usually selected.

[0004] In order to meet the needs of miniaturization and lightweight, active phased array antennas using brick-type T / R components also need to be as highly integrated as possible. As the output power increases further, the heat dissipation pressure of the antenna also increases further. At this time, natural heat dissipation and air cooling are difficult to meet the heat dissipation requirements, and liquid cooling can be selected as the heat dissipation method of the antenna. At the same time, in order to cope with environmental conditions such as airborne platforms, active phased array antennas also need to have good structural strength. The 2024 Chinese invention patent (application number 202410540359.1) discloses an expandable brick-and-tile combined liquid-cooled active phased array antenna. The antenna uses a horizontal liquid cooling plate and multiple vertical liquid cooling plates for heat dissipation. The design is relatively complex, and the highly integrated T / R components are difficult to achieve compatible assembly with the vertical liquid cooling plate. The 2020 Chinese invention patent (application number 202011566864.1) discloses a liquid cooling plate and a cooling method for a liquid-cooled phased array antenna. The liquid cooling plate of the antenna needs to avoid numerous RF connectors, which will affect the arrangement of the liquid cooling pipes and reduce the heat dissipation efficiency. At the same time, the liquid cooling plate is unable to dissipate heat for power modules with high heat consumption. Summary of the invention

[0005] In order to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a phased array antenna to solve the problems of difficult assembly and poor heat dissipation effect existing in the prior art.

[0006] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above problems is:

[0007] A phased array antenna comprises an antenna array surface, M TR components, a beamforming network module, and a calibration network module, wherein the antenna array surface and the M TR components are electrically interconnected, the M TR components are electrically interconnected with the beamforming network module, and the M TR components are electrically interconnected with the calibration network module; wherein M≥4 and M is an integer.

[0008] As a preferred technical solution, it includes a left liquid cooling plate and a right liquid cooling plate arranged on both sides of the TR component, and also includes a front mounting frame and a rear mounting frame arranged on both sides of the end of the TR component. The front mounting frame and the rear mounting frame of the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are connected by screws.

[0009] As a preferred technical solution, it includes an external liquid inlet provided on the left liquid cooling plate, an external liquid outlet is installed on the external liquid outlet provided on the right liquid cooling plate, and the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are interconnected.

[0010] As a preferred technical solution, it includes a quick-plug self-sealing water joint, and the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are both multi-stage flow channel cold plates, and the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are interconnected by a quick-plug self-sealing water joint.

[0011] As a preferred technical solution, it includes a wave controller, which is connected to the beam forming network module through screw mounting, and M TR components are electrically interconnected with the wave controller through a low-frequency connector.

[0012] As a preferred technical solution, the antenna array, TR components, wave controller, beamforming network module, and calibration network module are screwed together in sequence to form a longitudinal assembly structure.

[0013] As a preferred technical solution, it includes a power module, a left liquid cooling plate, a TR component, a beamforming network module, a calibration network module, and a right liquid cooling plate, which are screwed together in sequence to form a horizontal assembly structure.

[0014] As a preferred technical solution, the antenna array and the M TR components are electrically interconnected via SMP-KK RF connectors.

[0015] As a preferred technical solution, the TR component is provided with a subarray beam RF interface and a subarray calibration RF interface. The subarray beam RF interface is electrically interconnected with the beamforming network module through an SMP-KK RF connector, and the subarray beam RF interface is electrically interconnected with the calibration network module through an SMP-KK RF connector.

[0016] As a preferred technical solution, it includes a radome, a radome, an antenna array, a TR component, a wave controller beam forming network module, and a calibration network module which are screwed together in sequence to form a longitudinal assembly structure.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] (1) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention adopts a modular design and has the advantages of simple assembly, easy replacement, and good shielding;

[0019] (2) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention adopts a combination of longitudinal assembly and transverse assembly, and has the advantages of high integration and high mechanical strength;

[0020] (3) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention uses two liquid cooling plates to conduct heat dissipation to the main heat-generating components, which has the advantages of simple processing and assembly of the liquid cooling plates and good heat dissipation effect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is the principle block diagram of the antenna electrical performance;

[0022] Figure 2 It is the forward schematic diagram of the antenna;

[0023] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the antenna backward;

[0024] Figure 4 This is an exploded view of the antenna;

[0025] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the cold plate interconnection.

[0026] Marks in the attached drawings and their corresponding names: 1. External power supply interface, 2. External RF interface, 3. External calibration interface, 4. External control signal interface, 5. External liquid outlet, 6. External liquid inlet, 7. Radome, 8. Antenna array, 9. TR assembly, 10. Left liquid cooling plate, 11. Front mounting frame, 12. Power module, 13. Beamforming network module, 14. Rear mounting frame, 15. Right liquid cooling plate, 16. Beam controller, 17. Calibration network module, 18. Quick-plug self-sealing water connector, 19. Subarray beam RF interface, 20. Subarray calibration RF interface. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with embodiments and drawings, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

[0028] Example 1

[0029] like Figures 1 to 5As shown, the present invention provides a high-power active phased array antenna that is modular, highly integrated, easy to assemble, and has good heat dissipation characteristics.

[0030] The above-mentioned purpose of the present invention can be achieved by the following measures:

[0031] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention proposes a high-power phased array antenna, comprising: a radome, an antenna array surface, a TR component, a wave controller, a beamforming network module, a calibration network module, a power module, a left liquid cooling plate, a right liquid cooling plate, a front mounting frame, and a rear mounting frame. The radome and the antenna array surface are mechanically assembled by screwing.

[0032] The antenna array and 48 TR components are electrically interconnected using SMP-KK RF connectors. Each TR component contains 4 transceiver channels and 4 coupling channels. The 4 transceiver channels form a sub-array beam RF interface through the 1 / 4 beam power division network inside the TR component, and the 4 coupling channels form a sub-array calibration RF interface through the 1 / 4 calibration power division network inside the TR component.

[0033] The antenna array surface is mechanically assembled with the left liquid cooling plate, the right liquid cooling plate, and the mounting frame by screwing. The wave controller is fixed to the beam forming network module by screwing. The 48 TR components are electrically interconnected with the wave controller through low-frequency connectors. The sub-array beam RF interface of the 48 TR components is electrically interconnected with the beam forming network module through the SMP-KK RF connector. The sub-array calibration RF interface of the 48 TR components is electrically interconnected with the calibration network module through the SMP-KK RF connector. The 48 TR components are electrically interconnected with the beam forming network module and the calibration network module through SMP-KK RF connectors of different lengths.

[0034] The beamforming network module and the calibration network module are mechanically assembled with the left and right liquid cooling plates by screwing. The radome, the antenna array, the TR assembly, the wave controller, the beamforming network module, and the calibration network module form a longitudinal assembly structure. The left and right liquid cooling plates are mechanically assembled with the two sides of the 48 TR assemblies by screwing. The contact surfaces of the left and right liquid cooling plates with the 48 TR assemblies are respectively improved in thermal conductivity by adding thermal conductive pads. The left and right liquid cooling plates are interconnected by liquid cooling pipes through quick-plug self-sealing water joints. The power module and the wave controller are electrically interconnected through low-frequency connectors. The power module is mechanically assembled with the left liquid cooling plate, the beamforming network module, and the calibration network module by screwing. The power module, the left liquid cooling plate, the TR assembly, the beamforming network module, the calibration network module, and the right liquid cooling plate form a transverse assembly structure. The external liquid inlet is installed on the left liquid cooling plate, and the external liquid inlet is installed on the right liquid cooling plate. Both the left and right liquid cooling plates use multi-stage flow channel cold plates. The main heat generating components of the power module are installed on the mounting surface close to the liquid cooling plate. The left liquid cooling plate can conduct heat dissipation for one side of the power module and TR component, and the right liquid cooling plate can conduct heat dissipation for the other side of the TR component. Among them, the beamforming network module and the calibration network module are both longitudinal assembly modules and transverse assembly modules; the left and right liquid cooling plates have both longitudinal assembly screws and transverse assembly screws.

[0035] The present invention is beneficial in that:

[0036] (1) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention adopts a modular design and has the advantages of simple assembly, easy replacement, and good shielding: the antenna cover, antenna array, TR assembly, wave controller, beam forming network module, calibration network module, power module, left liquid cooling plate, right liquid cooling plate, etc. are all modularly designed and mechanically assembled with each other by screwing; the antenna array, TR assembly, wave controller, beam forming network module, calibration network module, power module, etc. are electrically interconnected by blind plugging;

[0037] (2) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention adopts a combination of longitudinal assembly and transverse assembly, and has the advantages of high integration and high mechanical strength: the radome, antenna array, TR assembly, wave controller, beamforming network module, and calibration network module form a longitudinal assembly structure, the power module and the left liquid cooling plate and the beamforming network module are mechanically assembled by screwing, and the power module, the left liquid cooling plate, the TR assembly, and the right liquid cooling plate form a transverse assembly structure. The phased array antenna is formed into a whole by combining longitudinal assembly with transverse assembly.

[0038] (3) The high-power active phased array antenna of the present invention uses two liquid cooling plates to conduct heat dissipation for the main heat-generating components, and has the advantages of simple processing and assembly of the liquid cooling plates and good heat dissipation effect: the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate both use multi-stage flow channel cold plates, and the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are interconnected by liquid cooling pipes through quick-plug self-sealing water joints. The left liquid cooling plate can conduct heat dissipation for one side of the power module and TR component, and the right liquid cooling plate can conduct heat dissipation for the other side of the TR component.

[0039] Example 2

[0040] like Figures 1 to 5 As shown, based on Example 1, this example provides a more detailed implementation method.

[0041] See also Figure 1 , Figure 2 In the embodiment described below, a high-power active phased array antenna includes: a radome 7, an antenna array surface 8, a TR component 9, a beam controller 16, a beamforming network module 13, a calibration network module 17, a power module 12, a left liquid cooling plate 10, a right liquid cooling plate 15, a front mounting frame 11, a rear mounting frame 14, etc.

[0042] The scale of the phased array antenna is M*N, where M is the number of units in azimuth, M≥4; N is the number of units in elevation, N≥2. The typical number of high-power active phased array antennas in this embodiment is M=48, N=4. Each TR component includes 4 transceiver channels and 4 coupling channels. The 4 transceiver channels form a subarray beam RF interface 19 through the 1 / 4 beam power division network inside the TR component, and the 4 coupling channels form a subarray calibration RF interface 20 through the 1 / 4 calibration power division network inside the TR component. The external power supply interface 1 is installed on the power module; the external calibration interface 3 is installed on the calibration network module; the external RF interface 2 and the external control signal interface 4 are installed on the beamforming network module.

[0043] See also Figure 3 . The radome and antenna array are mechanically assembled by screwing. The antenna array and 48 TR components are electrically interconnected by SMP-KK RF connectors. The antenna array is mechanically assembled with the left liquid cooling plate, the right liquid cooling plate and the mounting frame by screwing. The wave controller is fixed to the beamforming network module by screwing. The 48 TR components are electrically interconnected with the wave controller through low-frequency connectors. The sub-array beam RF interface of the 48 TR components is electrically interconnected with the beamforming network module through SMP-KK RF connectors. The sub-array calibration RF interface of the 48 TR components is electrically interconnected with the calibration network module through SMP-KK RF connectors. The 48 TR components are electrically interconnected with the beamforming network module and the calibration network module through SMP-KK RF connectors of different lengths.

[0044] The antenna array, TR components, beamforming network module, calibration network module, left liquid cooling plate and right liquid cooling plate are mechanically assembled by longitudinal screw assembly. The radome, antenna array, TR components, wave controller, beamforming network module and calibration network module form a longitudinal assembly structure.

[0045] The left and right liquid cooling plates are mechanically assembled with the two sides of the 48 TR components by screwing. The power module and the wave controller are electrically interconnected through low-frequency connectors. The power module is mechanically assembled with the left liquid cooling plate, the beamforming network module, and the calibration network module by screwing. The power module, the left liquid cooling plate, the TR components, the beamforming network module, the calibration network module, and the right liquid cooling plate form a horizontal assembly structure.

[0046] See also Figure 4 , Figure 5 . The high-power active phased array antenna adopts a series liquid cooling form. The external liquid inlet 6 is installed on the left liquid cooling plate, and the external liquid outlet 5 is installed on the right liquid cooling plate. Both the left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate adopt multi-stage flow channel cold plates. The left liquid cooling plate and the right liquid cooling plate are interconnected by liquid cooling pipes through a quick-plug self-sealing water joint 18. The main heat-generating components of the power module are installed on the mounting surface close to the left liquid cooling plate. The contact surfaces of the left and right liquid cooling plates with the 48 TR components are respectively improved in thermal conductivity by adding thermal conductive pads. The left liquid cooling plate can perform conduction heat dissipation for one side of the power module and TR component, and the right liquid cooling plate can perform conduction heat dissipation for the other side of the TR component.

[0047] As described above, the present invention can be preferably implemented.

[0048] All features disclosed in all embodiments in this specification, or steps in all methods or processes implicitly disclosed, except for mutually exclusive features and / or steps, can be combined and / or expanded or replaced in any manner.

[0049] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and does not limit the present invention in any form. According to the technical essence of the present invention, within the spirit and principles of the present invention, any simple modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made to the above embodiment still falls within the protection scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A phased array antenna, characterized in that: The invention comprises an antenna array surface (8), M TR components (9), a beamforming network module (13), and a calibration network module (17); the antenna array surface (8) and the M TR components (9) are electrically interconnected, the M TR components (9) are electrically interconnected with the beamforming network module (13), and the M TR components (9) are electrically interconnected with the calibration network module (17); wherein M≥4 and M is an integer.

2. The phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The invention comprises a left liquid cooling plate (10) and a right liquid cooling plate (15) arranged on both sides of the TR component (9), and also comprises a front mounting frame (11) and a rear mounting frame (14) arranged on both sides of the end of the TR component (9); the front mounting frame (11) and the rear mounting frame (14) of the left liquid cooling plate (10) and the right liquid cooling plate (15) are connected by screwing.

3. The phased array antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that: It comprises an external liquid inlet (6) arranged on a left liquid cooling plate (10), an external liquid outlet 5 is installed on an external liquid outlet (5) arranged on a right liquid cooling plate (15), and the left liquid cooling plate (10) and the right liquid cooling plate (15) are interconnected.

4. The phased array antenna according to claim 3, characterized in that: It comprises a quick-insert self-sealing water joint (18); the left liquid cooling plate (10) and the right liquid cooling plate (15) are both multi-stage flow channel cooling plates; the left liquid cooling plate (10) and the right liquid cooling plate (15) are interconnected via the quick-insert self-sealing water joint (18).

5. The phased array antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that: It comprises a wave controller (16), which is connected to a beam forming network module (13) by screwing, and M TR components (9) are electrically interconnected with the wave controller (16) by a low-frequency connector.

6. The phased array antenna according to claim 5, characterized in that: The antenna array (8), the TR assembly (9), the wave controller (16), the beam forming network module (13), and the calibration network module (17) are screwed together in sequence to form a longitudinal assembly structure.

7. The phased array antenna according to claim 5, characterized in that: The invention comprises a power module (12), wherein the power module (12), a left liquid cooling plate (10), a TR component (9), a beam forming network module (13), a calibration network module (17), and a right liquid cooling plate (15) are screwed together in sequence to form a transverse assembly structure.

8. The phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The antenna array surface and the M TR components (9) are electrically interconnected via SMP-KK radio frequency connectors.

9. The phased array antenna according to claim 8, characterized in that: The TR component (9) is provided with a subarray beam radio frequency interface (19) and a subarray calibration radio frequency interface (20). The subarray beam radio frequency interface (19) is electrically interconnected with the beam forming network module (13) through an SMP-KK radio frequency connector, and the subarray beam radio frequency interface (19) is electrically interconnected with the calibration network module (17) through an SMP-KK radio frequency connector.

10. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 5 to 9, characterized in that: It comprises an antenna cover (7), wherein the antenna cover (7), an antenna array surface (8), a TR component (9), a wave controller (16), a beam forming network module (13), and a calibration network module (17) are screwed together in sequence to form a longitudinal assembly structure.

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