Adjustable dielectric lens antenna device and adjusting method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device and an adjusting method thereof, a transmission screw rod on an adjusting assembly can be rotated manually or electrically to drive a radiation unit to linearly move along the tangential direction of a dielectric lens, so that the relative positions of the radiation unit and a lens assembly in the tangential direction of the dielectric lens are changed, and the dielectric lens antenna device is adjusted. Therefore, the downward inclination angle of the antenna can be quickly adjusted. And one adjusting assembly can simultaneously drive the plurality of radiation units to linearly move along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, each radiation unit does not need to be adjusted respectively, the overall structure is simple, the space is saved, the cost is lower, and the downward inclination angle of the antenna can be rapidly and accurately adjusted.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of mobile communication antenna equipment, and in particular to an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device and an adjustment method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In mobile communication systems, antennas are key components, and their basic function is to transmit and receive radio waves. With the rapid development of mobile communication networks, base stations in cities are becoming more and more dense. There are usually dozens of base stations in a medium-sized city, and hundreds of base stations in provincial capitals. The density of base stations is getting higher and higher, and the types of base stations are getting larger and larger. In order to achieve density, base stations must reuse the frequencies within their cell clusters. This means that operators need to effectively control the radiation pattern of each antenna to prevent electromagnetic interference and communication quality degradation caused by stray radiation. How to choose the right antenna when deploying a wireless communication network to ensure the best network performance and thus ensure user experience is an issue of increasing concern in wireless communication networking. Among them, the downtilt angle of the base station antenna is an important factor in the cell coverage radius. Improper setting of the downtilt angle of the antenna will lead to problems such as weak cell coverage and interference between cells, which will in turn affect network performance.

[0003] In addition, for the later coverage optimization and maintenance of wireless cellular communication systems, a very important system optimization task is to adjust the downtilt angle of the antenna pattern. Especially when there is a large flow of people, if you want to reduce interference in certain specific areas and / or increase coverage in certain areas, you will also adjust the downtilt angle of the antenna pattern in real time to optimize coverage.

[0004] However, the structure for adjusting the downtilt angle in the prior art is relatively complex, inflexible, costly, and unreliable. Therefore, it is urgent to design a dielectric lens antenna device with a simple structure, small footprint, and the ability to quickly and accurately adjust the antenna downtilt angle. Summary of the invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device and an adjustment method thereof, which has a simple overall structure, saves space, and can quickly and accurately adjust the antenna downtilt angle.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device, comprising a first reflector, an adjustment component fixed to the back of the first reflector, a lens component fixed to the front of the first reflector, a second reflector driven by the adjustment component to move, and a radiation unit fixed to the second reflector and located below the lens component and above the front of the first reflector; The lens assembly comprises a lens bracket fixed on the front of the first reflector plate, and a dielectric lens fixed on the lens bracket and spaced a certain distance from the first reflector plate; Driven by the second reflecting plate, the radiation unit can move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens or move linearly in the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent.

[0007] Furthermore, the adjustment assembly includes a transmission screw fixed on the back side of the first reflector and arranged along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, an adjustment knob connected to the bottom end of the transmission screw, a fixing rod fixed in the gap between the transmission screw and the back side of the first reflector and parallel to the transmission screw, a slider threadedly connected to the transmission screw and sleeved on the fixing rod and movable on the transmission screw, two guide rods respectively connected to the two side edges of the slider and parallel to the transmission screw, a connecting rod vertically connecting the guide rod and the second reflector and passing through the first reflector, and a support block fixed on the back side of the first reflector and sleeved on the guide rod; the two guide rods and the connecting rod can move along the axial direction of the lens assembly under the drive of the slider; the first reflector is provided with a guide window running through the thickness direction of the first reflector for the connecting rod to pass through.

[0008] Furthermore, the adjustment assembly also includes a first limit member arranged on the back side of the first reflective plate, for prohibiting or limiting the axial movement of the transmission screw; and a second limit member fixed to the transmission screw, for limiting the maximum movement distance of the slider relative to the transmission screw.

[0009] Furthermore, the back side of the second reflector is connected to the adjustment assembly, the front side is connected to the radiation unit, an L-shaped inner metal surround is fixed on the inner side of the edge, and the outer side of the edge is an outer metal surround that is bent outwards.

[0010] Furthermore, the dielectric lens is a cylindrical dielectric lens, an elliptical cylindrical dielectric lens, a spherical dielectric lens, an ellipsoidal dielectric lens, or an irregular dielectric lens.

[0011] Furthermore, the width of the dielectric lens is greater than the width of the radiation surface of the radiation unit.

[0012] Furthermore, the radiation unit and the second reflection plate are both multiple.

[0013] Furthermore, a power divider is fixed on the back side of the first reflector, and the power divider is electrically connected to the radiation unit via a coaxial cable.

[0014] Furthermore, the transmission screw is provided with a scale.

[0015] Furthermore, the adjustment assembly also includes a transmission gear assembly fixed between the connecting rod and the second reflector plate, and the transmission gear assembly can rotate under the drive of the two guide rods, so that the radiation unit can move linearly along a set angle in the area between the edge and tangent of the dielectric lens.

[0016] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention further provides a method for adjusting the downtilt angle of a lens antenna, using the above adjustable dielectric lens antenna device, comprising the following steps: S1. According to the desired target downtilt angle, the preset correspondence between the target downtilt angle and the moving distance of the radiation unit, and the preset correspondence between the moving distance of the radiation unit and the number of rotations of the drive screw, turn the adjustment knob to rotate the drive screw a corresponding number of turns; S2. When the transmission screw rotates, the guide rod is driven to move, and the second reflector, under the action of the guide rod, drives the radiation unit to move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens or along the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent; S3. Determine whether the desired target downtilt angle is adjusted based on the scale set on the drive screw or the scale set on an external ruler connected to the drive screw, and if so, stop rotating the adjustment knob.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: the present invention can manually or electrically rotate the transmission screw on the adjustment component to drive the radiation unit to move linearly along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, so that the relative position of the radiation unit and the lens component in the tangential direction of the dielectric lens changes, thereby quickly completing the downtilt angle adjustment of the antenna; and an adjustment component of the present invention can simultaneously drive a plurality of radiation units to move linearly along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, without the need to adjust each radiation unit separately, the overall structure is simple, space is saved, the cost is lower, and the antenna downtilt angle can be adjusted quickly and accurately. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 is a front structural diagram of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a back structural diagram of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is a partial view of a transmission screw rod according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5is a front structural diagram of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is a front structural diagram of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of rotations of the transmission screw and the moving distance of the radiation unit in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is a graph showing the relationship between the moving distance of the radiation unit and the downtilt angle of the lens antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a spherical dielectric lens according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig.10 is a cross-sectional view of an adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Description of labels: 1. First reflector; 2. Second reflector; 3. Radiating unit; 4. Inner metal surround; 5. Outer metal rim; 6. Lens bracket; 7. Dielectric lens; 8. Connecting rod; 9. Guide window; 10. Support block; 11. Power divider; 12. Guide rod; 13. Slider; 14. Transmission screw; 15. Adjustment knob; 16. Fixing rod; 17. Scale; 18. Cylindrical dielectric lens; 19. Elliptical cylindrical dielectric lens; 20. First stopper; 21. Second stopper; 22. Spherical dielectric lens; 23. Transmission gear assembly. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 3As shown, the adjustable dielectric lens antenna device of an embodiment of the present invention includes a first reflector 1, an adjustment component fixed on the back side of the first reflector 1, a lens component fixed on the front side of the first reflector 1, a second reflector 2 that moves under the drive of the adjustment component, and a radiation unit 3 fixed on the second reflector 2 and located below the lens component and above the front side of the first reflector 1.

[0022] The lens assembly comprises a lens support 6 fixed on the front side of the first reflector 1 , and a dielectric lens 7 fixed on the lens support 6 and spaced a certain distance from the first reflector 1 .

[0023] Specifically, in this embodiment, the dielectric lens 7 may be a cylindrical dielectric lens 18 or an elliptical cylindrical dielectric lens 19, such as Figure 5 and Figure 6 Alternatively, the dielectric lens 7 may also be a spherical dielectric lens 22, as shown in FIG. Fig. 9 and Fig.10 In another embodiment, the dielectric lens 7 is a dielectric lens of other geometric shapes, such as a cone, a hexagonal prism, etc. In addition, in this embodiment, the width of the dielectric lens 7 is greater than the width of the radiation surface of the radiation unit 3, and the length is greater than the length of the radiation surface of the radiation unit 3.

[0024] The radiation unit 3 can move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens 7 driven by the second reflector 2. Specifically, in this embodiment, the tangent direction of the cylindrical dielectric lens and the elliptical dielectric lens is their axial direction.

[0025] Specifically, the adjustment assembly includes a transmission screw 14 fixed on the back of the first reflector 1 and arranged along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens, an adjustment knob 15 connected to the bottom end of the transmission screw 14, a fixing rod 16 fixed in the gap between the transmission screw 14 and the back of the first reflector 1 and parallel to the transmission screw 14, a slider 13 threadedly connected to the transmission screw 14 and sleeved with the fixing rod 16 and movable on the transmission screw 14, two guide rods 12 respectively connected to the two sides of the slider 13 and parallel to the transmission screw 14, a connecting rod 8 vertically connecting the guide rod 12 and the second reflector 2 and passing through the first reflector 1, and a support block 10 fixed to the back of the first reflector 1 and sleeved with the guide rod 12. The two guide rods 12 and the connecting rod 8 can move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens driven by the slider 13. The first reflector 1 is provided with a guide window 9 penetrating the thickness direction of the first reflector 1 for the connecting rod 8 to pass through.

[0026] Specifically, the adjusting knob 15 may be a manual adjusting knob 15 or an electric adjusting knob 15 connected to a driving motor. The driving screw 14 may be driven to rotate by rotating the adjusting knob 15, so that the slider 13 moves along the driving screw 14. Thus, the two guide rods 12 connected to the slider 13 and the connecting rod 8 thereon also move accordingly.

[0027] In this embodiment, the adjustment assembly further includes a first stopper 20 disposed on the back of the first reflector 1, which is used to prohibit or limit the axial movement of the transmission screw 14. Specifically, the first stopper 20 includes a support seat, which supports the transmission screw 14; the transmission screw 14 is fixed with a stopper ring, and the stopper ring cooperates with the support seat to prohibit or limit the axial movement of the transmission screw 14. It can be understood that the first stopper 20 can be disposed at the bottom end, the top end and / or other positions of the transmission screw, as long as it can prohibit or limit the axial movement of the transmission screw 14.

[0028] In this embodiment, the adjustment assembly further includes a second limiter 21 fixed to the transmission screw 14, which is used to limit the maximum moving distance of the slider 13 relative to the transmission screw 14. The second limiter 21 may be one or two. In this embodiment, the transmission screw 14 and the fixing rod 16 are of equal length. To save space, the fixing rod 16 is disposed in the gap between the transmission screw 14 and the first reflector 1. The slider 13 is provided with a screw hole and a socket hole, and the slider 13 is threadedly connected to the transmission screw 14 through the screw hole, and is connected to the fixing rod 16 through the socket hole.

[0029] In this embodiment, in order to further accurately adjust the relative position between the radiation unit 3 and the lens assembly, a scale 17 is further provided on the transmission screw 14. Figure 4 As shown, it can be used to identify the moving distance of the radiation unit, or to identify the downtilt angle. The scale values ​​shown in the figure are only an example, and those skilled in the art can set them to other scale values ​​according to actual conditions, which will not affect the implementation of the present invention.

[0030] In another embodiment, a transmission screw is installed inside the box body, which is connected to an external scale. The rotation of the transmission screw can drive the external scale to move outward from the box body, and the scale on the exposed scale can be used to determine whether the target downward inclination angle is adjusted.

[0031] In this embodiment, there are a plurality of support blocks 10, which are fixed at equal intervals on the back of the first reflector 1 and sleeved with the guide rod 12 to ensure smooth movement of the guide rod 12. The length of the guide rod 12 is less than or equal to the length of the first reflector 1 and greater than the length of the transmission screw 14.

[0032] In this embodiment, the guide window 9 is arranged on the first reflector 1 along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens, and the connecting rod 8 passes through the guide window 9 to connect the back of the second reflector 2. The length of the guide window 9 should be greater than or equal to the maximum moving range of the connecting rod 8.

[0033] In addition, to further save space, a plurality of power dividers 11 are fixed to the back of the first reflector 1 , each power divider 11 is electrically connected to the radiation unit 3 via a coaxial cable, and the power divider 11 distributes electrical signals to the radiation unit 3 .

[0034] Specifically, the second reflector 2 is parallel to the first reflector 1, and is located above the first reflector 1 and below the lens assembly. Two connecting rods 8 are connected to both sides of the back of the second reflector 2. When the two connecting rods 8 move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens, the second reflector 2 and the radiation unit 3 thereon are also driven to move accordingly.

[0035] In another embodiment, the radiation units 3 and the second reflector 2 are both multiple and evenly distributed along the axial direction of the lens assembly. In addition, in other embodiments, the radiation units 3 and the second reflector 2 are evenly or unevenly distributed along other directions. Specifically, the radiation units 3 and the second reflector 2 can be evenly or unevenly distributed along the diagonal direction of the lens assembly, or evenly or unevenly distributed along the radial direction of the dielectric lens. The length of the dielectric lens 7 is greater than the length of the radiation surface of all the radiation units 3 combined.

[0036] Specifically, Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown in the two figures, three radiation units 3 arranged in a straight line are illustrated, and each radiation unit 3 is fixed on a second reflection plate 2. Figure 5 The cylindrical dielectric lens 18 and Figure 6 The length of the elliptical cylindrical dielectric lens 19 is greater than the length of the radiation surface of the combination of the three radiation units 3. Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The spherical dielectric lens 22 has a diameter of a single sphere that is larger than a radiation surface diameter of a single radiation unit.

[0037] In another embodiment of the present invention, the radiation unit 3 can move linearly in the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent line under the drive of the second reflection plate 2. Specifically, Fig.10 As shown, in this embodiment, the adjustment assembly also includes a transmission gear assembly 23 fixed between the connecting rod and the second reflector. The transmission gear assembly 23 can rotate under the drive of the two guide rods 12, so that the radiation unit 3 can move linearly along a set angle in the area between the edge and tangent of the spherical dielectric lens 22.

[0038] Specifically, the second reflector is first tilted to a set angle, and then when the transmission screw rotates, the guide rod moves in a vertical direction, driving the transmission gear to rotate, so that the second reflector moves linearly along the set angle, thereby driving the radiation unit to move linearly.

[0039] In addition, the method for adjusting the downtilt angle of the lens antenna implemented in the present invention adopts the adjustable dielectric lens antenna device of the above embodiment, and comprises the following steps: S1. According to the desired target downtilt angle, the correspondence between the preset target downtilt angle and the moving distance of the radiation unit, and the correspondence between the preset moving distance of the radiation unit and the number of rotations of the drive screw, turn the adjustment knob to rotate the drive screw the corresponding number of turns; S2. While the transmission screw rotates, the guide rod is driven to move, and the second reflector, under the action of the guide rod, drives the radiation unit to move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens or along the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent; S3. According to the scale set on the transmission screw, or according to the scale set on the external ruler connected to the transmission screw, determine whether the desired target downtilt angle is adjusted, and if so, stop rotating the adjustment knob.

[0040] Specifically, the correspondence between the preset target downtilt angle and the moving distance of the radiation unit can be as follows: Figure 7 The correspondence between the preset moving distance of the radiation unit and the number of rotations of the transmission screw can be Figure 8 Example shown.

[0041] In summary, the present invention can rotate the transmission screw on the adjustment component manually or electrically to drive the radiation unit to move linearly along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, so that the relative position of the radiation unit and the lens component in the tangential direction of the dielectric lens changes, thereby quickly completing the downtilt angle adjustment of the antenna; and an adjustment component of the present invention can simultaneously drive several radiation units to move linearly along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, without adjusting each radiation unit separately, the overall structure is simple, space is saved, the cost is lower, and the antenna downtilt angle can be adjusted quickly and accurately.

[0042] The above embodiments only express the preferred implementation modes of the present invention, and the descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but they cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be pointed out that, for those skilled in the art, several modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, such as combining different features in various embodiments, etc., which all belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An adjustable dielectric lens antenna device, characterized in that: It comprises a first reflecting plate, an adjusting assembly fixed on the back of the first reflecting plate, a lens assembly fixed on the front of the first reflecting plate, a second reflecting plate moved under the driving of the adjusting assembly, and a radiation unit fixed on the second reflecting plate and located below the lens assembly and above the front of the first reflecting plate; The lens assembly comprises a lens bracket fixed on the front of the first reflector plate, and a dielectric lens fixed on the lens bracket and spaced a certain distance from the first reflector plate; Driven by the second reflecting plate, the radiation unit can move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens or move linearly in the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent.

2. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adjustment component includes a transmission screw fixed on the back side of the first reflecting plate and arranged along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens, an adjustment knob connected to the bottom end of the transmission screw, a fixing rod fixed in the gap between the transmission screw and the back side of the first reflecting plate and parallel to the transmission screw, a slider threadedly connected to the transmission screw and sleeved on the fixing rod and movable on the transmission screw, two guide rods respectively connected to the two side edges of the slider and parallel to the transmission screw, a connecting rod vertically connecting the guide rod and the second reflecting plate and passing through the first reflecting plate, and a support block fixed on the back side of the first reflecting plate and sleeved on the guide rod; the two guide rods and the connecting rod can move linearly along the tangential direction of the dielectric lens driven by the slider; the first reflecting plate is provided with a guide window running through the thickness direction of the first reflecting plate for the connecting rod to pass through.

3. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adjustment assembly also includes a first limiter disposed on the back of the first reflector for prohibiting or limiting the axial movement of the drive screw; and a second limiter fixed to the drive screw for limiting the maximum movement distance of the slider relative to the drive screw.

4. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The back side of the second reflector is connected to the adjustment assembly, and the front side is connected to the radiation unit. An L-shaped inner metal surround is fixed on the inner side of the edge, and an outer metal surround is bent outward on the outer side of the edge.

5. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The dielectric lens is a cylindrical dielectric lens, an elliptical cylindrical dielectric lens, a spherical dielectric lens, an ellipsoidal dielectric lens, or a special-shaped dielectric lens.

6. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The width of the dielectric lens is greater than the width of the radiation surface of the radiation unit.

7. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: There are multiple radiation units and multiple second reflection plates.

8. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A power divider is fixed on the back of the first reflector, and the power divider is electrically connected to the radiation unit via a coaxial cable.

9. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The transmission screw is provided with a scale.

10. The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adjustment assembly also includes a transmission gear assembly fixed between the connecting rod and the second reflector plate. The transmission gear assembly can rotate under the drive of the two guide rods, so that the radiation unit can move linearly along a set angle in the area between the edge and tangent of the dielectric lens.

11. A method for adjusting the downtilt angle of a lens antenna, characterized in that: The adjustable dielectric lens antenna device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 comprises the following steps: S1. According to the desired target downtilt angle, the preset correspondence between the target downtilt angle and the moving distance of the radiation unit, and the preset correspondence between the moving distance of the radiation unit and the number of rotations of the drive screw, turn the adjustment knob to rotate the drive screw a corresponding number of turns; S2. When the transmission screw rotates, the guide rod is driven to move, and the second reflector, under the action of the guide rod, drives the radiation unit to move linearly along the tangent direction of the dielectric lens or along the area between the edge of the dielectric lens and the tangent; S3. Determine whether the desired target downtilt angle is adjusted based on the scale set on the drive screw or the scale set on an external ruler connected to the drive screw, and if so, stop rotating the adjustment knob.

Images