Heating system in liquid crystal antenna box
By setting a heating layer and conductive patterns inside the liquid crystal antenna box, combined with pulse width modulation signals and temperature detection, the problems of uneven heating and high power consumption inside the liquid crystal phased array antenna box are solved, achieving a rapid response heating effect in low-temperature environments.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511929588.3
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-12-19
- Publication Date
- 2026-01-23
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies struggle to efficiently and uniformly heat the liquid crystal material inside the liquid crystal phased array antenna box in low-temperature environments, and traditional heating methods can interfere with antenna radiation signals or result in high power consumption.
A heating layer is set inside the liquid crystal antenna box, and a conductive pattern with variable cross-section etching is used. Combined with a pulse width modulation signal and a temperature detection module, uniform heating is achieved and the normal operation of the phase shifter is maintained by adjusting the duty cycle of the PWM signal and the application duration of the auxiliary voltage.
Rapidly increasing the response speed of liquid crystal molecules in low-temperature environments ensures that antenna performance is not compromised, achieving efficient and uniform heating while reducing power consumption.
Smart Images
Figure CN121386239A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention belongs to the field of liquid crystal phased array antennas, and particularly relates to a heating system inside a liquid crystal antenna box. Background Technology
[0002] Liquid crystal phased array antennas, with their advantages of low power consumption, low cost, and mass production capability, have shown great potential in modern communication and radar fields. Their core working principle is to apply voltage to a phase shifter to change the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal material, thereby achieving beam scanning.
[0003] However, the inherent physical properties of liquid crystal materials cause their response speed to decrease significantly in low-temperature environments, severely affecting the performance and reliability of antennas in low-temperature scenarios. To solve this problem, traditional technical solutions mainly fall into two categories: one is to heat the outside of the antenna box, but this method has inherent drawbacks such as long heat transfer paths, large temperature differences, and high energy consumption, resulting in low heating efficiency; the other is to directly integrate resistance wires or resistance blocks inside the antenna box for heating, but such metallic heating elements generate interfering electromagnetic fields during operation, affecting the antenna's own radiation signal. Furthermore, their manufacturing process is complex, power consumption is high, and it is difficult to achieve uniform temperature distribution within the box.
[0004] Therefore, existing technologies lack a solution for efficiently and uniformly heating the interior of a liquid crystal phased array antenna box without interfering with its normal operation. How to rapidly increase the response speed of liquid crystal molecules in a low-temperature environment while ensuring that the antenna's radiation performance is not compromised has become a pressing technical challenge in this field. Summary of the Invention
[0005] This invention proposes a heating system for an internal liquid crystal antenna box to solve the problems existing in the prior art.
[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a heating system for a liquid crystal antenna box, comprising:
[0007] A box structure, wherein liquid crystal material is disposed inside the box structure;
[0008] A heating layer is disposed inside the housing structure, and a conductive pattern is disposed on the heating layer;
[0009] A phase shifter is disposed inside the housing structure and adjacent to the liquid crystal material;
[0010] The control module is electrically connected to both the heating layer and the phase shifter.
[0011] The control module is configured as follows:
[0012] A periodic driving signal is applied to the phase shifter, the periodic driving signal including a high-level interval and a low-level interval, the high-level interval being used to drive the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material to deflect, and the low-level interval being used to maintain the working state of the phase shifter;
[0013] An auxiliary voltage is applied to the phase shifter in the low-level range, causing the phase shifter to generate first heat while maintaining its working state and conduct it to the liquid crystal material;
[0014] A first voltage is applied to the heating layer, causing the heating layer to generate second heat, which is then conducted to the liquid crystal material.
[0015] Optionally, the conductive pattern is formed on the metal layer of the heating layer by an etching process.
[0016] Optionally, the conductive pattern is a slit pattern with a variable cross-section, the shape of which is configured to produce a uniform heat distribution in the heating layer when a first voltage is applied.
[0017] Optionally, the periodic drive signal is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal.
[0018] Optionally, the control module is further configured to:
[0019] The duty cycle of the PWM signal is adjusted according to the target phase shift of the phase shifter.
[0020] Optional adjustments to the duty cycle include:
[0021] When the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is high, the duty cycle of the PWM signal is reduced;
[0022] When the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is low, the duty cycle of the PWM signal is increased.
[0023] Optionally, a temperature detection module is also included. The temperature detection module is disposed inside the housing structure and electrically connected to the control module, and is used to detect the ambient temperature of the liquid crystal material.
[0024] Optionally, the control module is further configured to:
[0025] The duration of the auxiliary voltage application within a single low-level range is adjusted based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature detection module.
[0026] Optionally, adjusting the application duration includes:
[0027] When the ambient temperature is lower than a preset threshold, the duration of the auxiliary voltage application is increased;
[0028] When the ambient temperature is higher than the preset threshold, the duration of the auxiliary voltage application is shortened.
[0029] Optionally, the housing structure includes an upper substrate and a lower substrate disposed opposite to each other, the heating layer is fixed to the side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal material, and the phase shifter is disposed between the heating layer and the liquid crystal material.
[0030] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages and technical effects:
[0031] Firstly, this invention adds a bias heating layer inside the liquid crystal phased array cell. This layer eliminates the traditional method of winding thermal resistance wires and instead uses a variable cross-section etching method to etch specific gaps into the bias layer, allowing the layer to generate heat evenly when positive and negative electrodes are applied. This avoids the heating effect of adding resistance wires, which would affect the normal operation of the liquid crystal phase shifter. Secondly, this invention utilizes the non-responsive characteristic of liquid crystal under low voltage conditions. By applying a specific low voltage during the duty cycle of the PWM voltage control of the liquid crystal phase shifter, it allows the liquid crystal molecules to deflect at high potentials while continuously heating at low potentials. This satisfies both the deflection of liquid crystal molecules under high voltage conditions and the heat generated by the phase shifter itself, thus compensating for the slow response of the liquid crystal phased array antenna at low temperatures. Attached Figure Description
[0032] The accompanying drawings, which form part of this application, are used to provide a further understanding of this application. The illustrative embodiments and descriptions of this application are used to explain this application and do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings:
[0033] Figure 1 This is a basic structural diagram of the liquid crystal phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0034] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the heating layer according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0035] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the PWM drive waveform for the liquid crystal bias line according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0036] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the PWM drive waveform of the superimposed auxiliary heating voltage according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0037] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of heating time adjustment based on voltage variation according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0038] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the heating time adjustment based on ambient temperature according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation
[0039] It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in this application can be combined with each other. This application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.
[0040] It should be noted that the steps shown in the flowchart in the accompanying drawings can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions, and although a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases the steps shown or described may be executed in a different order than that shown here.
[0041] This invention relates to an in-cell heating scheme for a liquid crystal phased array antenna. First, it is necessary to clarify the basic structure of the liquid crystal phased array antenna; such as... Figure 1 As shown, the structure of a traditional liquid crystal antenna is an upper glass substrate, a metal coupling layer, liquid crystal molecules, a phase shifter layer, a bias line, and a lower glass substrate. When the liquid crystal antenna is working, a certain voltage is applied to the bias line. The voltage is conducted to the phase shifter layer and generates a certain electric field with the metal coupling layer. At this time, the liquid crystal molecules begin to deflect, thereby changing the physical properties of the liquid crystal molecules and changing the antenna beam.
[0042] Example 1
[0043] This embodiment provides a heating system for an internal liquid crystal antenna box, including:
[0044] The box structure contains liquid crystal material.
[0045] A heating layer is located inside the box structure, and conductive patterns are provided on the heating layer;
[0046] The phase shifter is located inside the housing structure and adjacent to the liquid crystal material;
[0047] The control module is electrically connected to both the heating layer and the phase shifter.
[0048] The control module is configured as follows:
[0049] A periodic drive signal is applied to the phase shifter. The periodic drive signal includes a high-level interval and a low-level interval. The high-level interval is used to drive the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material to deflect, and the low-level interval is used to maintain the working state of the phase shifter.
[0050] An auxiliary voltage is applied to the phase shifter in the low-level range, causing the phase shifter to generate the first heat while maintaining its operating state and conducting it to the liquid crystal material.
[0051] A first voltage is applied to the heating layer, causing the heating layer to generate second heat, which is then conducted to the liquid crystal material.
[0052] The housing structure includes an upper substrate and a lower substrate arranged opposite to each other. The heating layer is fixed to the side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal material, and the phase shifter is disposed between the heating layer and the liquid crystal material.
[0053] The liquid crystal antenna box heating solution provided by the present invention is to first add a heating layer on the lower glass substrate, and then etch a certain conductive pattern on the heating layer by means of variable cross section etching.
[0054] The conductive pattern is formed on the metal layer of the heating layer by an etching process.
[0055] The conductive pattern is a slot pattern with a variable cross-section, the shape of which is configured to produce a thermally coupled slot pattern that generates a uniform heat distribution in the heating layer when a first voltage is applied.
[0056] like Figure 2 As shown, when the system detects that the overall temperature is below a certain range, the system will apply voltage to both ends of the heating electrode, and the heating layer will generate a certain amount of heat. At this time, it is equivalent to generating a heating layer inside the liquid crystal cell.
[0057] Furthermore, the periodic drive signal is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. The control module is further configured to adjust the duty cycle of the PWM signal according to the target phase shift of the phase shifter.
[0058] Adjusting the duty cycle includes: decreasing the duty cycle of the PWM signal when the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is high; and increasing the duty cycle of the PWM signal when the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is low.
[0059] Specifically, when the phase shifter is working, assuming the voltage applied to the phase shifter by the bias line is as follows: Figure 3 As shown.
[0060] Due to the inherent characteristics of liquid crystal molecules, applying power using a PWM waveform with an appropriate duty cycle allows for "empty" time within the duty cycle without affecting the deflection of the liquid crystal molecules. Furthermore, the higher the effective voltage, the lower the duty cycle can be. In addition, liquid crystal molecules hardly deflect under low voltage conditions. Since the liquid crystal molecules do not change their deflection state, the phase shift control of the phase shifter will not be affected.
[0061] First, under the premise that the target phase shift amount of the controlled phase shifter remains unchanged, by adjusting the duty cycle of the power application form of different driving voltages, such as decreasing the duty cycle when the driving voltage is high and increasing the duty cycle when the driving voltage is low, the effective heating power on the phase shifter can be adjusted so that the heating power received by the phase shifter under different driving voltages reaches a more balanced state, reducing the inconsistency of heating power of the phase shifter at different positions.
[0062] Furthermore, by adding a low voltage during the "empty" time, it can continuously heat the phase shifter without affecting the operation of the high-potential driving liquid crystal molecules, such as... Figure 4 .
[0063] At this point, the phase shifter generates heat while in operation. Another problem this introduces is how to ensure that the phase shifter generates a constant amount of heat without being affected by the constantly changing voltage, since the voltage applied to the phase shifter is constantly changing.
[0064] A temperature detection module is provided, which is located inside the housing structure and electrically connected to the control module, for detecting the ambient temperature of the liquid crystal material.
[0065] The duration of the auxiliary voltage application within a single low-level range is adjusted based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature detection module.
[0066] Adjusting the application duration includes: increasing the application duration of the auxiliary voltage when the ambient temperature is below a preset threshold; and shortening the application duration of the auxiliary voltage when the ambient temperature is above the preset threshold.
[0067] That is, by adding the variable of time t, on the one hand, when V changes from a lower operating voltage V1 to a higher operating voltage V2, t1 also changes to t2. Of course, V1 at this time...<V2,t1> t2 allows the phase shifter to generate a continuous and constant amount of heat during operation; on the other hand, by adjusting the times t1 and t2 according to the actual ambient temperature of the liquid crystal, the temperature rise can be precisely controlled.
[0068] Heating power balance control under different driving voltages, such as Figures 5-6 As shown.
[0069] In summary, by combining the two approaches mentioned above, a controllable and continuously balanced in-cell heating method is achieved within the liquid crystal phased array antenna. This method does not affect the efficiency of the liquid crystal phased array antenna and maximizes the heating of liquid crystal molecules with low power consumption. This system abandons the traditional heating wire method and, combined with the characteristics of the liquid crystal phased array antenna and its internal stacked structure, achieves a dual-temperature heating method. First, with the bias layer structure largely metallized, the system innovatively utilizes etched gaps to achieve changes in resistance, thereby heating the liquid crystal molecules. Second, taking advantage of the low-voltage inactivity of liquid crystal molecules, a controllable circuit is innovatively added, allowing the phase shifter unit, which does not generate heat itself, to generate heat while operating, thus ensuring the response speed of the liquid crystal molecules.
[0070] The above are merely preferred embodiments of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A heating system for a liquid crystal antenna box, characterized in that, include: A box structure, wherein liquid crystal material is disposed inside the box structure; A heating layer is disposed inside the housing structure, and a conductive pattern is disposed on the heating layer; A phase shifter is disposed inside the housing structure and adjacent to the liquid crystal material; The control module is electrically connected to both the heating layer and the phase shifter. The control module is configured as follows: A periodic driving signal is applied to the phase shifter, the periodic driving signal including a high-level interval and a low-level interval, the high-level interval being used to drive the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material to deflect, and the low-level interval being used to maintain the working state of the phase shifter; An auxiliary voltage is applied to the phase shifter in the low-level range, causing the phase shifter to generate first heat while maintaining its working state and conduct it to the liquid crystal material; A first voltage is applied to the heating layer, causing the heating layer to generate second heat, which is then conducted to the liquid crystal material.
2. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 1, characterized in that, The conductive pattern is formed on the metal layer of the heating layer by an etching process.
3. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 2, characterized in that, The conductive pattern is a slit pattern with a variable cross-section, the shape of which is configured to produce a uniform heat distribution in the heating layer when a first voltage is applied.
4. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 1, characterized in that, The periodic drive signal is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal.
5. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 4, characterized in that, The control module is further configured as follows: The duty cycle of the PWM signal is adjusted according to the target phase shift of the phase shifter.
6. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 5, characterized in that, Adjusting the duty cycle includes: When the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is high, the duty cycle of the PWM signal is reduced; When the driving voltage corresponding to the target phase shift is low, the duty cycle of the PWM signal is increased.
7. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a temperature detection module, which is located inside the housing structure and electrically connected to the control module, for detecting the ambient temperature of the liquid crystal material.
8. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 7, characterized in that, The control module is further configured as follows: The duration of the auxiliary voltage application within a single low-level range is adjusted based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature detection module.
9. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 8, characterized in that, Adjusting the application duration includes: When the ambient temperature is lower than a preset threshold, the duration of the auxiliary voltage application is increased; When the ambient temperature is higher than the preset threshold, the duration of the auxiliary voltage application is shortened.
10. The heating system inside the liquid crystal antenna box according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing structure includes an upper substrate and a lower substrate arranged opposite to each other, the heating layer is fixed to the side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal material, and the phase shifter is disposed between the heating layer and the liquid crystal material.