Multilayer waveguide antenna

Abstract

The invention discloses a multilayer waveguide antenna, which comprises a plurality of thin metal layers and a plurality of plastic metallization layers, and the thin metal layers and the plastic metallization layers are arranged in a mixed manner, so that the cost is reduced; the adjacent thin metal layers and plastic metallization layers or the adjacent thin metal layers or the adjacent plastic metallization layers are connected through welding, bonding, buckling or bolts, especially in a bonding or buckling mode, so that the cost can be further reduced, the antenna yield is high, the production efficiency is high, and meanwhile, the cost is reduced. The middle-layer design of a waveguide interface is integrated, the bottom-layer design can be simplified to adopt a processing scheme similar to that of a top-layer scheme, the manufacturing cost is reduced, and meanwhile, the advantages of efficient and flexible feed network design, excellent antenna performance and compact design of a three-layer scheme are reserved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of antenna production, and more particularly, to a multilayer waveguide antenna. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the rapid development of domestic economy and the improvement of people's living standards, cars as an important means of transportation begin to enter thousands of households, but the resulting traffic problems are increasingly highlighted. The 77GHz vehicle collision avoidance radar, compared with the previous lower frequency collision avoidance radar, has the advantages of long detection distance, high identification accuracy and strong anti-interference ability, and has become the development direction of the current vehicle radar.

[0003] Vehicle millimeter wave radar has the advantages of all-weather and less affected by environment weather, which is incomparable to camera and laser radar. Therefore, the millimeter wave radar can provide reliable sensing services in the scene where the camera and laser radar are limited.

[0004] The dielectric substrate used in the process of PCB technology in the 77GHz millimeter wave frequency band will greatly reduce the antenna gain and radiation efficiency. The ridge waveguide is a transformation based on the rectangular waveguide, which has the characteristics of high working frequency, wide bandwidth, relatively stable structure and not easy to deform.

[0005] Traditional multilayer waveguide antennas generally use metal substrates or electroplatable plastics as substrates for each layer of waveguide. After injection molding of electroplatable thermoplastic engineering plastics, electroplating is performed. The multilayer metal waveguide antenna is heavy, complex in design, high in cost and low in production efficiency. In order to increase the solderability, the plastic electroplating scheme generally needs to directly vacuum plate a metal film on the surface of the plastic substrate or needs to vacuum sputter a silver metal layer on the copper layer after the copper plating process is completed on the plastic substrate. The production efficiency is low due to the influence of the vacuum plating equipment mounting capacity. At the same time, there are also yield problems in mass production, and vacuum sputtering silver will greatly increase the cost. SUMMARY

[0006] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects of the prior art, the embodiments of the present application provide a multilayer waveguide antenna.

[0007] To achieve the above-mentioned purposes, the present application has the following innovations: the waveguide antenna comprises a plurality of thin metal layers and a plurality of plastic metallized layers, and the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged in a mixed manner.

[0008] Further, the adjacent thin metal layers and plastic metallized layers, or adjacent thin metal layers or adjacent plastic metallized layers are connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolting.

[0009] Further, the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately from top to bottom.

[0010] Further, the waveguide antenna is sequentially divided into a radiation layer, a feeding layer and a lower cover plate from top to bottom.

[0011] Further, the feeding layer integrates a waveguide interface, so as to simplify the structure of the lower cover plate.

[0012] Further, the number of the thin metal layers is 2, the number of the plastic metallized layers is 1, the radiation layer corresponds to the uppermost thin metal layer, the feeding layer corresponds to the middle plastic metallized layer, and the lower cover plate corresponds to the lowermost thin metal layer.

[0013] Further, the radiation layer is respectively provided with a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, and each channel of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna is a 1*8 slot antenna array. Further, the radiation layer and the feeding layer are provided with a plurality of slots aligned from top to bottom, and the slots are located on both sides of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna.

[0014] Further, the feeding layer is provided with a WR10 port, and the upper surface of the feeding layer is distributed with an upper ridge waveguide and an upper transition piece, and the lower surface of the feeding layer is distributed with a lower ridge waveguide and a lower transition piece. The propagation path of the electromagnetic signal is: the WR10 port, the upper ridge waveguide, the lower transition piece, the lower ridge waveguide, the upper transition piece and the upper ridge waveguide.

[0015] Further, the four edges of the two thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layer are fixed by fastening bolts.

[0016] Further, the material of the thin metal layer is a metal matrix such as copper plate or aluminum plate, and is realized by etching or machining process. The plastic matrix of the plastic metallized layer is one of polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfide and polyphenyl ether, or a plurality of compounded plastics.

[0017] Technical effects and advantages of the present application: the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately, which reduces the cost, and the adjacent thin metal layers and plastic metallized layers or adjacent thin metal layers or adjacent plastic metallized layers are connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolt connection, especially by bonding or buckling, which can further reduce the cost, the antenna yield is high, and the production efficiency is high. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] Fig. 1 It is an exploded structure diagram of the waveguide antenna of the present application from top to bottom.

[0019] Fig. 2 It is a surface section view of the radiation layer of the present application.

[0020] Fig. 3 A cross-sectional view of the upper surface of the feed layer of the present application.

[0021] Fig. 4 A cross-sectional view of the lower surface of the feed layer of the present application. Embodiment

[0022] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0023] The present application provides a multilayer waveguide antenna, which comprises a plurality of thin metal layers and a plurality of plastic metallized layers, and the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately.

[0024] In the present application, as a preferred solution, the adjacent thin metal layers and plastic metallized layers, or the adjacent thin metal layers, or the adjacent plastic metallized layers are connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolting.

[0025] In the present application, as a preferred solution, the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately from top to bottom.

[0026] In the present application, as a preferred solution, the waveguide antenna is divided into a radiation layer 1, a feed layer 2 and a lower cover plate 3 from top to bottom.

[0027] In the present application, as a preferred solution, the feed layer 2 integrates a waveguide interface, which is used to simplify the structure of the lower cover plate 3.

[0028] The multilayer waveguide antenna of the present application adopts: thin metal layers and plastic metallized layers arranged alternately, reduces the cost, the adjacent thin metal layers and plastic metallized layers, or the adjacent thin metal layers, or the adjacent plastic metallized layers are connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolting, especially using the bonding or buckling connection mode, which can further reduce the cost, the antenna yield is high, and the production efficiency is high.

[0029] In the present application, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 Fig. 1, a multilayer waveguide is taken as an example for illustration, and the waveguide antenna is divided into a radiation layer 1, a feed layer 2 and a lower cover plate 3 from top to bottom, wherein the feed layer 2 integrates a waveguide interface, which is used to simplify the structure of the lower cover plate 3, and the overall structure is as follows: the number of thin metal layers is 2, the number of plastic metallized layers is 1, the radiation layer 1 corresponds to the uppermost thin metal layer, the feed layer 2 corresponds to the middle plastic metallized layer, and the lower cover plate 3 corresponds to the lowermost thin metal layer, The first layer is a radiation layer, each transmitting antenna 11 and each channel of the receiving antenna 12 of the radiation layer 1 is a 1x8 slot antenna array, in order to improve the ripples of the horizontal plane pattern of the antenna, a slot 13 is arranged on the radiation layer 1, and a slot 13 is also arranged on the corresponding position of the feeding layer 2, for blocking the surface current path.

[0030] The second layer is a feeding layer 2, the electromagnetic wave of each channel is transmitted to the upper ridge waveguide 22 on the upper surface of the feeding layer 2 through the WR10 port 21, the electromagnetic wave is transmitted to the lower ridge waveguide 24 on the lower surface of the feeding layer 2 through the lower transition piece 25, and the electromagnetic wave is transmitted to the upper ridge waveguide 22 on the upper surface of the feeding layer 2 through the upper transition piece 23, the whole feeding network is designed to be more flexible, the antenna energy radiation has symmetry, the deflection of the pitch angle beam changes less with the frequency, and the thickness of the feeding layer 2 is also optimized in order to improve the performance of the antenna, the greater the thickness of the feeding layer 2, the greater the bandwidth of the slot antenna (considering matching, gain, pattern, etc.).

[0031] The third layer is a lower cover plate 3, which ensures the transmission of signals and does not produce leakage.

[0032] In the application, as a preferred scheme, the four edges of the two thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layer are fixed by fastening bolts.

[0033] In the application, the material of the above-mentioned thin metal layer is a metal substrate such as a copper plate or an aluminum plate, and is realized by etching or machining process; The plastic substrate of the plastic metallized layer is one of polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyphenyl ether or a plurality of compounded plastics In the application, the radiation layer 1 and the lower cover plate 3 are realized by etching or machining process, the cost is reduced, the feeding layer 2 adopts a platable plastic as a substrate, is injection molded and then is metallized, the layers are seamlessly connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolts, and the four edges of the last two thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layer are further fixed by fastening bolts, so that the application has the advantages of light weight, high yield, high efficiency and low cost.

[0034] Finally, it should be pointed out that: first, in the description of the application, it should be pointed out that, unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connection" and "connection" should be understood broadly, which can be mechanical connection or electrical connection, or the communication between the two elements, or direct connection, "up", "down", "left", "right" and the like are only used to represent the relative positional relationship, when the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may change; Secondly: the application discloses only the structures related to the disclosed embodiments in the drawings, other structures can refer to the general design, and the same embodiments and different embodiments of the application can be combined with each other under the condition of no conflict; Finally: the above only for the preferred embodiments of the present application, and not for limiting the present application, any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application, should be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A multi-layer waveguide antenna, characterized by: The waveguide antenna comprises a plurality of thin metal layers and a plurality of plastic metallized layers, and the thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately.

2. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 2, wherein: The adjacent thin metal layers and the adjacent plastic metallized layers, or the adjacent thin metal layers or the adjacent plastic metallized layers are connected by welding, bonding, buckling or bolting.

3. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 1, wherein: The thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layers are arranged alternately from top to bottom.

4. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 3, wherein: The waveguide antenna is divided into a radiation layer (1), a feeding layer (2) and a lower cover plate (3) from top to bottom.

5. A multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 4, wherein: The feeding layer (2) integrates a waveguide interface to simplify the structure of the lower cover plate (3).

6. A multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 5, wherein: The number of the thin metal layers is 2, the number of the plastic metallized layers is 1, the radiation layer (1) corresponds to the uppermost thin metal layer, the feeding layer (2) corresponds to the middle plastic metallized layer, and the lower cover plate (3) corresponds to the lowermost thin metal layer.

7. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 6, wherein: The radiation layer (1) is respectively provided with a transmitting antenna (11) and a receiving antenna (12), and each channel of the transmitting antenna (11) and the receiving antenna (12) is a 1*8 slot antenna array. The radiation layer (1) and the feeding layer (2) are provided with a plurality of vertically aligned grooves (13), and the grooves (13) are located on both sides of the transmitting antenna (11) and the receiving antenna (12).

8. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 6, wherein: The feeding layer (2) is provided with a WR10 port (21), and the upper surface of the feeding layer (2) is distributed with an upper ridge waveguide (22) and an upper transition piece (23), and the lower surface of the feeding layer (2) is distributed with a lower ridge waveguide (24) and a lower transition piece (25). The propagation path of the electromagnetic signal is: WR10 port (21), upper ridge waveguide (22), lower transition piece (25), lower ridge waveguide (24), upper transition piece (23), upper ridge waveguide (22).

9. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 6, wherein: The four edges of the two thin metal layers and the plastic metallized layer are fixed by fastening bolts.

10. The multi-layer waveguide antenna according to claim 1, wherein: The material of the thin metal layer is a metal substrate such as copper plate or aluminum plate, and etching or machining process is adopted. The plastic substrate of the plastic metallized layer is one or a plurality of compounded plastics of polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfide and polyphenyl ether.

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