Rotatable Elliptical Dielectric Resonators for Bandwidth Tuning
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing dielectric resonator circuits face challenges in precise tuning of bandwidth and center frequency, requiring laborious and costly trial-and-error processes, with limited tunability and increased insertion loss due to conductive components, which restricts the use of higher dielectric constant materials and necessitates multiple housing designs for different frequency bands.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of elliptical dielectric resonators that can be rotated about their longitudinal axes to adjust spacing, allowing for variable coupling and bandwidth tuning without the need for tuning screws, thereby enhancing tunability and reducing energy losses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional cylindrical dielectric resonators with fixed spacing are used, then the circuit structure is simple, but the bandwidth and center frequency tuning is laborious and costly requiring trial-and-error processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the dielectric resonators rotatable about their longitudinal axes, transforming the fixed spacing configuration into a dynamic one. By rotating the resonators, the spacing between adjacent resonators can be continuously adjusted, enabling easy and quick tuning of bandwidth and center frequency without laborious trial-and-error processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameter of the resonators from cylindrical to elliptical cross-section. This shape change, combined with rotatability, allows the spacing between resonators to be varied by rotation, providing a new degree of freedom for tuning the circuit parameters (bandwidth and center frequency) without requiring complex fabrication or disassembly.
2Ease of operation
If tuning screws and conductive components are used for frequency adjustment, then the center frequency can be tuned, but the insertion loss increases due to energy losses in conductive components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates tuning screws and other conductive tuning components from the circuit. Instead, frequency and bandwidth tuning are achieved by rotating the dielectric resonators to adjust their spacing. This extraction of harmful conductive components removes the source of energy losses while maintaining full tuning capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical tuning screw system with a rotational positioning system. The tuning function previously performed by moving conductive screws is now achieved by rotating the dielectric resonators themselves, which are electrically isolated and do not introduce additional losses.
3Volume of moving object
If higher dielectric constant materials are used to reduce resonator size, then the circuit can be made smaller, but the tunability is restricted and fabrication precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces rotatability to the resonators, creating a dynamic configuration that compensates for the restricted tunability inherent in high-dielectric-constant materials. By rotating the resonators, the effective spacing and coupling can be adjusted, expanding the tunability range without requiring larger resonator dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs elliptical cross-section resonators instead of circular ones. This asymmetric shape, when combined with rotation, provides additional tuning degrees of freedom. The elliptical shape allows the resonators to present different effective dimensions to adjacent resonators during rotation, enhancing the tunability range for high-dielectric-constant materials.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple housing designs are created for different frequency bands, then each frequency band can be optimized, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal housing design that can accommodate and optimize multiple frequency bands through the rotatable resonator mechanism. A single housing configuration serves multiple frequency band requirements by allowing the resonators to be rotated to different spacing positions, eliminating the need for multiple specialized housing designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable resonator mechanism provides dynamic adaptability within a single static housing. The housing itself remains simple and unchanged, but the rotatable resonators enable the same housing to be optimized for different frequency bands by adjusting the resonator spacing through rotation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach provides a broader tunability range, reduces the need for precise component fabrication, allows for the use of higher dielectric constant materials, and enables smaller circuit designs with improved quality factor and reduced insertion loss.
Implementation Method 1
dielectric resonators are used in many circuits for concentrating electric fields
Implementation Method 2
energy from input coupler 28 couples into resonator 10a, resonator 10a electromagnetically couples with the sequentially next resonator 10b
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with principles of the present invention, a two or more pole dielectric resonator circuit is provided with resonators that are elliptical in cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. The resonators are mounted so that they are rotatable about their longitudinal axes, such that the straight line distance between two adjacent resonators measured in a straight line between orthogonal to and intersecting the longitudinal axes of the two resonators is a function of the orientation of the resonators about their longitudinal axes. The resonators can be oriented about their longitudinal axes in any orientation to adjust their spacing, which is directly proportional to their coupling magnitude, which, in turn, is proportional to the bandwidth of the circuit.