CN116742321A

CN116742321A - Radiating element, antenna assembly and base station antenna

Info

Publication number: CN116742321A
Application number: CN202210196609.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张讯; 聂成果; 吉双
Original assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Priority date: 2022-03-02
Filing date: 2022-03-02
Publication date: 2023-09-12
Also published as: WO2023168237A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a radiating element comprising: the power feeding post and the radiator that sets up on the front end of power feeding post, the rear end of power feeding post includes the welding portion that is used for welding to the power feeding board and is used for the boss portion of predetermined position to the power feeding board, wherein, the boss portion extends more towards the rear than the welding portion. In addition, the disclosure also relates to an antenna assembly and a base station antenna. Thus, the electrical and/or mechanical properties of the base station antenna can be effectively improved.

Description

Radiating element, antenna assembly and base station antenna

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to radio communications, and more particularly, to a radiating element, antenna assembly, and base station antenna for a cellular communication system.

Background

Cellular communication systems are well known in the art. In cellular communication systems, a geographical area is divided into a series of areas, which are referred to as "cells" served by individual base stations. A base station may include one or more base station antennas configured to provide two-way radio frequency ("RF") communication with mobile users within a cell served by the base station.

Typically, the base station antenna is mounted on a raised structure, such as an antenna tower, pole, building, water tower, or the like, such that its longitudinal axis L extends generally perpendicular to the ground. Base station antennas may generally comprise a linear array or two-dimensional array of radiating elements, such as cross-dipole or patch radiating elements. These arrays may typically be mounted on a feed board.

Currently, in order to achieve automatic welding, the welding between the radiating element and the feed plate needs to be performed on the rear side of the feed plate. For this purpose, the feed post of the radiating element must pass through the feed plate to reach the rear side of the feed plate. However, this feeding may cause spatial interference between the reflector located behind the feeding plate and the radiating element. Furthermore, the additional avoidance measures provided to avoid spatial interference can also have an undesirable negative effect on the base station antennas.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a radiating element, an antenna assembly and a related base station antenna that overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a radiating element comprising: the power feeding device comprises a power feeding column and a radiator arranged on the front end portion of the power feeding column, wherein the rear end portion of the power feeding column comprises a welding portion used for being welded to a power feeding plate and a protruding portion used for being preset to the power feeding plate, and the protruding portion extends to the rear of the welding portion. Thus, the electrical and/or mechanical properties of the base station antenna can be effectively improved.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a radiating element comprising: the power feeding device comprises a power feeding column and a radiator arranged on the front end portion of the power feeding column, wherein the rear end portion of the power feeding column comprises a welding portion for being welded to a power feeding board, the power feeding column is formed into a printed circuit board power feeding column, the printed circuit board power feeding column comprises a dielectric substrate, a first grounding pad and a first power feeding pad are printed on the main surface of the dielectric substrate, and a side wall welding area serving as a plated metal layer is printed on the rear end face of the dielectric substrate.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an antenna assembly comprising: a reflector; a feed plate on which a recess for positioning the radiation element is provided; a radiating element array mounted on a feed board, comprising a plurality of radiating elements, wherein each radiating element comprises: the rear end portion of the feed post includes a welding portion for welding to the feed plate and a protruding portion for being pre-positioned to the feed plate by being received in the corresponding recess portion, wherein the protruding portion extends further rearward than the welding portion.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station antenna comprising a radiating element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure or comprising an antenna assembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a method for automatically soldering a radiating element on a front surface of a feed plate is provided.

Drawings

The disclosure is described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings by means of specific embodiments. The schematic drawings are briefly described as follows:

fig. 1 shows a schematic exploded view of a conventional base station antenna, in which a relief cut for a feed post of a radiating element on a reflector is shown;

fig. 2 shows a partial rear view of the connection between the radiating element and the feed plate of the antenna assembly in the base station antenna of fig. 1;

fig. 3 illustrates a schematic perspective view of an antenna assembly including a feed plate and a radiating element mounted on the feed plate, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4a shows a schematic view of a first main surface of a first dipole radiator of the radiating element in fig. 3;

fig. 4b shows a schematic view of a second main surface of the first dipole radiator of the radiating element in fig. 3;

fig. 5a shows a schematic view of a first main surface of the feed plate in fig. 3;

fig. 5b shows a schematic view of the second main surface of the feed plate in fig. 3;

fig. 6 illustrates a schematic rear perspective view of a radiating element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates a simplified schematic diagram of an antenna assembly in a soldered state according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a base station antenna including an antenna assembly and a phase shifter according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure may be presented in many different ways and is not limited to the embodiments described below; indeed, the embodiments described below are intended to more fully convey the disclosure to those skilled in the art and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure. It should also be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide yet additional embodiments.

It should be understood that the terminology herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

In this document, an element may be referred to as being "on," "attached" to, "connected" to, "coupled" to, "contacting" or the like another element, directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled to or contacting the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly attached to," directly connected to, "directly coupled to," or "directly contacting" another element, there are no intervening elements present. In this context, one feature is disposed "adjacent" another feature, which may refer to a feature having a portion that overlaps or is located above or below the adjacent feature.

In this document, spatially relative terms such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "front," "rear," "high," "low," and the like may be used to describe one feature's relationship to another feature in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, when the device in the figures is inverted, features that were originally described as "below" other features may be described as "above" the other features. The device may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the relative spatial relationship will be explained accordingly.

In this document, the term "a or B" includes "a and B" and "a or B", and does not include exclusively only "a" or only "B", unless otherwise specifically indicated.

In this document, the terms "schematic" or "exemplary" mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration," rather than as a "model" to be replicated accurately. Any implementation described herein by way of example is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Furthermore, this disclosure is not limited by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the detailed description.

As used herein, the term "substantially" is intended to encompass any minor variation due to design or manufacturing imperfections, tolerances of the device or element, environmental effects and/or other factors.

In this context, the term "at least a portion" may be any proportion of a portion. For example, it may be greater than 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or even 100%, i.e., all.

In addition, for reference purposes only, the terms "first," "second," and the like may also be used herein, and are thus not intended to be limiting. For example, the terms "first," "second," and other such numerical terms referring to structures or elements do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, units, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, units, and/or components, and/or groups thereof.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic exploded view of a reflector and columns of radiating elements of a conventional base station antenna 100'. The base station antenna 100' may be mounted on a raised structure, such as an antenna tower, pole, building, water tower, etc., such that its longitudinal axis may extend substantially perpendicular to the ground. The base station antenna 100' is typically mounted within a radome (not shown) that provides environmental protection. The base station antenna 100' may include a reflector 800', and the reflector 800' may include a metal surface that provides a ground plane and reflects, e.g., redirects, electromagnetic waves arriving at it to propagate forward.

The base station antenna 100' may include one or more antenna assemblies 300' disposed at a front side of the reflector 800', and each antenna assembly 300' may include a feed plate 400' and a plurality of radiating elements 500' mounted on the feed plate 400 '. It should be appreciated that these radiating elements 500' may be various forms of radiating elements, such as, but not limited to, low band (617-960 MHz or sub-band thereof) radiating elements, mid-band (1427-2690 MHz or sub-band thereof) radiating elements, or high band (3.1-4.2 GHz or sub-band thereof) radiating elements, and the like. The base station antenna 100' may also include one or more additional arrays of radiating elements (not shown).

The base station antenna 100 'may also include mechanical and electrical components (not shown), such as connectors, cables, phase shifters, remote electronic tilting units, diplexers, etc., that are typically disposed on the rear side of the reflector 800'.

Fig. 2 shows a rear view of a connection portion between one radiating element 500 'and a feed plate 400' of an antenna assembly 300 'in a conventional base station antenna 100'. In order to achieve automatic welding, the welding between the radiating element 500' and the feed plate 400' is performed at the rear side of the feed plate 400 '. As shown in fig. 2, the feed plate 400 'includes a recess or through slot 110' through which the feed post 510 'of the radiating element 500' passes. The rear end portion of the feeding post 510', on which the ground pad 531' and the feeding pad 532 'are printed, may extend rearward to the rear side of the feeding plate 400' through the through slot 110 'of the feeding plate 400'. The ground pad 531 'and the feed pad 532' of the feed post 510 'may be soldered with the corresponding ground pad 430' and feed pad 420', respectively, on the rear side of the feed plate 400', thereby enabling an efficient feed connection of the feed plate 400 'to the radiating element 500'.

However, as shown in fig. 1, the rearwardly protruding rear end 511 'of the feed post 510' may undesirably interfere with the reflector 800 'at the rear side of the feed plate 400'. In order to avoid spatial interference between the reflector 800 'and the radiating element 500', the reflector 800 'also needs to be configured with a corresponding relief cutout 130' to accommodate the rearwardly protruding rear end 511 'of the feed post 510'. However, such conventional designs may suffer from one or more of the following disadvantages:

the first, relief cuts 130 'may weaken the strength of the reflector 800' and thus the overall antenna;

second, burrs that may form during the stamping operation used to form the relief cuts 130' may result in high Passive Intermodulation (PIM) risks;

third, the back-off notch 130 'may affect the pattern characteristics of the base station antenna 100', such as Cross Polarization (CPR) performance;

fourth, since the welding operation is performed at the rear side of the feeding plate 400', a feeding discontinuity may be caused, and thus the return loss performance of the base station antenna 100' may be poor;

the rearwardly protruding rear end 511' of the fifth, feed post 510' may interfere with the mounting of the phase shifter mounted on the rear side of the reflector 800 '.

Some exemplary aspects according to the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to fig. 3-8.

Referring to fig. 3, a schematic perspective view of an antenna assembly 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The antenna assembly 300 may include a feed plate 400 and a radiating element 500 mounted on the feed plate 400, the radiating element 500 being mounted to extend forward from the feed plate 400. The feed board 400 may be implemented, for example, using a printed circuit board. In the depicted embodiment, only one radiating element 500 is mounted on the feed plate 400, but the antenna assembly 300 may include more radiating elements 500, and any type of radiating element 500 may be used.

In fig. 3, radiating element 500 may be configured as a dual polarized radiating element and have a first dipole radiator and a second dipole radiator positioned laterally relative to each other to provide dual polarized operation. Each dipole radiator may include a feed post 510 and a radiator 520 disposed on a front end portion of the feed post 510. Each dipole radiator may be implemented using a printed circuit board. For example, the feed line 514 of the feed post 510 and the radiating arm of the radiator 520 may be printed as a metal pattern onto a dielectric substrate of a printed circuit board. It should be understood that the design of the radiating element 500 may be varied and is not limited to the current embodiment. For example, in some embodiments, the radiator 520 and the feed post 510 of the radiating element 500 may be separately constructed, and the radiator 520 may be welded to the front end portion of the feed post 510. In some embodiments, the radiator 520 of the radiating element 500 may be a sheet metal radiator. In some embodiments, the feed post 510 of the radiating element 500 may be a sheet metal feed post.

Fig. 4a and 4b show schematic diagrams of a first main surface and a second main surface of a first dipole radiator 501 of one of the radiating elements 500 of the antenna assembly 300, respectively. In the depicted embodiment, only a schematic diagram of a first dipole radiator 501 for a first polarization of the radiating element 500 is shown, it being understood that a second dipole radiator for a second polarization of the radiating element 500 may be designed to be substantially identical.

The first dipole radiator 501 may comprise, for example, printed radiating arms 521, 522. The feed post 510 of the first dipole radiator 501 may include a printed feed line 514 configured to feed balun. In the depicted embodiment, the feed balun may feed the respective radiating arms 521, 522, for example, by a coupled feed.

The rear end portion of the feed post 510 of the radiating element 500 may include a welding portion 530 for welding to the feed plate 400. A first ground pad 531 for grounding and a first feeding pad 532 for feeding may be provided in the soldering part 530. The first ground pad 531 and the first feed pad 532 may be printed on the first main surface and/or the second main surface of the dielectric substrate of the feed post 510. In the depicted embodiment, a first ground pad 531 may be printed on a first major surface of the dielectric substrate and a ground region 533 or ground copper layer may be printed on a second major surface of the dielectric substrate. The first ground pads 531 may be electrically connected to each other through one or more metallized vias 534 and a ground region 533. In the depicted embodiment, the feed balun may be printed on the first major surface of the dielectric substrate and electrically connected to the first feed pad 532 for feeding or directly printed integral with each other.

Referring to fig. 5a and 5b, a schematic view of a first major surface of one of the feed plates 400 of the antenna assembly 300 and a schematic view of a second major surface of the feed plate 400 are shown, respectively.

As shown in fig. 3 and 5a, a first RF feed (not shown), a first feed transmission line 411 electrically connected to the first RF feed, and a first and second feed pad 420-1 and a second RF feed electrically connected to the first feed transmission line, a second feed transmission line 412 electrically connected to the second RF feed, and a second feed pad 420-2 electrically connected to the second feed transmission line may be provided on a first main surface (i.e., front surface) of the front side of the feed board 400. A second ground pad 430 may also be provided on the front surface of the feed plate 400, and the second ground pad 430 may be electrically connected to a ground layer on the rear surface of the feed plate 400 by means of a metallized via or other electrical conductor. These second feed pads 420 may be separated from the second ground pad 430 and electrically isolated from each other by areas where no metallization coating is provided. The above-described elements of the power feeding board 400 may be implemented as printed metal patterns on a printed circuit board constituting the power feeding board 400. The first RF feed may be used as an input/output for a first polarized radio frequency signal (e.g., +45 deg. polarization) of the feed board 400, while the second RF feed may be used as an input/output for a second polarized radio frequency signal (e.g., -45 deg. polarization) of the feed board 400.

Unlike the welding operation between the radiating element 500' and the feeding plate 400' implemented at the rear side of the feeding plate 400' described in fig. 1 and 2, the present disclosure proposes to implement the welding operation between the radiating element 500 and the feeding plate 400 at the front side of the feeding plate 400 to avoid at least one of the above-mentioned disadvantages. For example, the feed continuity is improved, and thus the return loss performance of the base station antenna 100 can be improved.

As shown in fig. 3 to 5b, the rear end portion of the feeding post 510 may include one or more protrusions 540 for pre-positioning onto the feeding plate 400. The protrusion 540 may be located at a laterally outer region of the rear end of the feed post 510. In some embodiments, the weld 530 of the feed post 510 may be in a laterally inner region of the rear end of the feed post 510. In other embodiments, the protrusion 540 may be located in a laterally inner region of the rear end of the feed post 510. In other embodiments, the weld 530 of the feed post 510 is located at a laterally outer region of the rear end of the feed post 510. In the depicted embodiment, the rear end of the feed post 510 may include two protrusions 540 at two opposing laterally outer regions, with the weld 530 between the two protrusions 540. In general, the size of the protrusion 540 may be smaller than the welded portion 530. For example, the lateral width of the weld 530 may be at least two, three, or even four times greater than the lateral width of the protrusion 540. This facilitates the wiring design of the feed post 510.

Corresponding to the protrusion 540, a positioning recess 440 for positioning the radiating element 500 may be provided on the feeding plate 400. In some embodiments, the positioning recess 440 of the feed plate 400 may be a through slot extending all the way through the dielectric substrate of the feed plate 400, and the protrusion 540 may be at least partially received within the through slot. In some embodiments, the positioning recess 440 of the feed plate 400 may be a blind slot (i.e., a slot that does not extend completely through the dielectric substrate of the feed plate 400) within which the protrusion 540 may be at least partially received.

As shown in fig. 4a and 4b, the protrusion 540 may extend further rearward than the soldering part 530 by a distance such that the protrusion 540 may extend further rearward into the positioning recess 440 of the feeding plate 400 while the soldering part 530 remains above the front surface of the feeding plate 400, thereby achieving efficient positioning of the radiating element 500 on the feeding plate 400. In some embodiments, the protrusion 540 may extend further rearward than the soldering 530 by a distance less than or equal to the thickness of the feeding plate 400. In some embodiments, the protrusion 540 extends further rearward than the weld 530 a distance in the range of between 0.2mm and 10mm, 0.5mm and 5 mm. Thereby, it is ensured that the rear end portion of the feeding post 510 is not protruded backward from the rear surface of the feeding plate 400, thereby avoiding the occurrence of spatial interference with the reflector 800. Accordingly, in comparison with the structure described in fig. 1 and 2, the feeding plate 400 does not need to be designed with a through groove through which the rear end portion of the entire feeding post 510 passes, and the above-described undesirable relief cuts are also avoided from being additionally provided on the reflector 800.

In some embodiments, the protrusion 540 may be devoid of any metal. In other words, each protrusion may be formed using a portion of the dielectric substrate of the feed plate 400 on which no metal pattern is formed. Thus, even if the protrusion is in contact with the reflector 800, it should not be a source of passive intermodulation distortion.

As shown in fig. 3, in order to perform a welding operation between the radiating element 500 and the feeding board 400 at the front side of the feeding board 400. The first ground pad 531 on the soldering portion 530 of the feeding post 510 may be electrically connected, e.g., soldered, with the corresponding second ground pad 430 on the front surface of the feeding board 400, and the first feeding pad 532 on the soldering portion 530 of the feeding post 510 may be electrically connected, e.g., soldered, with the corresponding second feeding pad 420 on the front surface of the feeding board 400, thereby enabling an efficient feeding connection of the feeding board 400 to the radiating element 500.

Furthermore, the present disclosure also proposes a method for automatically soldering the radiating element 500 on the front surface of the feed plate 400, which facilitates the assembly of the antenna assembly 300 in an efficient and reliable manner.

The method may comprise the steps of:

s10, step: a metal mesh, for example, a steel mesh with set openings is disposed on the front surface of the feed plate 400.

S20, step: solder paste is applied to the metal mesh.

S30, step: the metal mesh is removed so that a soldering region corresponding to a set opening of the metal mesh on the front surface of the feeding plate 400 is provided with solder paste. These solder paste-reserved areas may include the above-mentioned second ground pad 430 and second feed pad 420, which are provided to the corresponding radiating element 500.

S40, step: the radiating element 500 is pre-positioned into the positioning recess 440 on the front surface of the feeding plate 400 by means of the protrusion 540 on the rear end of the feeding post 510. The protrusion 540 may be form-fitted into the positioning recess 440, thereby achieving efficient and stable positioning of the radiating element 500 on the feeding plate 400.

S50, step: the soldering part 530 on the rear end portion of the feeding post 510 of the radiating element 500 is held above the front surface of the feeding board 400, and a first ground pad 531 for grounding and a first feeding pad 532 for feeding are provided on the soldering part 530.

S60, step: the pre-positioned radiating element 500 is transferred to a high temperature furnace together with the feeding board 400, causing solder paste on the front surface of the feeding board 400 to melt.

S70, step: the removal of the pre-positioned radiating element 500 along with the feed plate 400 from the high temperature furnace promotes reliable welding of the radiating element 500 to the feed plate 400. Specifically, the first ground pad 531 on the soldering part 530 of the feeding post 510 may be soldered to each other with the corresponding second ground pad 430 on the front surface of the feeding board 400, and the first feeding pad 532 on the soldering part 530 of the feeding post 510 may be soldered to each other with the corresponding second feeding pad 420 on the front surface of the feeding board 400.

Next, with reference to fig. 6 and 7, an antenna assembly 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is described in further detail. Fig. 6 illustrates a schematic rear perspective view of a radiating element 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure and fig. 7 illustrates a simplified schematic view of an antenna assembly 300 in a soldered state according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the technical features described in detail with reference to fig. 3 to 5b may be applied to the antenna assembly 300 and the radiating element 500 thereof described with reference to fig. 6 and 7. And will not be described in detail herein. Only further designs of the radiating element 500 and the antenna assembly 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail herein.

As shown in fig. 6, the welding 530 on the rear end of the feed post 510 of the radiating element 500 may include a sidewall welding region 550. The sidewall welding region 550 may be printed as a plated metal layer on a rear end surface of the welding part 530, i.e., an end surface facing the power feeding plate 400. As mentioned above, the feed post 510 may be implemented using a printed circuit board, and the feed post 510 may include a dielectric substrate, first ground pads 531 and first feed pads 532 printed on respective major surfaces (i.e., front and/or back surfaces) of the dielectric substrate, and one or more sidewall lands 550 printed on respective back end surfaces of the dielectric substrate.

In some embodiments, the sidewall solder regions 550 on the rear end face of the solder 530 may be electrically connected with the first ground pads 531 or the first feed pads 532 on the front and/or rear face of the solder 530. In the depicted embodiment, the sidewall land area 550 may transition from the rear end face of the bond 530 to the front and/or rear first ground pad 531 or first feed pad 532 of the bond 530 such that the sidewall land area 550 and the first ground pad 531 or first feed pad 532 may merge or merge with each other. Accordingly, a welding region 445 for the sidewall welding region 550 may be provided on the front surface of the feed plate 400. In some embodiments, these soldering regions may be fused with the second ground pad 430 or the second feed pad 420 to each other.

Referring to fig. 7, a simplified schematic diagram of an antenna assembly 300 in a soldered state is shown, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, the soldering 530 of the radiating element 500 is located in front of the front surface of the feeding plate 400 and the soldering 530 is at least partially spaced apart from the front surface of the feeding plate 400 by a gap. Accordingly, a welding area for the sidewall welding area 550, at least within the gap 120, may be provided on the front surface of the feed plate 400. The additional welding portion 433 between the radiating element 500 and the feeding plate 400 is created by welding the sidewall welding region 550 with the welding region on the feeding plate 400, and the gap 120 between the radiating element 500 and the feeding plate 400 is eliminated, thereby effectively improving the welding strength of the radiating element 500 on the feeding plate 400.

Referring next to fig. 8, a base station antenna 100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is presented. The base station antenna 100 includes an antenna assembly 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure and a phase shifter 600, such as a cavity phase shifter, mounted on the rear surface of the reflector 800. In view of the design of the antenna assembly 300 according to the present disclosure, the protrusion 540 of the feed post 510 does not spatially interfere with the reflector 800, so that the feed post 510 does not need to protrude back beyond the rear surface of the reflector 800. Thus, the phase shifter 600 may be directly formed on the rear surface of the reflector 800. This mounting of the phase shifter 600 facilitates a compact structure of the base station antenna 100, improving the space utilization of the base station antenna 100.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, all changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The disclosure is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.

Claims

1. A radiating element, characterized in that it comprises: the power feeding device comprises a power feeding column and a radiator arranged on the front end portion of the power feeding column, wherein the rear end portion of the power feeding column comprises a welding portion used for being welded to a power feeding plate and a protruding portion used for being preset to the power feeding plate, and the protruding portion extends to the rear of the welding portion.

2. The radiating element of claim 1, wherein the protrusion is at a laterally outer region of the rear end of the feed post and the weld is at a laterally inner region of the rear end of the feed post.

3. The radiating element of claim 2, wherein the rear end of the feed post comprises two protrusions at two opposing laterally outer regions.

4. The radiating element of claim 1, wherein the protrusion extends further rearward than the weld a distance less than or equal to a thickness of the feed plate.

5. The radiating element of claim 1, wherein the protrusion extends further rearward than the weld a distance between 0.2mm and 10 mm.

6. The radiating element of claim 1, wherein the protrusion extends further rearward than the weld a distance between 0.5mm and 5 mm; and/or

A first ground pad and a first feed pad are provided in the soldering portion; and/or

The first grounding pad and the first feeding pad are arranged on the first main surface and/or the second main surface of the welding part; and/or

A side wall welding area is arranged on the rear end face of the welding part; and/or

The side wall welding area is electrically connected with the first grounding pad or the first feeding pad; and/or

The side wall welding area is fused to a first grounding pad or a first feeding pad of the first main surface and/or the second main surface of the welding part from the rear end surface of the welding part; and/or

The lateral dimension of the weld is at least twice greater than the lateral dimension of the protrusion.

7. A radiating element, characterized in that it comprises: a feed post and a radiator provided on a front end portion of the feed post, a rear end portion of the feed post including a welding portion for welding to a feed board, wherein the feed post is configured as a printed circuit board feed post including a dielectric substrate, a first ground pad and a first feed pad are printed on a first main surface of the dielectric substrate, and a sidewall welding region as a plated metal layer is printed on a rear end surface of the dielectric substrate; and/or

A grounding area is printed on the second main surface of the dielectric substrate, the first grounding pad is electrically connected with the grounding area by means of a metallized via hole, and the side wall welding area is arranged in a side wall area between the first grounding pad and the grounding area; and/or

The side wall welding area is transited from the rear end face of the welding part to the first grounding pad, so that the side wall welding area and the first grounding pad are connected into a whole; and/or

The rear end portion of the feed post further includes a protrusion for pre-positioning onto the feed plate, wherein the protrusion extends further rearward than the weld; and/or

The protrusion is in a laterally outer region of the rear end of the feed post, and the weld is in a laterally inner region of the rear end of the feed post; and/or

The protrusion extends further rearward than the weld a distance between 0.5mm and 5 mm.

8. An antenna assembly, characterized in that the antenna assembly comprises:

a reflector;

a feed plate on which a recess for positioning the radiation element is provided;

a radiating element array mounted on a feed board, comprising a plurality of radiating elements, wherein each radiating element comprises: a feed post and a radiator provided on a front end portion of the feed post, a rear end portion of the feed post including a welding portion for welding to the feed plate and a protruding portion for being pre-positioned to the feed plate by being received into a corresponding recess, wherein the protruding portion extends further rearward than the welding portion; and/or

The protruding portion extends further rearward than the welding portion by a distance less than or equal to the thickness of the power feeding plate such that the protruding portion does not extend rearward of the power feeding plate; and/or

The distance that the protruding portion extends further rearward than the welded portion is between 0.5mm and 5 mm; and/or

The welding part is above the front surface of the feed plate; and/or

The weld is at least partially spaced from the front surface of the feed plate by a gap; and/or

A first ground pad and a first feed pad are provided in the soldering portion, and a second ground pad and a second feed pad are provided on the front surface of the feed board, wherein the first ground pad is soldered to the second ground pad, and the first feed pad is soldered to the second feed pad; and/or

A side wall welding area is provided on the rear end face of the welding part; and/or

The sidewall weld region transitions from the rear end face of the weld to a first ground pad or a first feed pad of the first major surface and/or the second major surface of the weld; and/or

A welding area for the side wall welding area is arranged on the front surface of the feed plate; and/or

The welding area for the side wall welding area is at least in a gap between the welding part and the front surface of the feed plate; and/or

The welding area for the side wall welding area and the second grounding pad or the second feeding pad are integrated with each other; and/or

The protrusion of the feed post is spaced a distance in a forward direction from the reflector such that there is no relief cut in the reflector for the feed post.

9. Base station antenna, characterized in that it comprises a radiating element according to one of the preceding claims or comprises an antenna assembly according to one of the preceding claims; and/or

The base station antenna further comprises a phase shifter mounted on a rear surface of the reflector facing away from the feed plate; and/or

The phase shifter is formed directly on the rear surface of the reflector in a abutted manner; and/or

The phase shifter is a cavity phase shifter.

10. A method for automatically soldering a radiating element on a front surface of a feed plate, the method comprising the steps of:

disposing a metal mesh with set openings on a front surface of the feeding plate;

applying solder paste on the metal mesh;

removing the metal mesh so that the soldering region on the front surface of the feeding plate is provided with solder paste;

pre-positioning the radiating element into a positioning recess on the front surface of the feed plate by means of a protrusion on the rear end of the feed post;

a soldering portion on a rear end portion of a feeding post of the radiating element is held above a front surface of the feeding plate, and a first ground pad for grounding and a first feeding pad for feeding are provided on the soldering portion;

transferring the pre-positioned radiating element together with the feeding plate to a furnace, causing solder paste on the front surface of the feeding plate to melt;

removing the pre-positioned radiating element from the oven with the feed plate such that the radiating element is welded to the feed plate; and/or

The radiating element is configured as claimed in one of the preceding claims.