CN212648436U - Phase shifter unit, phase shifter and array antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a phase shifter element, a phase shifter and an array antenna. Wherein, the phase shifter unit includes: the main feeder board comprises a first dielectric substrate and a feeder layer positioned on one side surface of the first dielectric substrate, wherein the feeder layer comprises a main feeder and a matching branch line; the coupling plate comprises a second dielectric substrate and a coupling layer positioned on one side surface of the second dielectric substrate, wherein the coupling layer comprises a coupling feeder line; the coupling layer and the feeder layer are arranged oppositely and insulated, the coupling plate and the main feeder plate can move relatively, the overlapping area of the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line changes in the relative movement process, and the overlapping state of the coupling feeder line and the matching branch line can change under the condition that the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line are overlapped, wherein the overlapping state comprises overlapping or non-overlapping. The disclosed embodiments achieve impedance matching over a wide frequency band and large amount of phase shift.

Description

Phase shifter unit, phase shifter and array antenna

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to a phase shifter unit, a phase shifter, and an array antenna.

Background

With the rapid development of mobile communication, the working frequency of a communication system is higher and higher with the coming of the 5G communication era, and the integration level of the mobile communication system is higher and higher, such as the cascade connection of an antenna and a calibration network, the integration of the antenna and a filter, the integration of the antenna and a phase shifter, and the integration of the antenna and the filter and the phase shifter. This requires a small phase shifter size, a wide band characteristic and a large phase shift amount, so that the wide band antenna can realize a large phase shift angle in a wide band range.

At present, in a 5G base station, the electrically tunable antenna has obvious advantages, and the number of TR assemblies on a vertical plane can be reduced, so that the cost is reduced. The phase shifter is the most core component of the electrically-tuned base station antenna, the performance of the phase shifter directly determines the performance of the electrically-tuned antenna, and further the network coverage quality is influenced, so that the phase shifter is very important in the field of base station antennas.

In the existing phase shifter, two methods are mainly adopted to realize phase shifting. One is achieved by changing the electrical length of the signal passing path within the phase shifter; the other is to shift the phase by moving a medium in the phase shifter to change the propagation rate of the signal in the phase shifter, so that the signals output by the phase shifter form continuous linear phase differences.

However, the conventional phase shifters all have the following problems:

in general, a U-shaped phase shifter cannot perform impedance matching in a wide frequency band and with a large amount of phase shift.

Disclosure of Invention

To solve the technical problem or at least partially solve the technical problem, the present disclosure provides a phase shifter unit, a phase shifter, and an array antenna.

The present disclosure provides a phase shifter element comprising:

the main feeder board comprises a first dielectric substrate and a feeder layer positioned on one side surface of the first dielectric substrate, wherein the feeder layer comprises a main feeder and a matching branch line;

the coupling plate comprises a second dielectric substrate and a coupling layer positioned on one side surface of the second dielectric substrate, wherein the coupling layer comprises a coupling feeder line;

the coupling layer and the feeder layer are arranged oppositely and insulated, the coupling plate and the main feeder plate can move relatively, the overlapping area of the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line changes in the relative movement process, and the overlapping state of the coupling feeder line and the matching branch line can change under the condition that the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line are overlapped, wherein the overlapping state comprises overlapping or non-overlapping.

Optionally, the coupling feeder is U-shaped, the main feeder includes an input main feeder and an output main feeder that are parallel to each other, and the coupling feeder can cover part of the main feeder.

Optionally, the matching branch line is located between the input main feeder line and the extension line of the output main feeder line, in the extending direction of the input main feeder line, the matching branch line and the main feeder line are arranged at an interval, and the matching branch line is located on one side of the main feeder line far from the input port/output port of the main feeder line.

Optionally, the graph formed by the matching branch lines is in a strip shape, a polygon shape or a circular shape.

Optionally, the matching branch line includes at least one matching branch line segment.

Optionally, the coupling plate is in contact with the main feed plate.

Optionally, the phase shifter unit further includes a pressing block, configured to press the coupling plate on the main feed plate and drive the coupling plate to move.

Optionally, the pressing block comprises an upper pressing block and a lower pressing block; two guide rail grooves penetrating through the main feed plate are formed in the main feed plate and are respectively positioned on two sides of the main feed line; through holes are formed in the positions, corresponding to the two guide rail grooves, of the coupling plate; the upper pressing block and the lower pressing block are buckled through the guide rail groove and the through hole, and the pressing block is used for driving the coupling plate to move along the guide rail groove.

Optionally, the main feed plate further includes a green oil layer covering the surface of the feed layer, and/or the coupling plate further includes a green oil layer covering the surface of the coupling layer.

Optionally, the main feed board further includes a main feed ground layer, and the main feed ground layer is located on a surface of the first dielectric substrate on a side away from the feed line layer.

The present disclosure provides a phase shifter comprising at least one phase shifter element provided by the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides an array antenna including a phase shifter provided by the present disclosure.

Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure has the following advantages:

in the embodiment of the disclosure, the main feed plate and the coupling plate are arranged and can move relatively, and in the relative movement process, the overlapping area of the coupling feed line and the main feed line changes, so that the electrical length (i.e. the transmission length of a signal from the input to the output of the main feed line) in the phase shifter unit is changed, and further the phase shift amount of the phase shifter unit is adjusted; meanwhile, under the condition that the coupling feeder line is overlapped with the main feeder line, the overlapping state of the coupling feeder line and the matching branch line can be changed, namely when the phase shift amount of the phase shifter unit is adjusted to a certain value, the coupling feeder line is overlapped with the matching branch line on the main feeder board, impedance matching is realized, and the problem of standing wave under certain phase shift amount is solved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments or technical solutions in the prior art of the present disclosure, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive exercise.

Fig. 1 is an exploded schematic view of a phase shifter unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a main feed plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a coupling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a coupling feed line and a matching stub line provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure when they overlap;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a coupling feeder line and a matching stub line provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure when they are not overlapped;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a coupling feeder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another coupling feed line provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is an exploded view of another phase shifter element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another main feed plate provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another coupling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a schematic partial structural diagram of an array antenna provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Wherein, 1, a main feed plate; 2. a coupling plate; 11. a first dielectric substrate; 12. a feeder layer; 13. a guide rail groove; 21. a second dielectric substrate; 22. a coupling layer; 23. a through hole; 121. a main feed line; 122. matching branch lines; 221. a coupling feeder line; 31. pressing the blocks; 32. pressing the block; 10. a phase shifter; 20. a phase shifter unit; 101. a first antenna element; 102. a second antenna element; 103. a third antenna element.

Detailed Description

In order that the above objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure may be more clearly understood, aspects of the present disclosure will be further described below. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be combined with each other without conflict.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure, but the present disclosure may be practiced in other ways than those described herein; it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the specification are only a few embodiments of the present disclosure, and not all embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifter unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a main feed plate provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a coupling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The phase shifter unit provided by the embodiment of the disclosure has the function of a single phase shifter, can realize phase shifting, is suitable for the conditions of broadband and large phase shifting quantity, and can be applied to array antennas (substrate antennas). Specifically, as shown in fig. 1, 2 and 3, the phase shifter unit includes:

the main feeder board 1 comprises a first dielectric substrate 11 and a feeder layer 12 positioned on one side surface of the first dielectric substrate 11, wherein the feeder layer 12 comprises a main feeder 121 and a matching branch line 122;

the coupling plate 2 comprises a second dielectric substrate 21 and a coupling layer 22 positioned on one side surface of the second dielectric substrate 21, and the coupling layer 22 comprises a coupling feeder 221;

the coupling layer 22 and the feeder layer 12 are arranged oppositely and insulated, the coupling plate 2 and the main feeder plate 1 can move relatively, the overlapping area of the coupling feeder line 221 and the main feeder line 121 changes in the relative movement process, and the overlapping state of the coupling feeder line 221 and the matching branch line 122 can change under the condition that the coupling feeder line 221 and the main feeder line 121 are overlapped, and the overlapping state includes overlapping or non-overlapping.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first dielectric substrate 11 and the second dielectric substrate 21 may be made of plastic or resin, and serve as a support. The feeder layer 12 and the coupling layer 22 may be formed by a metallization process such as electroplating or chemical plating, and a good conductor such as copper or silver may be formed on the first dielectric substrate 11 and the second dielectric substrate 21, respectively. In the feeder layer 12, the main feeder 121 serves as a main channel for microwave signal transmission, including an input port and an output port (not shown in the figure), and the matching stub 122 serves as impedance matching to improve standing waves. In the coupling layer 22, since the coupling layer 22 is disposed opposite to and insulated from the feeder layer 12 (an insulating layer may be disposed between the coupling layer 22 and the feeder layer 12 to insulate the coupling layer 22 from the feeder layer 12, wherein the insulating layer may cover the coupling layer 22 and/or the feeder layer), the coupling feeder 221 may be coupled with the main feeder 121, and the coupling feeder 221 serves as a coupling channel for microwave signal transmission, so that the microwave signal is transmitted by coupling in the phase shifter unit.

The coupling plate 2 and the main feed plate 1 can move relatively, specifically, the coupling plate 2 can be controlled to move, and the main feed plate 1 can also be controlled to move, and the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation manner of the relative movement of the coupling plate 2 and the main feed plate 1.

Based on the above technical solution, specifically, after a microwave signal is input from the input port of the main feeder 121, the coupling feeder 221 may overlap with the main feeder 121 through the relative motion between the coupling board 2 and the main feeder board 1 (the coupling feeder 221 may overlap with the main feeder 121, which means that the orthographic projection of the coupling feeder 221 on the feeder layer 12 overlaps with part or all of the main feeder), at this time, the coupling feeder 221 is coupled with the main feeder 121, and the amount of relative motion between the coupling board 2 and the main feeder board 1 is changed, so as to change the electrical length of the phase shifter unit, further change the phase of the output port of the main feeder 121, and implement adjustment of the phase shift amount.

Further, since impedance matching cannot be performed in the case of a large amount of phase shift, when some amount of phase shift is adjusted, a standing wave problem occurs. Therefore, the embodiment of the present disclosure improves the standing wave problem under certain phase shift amount by forming the matching stub 122 on the feeder layer 12 such that the matching stub 122 overlaps the coupling feeder 221 under certain phase shift amount (refer to fig. 4), thereby implementing impedance matching. Specifically, the position of the coupling feeder 221 with respect to the feeder layer 12 at the time of occurrence of the standing wave problem can be obtained through experiments, and based on this, the matching stub 122 is formed at this position of the feeder layer 12. In addition, for the case of no standing wave problem, the matching stub 122 is not formed at the corresponding position of the feeder layer 12, i.e., the matching stub 122 does not overlap with the coupling feeder 221 (refer to fig. 5), and matching is not required.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the main feed plate 1 and the coupling plate 2 are arranged, and the main feed plate 1 and the coupling plate 2 can move relatively, and in the process of the relative movement, the phase shift amount of the phase shifter unit is adjusted by changing the overlapping area of the main feed line 121 on the main feed plate 1 and the coupling feed line 221 on the coupling plate 2; meanwhile, under the condition that the coupling feed line 221 is overlapped with the main feed line 121, the overlapping state of the coupling feed line 221 and the matching branch line 122 can be changed, that is, when the phase shift amount of the phase shifter unit is adjusted to a certain value, the coupling feed line 221 is overlapped with the matching branch line 122 on the main feed plate 1, so that impedance matching is realized, and the problem of standing wave under a certain phase shift amount is solved. According to the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the relative working frequency band of the phase shifter unit can be widened to 35%, and the phase shifter unit can play a good matching role in a wide frequency band and under the condition of large phase shift amount by setting the matching branch line.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the coupling feed line 221 is U-shaped (refer to fig. 3), the main feed line 121 includes an input main feed line and an output main feed line (refer to fig. 2) parallel to each other, and the coupling feed line 221 can cover a portion of the main feed line 121. In this embodiment, the coupling feeder 221 includes a first arm corresponding to the input main feeder as the input coupling feeder and a second arm corresponding to the output main feeder as the output coupling feeder, and a distance between the first arm and the second arm is equal to a distance between the input main feeder and the output main feeder. In some embodiments, the lengths of the first and second arms are equal, the lengths of the input and output main feed lines are equal, and the lengths of the first and second arms are less than the lengths of the input and output main feed lines. The moving direction of the relative movement of the coupling plate 2 and the main feed plate 1 is parallel to the extending direction of the input/output main feed line and the first/second arm, and when the coupling feed line 221 overlaps the main feed line 121, the first and second arms are respectively opposite to the input and output main feed lines. Furthermore, the coupling feed line 221 can cover a part of the main feed line 121 by the relative movement of the coupling plate 2 and the main feed plate 1, and when the orthogonal projection of the U-shaped bottom side of the coupling feed line 221 on the feed line layer is just connected to one ends (non-input port and output port) of the input main feed line and the output main feed line, the electrical length in the phase shifter unit is shortest and the phase shift amount is largest.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 2, 6 and 7, the matching stub 122 is located between extension lines of the input main feeder and the output main feeder, the matching stub 122 is disposed at a distance from the main feeder 121 in an extending direction of the input main feeder, and the matching stub 122 is located on a side of the main feeder 121 away from an input port/an output port of the main feeder 121. In this way, the matching branch 122 of the phase shifter unit has a matching function under the condition of certain phase shift quantity, so that the phase shifter unit has a good matching function in a wide frequency band and a large phase shift quantity; meanwhile, under the condition of other phase shifting quantities, the matching branch line 122 does not play a matching role, the original matching impedance is kept, and the influence on other phase shifting quantities is avoided.

Based on the above technical solution, the graph formed by the matching branch line 122 may be a bar shape (refer to fig. 2), a polygon shape, or a circle shape (refer to fig. 6). The pattern formed by the matching branch line 122 is not limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure, as long as it overlaps the coupling feed line 211 at a set position.

In addition, the matched branch line 122 includes at least one matched branch line segment. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, matching branch line 122 includes two matching branch line segments. In the present embodiment, in order to realize the precise matching of the phase shifter unit to the impedance, the matching branch line 122 may be designed in segments, and may be specifically adjusted according to experiments, so as to improve the standing wave to the maximum extent.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the coupling plate is in contact with the main feed plate. Therefore, the coupling plate can slide on the surface of the main feeder plate, so that the coupling plate is always attached to the main feeder plate, and the signal energy on the main feeder line is well coupled to the coupling feeder line.

Illustratively, the phase shifter unit further comprises a pressing block for pressing the coupling plate on the main feed plate and driving the coupling plate to move. So, when fixing the coupling plate and guaranteeing that the coupling plate pastes tight main board of presenting, can realize the motion of coupling plate.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 8, 9 and 10, the pressing block includes an upper pressing block 31 and a lower pressing block 32; two guide rail grooves 13 penetrating through the main feed plate 1 are formed in the main feed plate 1 and are respectively positioned on two sides of the main feed line 121; through holes 23 (only two through holes 23 are schematically shown in the figure) are formed in the coupling plate 2 at positions corresponding to the two guide rail grooves 13; the upper pressing block 31 and the lower pressing block 32 are buckled through the guide rail groove 13 and the through hole 23, and the pressing blocks are used for driving the coupling plate 2 to move along the guide rail groove 13. In this scheme, the bottom of one of upper pressing block 31 and lower pressing block 32 and the position department corresponding to through-hole 23 are provided with the card post, and the bottom of the other and the position department corresponding to through-hole 23 are provided with the draw-in groove that pairs with the card post, and the card post is buckled with the draw-in groove mutually via through-hole 23 and guide rail groove 13 to the lock of upper pressing block 31 and lower pressing block 32 is realized, makes coupling plate 2 hug closely on main feeder plate 1. Meanwhile, the clamping columns penetrate through the through holes 23 in the coupling plate 2, so that the pressing block moves along the guide rail groove 13 to drive the coupling plate 2 to move along the guide rail groove 13. Simple structure and convenient operation.

Optionally, the main feeder board 1 further includes a green oil layer covering the surface of the feeder layer 12, and/or the coupling board 2 further includes a green oil layer covering the surface of the coupling layer 22. Thus, on the one hand, the green oil layer can ensure that the surface of the feeder layer 12 and/or the coupling layer 22 is smooth, and reduce the surface friction force, so that the coupling plate 2 can easily slide on the surface of the main feeder plate 1. On the other hand, the green oil layer can be used as an insulating layer at the same time, so that the coupling connection of the main feeder line and the coupling feeder line is realized, the additional arrangement of the insulating layer is avoided, and the volume of the phase shifter unit is reduced.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the main feed board 1 further includes a main feed-ground layer located on a surface of the first dielectric substrate 11 on a side facing away from the feed line layer 12. In the scheme, the feeder layer and the coupling layer share the main feed grounding layer to form a microstrip line structure.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a phase shifter, which comprises at least one phase shifter unit provided by the embodiment of the disclosure.

The phase shifter provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure includes the phase shifter unit provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and has the same or corresponding functions and advantages as the phase shifter unit, and the contents not described in detail in the embodiments may refer to the above embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In addition, the embodiment of the disclosure also provides an array antenna, which comprises the phase shifter provided by the embodiment of the disclosure. The antenna can be applied to a base station antenna and is suitable for a dual-polarized antenna or a single-polarized antenna.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 11, the phase shifter 10 in the array antenna includes a plurality of phase shifter elements 20 (4 are schematically shown in the figure) and a plurality of antenna elements (3 are schematically shown in the figure, namely, a first antenna element 101, a second antenna element 102 and a third antenna element 103). The antenna arrays are dual-polarized antenna arrays, the first antenna array 101 and the third antenna array 103 are connected with output ports of the two phase shifter units 20 to realize phase shifting, the second antenna array 102 is not connected with the phase shifter units 20, and the phase shifting amount is 0. The first antenna array 101, the second antenna array 102 and the third antenna array 103 can be broadband folded dipoles, and the dipoles can point to-20 degrees through the coupling plate of the sliding phase shifter unit 20, so that good impedance matching in a broadband ultra-wide pointing range is realized.

It is noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second," and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The foregoing are merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, which enable those skilled in the art to understand or practice the present disclosure. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (12)

1. A phase shifter element, comprising:

the main feeder board comprises a first dielectric substrate and a feeder layer positioned on one side surface of the first dielectric substrate, wherein the feeder layer comprises a main feeder and a matching branch line;

the coupling plate comprises a second dielectric substrate and a coupling layer positioned on one side surface of the second dielectric substrate, wherein the coupling layer comprises a coupling feeder line;

the coupling layer and the feeder layer are arranged oppositely and insulated, the coupling plate and the main feeder plate can move relatively, the overlapping area of the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line changes in the relative movement process, and the overlapping state of the coupling feeder line and the matching branch line can change under the condition that the coupling feeder line and the main feeder line are overlapped, wherein the overlapping state comprises overlapping or non-overlapping.

2. A phase shifter element according to claim 1, wherein the coupling feed line is U-shaped, the main feed lines comprise an input main feed line and an output main feed line parallel to each other, the coupling feed line being capable of covering a portion of the main feed line.

3. The phase shifter element according to claim 2, wherein the matching stub is located between the input main feed line and an extension line of the output main feed line, the matching stub is disposed at a distance from the main feed line in an extending direction of the input main feed line, and the matching stub is located on a side of the main feed line away from a main feed line input port/output port.

4. A phase shifter element according to claim 3 wherein the matching branch lines are patterned in the form of stripes, polygons or circles.

5. The phase shifter element of claim 3, wherein the matching stub comprises at least one matching stub segment.

6. The phase shifter element according to claim 1, wherein the coupling plate is in contact with the main feed plate.

7. The phase shifter unit of claim 6, further comprising a press block for pressing the coupling plate against the main feed plate and moving the coupling plate.

8. The phase shifter element according to claim 7, wherein the compact comprises an upper compact and a lower compact; two guide rail grooves penetrating through the main feed plate are formed in the main feed plate and are respectively positioned on two sides of the main feed line; through holes are formed in the positions, corresponding to the two guide rail grooves, of the coupling plate; the upper pressing block and the lower pressing block are buckled through the guide rail groove and the through hole, and the pressing block is used for driving the coupling plate to move along the guide rail groove.

9. The phase shifter element according to claim 6, wherein the main feed plate further comprises a layer of green oil covering the surface of the feed layer, and/or the coupling plate further comprises a layer of green oil covering the surface of the coupling layer.

10. The phase shifter element of claim 1, wherein the main feed plate further comprises a main feed ground layer on a surface of the first dielectric substrate on a side facing away from the feed line layer.

11. A phase shifter, characterized by comprising at least one phase shifter element according to any one of claims 1-10.

12. An array antenna comprising the phase shifter of claim 11.

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