EP0295257B1

EP0295257B1 - Motor vehicle aerial system

Info

Publication number: EP0295257B1
Application number: EP87901567A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jerzy Jacek Kropielnicki; James David Last; Brian Easter
Original assignee: BSH Industries Ltd
Current assignee: BSH Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1986-03-05
Filing date: 1987-03-04
Publication date: 1991-09-25
Anticipated expiration: 2007-03-04
Also published as: GB8820753D0; GB8605381D0; DE3773378D1; EP0295257A1; GB2173644B; GB2173644A; JPH01501747A; GB2209876B; GB2209876A; WO1987005446A1; BR8707627A; JP2565669Y2; JPH0681113U; KR880701026A

Abstract

A heated window (2) of a motor vehicle is used as an aerial to receive and/or transmit vertically polarised VHF signals. The window (2) has heater wires (3, 13, 19) which run vertically along side each other between top and bottom bus-bars (4, 5, 17, 18, 23, 24). A linking and isolating circuit (25) is used to connect the wires to radio apparatus so that efficient VHF reception and/or transmission can be achieved at the same time as the window is heated by passage of dc power through the heater wires. The heater wires (3, 13, 19) may be tuned so as to resonate at the centre of the VHF band. Provision may also be made (35, 36) for isolating an AM signal. Preferably the vertical heater wires (13, 19) are connected to the bus-bars via inclined ends (15, 16, 21, 22) so that short bus-bars (17, 18, 23, 24) can be used.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to antenna or aerial systems for motor vehicles.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known to use a motor vehicle heated rear window (defroster) unit as a radio frequency transmitting or receiving aerial while permitting the window unit to be used simultaneously (if so desired) for heating (demisting) purposes. Thus, U.K. Patent 1520030 describes a system using a bifilar coil which separates RF signals from the usual dc heater circuit for a heated rear window. U.K.Patent 1600987 describes a system using matching and isolating circuitry to enable a heated rear window to be used as a transmitting aerial while dc ger is supplied to the window for heaating purposes. U.K.Patent Application 2152760A describes a system using tuning and isolating circuitry to enable a heated rear window which is essentially aperiodic and non-resonant at VHF frequencies to be used as an efficient VHF receiving aerial while dc power is supplied to the window for heating purposes, the window being brought to series or parallel resonance near the centre of the VHF band by the tuning and isolating circuitry.
It is desirable to be able to use a window heater structure which is convenient to manufacture and which gives good heating characteristics with the above mentioned prior patent specifications 1520030, 1600987 and 2152760A, the described window heater structure corresponds to that conventionally used solely for heating purposes and comprises multiple horizontal wires which connect with bus-bars at opposite upright side edges of the windows, such busbars providing a means of linking the wires to each other and to leads of the heater circuit. This structure can give most heating in the region where this is required (i.e. the horizontal central band of the window) with a relatively small spread of parallel wires ― because the wires run between the busbars along such region. Such a small spread of wires is advantageous from the point of view of aerial characteristics because relatively short bus-bars can be used whereby adverse parasitic capacitive and inductive effects can be minimised. In this respect it is to be understood that to avoid intrusion into the field of view it is normally desired to locate the bus-bars as close as possible to the edges of the window and this inevitably gives rise to parasitic capacitance to the body of the vehicle. Parasitic series inductance arises as a function of the length of the bus-bars.
Where it is desired to receive or transmit vertically polarised VHF signals a window heater structure having vertical wires (i.e wires running in the direction from the bottom edge to the top edge of the window rather than from one side edge to the other side edge) could be more appropriate. However, with this arrangement in order to achieve adequate heating along the central horizontal band of the window, the parallel wires would have to spread along all or a major part of the window and insofar as this would require the use of relatively long bus-bars it is to be expected that serious problems due to parasitic capacitance and inductance would arise.
U.K. patent 1439689 describes the use as an aerial of a heated front window having parallel vertical wires with long top and bottom bus-bars. However the main aerial components are not the vertical wires but constitute horizontal parts of the bottom bus-bar, which parts are spaced well away from the edge of the window and are extended to define substantial structures in themselves.
EP-A-146339 illustrates schematically, in Fig. 5 thereof, a heated window for use as an aerial having horizontal wires which are straight in their central regions and inwardly inclined at their end regions. There is no reference to the possible use of this arrangement in a vertical disposition.
DE-A-3409876 describes a heated window for use as an aerial having vertical wires extending in two sets between a continuous top bus-bar and a divided bottom bus-bar. The wires are straight throughout their lengths.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based on the realisation that it is in fact feasible to use vertical wire of a heated window as an aerial.
According to the invention therefore there is provided a motor vehicle aerial system having a motor vehicle window with a heater structure comprising a series of heater wires running alongside each other between opposite bus-bars, a linking and isolating circuit arranged for linking said heater structure to a d.c. power supply and to radio apparatus of said motor vehicle so that said heater structure can act as an aerial for said radio apparatus whilst it is powered by said d.c. supply to heat said window, said linking circuit is arranged to effect efficient transfer of vertically polarised VHF signals between said radio apparatus and said wires, and wherein said heater wires extend in the vertical direction and are straight or substantially straight in central regions thereof, characterised in that the top and bottom end regions of the said wires are inwardly inclined (i.e. curved or bent towards the vertical central plane extending transversely through the window), the degree of inclination decreases towards the middle of the window, the separation of adjacent wires is less at their ends than in their central regions, and the length of the associated bus-bars is less than the maximum horizontal separation of the central regions of the two outermost wires.
With this arrangement, the effective transmission and/or reception of vertically polarised VHF signals can be achieved by used of the vertically extending heater wires. As used herein, the term vertical is used to mean wires which run in the direction from the bottom edge to the top edge of the window as distinguished from wires which run from one to the other of the window side edges. Thus it will be understood that in practice the window may be sloping and accordingly the wires may be at an angle, possibly a large angle to the true vertical.
In a particularly preferred embodiment the inward inclination of the end regions of the wire is such that at at least one end (preferably both) the separation of the ends of the two outermost wires and the length of the associated bus-bar is no greater than one half (and preferably less than one half)of the said maximum horizontal separation.
Preferably the bus-bars terminate at or close to the connections with the outermost heater wires.
Although the term bus-bar is used, it is possible to use structures which are not straight strips e.g. curved strips or other shapes.
In accordance with common practice a folded configuration is used whereby one bus-bar is continuous and the other is divided into two lengths so that in use the heater current flows from one divided length through some of the wires to the continuous bus-bar and then back to the other divided length via the other wires. With this arrangement preferably the configuration is symmetrical about a vertical plane between the divided lengths.
To give efficient transfer of VHF signals, the heater structure is preferably matched to the radio apparatus (i.e. to the transmitter/receiver and/or the characteristic impedance of the feeder cable which connects the heater structure to the transmitter/receiver) by means of matching and tuning elements of said linking and isolating circuit. Such elements are preferably such as to bring the heater structure including the wires to series or parallel resonance at or near the centre of the VHF bands. Since wires with inclined end regions are used as mentioned above, by selection of a wide range and smooth gradation of the length of the wires a relatively slow variation of aerial impedance with signal frequency can be achieved thereby simplifying the design of even relatively broadband matching circuits. By suitable choice of dimensions for the heater wire pattern the matching circuitry can be made extremely simple or even eliminated.
Most preferably the heater wires are of a conventional nature with regard to thickness and spacing so that manufacture can be effected in a convenient manner using normal production techniques. With regard to the bus-bars, these are preferably located close to the window edges to minimise intrusion into the field of view. Since an inclined arrangement is used as mentioned above, the possible consequent shortening of the bus-bars permits location close to the vehicle body at the edges of the window without undue parasitic capacitance and series inductance.
The linking and isolating circuit of the invention may incorporate any suitable isolating arrangement. Where the aerial system is to be used for AM reception additionally to VHF reception/transmission, a bifilar coil arrangement may be used, as described in the above mentioned prior patent specifications 1520030, 1600987 and 2152760A.
It is visualised that the present invention will find particular application in the context of a heated rear window of a motor car, however other windows and other kinds of vehicles may also be appropriate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figures 1 + 2: are diagrammatic views of different heating structure patterns in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 3: is a circuit diagram of a complete aerial system according to the invention; and
Figures 4 + 5: are circuit diagrams of alternative forms of a part of the system of Figure 4.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to Figure 1, this shows a heater structure of a motor car heated rear window 2. The structure comprises multiple thin heater wires embedded in or bonded to the window glass. The wires run between top and bottom bus-bars 17, 18.
The bus-bars 17, 18 are in the form of generally straight strips. The top strip 17 is continuous whereas the bottom strip 18 is divided in the middle (at the vertical centre plane) into two parts 18a, 18b. All wires are electrically connected at their top ends to the top bus-bar 17. The wires are separated into two equal sets, each being connected at the bottom end to a respective one of the bottom bus-bar parts 18a, 18b, thereby giving a 'folded' configuration. Power supply leads 10 are connected to the heater structure at terminals 11 at the spaced inner ends of the two bottom bus-bar parts 18a, 18b.
The wires 13 of the heater structure 12 have generally straight, parallel vertical central regions 14 and are inclined inwardly (towards the central vertical plane) at their top and bottom end regions 15, 16 and the top and bottom bus-bars 17, 18 are shorter than (by about half) the maximum horizontal spacing of the two outermost wires 13. The arrangement of Figure 2 differs from that of Figure 1 in that the wires 19 of the heater structure 20 have end regions 21, 22 with inclinations which are greater, and the bus- bars 23, 24a, 24b are much shorter. These bus-bars 23, 24 may be slightly curved rather than straight strip shaped to accommodate the close connections of the wire 19.
The arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2 are all symmetrical about the vertical central plane (i.e. both the vertical wires and the bus-bars are symmetrical) and it will be noted that the bus-bars are as short as possible (i.e. they terminate level with the connections to the outermost wires) and they are very close to the top and bottom window edges.
Fig. 3 shows the circuitry 25 used to connect a window heater structure of the kind shown in any one of Figs. 1 and 2 (although the configuration of Fig. 1 is illustrated) to radio apparatus having a VHF receiver and/or transmitter and if desired also an AM receiver.
The power supply leads from the heater terminals 11 are connected to inputs 26 of the circuitry which is within a housing which is located as close as possible to the terminals 11. The circuitry 25 has an earth connection 27 which is connected to the vehicle earth, a power supply connection 28 which is connected to the vehicle dc power supply, and VHF and AM aerial outputs 29, 30 which are connected to an aerial feeder cables of radio apparatus via an inductance/capacitance arrangement 31 which recombines the VHF/am signals.
The circuitry 25 comprises two VHF chokes 23, 24 (which may be coupled as windings of a bifilar coil) in series with coupled windings 35, 36 of a ferrite pot cored bifilar coil interposed between the inputs 26 and the outputs 27, 28 whereby dc power can flow freely to the heater structure 12 (when switched on) to heat the window 2.
The VHF chokes 33, 34 and associated capacitors 37, 38 act to isolate VHF signals at the heater structure 12 from the dc power supply. The bifilar coil windings 35, 36 and associated capacitor 39 act to isolate AM signals at the heater structure 12 from the dc power supply.
The isolated AM signals are fed to the AM output 30 via an optional AM preamplification stage 40 of the circuitry 25.
The capacitor 38 of the VHF isolating part of the circuitry 25 is connected to the VHF output 29 via a matching and tuning circuit 41. In this respect it is to be understood that the heater is not designed to be an antenna which is periodic and resonant at VHF frequencies and matching and tuning is necessary to give efficient operation of a VHF transmitter and/or receiver connected to the output.
The matching and tuning circuit is preferably such as to bring the heater structure 12 and particularly the vertical wires 13 to resonance at or near the centre of the VHF operating band of frequencies.
Figs. 4 and 5 show respectively parallel and series tuned arrangements.
With both of the circuits the two terminals 11 of the heater are coupled together via the capacitor 37 which has negigible impedance at the frequencies at which the aerial is to be used. In the parallel-tuned matching circuit a reactive tuning element 42 (inductance or capacitance) connected in parallel between one heating structure terminal 11 (or both) and the body of the vehicle is employed to bring the combination to resonance at the centre of the operating band of frequencies. In the series-tuned matching circuit a reactive tuning element (the capacitance 38 alone or in series with an inductance 43) is connected in series with one (or both) of the heating structure terminals 11 so that the input impedance of the combination is resonant at the centre freqnency of the operating band of frquencies. The impedance of the resonant arrangement achieved in either the parallel-tuned or series-tuned circuit is then transformed to the desired terminal value by means of a tuned (or untuned) transformer 44.
The actual choice of circuit will depend on the detailed impedance characteristic of the heating structure and the impedance to which it is to be matched and the frequency of operation. The matching circuit may also be required to provide other functions such as a direct current path to the source of a field-effect amplifier transistor (e.g. in circuits 40, 41).
For fuller details of suitable circuits reference is made to U.K. Pattent Application 2152760A which described VHF matching and tuning circuits and to U.K. Patent 1600987 which describes matching circuits for matching a heater structure to a VHF transmitter. The bifilar coil presents a high impedance to AM signals and, for further details reference is made particularly to U.K. Patent 1520030 but also to Patent 1600987 and application 2152760A.
With the embodiment described above efficient reception and/or transmission of vertically polarised VHF signals can be achieved.
The invention is not restricted to the details of the above embodiment. Thus for example, the arrangement need not be symmetrical about the division in the bottom bus-bar but instead may have a degree of asymmetry. If desired, a continuous, rather than divided bottom bus-bar may be used in which case connections are taken from the top and bottom bus-bars respectively with, an appropriate compensatory filter arrangement as required. It is also possible to use a continuous botton bus-bar and a divided top bus-bar with the circuitry close to the top bus-bar. Instead of the bifilar coil other isolating arrangements involving mutually coupled coils or the like may be used as described in the prior patent specification referred to.
Capacitor 37 gives common mode operation. Where common mode operation is not desired, capacitor 37 would be omitted. Thus, capacitor 37 would be omitted whore diversity reception or transmission is required as described in U.K.Patent Application No. 2173644A. That is, capacitor 37 would be omitted where the heater wires are to be used as a radio aerial in two different configurations permitting diversity reception or transmission. As described in the above mentioned application, in this context, provision is made for switching between the two configurations so that fading in one configuration can be compensated by better receiving or transmitting characteristics in the other. The two configurations may be separated by a centre-tapped transformer which gives balanced and unbalanced aerial characteristics. A switching circuit may be provided to switch repeatedly between the two configurations. Alternatively, switching may be effected under the control of a circuit which monitors signal strengths.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle aerial system having a motor vehicle window (2) with a heater structure (12) comprising a series of heater wires (13) running alongside each other between opposite bus-bars (17, 18), and a linking and isolating circuit (25) arranged for linking said heater structure (12) to a d.c. power supply (at 27, 28) and to radio apparatus of said motor vehicle so that said heater structure (12) can act as an aerial for said radio apparatus whilst it is powered by said d.c. supply to heat said window, said linking circuit (25) being arranged to effect efficient transfer of vertically polarised VHF signals between said radio apparatus and said wires (13), and wherein said heater wires (13) extend in the vertical direction and are straight or substantially straight in central regions (14) thereof, characterised in that the top and bottom end regions (15, 16) of the said wires are inwardly inclined, the degree of inclination decreases towards the middle of the window, the separation of adjacent wires is less at their ends than in their central regions, and the length of the associated bus-bars (17, 18) is less than the maximum horizontal separation of the central regions (14) of the two outermost wires (13).

2. A system according to claim 1, characterised in that the inward inclination of the end regions (15, 16) of the wires (13) is such that at at least one end the separation of the ends of the two outermost wires (13) and the length of the associated bus-bar (17, 18) is no greater than one half of the said maximum horizontal separation.

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that each bus-bar (17, 18) terminates at or close to the connection with the outermost heater wires.

4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that one bus-bar (17) is continuous and the other (18) is divided into two lengths, the wires (13) being separated into two sets connected respectively between the continuous bus-bar (17) and the two lengths of the other bus-bar (18).

5. A system according to claim 4 characterised in that the configuration of wires (13) and bus-bars (17, 18) is symmetrical about a vertical plane extending transversely to the window (2) and centrally through the heater structure (12) between the two lengths of the divided bus-bar (18).

6. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said linking and isolating circuit (25) includes matching and tuning components (41) arranged to bring the heater structure including the wires to resonance at or near the centre of the VHF band.

7. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the linking and isolating circuit (25) includes a first coil arrangement (33, 34) for isolating VHF signals and a second coil arrangement (35, 36) for isolating AM signals.

8. A system according to claim 7, characterised in that the second coil arrangement (35, 36) comprises a bifilar coil arrangement.

9. A system according to claim 1 wherein said window (2) is the rear window of a motor vehicle characterised in that the system is used to receive and/or transmit vertically polarised VHF signals.