EP2360776B1 - Mikrowellenrichtkoppler - Google Patents

Mikrowellenrichtkoppler Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2360776B1
EP2360776B1 EP10153670.4A EP10153670A EP2360776B1 EP 2360776 B1 EP2360776 B1 EP 2360776B1 EP 10153670 A EP10153670 A EP 10153670A EP 2360776 B1 EP2360776 B1 EP 2360776B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
port
coupler
line
electromagnetic wave
directional coupler
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP2360776A1 (de
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Gwarek Wojciech
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Whirlpool Corp
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Whirlpool Corp
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
    • H01P5/00—Coupling devices of the waveguide type
    • H01P5/12—Coupling devices having more than two ports
    • H01P5/16—Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port
    • H01P5/18—Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port consisting of two coupled guides, e.g. directional couplers
    • H01P5/184—Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port consisting of two coupled guides, e.g. directional couplers the guides being strip lines or microstrips
    • H01P5/185—Edge coupled lines

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a directional coupler, and more particularly to a microwave directional coupler for power monitoring applications.
  • Directional couplers are generally employed in the field of radio technology for coupling energy flowing in a primary (or main) transmission line into a secondary transmission line.
  • the secondary transmission line may also be referred to as the coupler line.
  • a typical directional coupler whose basic structure is shown in Figure 1 , is a four-port device comprising a main transmission line 110 with an input port 111 and an output port 112 and a coupler line 120 with a first port 121 and a second port 122.
  • the coupler line 120 is placed in proximity to the main transmission line 110 such that electromagnetic coupling is established between the main transmission line 110 and the coupler line 120.
  • most of the incident signal transmitted from the input port 111 into the main transmission line 110 exits at the output port 112.
  • either the first port 121 or the second port 122 of the coupler line is isolated (i.e.
  • the coupled port is the first port 121 of the coupler line 120, i.e. the port of the coupler line located nearest the input port 111 of the main transmission line 110, and the isolated port is the second port 122 of the coupler line 120. If the signal is reversed so that it enters the main transmission line 110 at the output port 112, most of the signal exits the input port 111, but the coupled port is now the second port 122 that was previously regarded as the isolated port.
  • the ratio of the signal appearing at (or measured at) the first port 121 with respect to the incident signal at the input port 111 is called the coupling coefficient (or simply the coupling) and may be expressed in decibels (dB).
  • the coupling depends mainly on the coupler (or coupling) geometry. For a specific distance, denoted as “d” in Figure 1 , between the main transmission line 110 and the coupler line 120, the coupling reaches a maximum if the length, denoted as "l” in Figure 1 , of the region or section at which there is coupling between the main transmission line and the coupler line is equal to a quarter-wavelength.
  • Quarter-wave directional couplers such as e.g. the directional coupler disclosed in US4433313 have therefore been preferred for practical applications.
  • US 2010/0271150 discloses a loop directional coupler provided with coupling-factor matching means, consisting of a multiplying unit for multiplying the coupled line signal with an adjustable complex factor F.
  • isolation As there may be some signal appearing at the second (isolated) port 122 of the coupler line 120, another relevant parameter of a directional coupler is the level of parasitic transmission to the second port 122, which is called the isolation and may also be expressed in dB. Isolation corresponds to the ratio between the signal at the input port 111 and the signal at the isolated port 122, expressed in dB.
  • Directivity corresponds to the ratio of the signals at the first port 121 and the second port 122 of the coupler line 120.
  • Directivity may also be expressed in dB and corresponds to the difference between isolation and coupling, both measured in dB.
  • the microwave directional coupler comprises a main transmission line and a coupler line such as shown in Figure 1 and comprises also four capacitors, one capacitor coupled at each port of the four ports of the directional coupler, and a fifth capacitor coupled between the output port of the transmission line and the terminated port of the coupler line.
  • the values of the capacitors, the transmission line impedances and lengths are selected such that it approximately simulates a quarter-wavelength transmission line at the operating frequency, thereby providing a directional coupler having a rather small size.
  • prior art directional couplers physically have four ports, they are used as three-port devices, such as disclosed in US2004/0119559 , since one of the ports of the coupler line is internally terminated with a passive resistive matching.
  • two separate directional couplers need to be employed.
  • the two separate directional couplers may be assembled in different manners, e.g., one facing the other one on opposite sides of the main transmission line or one after the other on the same side of the main transmission line.
  • a directional coupler made of two separate directional couplers is cumbersome and therefore may be difficult to use for applications where space is limited such as for instance in a radio transmitter.
  • the need of two separate directional couplers increases the cost of the final product for the intended application.
  • a directional coupler is also known from US 2004/0113716 A1 .
  • the directional coupler comprises a main transmission line, a coupler line and an electronic means.
  • the main transmission line comprises an input port and an output port for transmitting a first electromagnetic wave from the input port to the output port and a second electromagnetic wave from the output port to the input port.
  • the coupler line is arranged proximate to the main transmission line for electromagnetically coupling the coupler line with the main transmission line.
  • the coupler line comprises a first port at a first one of its ends and a second port at its opposite end (or second end) between which the electronic means is connected.
  • the electronic means is linear (i.e.
  • the electronic means is configured to reduce the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced at the second port by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the first electromagnetic wave and also configured to reduce the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced at the first port by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the second electromagnetic wave.
  • the object of the present invention is achieved by means of the method as defined in claim 16.
  • the method for directional coupling of an electromagnetic wave comprises the steps of providing a main transmission line having an input port and an output port for transmitting a first electromagnetic wave from the input port to the output port and a second electromagnetic wave from the output port to the input port.
  • the method further comprises the step of providing a coupler line comprising a first port at a first one of its ends and a second port at its opposite end, the coupler line being electromagnetically coupled with the main transmission line.
  • the method further comprises the steps of providing a linear electronic means connected between the first port and the second port for reducing the output signal induced by the first electromagnetic wave at the second port and reducing the output signal induced by the second electromagnetic wave at the first port. More specifically, the method comprises the step of reducing the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced at the second port by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the first electromagnetic wave and the step of reducing the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced at the first port by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the second electromagnetic wave.
  • the present invention makes use of an understanding that the signals induced by the magnetic and electric components of an electromagnetic wave (or high-frequency electromagnetic field such as microwaves) travelling from the input port to the output port of the main transmission line added at one of the ports of the coupler line (i.e. the first port located nearest from the input port of the main transmission line) and subtracted at the opposite port of the coupler line (i.e. the second port located nearest from the output port of the main transmission line).
  • the present invention is based on the idea that an electronic means may be connected between the first port and the second port of the coupler line for electrically isolating the second port from the first electromagnetic wave and for electrically isolating the first port from the second electromagnetic wave.
  • the electronic means is configured to reduce the output signal induced at the first port by the second electromagnetic wave and to reduce the output signal induced at the second port by the first electromagnetic wave.
  • the electronic means For a specific electromagnetic wave (i.e. travelling in a specific direction), the electronic means has the effect of reinforcing the output signal at one end of the coupler line and reducing (preferably minimizing and even more preferably cancelling) the output signal at the opposite side.
  • the electronic means is configured to reduce, at the second port, the difference between the signal induced by the magnetic component and the oppositely directed signal induced by the electric component of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the first electromagnetic wave (e.g. incident microwaves).
  • the electronic means is configured to reduce, at the first port, the difference between the signal induced by the magnetic component and the signal induced by the electric component of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line and originating from the second electromagnetic wave (e.g. reflected microwaves).
  • the energy of the first electromagnetic wave can be measured (or monitored) at the first port (i.e. the port nearest the input port) and the energy of the second electromagnetic wave can be measured (or monitored) at the second port (i.e. the port nearest the output port) with good directivity.
  • the electronic means is linear (or operates linearly), i.e. not using frequency conversion of the signals detected at the first and second ports.
  • linear refers generally to the class of electronic components maintaining the frequency of the signals unchanged, in contrast to other components or electronic circuitry based on frequency conversion.
  • the electronic means may be at least one electric component, i.e. it may be a single electric component (such as a capacitor).
  • the operation of the linear electronic means does not, within a typical operating range, depend on the level of power in the main transmission line.
  • the term linear electronic means is intended to cover passive electronic components such as, e.g., capacitors and resistances.
  • the directional coupler of the present invention is original and advantageous over traditional directional couplers in that it provides a directional coupler with four active ports.
  • the directional coupler of the present invention provides, at the first port of the coupler line, a signal representative of the electromagnetic wave travelling from the input port to the output port (i.e. typically a signal representative of incident microwaves) and, at the second port of the coupler line, a signal representative of the electromagnetic wave travelling from the output port to the input port (i.e. typically a signal representative of reflected microwaves).
  • the present invention is also advantageous in that a microwave directional coupler with relatively small dimensions, i.e. typically smaller than the quarter-wavelength of the microwaves, may be achieved.
  • the coupler line may be bent or arranged such that the distance between the first port and the second port is smaller than a quarter-wavelength of the first electromagnetic wave (i.e. such that the first and second ports are arranged close to each other).
  • One end of the electronic means may then be connected to a first portion of the coupler line comprising the first port and another end of the electronic means may be connected to a second portion of the coupler line comprising the second port. Any discontinuities introduced by a swift bending of the coupler line is then compensated by adjusting the values of the (lumped) components of the electronic means.
  • the present invention is also advantageous in that it provides a directional coupler with improved characteristics (directivity, isolation and coupling).
  • the electronic means may be configured to reduce (and preferably to minimize), at the first port, the difference between the phases and the difference between the amplitudes, in absolute values, of the oppositely directed signals induced by the magnetic and electric components of the coupled field originating from the second electromagnetic wave and, at the second port, the difference between the phases and the difference between the amplitudes, in absolute values, of the oppositely directed signals induced by the magnetic and electric components of the coupled field originating from the first electromagnetic wave.
  • the electronic means connected between the first and second ports of the coupler line is configured to balance the amplitudes and phases of the output signals. Connection of electronic components between the two ports result in new degrees of freedom for balancing the amplitudes and phases of the output signals.
  • the electronic means may comprise a capacitor (or shunt capacitor), which provides the ability to design a directional coupler providing improved characteristics (in particular isolation and directivity) for a chosen bandwidth at high frequencies, for instance in the ISM band of 2.45 GHz.
  • a capacitor or shunt capacitor
  • the electronic means may further comprise a resistance (or shunt resistance) connected in parallel to the shunt capacitor, which is further advantageous in that it provides a design (with an adjustable shunt resistance) for further improving the characteristics of the directional coupler.
  • the directional coupler may further comprise a first resistance coupled between the first port and a reference potential, a second resistance coupled between the second port and the reference potential, a first capacitor coupled between a first portion of the coupler line and the reference potential, and a second capacitor coupled between a second portion of the coupler line and the reference potential.
  • the first portion of the coupler line (also called first arm of the coupler line below) comprises the first port while the second portion of the coupler line (also called second arm of the coupler line below) comprises the second port.
  • the first resistance may be configured to provide a voltage output representative of the power of the first electromagnetic wave (e.g.
  • the second resistance may be configured to provide a voltage output representative of the power of the second electromagnetic wave (e.g. reflected waves).
  • the first, second and shunt capacitors may include at least one of a group comprising discrete capacitors, distributed capacitors, trimmer capacitors and open circuit stubs.
  • Such embodiments are advantageous in that the electronic means (or electronic circuitry) is relatively simple and thereby cheap.
  • the present invention provides a directional coupler wherein the design of the electronics is of low complexity. Further, the present invention facilitates assembly of the direction coupler as a limited number of components are needed. In addition, all components may be connected on the same printed circuit board.
  • the directional coupler may comprise a first attenuator coupled to the first resistance and a second attenuator coupled to the second resistance.
  • the attenuators are advantageous in that they provide impedance matching for connection of the directional coupler with a further detecting device (external or integrated in the directional coupler) configured to measure the respective voltage outputs at the first and second ports.
  • the second electromagnetic wave may correspond to a part of the first electromagnetic wave reflected back into the main transmission line via the output port of the main transmission line. Indeed, part of the first electromagnetic wave (e.g. incident wave) transmitted out of the transmission line via the output port may return into the transmission line (as so called reflected waves) via the same (output) port.
  • part of the first electromagnetic wave e.g. incident wave
  • part of the first electromagnetic wave transmitted out of the transmission line via the output port may return into the transmission line (as so called reflected waves) via the same (output) port.
  • the main transmission line may be a waveguide transmission line and the electronic means may be mounted on a printed circuit board adapted to constitute part of a wall of the waveguide transmission line, which is advantageous in that the assembly and/or mounting of a final device including the inventive directional coupler may be facilitated.
  • the directional coupler may be integrated in the wall of the waveguide transmission line (of for instance a microwave oven), which also provides a compact solution.
  • the coupler line may comprise a section (longitudinally) facing the main transmission line for electromagnetic coupling and two arms (or portions) departing from each ends of the section.
  • the first arm (or first portion) comprises the first port and the second arm (or second portion) comprises the second port.
  • the geometry of the section of the coupler line longitudinally facing the main transmission line determines the level of electromagnetic coupling between the coupler line and the main transmission line.
  • the length of the section is smaller than quarter-wavelength but may be in the order of a quarter-wavelength for improving the coupling.
  • the distance between the first port and the second port is smaller than a quarter-wavelength for enabling connection of the electronic means.
  • the coupler line may have a generally U-shaped outline (or layout) or an outline corresponding substantially to the shape of the Greek upper case letter Omega or the Greek upper case letter Pi, thereby providing a section longitudinally facing the main transmission line for electromagnetic coupling and two arms extending from the section.
  • the two arms depart from the section at a substantially right angle.
  • the shunt capacitor or the shunt capacitor connected in parallel with the shunt resistance) between the first port and the second port of the coupler line is reduced, which is advantageous for applications wherein space is limited, such as in mobile phones for examples.
  • the main transmission line and the coupler line may include at least one of a group comprising microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines and waveguide transmission lines.
  • the directional coupler of the present invention may be used for monitoring power of incoming and outgoing electromagnetic waves in, e.g., a radio transmitter, a radio receiver, a transceiver (operating for example as a base station or terminal in a telecommunication system) or a microwave heating device.
  • a radio transmitter e.g., a radio transmitter, a radio receiver, a transceiver (operating for example as a base station or terminal in a telecommunication system) or a microwave heating device.
  • a transceiver operting for example as a base station or terminal in a telecommunication system
  • microwave heating device e.g., a microwave heating device.
  • Figures 2a-2c show directional couplers 200, 220 and 240, each comprising a main transmission line 110 and a coupler line 120 arranged proximate to the main transmission line 110 such that energy flowing in the main transmission line 110 can be coupled to the coupler line 120.
  • the main transmission line 110 comprises an input port 111 and an output port 112 such that an electromagnetic wave can be transmitted from the input port 111 to the output port 112.
  • the first electromagnetic wave will refer to an electromagnetic wave travelling from the input port 111 of the transmission line 110 to the output port 112 of the transmission line (e.g. incident microwaves) and the second electromagnetic wave will refer to an electromagnetic wave travelling from the output port 112 of the transmission line 110 to the input port 111 of the transmission line (e.g. reflected microwaves).
  • the coupler line 120 comprises two ports or terminals 121 and 122, namely a first port 121 at which energy representative of the first (incident) electromagnetic wave is detected and a second port 122 at which energy representative of the second (reflected) electromagnetic wave is detected.
  • the electronic means 130 is linear, i.e. not using frequency conversion.
  • the electronic means 130 is connected between the first port 121 of the coupler line 120 (or a first portion 127 of the coupler line 120 comprising the first port 121) and the second port 122 of the coupler line 120 (or a second portion 128 of the coupler line 120 comprising the second port 122).
  • the electronic means is configured to reduce the output signal induced at the second port by the first electromagnetic wave and to reduce the output signal induced at the first port by the second electromagnetic wave. More specifically, the electronic means 130 is configured to reduce, at the second port 122, the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line 120 and originating from the first electromagnetic wave.
  • the electronic means 130 is further configured to reduce, at the first port 121, the difference between the oppositely directed signals induced by the magnetic and the electric components, respectively, of an electromagnetic field coupled to the coupler line 120 and originating from the second electromagnetic wave.
  • the electronic means 130 is configured to reduce, at each of the first and second ports 121 and 122, the difference between the phases and the difference between the amplitudes, in absolute values, of the signals induced by the second and the first electromagnetic waves, respectively.
  • the coupler line 120 comprises a first portion or arm 127 including the first port 121 and a second portion or arm 128 including the second port 122.
  • the coupler line 120 comprises a section 129 (longitudinally) facing the main transmission line 110 for electromagnetic coupling between the coupler line 120 and the main transmission line 110.
  • the section 129 of the coupler line 120 is arranged proximate to the main transmission line 110.
  • the coupler line 120 further comprises two portions 127 and 128 departing from the section 129.
  • the first portion 127 of the coupler line 120 comprises the first port 121 while the second portion 128 of the coupler line 120 comprises the second port 122.
  • the level of coupling is determined by the length of the section 129 and the distance between the section 129 and the main transmission line 110.
  • electromagnetic coupling reaches a maximum if the length of the section 129 is in the order of the quarter-wavelength of the electromagnetic wave.
  • the distance between the first port 121 and the second port 122 affects the connection of the electronic means 130 between the two portions 127 and 128 of the coupler line 120. It is then preferable if the length of the section 129 is smaller than or in the order of a quarter-wavelength and the distance between the first port 127 and the second port 128 is smaller (or even much smaller) than a quarter-wavelength of the first electromagnetic wave.
  • the coupler line 120 may have an outline substantially shaped as the Greek upper case letter Pi ( Figure 2a ), the letter U ( Figure 2b , inverted U) or the Greek upper case letter Omega ( Figure 2c ).
  • the coupler line 120 comprises a section 129 longitudinally facing the main transmission line 110 for electromagnetic coupling and two arms 127 and 128 extending away from the section 129.
  • the two arms 127 and 128 form a substantially right angle (close to 90°) with the longitudinal section 129.
  • the two arms 127 and 128 depart at a right angle from the section 129 of the coupler line.
  • Other angles may be envisaged, in particular for the configurations shown in Figures 2a and 2b in order to reduce the distance between the first port 121 and the second port 122 for facilitating the connection of the electronic means 130.
  • a too swift bending of the coupler line may affect transmission of the electromagnetic wave in the coupler line.
  • the configuration shown in Figure 2c is advantageous in that the length of the section 129 of the coupler line 120 may be selected independently of the distance between the first port 121 and the second port 122. Any discontinuity introduced by the bending of the coupler line 120 in these configurations and any other equivalent configurations can be compensated by adjusting the values of the (lumped or quasi-lumped) components of the electronic means 130.
  • a change of the width of the coupler line 120 may be compensated by adjusting the values of the (lumped or quasi-lumped) components of the electronic means 130 of the directional coupler.
  • an equivalent circuit 300 of the coupler line 120 which may be a loop or a short section of a lossless TEM transmission line, is represented.
  • the loop 120 may be represented, or modelled, by an equivalent circuit 300 comprising a series inductance 323 (equal to unit inductance of the coupler line 120 multiplied by the length of the section or segment 129 of the coupler line 120 at which there is coupling) in connection with a parallel capacitance 324 (equal to unit capacitance of the coupler line 120 multiplied by the length of the section or segment 129 of the coupler line 120 at which there is coupling).
  • the signal coupled from the main transmission line 110 to the loop 120 by electromagnetic coupling may be represented by a current source 325 and a voltage source 326.
  • the parallel-connected current source 325 models the electric coupling and the series-connected voltage source 326 models the magnetic coupling. In this model, the effects of the electric coupling and the magnetic coupling are added on the left-hand side of the equivalent circuit 300 and are subtracted from each other on the right-hand side of the equivalent circuit 300.
  • FIG. 4 a schematic view of an equivalent circuit for a short-loop directional coupler 400 according to an exemplifying embodiment of the present invention is shown.
  • the coupler line 120 is represented by an equivalent circuit 420 similar to the equivalent circuit 300 described with reference to Figure 3 except that the inductance and voltage source 323 and 326 are distributed to the left-(323a and 326a) and right-(323b and 326b) hand sides of the equivalent circuit 420 in a symmetrical manner.
  • the coupler line 120 i.e. the equivalent circuit 420
  • the equivalent circuit 420 is connected to an electronic circuit or electronic means 130 configured to reduce the signal coming from (or read at) its right-hand side, i.e.
  • the electronic means 130 is configured to reduce, for the first electromagnetic wave travelling from the input port 111 to the output port 112 of the main transmission line 110, the output signals at the second port 122 of the coupler line 120.
  • the signal at the right-hand side of the equivalent circuit 420 will be reduced if the electric coupling and the magnetic coupling are equal in magnitude and phase.
  • the electronic means 130 is configured to reduce, for the second electromagnetic wave travelling from the output port 112 to the input port 111 of the main transmission line 110, the output signal induced at the first port 121 of the coupler line 120.
  • the electronic means 130 of the directional coupler comprises a shunt capacitor 131 connected between the first port 121 and the second port 122 of the coupler line 120 (or between the first portion 127 and the second portion 128 of the coupler line 120).
  • the electronic means 130 may further comprise a shunt resistance 132 connected in parallel to the shunt capacitor 131.
  • the directional coupler may further comprise a first resistance 433 connected between the first port 121 and a reference potential (denoted 428 in e.g. Figure 6 ), a second resistance 434 connected between the second port 122 and the reference potential, a first capacitor 435 connected between the first portion 127 of the coupler line 120 and the reference potential 428, and a second capacitor 436 connected between the second portion 128 of the coupler line 120 and the reference potential.
  • a first resistance 433 connected between the first port 121 and a reference potential (denoted 428 in e.g. Figure 6 )
  • a second resistance 434 connected between the second port 122 and the reference potential
  • a first capacitor 435 connected between the first portion 127 of the coupler line 120 and the reference potential 428
  • a second capacitor 436 connected between the second portion 128 of the coupler line 120 and the reference potential.
  • the electronic circuit 130 comprises a shunt capacitor 131 connected between the first portion 127 and the second portion 128 and a shunt resistance 132 connected in parallel to the shunt capacitor 131 between the first branch 127 and the second branch 128.
  • the reference potential 428 is typically a ground potential but may also be any other reference potential.
  • the output signals i.e. the signals representative of the energy level of the first electromagnetic wave and the energy level of the second electromagnetic wave, are read at (or further transmitted from) the first and second resistances 433 and 434, respectively.
  • the first and second resistances 433 and 434 are referred to as R 1L and R 1R , respectively; the first and second capacitors 435 and 436 are referred to as C 1L and C 1R , respectively; and the shunt capacitor 131 and the shunt resistance 132 are referred to as C sh and R sh , respectively.
  • J E the current density provided by the current source 325
  • the electromotive force at each one of the voltage sources 326a and 326b is denoted 0.5 ⁇ E M while the inductances 323a and 323b are denoted L L and L R respectively.
  • the voltage drop at the first and second resistances R 1 (433 or 434) due to the source J E will be denoted as U E and is a function of J E , C L , L L , R 1 and C 1 (due to the symmetry R sh and C sh has a limited effect on U E ). It will be appreciated that U E has the same direction (in vector form) at R 1L and R 1R .
  • U M due to the sources 326a and 326b (each equal to 0.5 ⁇ E M ) will be denoted as U M and is a function of E M , L L , R 1 , C 1 , R sh and C sh (due to the symmetry C L has a limited effect on U M ).
  • U M has opposite directions at R 1L and R 1R .
  • U E and U M can be considered to have clear physical properties, their behaviour versus changing parameters can be predicted by simulation.
  • improvement (or optimization) of component values for improved directivity and isolation will be described in more detail for specific examples.
  • components values can be optimized (or at least improved) by balancing the amplitudes and the phases of the output signals.
  • ) is preferably maintained close to unity and the phase difference (Arg(U E )-Arg(U M )) is preferably reduced (and even more preferably, minimized to about zero).
  • the first and second capacitors C 1L and C 1R are connected in parallel to the first and second resistances R 1L and R 1R .
  • the first and second resistances R 1L and R 1R are mounted in parallel to each other in the present invention such that at least a shunt capacitor C sh , and preferably also a shunt resistance R sh , can be connected between the resistances 433 and 434 or, the arms 127 and 128 of the coupler line 120.
  • the shunt resistance 132 (R sh ) and the shunt capacitor 131 (C sh ) are advantageous in that they affect principally the magnetic coupling, i.e.
  • the resistances (R 1L 433 and R 1R 434) of the directional coupler of the present invention may be subject to a significant parasitic series inductance (which is typical in the case of lumped packaged resistances).
  • these resistances can be connected to the coupler line by a segment of a transmission line of the characteristic impedance different from the impedance of the coupler line.
  • the goal is then to reduce the difference of U E and U M in amplitude (amplitude ratio (
  • the value of the fourth one is used for adjusting the difference between the phases, i.e. Arg(U E )-Arg(U M ).
  • the electrical components of the electronic means 130 are symmetrically distributed between the first port 121 and the second port 122 for adjusting the level of the output signals induced by the magnetic and electric components of the coupled electromagnetic field.
  • Example 1 A short-loop microstrip directional coupler
  • Figure 6 shows a microstrip directional coupler 600 wherein the transmission line 110 and the coupler line 120 are fabricated using printed circuit board (PCB) technology.
  • the PCB consists of a dielectric forming a substrate having two conducting layers, one on each side (typically referred to as a top layer and bottom layer).
  • the coupler line 120 (or conducting microstrip line) may then be made in the top conducting layer and separated from a ground plane, the bottom conducting layer, by the substrate.
  • the electronic means 130 (represented by the shunt capacitor 131 and the shunt resistance 132 in Figure 6 ) is arranged on the same PCB.
  • the white-filled areas represent the pattern of metallization on the substrate (i.e.
  • the circuitry of the microstrip directional coupler 600 shown in Figure 6 is identical to the circuitry already described above with reference to Figure 5 .
  • the ground plane corresponding to the reference potential is denoted 428. The same type of representation will be used in Figures 11 , 13 , 15 , 18 and 21 .
  • the microstrip directional coupler 600 is further characterised in that it comprises a transmission line 110 comprising an input port 111 and an output port 112 and a coupler line 120 comprising a first port 121 (actually not denoted in Figure 6 since the first resistance 433 is connected to it) and a second port 122 (actually not denoted in Figure 6 since the second resistance 434 is connected to it).
  • the coupler line 120 comprises a section 129 longitudinally facing the transmission line 110 for electromagnetic coupling and a first portion 127 comprising the first port 121 and a second portion 128 comprising the second port 122.
  • the coupler line 120 has an outline substantially shaped as the Greek letter Pi such as in the embodiment described above with reference to Figure 2a .
  • the thickness of the coupler line 120 at the first and second portions 127 and 128 has been adjusted (in the present example increased) to facilitate the connection of the electronic means 130, represented as a shunt capacitor 131 and a parallel-connected shunt resistance 132, between the two portions 127 and 128.
  • the microstrip lines are assumed to be arranged on a 1.54 mm thick substrate having a relative permittivity equal to 10, which corresponds to a rather difficult environment as these conditions produce high values of parasitic components.
  • a 50 ⁇ main transmission line (about 1.5 mm wide) is electromagnetically coupled to a 0.5 mm wide loop having an external length equal to 4 mm.
  • the packages of the lumped components (resistances and capacitors) of the electronic circuit have a series inductance of 0.7 nH and that a pure incident wave travels from the input port 111 (left) to the output port 112 (right) of the main transmission line 110.
  • the simulation results obtained for different values of the lumped components are shown in Figures 7-10 .
  • the scale of the y-axis is expressed in dB.
  • the continuous lines represent the directivity (wherein the thick and the thin lines are used for distinguishing different cases) and the dashed and dotted lines represent the coupling (also used for distinguishing two cases, the dashed line corresponding to the same case as the thick line and the dotted line corresponding to the same case as the thin line).
  • the results of the simulation are shown in Figure 7 wherein the continuous line represents the directivity and the dashed line represents the coupling, both expressed in dB, as a function of the frequency of the first electromagnetic wave (in GHz).
  • the directional coupler 600 (without the components 132 and 131) provides relatively high directivity for low frequencies but significantly lower directivity at frequencies above 2 GHz.
  • the capacitance C sh allows an effective design of the directional coupler for high frequencies.
  • the directivity is higher than 30 dB in a band of 13.8%.
  • the shunt resistance R sh is reintroduced in the design of the directional coupler 600, i.e. the simulated directional coupler now corresponds identically to the design shown in Figure 6 .
  • the result of the simulation is shown in Figure 9 wherein the result of the second case shown in Figure 8 (i.e. the case for optimization at the ISM band with the thin line representing the directivity and the dotted line representing the coupling) has been reproduced for comparison.
  • the directional coupler 600 was optimized for operation at even higher frequencies, for instance 3.5 GHz.
  • the shunt resistance 132 (R sh ) provides a much wider band of high directivity and an almost completely flat characteristic of coupling.
  • Connection of an adjustable shunt resistance 132 (R sh ) in parallel to the shunt capacitor 131 provides the possibility of designing a directional coupler with improved characteristics (in particular a wider and more symmetric band of high directivity and flatter characteristic of coupling), especially for high frequencies.
  • the directional coupler 600 allows optimization for a wide range of frequencies.
  • the present invention is advantageous in that it provides a directional coupler which is robust, i.e. applicable in different technologies, and flexible, i.e. different optimization targets may be found.
  • FIG 11 shows a schematic view of a directional coupler 1100 according to another exemplifying embodiment of the present invention implemented for a short-loop microstrip directional coupler with attenuators.
  • the microstrip directional coupler 1100 is identical to the microstrip directional coupler 600 described with reference to Figure 6 except that it also comprises four additional resistances or impedances, as further explained below, to form attenuators.
  • the performance of a four-port directional coupler depends on the particular values of the first and second resistances 433 and 434 (R 1L and R 1R ). Normally, these resistances are treated as input resistances of the next stage device of the circuit to which the direction coupler is connected.
  • next stage devices may correspond to detectors or amplifiers and their performance may depend on DC polarization and amplitude of the signal.
  • the sensitivity of the directional coupler to the changes of the input impedance of the next stage devices can be reduced by supplementing (at the left and right sides of the circuit such as described with reference to Figure 6 ) the first resistance 433 with two resistances, denoted as resistances 437 and 439 (also referred to as R 2L and R 3L in the following) in Figure 11 , thereby forming a first ⁇ -type attenuator.
  • the second resistance 434 on the right-hand side of the circuit is supplemented with two other resistances, denoted as resistances 438 and 440 (also referred to as R 2R and R 3R in the following) in Figure 11 , thereby forming a second ⁇ -type attenuator.
  • the resistances 437 and 438 may be replaced by an impedance (like an RL circuit, i.e. a non-purely resistive component). If the relative changes of the impedance seen from the circuit connected to the directional coupler 1100 need to be reduced by a factor of 10 (for example from 10 % to 1 %), a 10 dB attenuator may be applied.
  • the attenuator is not purely resistive since it incorporates parasitic elements like connecting pads, bonding wires and component packages. After connecting an attenuator, a correction of the values of the electronic components of the directional coupler 1100 may be needed. The results of simulations run for two cases are shown in Figure 12 .
  • a wide-band directivity with a relatively high level (about 600 MHz bandwidth with a directivity higher than 30 dB) is achieved.
  • the use of an attenuator further improves the directivity.
  • the attenuators have reduced the coupling to about 32 dB, thereby reducing the sensitivity to changes at a level of 50 ⁇ output impedance accordingly.
  • a ⁇ -type attenuator reduces the sensitivity of the directional coupler to changes of the input impedance of the next stage device connected to the circuit. Additionally, if the ⁇ -type attenuators are not purely resistive, improvement of the characteristics of the directional coupler, for example an increase of its bandwidth or a reduction of the variation of the coupling with frequency, may be achieved as a result of the four degrees of freedom (R 1 ,C 1 ,R sh , C sh ) available in the directional coupler of the present invention.
  • a typical backward directional coupler has a length equal to a quarter of the wavelength for optimizing the electromagnetic coupling.
  • a quarter-wavelength coupler based on a structure such as that shown in Fig.1
  • Such a condition is automatically obtained in a homogeneously filled transmission line (like a stripline) but not in an non-homogeneously filled transmission line such as a microstrip line.
  • the quarter-wavelength microstrip directional coupler 1300 shown in Figure 13 is identical to the directional coupler 600 described with reference to Figure 6 except that the outline of the coupler line 120 is different.
  • the coupler line 120 of the directional coupler 1300 is bent in an ⁇ form such that the first port 121 and the second port 122 (i.e. the ends) of the coupler line 120 are close enough to connect lumped components between them.
  • the coupler line 120 has therefore an outline substantially shaped as the Greek letter Omega such as shown in Figure 2c such that the length of the section 129 of the coupler line (section longitudinally facing the transmission line 110) is in the order of a quarter-wavelength and the distance between the first port 121 and the second port 122 of the coupler line 120 may be much smaller than a quarter-wavelength.
  • the thickness of the coupler line 120 at the first and second portions 127 and 128 has been adjusted (in the present example increased) to facilitate the connection of the electronic means 130, represented as a shunt capacitor 131 and a parallel-connected shunt resistance 132.
  • the substrate is selected to be alumina with a relative permittivity of 9.7 and a thickness of 1.54 mm.
  • the main transmission line 110 is assumed to be 1.5 mm wide while the coupler line 120 is assumed to be 0.8 mm wide.
  • the distance or the gap between the main transmission line 110 and the coupler line 120 is assumed to be equal to 0.5 mm.
  • the directivity is represented by a continuous line and the coupling is represented by a dashed line.
  • the directional coupler 1300 of the present embodiment provides high directivity, at least higher than 30 dB in a frequency bandwidth centred around 2.45 GHz.
  • the signal representative of the energy level for a first electromagnetic wave travelling from the input port 111 to the output port 112 of the main transmission line 110 is read out at the first resistance 433 while the signal representative of the energy level for a second electromagnetic wave travelling from the output port 112 to the input port 111 of the main transmission line 110 is read out at the second resistance 434.
  • Example 3 Small-scale microstrip short-loop directional coupler
  • the microstrip directional coupler 1500 shown in Figure 15 is identical to the directional coupler 1300 described with reference to Figure 13 except that the outline of the coupler line 120 is slightly different in size.
  • the coupler line 120 of the directional coupler 1500 also has an outline of the type shown in Figure 2c , i.e. an ⁇ form, such that the first port 121 and the second port 122 (i.e. the ends, not denoted in Figure 15 ) of the coupler line 120 are close enough to connect lumped components between them.
  • FIG. 15 another design of the first portion 127 of the coupler line 120 and the second portion 128 of the coupler line 120 is represented wherein the respective thickness of the first portion 127 and the second portion 128 varies stepwise (in the present example two steps) towards the first port 121 and the second port 122, respectively.
  • the present example therefore illustrates that the present invention is not limited to one design of the coupler line 120 and that many variations are possible within the scope of the present invention.
  • the present example is also meant to illustrate that the present invention may be applied for a small-size (in the sub-millimetre range) directional coupler.
  • a relative permittivity of the substrate equal to 10
  • a substrate height of 154 ⁇ m a width of the main transmission line 110 of 150 ⁇ m
  • a length of the section 129 of the coupler line 120 of 2.4 mm a spacing between the main transmission line 110 and the coupler line 120 of 50 ⁇ m
  • a width of the coupler line 120 of 350 ⁇ m is selected to simulate a directional coupler of relatively small size.
  • Figure 17 shows a three-dimensional view and a side-view (or cross-section) of a stripline short-loop directional coupler 1700.
  • the directional coupler comprises a substrate, denoted as 1720 in Figure 17 , in which a main transmission line 110 is embedded.
  • the printed circuit board 1750 on which the circuitry of the directional coupler 1700 is arranged, is placed at one side of the substrate 1720 such as represented in Figure 17 .
  • the coupler line 120 is a loop inserted in (or extending in) the substrate 1720 as shown in Figures 17 and 18 for electromagnetic coupling with the transmission line 110.
  • the coupler line (or loop) 120 of the directional coupler 1700 is connected via its extremities, i.e. the first port 121 and the second port 122, to the board 1750 at contacting points denoted 121' and 122'.
  • the circuitry of the directional coupler 1700 of Figure 17 is identical to the circuitry of the directional coupler 1100 described with reference to Figure 11 .
  • the resistance 439 at the left-hand side of the circuitry is connected between the resistance 437 (R 2L ) and the reference potential and the resistance 440 at the right-hand side of the circuitry or board 1750 is connected between the resistance 438 (R 2R ) and the reference potential 428.
  • two sets of external probes may be connected to these two resistances 439 and 440, respectively, for reading the signal representative of the energy level of the electromagnetic wave travelling in the main transmission line 110 from left to right and from right to left, respectively, with reference to the representation shown in Figure 18 .
  • the circuitry may be supplemented by two additional reading resistances (typically in the order of 50 ⁇ ) for connecting internal detectors used to read the output signals representative of the energy levels of the electromagnetic waves travelling in the main transmission line 110.
  • a symmetrical stripline is considered and a rather large size is assumed (in the millimetre range), which may for instance be used in high power transmitter circuits for base station or radar applications.
  • the total height of the main transmission line 110 is assumed to be 16 mm and the width for a 50 ⁇ strip is assumed to be 23 mm.
  • the loop 120 may for instance be made of a wire having a diameter of 0.8 mm, a length of 3 mm and a height of 2 mm.
  • the loop 120 is inserted into the stripline space through openings made in the upper metal wall of the substrate 1720.
  • the openings may for example be square with a side size in the order of 2.5 mm but the opening may also be circular.
  • the PCB may be placed directly on the upper wall with the coupler ground plane soldered to that wall.
  • Figures 19 and 20 show the results of simulations for such a stripline directional coupler.
  • Figure 19 shows the results of simulations for two cases.
  • the first case corresponds to optimization of the values of the electronic components for optimization at lower frequencies, and in particular in a band from 0.3 GHz to 1.5 GHz
  • the second case corresponds to values of the electronic components obtained for optimization for the ISM band centred at about 2.45GHz.
  • Figure 20 shows variations of the amplitude ratio ((
  • Example 5 Waveguide short-loop directional coupler
  • the short-loop waveguide directional coupler considered in the present example may be constructed in the same way as the stripline directional coupler 1700 described with reference to Figure 17 .
  • the configuration of the waveguide directional coupler is considered to be identical to the configuration of the stripline directional coupler 1700 described with reference to Figure 17 .
  • the main transmission line 110 is a waveguide and the coupler line 120 is a loop inserted in the waveguide.
  • the coupler line 120 may be mounted as part of a wall of the main transmission line.
  • the coupler loop 120 is preferably inserted into the waveguide 110 in the middle of the wider waveguide wall.
  • the loop is preferably oriented along the wave propagation.
  • the waveguide 110 operates above its cut-off frequency and the wave impedance (the ratio of the transverse electric and magnetic field) is frequency dependent and, in a TE01 mode, the wave impedance is always bigger than in free space.
  • the electronic components of the electronic means 130 are selected such that, in the frequency band of interest, the signals due to the magnetic and electric field components are equal in amplitude despite the frequency-dependent wave impedance in the waveguide.
  • Figure 21 shows both the simulation results and measurement values of the directivity for a waveguide directional coupler according to an exemplifying embodiment of the present invention wherein the waveguide directional coupler has a structure and design identical to the structure and design of the directional coupler 1700 described with reference to Figure 18 .
  • the simulation results are shown as a continuous (smooth) line while the measurements are shown as a continuous noisy line. It is to be noted that, in the middle of the band of interest at 2.45 GHz, the measurement setup has limited the measured directivity to about 35 dB, thereby explaining the discrepancy between the simulations results and the measurements in this frequency range while, otherwise, the agreement between the measurements and the simulation results is good.
  • FIGs 22a and 22b are schematic views showing possible ways of realization of the capacitors 435 and 436 (C 1R and C 1L ). Those capacitors may be realized as open stubs between a strip and a ground plane of the PCB such as shown in e.g. Figure 22a or as open stubs connected by capacitors or trimmer capacitors such as shown in Figure 22b. Figures 22a and 22b also show contact areas 121' and 122' at which the extremities of the loop 120 may be connected.
  • FIGS 23a and 23b are schematic views showing possible ways of realization of the shunt capacitor 131 (C sh ).
  • the shunt capacitor 131 (C sh ) to be connected between two microstrip lines is usually of a relatively small value (usually between 0.05 pF and 1 pF). It may therefore be difficult to find lumped capacitors of that range of values.
  • a capacitor with such a small capacitance may be realized by approaching the relevant microstrip lines of the printed circuit board close enough to create mutual capacitance between them.
  • a shunt capacitor 1131 by connecting between the microstrip lines a piece of metalized PCB substrate 1150 with a transverse slot in the lower metallization layer 1149 thereby separating direct current flow between connected microstrip lines, such as shown in Figure 23a .
  • the value of such a shunt capacitor may be varied by connecting a trimmer capacitor 2133 (of the value of the order of 1 to 4 pF) in a slot in the upper metallization layer such as for the shunt capacitor 2133 shown in Figure 23b .
  • h represents the height or thickness of the substrate (distance between the two metal layers)
  • w is the width of the capacitor
  • l is the length of the capacitor.
  • the shunt capacitor 131 (C sh ) may also be formed with a "comb"-like shape.
  • the directional coupler may for instance be applied in applications wherein separate monitoring of the power of incident microwaves and the power of reflected microwaves travelling in the opposite direction than the travelling direction of the incident microwaves is required.
  • the present invention may in fact find applications in any technical fields wherein monitoring of microwave power is of interest such as for instance base stations for telecommunications, radars, microwave transceivers, and microwave heating devices.
  • the directional coupler of the present invention may be advantageous and especially useful in multi-band transmitters or receivers (for instance using the Omega-shaped directional coupler described with reference to Figures 15 and 16 ) as it provides very wide-band performance.
  • mobile terminals are nowadays intended to serve many frequency bands and, using prior art directional couplers, several couplers would be needed.
  • linear electronic means 130 may not be limited to a shunt capacitor but may also be realized by means of other passive electronic components or combination of such passive electronic components.
  • the use of the shunt capacitor 131 in the electronic means 130 provides the ability to design the directional coupler for a chosen bandwidth at high frequencies.
  • the connection of such a capacitor between the two ports of the coupler line (or arms of the coupler line) is original and provides improvement of the characteristics of the directional coupler not providing by prior art directional couplers.
  • the present invention may alternatively be defined as a directional coupler comprising a main transmission line, a coupler line and a capacitor.
  • the main transmission line has an input port and an output port for transmitting an electromagnetic wave from the input port to the output port.
  • the coupler line is arranged proximate to the main transmission line for electromagnetically coupling the coupler line with the main transmission line.
  • the coupler line comprises a first arm including a first port at which a signal output representative of a first electromagnetic wave travelling from the input port to the output port is provided and a second arm including a second port at which a signal output representative of a second electromagnetic wave travelling from the output port to the input port is provided.
  • the capacitor is connected between the first arm and the second arm and configured such that the signal output induced by the second electromagnetic wave at the first port is reduced and the signal output induced by the first electromagnetic wave at the second port is reduced.

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Claims (12)

  1. Richtkoppler (100), umfassend:
    eine Hauptübertragungsleitung (110) mit einem Eingangsanschluss (111) und einem Ausgangsanschluss (112) zum Übertragen einer ersten elektromagnetischen Welle von dem Eingangsanschluss zu dem Ausgangsanschluss und einer zweiten elektromagnetischen Welle von dem Ausgangsanschluss zu dem Eingangsanschluss, und
    eine Kopplungsleitung (120), die nahe der Hauptübertragungsleitung angeordnet ist, um die Kopplungsleitung mit der Hauptübertragungsleitung elektromagnetisch zu koppeln, wobei die Kopplungsleitung einen ersten Anschluss (121) an einem ersten ihrer Enden und einen zweiten Anschluss (122) an ihrem entgegengesetzten Ende umfasst,
    lineare elektronische Mittel (130), die zwischen dem ersten (121) und zweiten (122) Anschluss der Kopplungsleitung (120) angeschlossen sind, um das durch die erste elektromagnetische Welle an dem zweiten Anschluss induzierte Ausgabesignal und das durch die zweite elektromagnetische Welle an dem ersten Anschluss induzierte Ausgabesignal abzuschwächen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass
    die linearen elektronischen Mittel (130) einen Parallelkondensator (131) und einen Parallelwiderstand (132), der mit dem Parallelkondensator parallelgeschaltet ist, umfassen, und wobei der Koppler (100) ferner Folgendes umfasst: einen ersten Widerstand (433), der zwischen dem ersten Anschluss und einem Bezugspotential (428) angeschlossen ist,
    einen zweiten Widerstand (434), der zwischen dem zweiten Anschluss und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist,
    einen ersten Kondensator (435), der zwischen einem ersten Abschnitt (127) der Kopplungsleitung, wobei der erste Abschnitt den ersten Anschluss umfasst, und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist, und
    einen zweiten Kondensator (436), der zwischen einem zweiten Abschnitt (128) der Kopplungsleitung, wobei der zweite Abschnitt den zweiten Anschluss umfasst, und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist.
  2. Richtkoppler nach Anspruch 1, wobei die Kopplungsleitung derart angeordnet ist, dass die Distanz zwischen dem ersten und zweiten Anschluss kleiner als die Wellenlänge der ersten elektromagnetischen Welle ist.
  3. Richtkoppler nach Anspruch 1, wobei der erste Widerstand konfiguriert ist, eine Spannungsausgabe bereitzustellen, die repräsentativ für die Leistung der ersten elektromagnetischen Welle ist, und der zweite Widerstand konfiguriert ist, eine Spannungsausgabe bereitzustellen, die repräsentativ für die Leistung der zweiten elektromagnetischen Welle ist.
  4. Richtkoppler nach Anspruch 1 oder 3, der ferner ein erstes Dämpfungsglied (437, 439), das mit dem ersten Widerstand verbunden ist, und ein zweites Dämpfungsglied (438, 440), das mit dem zweiten Widerstand verbunden ist, zur Impedanzanpassung mit einer Detektionsvorrichtung, die die jeweiligen Spannungsausgaben an den ersten und zweiten Anschlüssen misst, umfasst.
  5. Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei die Kopplungsleitung einen Teilbereich (129) umfasst, der der Hauptübertragungsleitung zur elektromagnetischen Kopplung zugewandt ist, und sich die zwei Abschnitte (127, 128) von jedem Ende des Teilbereichs entfernen, wobei der erste Abschnitt (127) den ersten Anschluss umfasst und der zweite Abschnitt (128) den zweiten Anschluss umfasst.
  6. Richtkoppler nach Anspruch 5, wobei die Länge des Teilbereichs (129) kleiner als eine Viertel-Wellenlänge oder ungefähr eine Viertel-Wellenlänge ist und die Distanz zwischen dem ersten Anschluss und dem zweiten Anschluss kleiner als eine Viertel-Wellenlänge der ersten elektromagnetischen Welle ist.
  7. Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei die Hauptübertragungsleitung und die Kopplungsleitung mindestens eine aus einer Gruppe bestehend aus Mikostreifenübertragungsleitungen, Streifenleitungsübertragungsleitungen und Wellenleiterübertragungsleitungen umfassen.
  8. Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei die zweite elektromagnetische Welle einem Teil der ersten elektromagnetischen Welle entspricht, die über den Ausgangsanschluss der Hauptübertragungsleitung in die Hauptübertragungsleitung zurückgeworfen wird.
  9. Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei die Hauptübertragungsleitung eine Wellenleiterübertragungsleitung ist und die elektronischen Mittel auf einer Leiterplatte (1750) montiert sind, die dafür ausgelegt ist, einen Teil einer Wand der Wellenleiterübertragungsleitung zu bilden.
  10. Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei die ersten, zweiten oder Parallelkondensatoren mindestens einen aus einer Gruppe bestehend aus Einzelkondensatoren, verteilten Kondensatoren, offenen Stichleitungen und Trimmerkondensatoren beinhalten.
  11. Funksender, Funkempfänger, Sender-Empfänger oder Mikrowellenerwärmungsvorrichtung, der/die einen Richtkoppler nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche umfasst.
  12. Verfahren zur Richtkopplung einer elektromagnetischen Welle, umfassend:
    Bereitstellen einer Hauptübertragungsleitung (110) mit einem Eingangsanschluss (111) und einem Ausgangsanschluss (112) zum Übertragen einer ersten elektromagnetischen Welle von dem Eingangsanschluss zu dem Ausgangsanschluss und einer zweiten elektromagnetischen Welle von dem Ausgangsanschluss zu dem Eingangsanschluss,
    Bereitstellen einer Kopplungsleitung (120), die einen ersten Anschluss (121) an einem ersten ihrer Enden und einen zweiten Anschluss (122) an ihrem entgegengesetzten Ende umfasst, wobei die Kopplungsleitung mit der Hauptübertragungsleitung elektromagnetisch gekoppelt ist,
    Bereitstellen linearer elektronischer Mittel (130), die zwischen dem ersten Anschluss und dem zweiten Anschluss angeschlossen sind, zum Abschwächen des durch die erste elektromagnetische Welle an dem zweiten Anschluss induzierten Ausgabesignals, und
    zum Abschwächen des durch die zweite elektromagnetische Welle an dem ersten Anschluss induzierten Ausgabesignals, wobei die linearen elektronischen Mittel (130) einen Parallelkondensator (131) und einen Parallelwiderstand (132), der mit dem Parallelkondensator parallelgeschaltet ist, umfassen, und wobei der Koppler (100) ferner Folgendes umfasst: einen ersten Widerstand (433), der zwischen dem ersten Anschluss und einem Bezugspotential (428) angeschlossen ist,
    einen zweiten Widerstand (434), der zwischen dem zweiten Anschluss und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist,
    einen ersten Kondensator (435), der zwischen einem ersten Abschnitt der Kopplungsleitung, wobei der erste Abschnitt den ersten Anschluss umfasst, und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist, und
    einen zweiten Kondensator (436), der zwischen einem zweiten Abschnitt der Kopplungsleitung, wobei der zweite Abschnitt den zweiten Anschluss umfasst, und dem Bezugspotential angeschlossen ist.
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