JP2006325257A - Distributed variable phase shifter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a distributed variable phase shifter in which a positional relationship between an input side strip line and a rotary coupling conductor is not varied even if a turning angle θ varies, and electric characteristics are not varied. <P>SOLUTION: Output side strip conductors 22, 26 are accurately provided on a fixed ground plate 20 around one point of the fixed ground plate 20, and a rotary coupling conductor 21 capable of sliding in contact with the output side strip conductors 22, 26 is installed so as to be rotated concentrically with said circular arc. A high frequency electric signal is propagated through the rotary coupling conductor 21, coupled to the output side strip conductors 22, 26 in accordance with a radius ratio of the output side strip conductors 22, 26, and branched in both directions, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a distribution variable phase shifter capable of distributing a high frequency signal and continuously changing a phase difference of the distributed signal. Using this distributed variable phase shifter, a feed phase shifter capable of continuously changing the beam tilt angle of the array antenna can be configured.

In order to change the beam tilt angle of the array antenna, it is necessary to change the phase at which the high-frequency signal distributed by the power distributor is fed to each antenna element.
For this purpose, a variable distribution phase shifter has been proposed that can arbitrarily change the length of the strip line that feeds each antenna element (see the following patent document). According to this distribution variable phase shifter, the distribution phase can be changed by rotating a rotary coupling conductor such as a clock hand and supplying a signal to an arbitrary position on the arc-shaped output side strip line.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a distribution variable phase shifter cited from Patent Document 2 below. According to FIG. 7, an input side strip line 101 and an arcuate output side strip line 103 are formed on a dielectric substrate 104, and a rotationally coupled conductor 102 is passed between them. A distribution phase difference corresponding to the rotation angle θ of the rotary coupling conductor 102 is realized.
JP-A-5-121915 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-214111 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-13103

An object of the present invention is to provide a four-distribution type distribution variable phase shifter that realizes a distribution phase difference according to the rotation angle θ.
In the variable distribution phase shifter described in the above publication, the positional relationship of the coupling portion between the rotary coupling conductor 102 and the input side strip line 101 changes according to the magnitude of the rotation angle θ. For this reason, there exists a problem that the electrical characteristic of the coupling | bond part of the rotation coupling conductor 102 and the input side stripline 101 changes.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to realize a distributed variable phase shifter in which the positional relationship between the input-side strip line and the rotationally coupled conductor does not change even when the rotation angle θ changes, and the electrical characteristics do not change.

The distributed variable phase shifter according to the present invention includes a fixed ground plate, a first strip conductor having a different radius from each other, provided in a circular arc shape or an annular shape on the fixed ground plate with one fixed ground plate as a central point. A strip conductor and a rotationally coupled conductor that is rotatably installed concentrically with the arc or the ring and that slides to the first strip conductor and the second strip conductor.
According to the distributed variable phase shifter having this configuration, a high-frequency electric signal is input from the conductor rod, propagates through the rotary coupling conductor, is coupled to the first and second strip conductors, and is distributed in both directions. At this time, the phase difference of the signals distributed in both directions can be changed by setting the rotation angle of the rotary coupling conductor.

  At the center point of the fixed ground plate, a conductor rod having a circular cross section that forms an electrode terminal on the back side of the fixed ground plate may be installed through the fixed ground plate. A feature of this configuration is that the rotationally coupled conductor rotates around a rotationally symmetrical conductor rod (for example, a cylindrical conductor rod) with respect to the rotation axis. Therefore, even if the rotation angle θ of the rotary coupling conductor is changed, the positional relationship between the central conductor and the rotary coupling conductor is not changed, and the high-frequency electrical characteristics of these coupling portions are not changed.

  A structure in which an insulating film is interposed on the contact surface between the rotary coupling conductor and the strip conductor and the contact surface between the conductor rods may be employed. This is to improve the slidability between the rotary coupling conductor and the strip conductor, and between the rotary coupling conductor and the conductor rod, and to ensure electrostatic coupling. Further, the contact between the conductors of the movable part causes noise characteristics and intermodulation distortion, but also to avoid this.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a variable distribution phase shifter, and FIG. 2 is a plan view.
In the variable distribution phase shifter, an insulating substrate 5 is provided on a metal fixed ground plate 1, and an arc-shaped or annular strip conductor 2 is formed thereon. In addition, a rotary coupling conductor 3 that can rotate concentrically with the center P of the arc or the ring is installed, and further, a conductor rod 4 having a circular cross section that serves as a rotation axis of the rotary coupling conductor 3 is installed through the fixed ground plate 1. is doing.

  In addition, a thin insulating film 6 is coated on the back surface of the rotary coupling conductor 3 in order to maintain insulation between the rotary coupling conductor 3 and the strip conductor 2 and to maintain insulation between the rotary coupling conductor 3 and the conductor rod 4. Instead of coating the insulating film 6, an insulating sheet may be inserted. The dielectric constant of the insulating film 6 or the insulating sheet is such that the electrostatic coupling capacitance C is as large as possible, and the impedance (1 / 2πfC) at the frequency f of the high-frequency signal is as small as possible compared to the characteristic impedance of the strip conductor 2. It is desirable to select a thin and high one in order to ensure broadband characteristics. For example, a film or sheet of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or polytetrafluoroethylene having a thickness of about 0.05 mm is used.

FIG. 3 shows a side sectional view and a bottom view of the variable distribution phase shifter.
The insulating substrate 5 is partially embedded in the upper surface of the fixed ground plate 1, and the strip conductor 2 is formed on the insulating substrate 5. The conductor rod 4 is a cylindrical body having a flat circular head 4a and a projection 4b for rotatably mounting the rotary coupling conductor 3, and the diameter of the head 4a is larger than the diameter of the cylinder itself. ing. Furthermore, the conductor rod 4 is fitted into a cylindrical insulator 7 for maintaining insulation from the fixed ground plane 1, and the conductor rod 4 and the insulator 7 are inserted into the holes of the fixed ground plane 1 in this state. .

Further, by making a hole having a sufficiently larger diameter than the protrusion 4b in the insulating film 6 or the insulating sheet, by providing a hole in the rotary coupling conductor 3 and fitting the protrusion 4b via the insulating cylinder 4c, The rotation coupling conductor 3 can be rotated. However, the rotation mechanism of the rotary coupling conductor 3 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3, and any structure other than the above can be adopted.
On the back side of the fixed ground plate 1, a metal cylinder 8 electrically connected to the fixed ground plate 1 surrounds the insulator 7. The metal cylinder 8 and the conductor rod 4 constitute a short coaxial transmission line and serve as an electrode terminal for the coaxial cable.

A signal that has entered the rotary coupling conductor 3 from the electrode terminal through the conductor rod 4 is divided into two in the strip conductor 2 and reaches the output portions (not shown) at both ends of the strip conductor 2 after distribution. The difference in length of the strip conductor 2 determined in accordance with the rotation angle of the rotary coupling conductor 3 determines the phase difference between the distributed signals.
Since it is as the above structure, even if the rotation coupling conductor 3 rotates, the rotation coupling conductor 3 only rotates on the flat round head part 4a of the conductor rod 4, and both are electrically connected. Will not change. Therefore, the electrical characteristics do not change regardless of the distribution phase shift amount.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing another specific example of the variable distribution phase shifter.
According to this example, the insulating substrate 9 in which the strip conductor 10 is formed on the back side of the fixed ground plate 1 is provided, and the tip of the conductor rod 4 inserted into the hole of the fixed ground plate 1 serves as an input portion of the variable distribution phase shifter. It is connected to a functioning strip conductor 10.
The rotation mechanism of the rotary coupling conductor 3 in this case is different from the structure of FIG. 3 in that the pin 3a is passed through the rotary coupling conductor 3, and the insulating film 6 or the insulating sheet has a hole having a sufficiently larger diameter than the pin 3a. A hole 4d is provided in the head 4a of the conductor rod 4 and is fitted to the pin 3a via an insulating cylinder.

  FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a variable distribution phase shifter that distributes in four directions according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a side sectional view. The rotational axis of the rotationally coupled conductor 21 is set to an a / b internal dividing point in the middle of the rotationally coupled conductor 21 that is not an end. The numerical values of a and b are not limited, but are set to 3: 1, for example. The structure of the rotating shaft is almost the same as that described with reference to FIG. 4, except that air is interposed between the substrate 29 on the back surface of the main plate 20 and the main plate 20. The signal input from the strip conductor 30 of the substrate 29 to the rotary coupling conductor 21 through the conductor rod 27 is divided into two parts, supplied to the strip conductors 22 and 26 formed in a fan shape, respectively, divided into two parts, and propagated to the output end. The

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. For example, the rotation mechanism of the rotary coupling conductor 3 is not limited to the illustrated one, and any rotation mechanism may be employed. Other various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

It is a perspective view for demonstrating embodiment of the distribution variable phase shifter of this invention. It is a top view of the distribution variable phase shifter of FIG. It is a sectional side view of the distribution variable phase shifter of FIG. It is a sectional side view for demonstrating other embodiment of the distribution variable phase shifter of this invention. It is a top view for demonstrating embodiment of the 4 distribution type variable distribution phase shifter of this invention. It is a sectional side view of the distribution variable phase shifter of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the conventional distribution variable phase shifter.

Explanation of symbols

1,20 Fixed ground plate 2,22,26 Strip conductor 3,21 Rotating coupling conductor 4,27 Conductor rod 6,24 Insulating film 7 Insulator 8 Metal cylinder 9,29 Insulating substrate 10,30 Strip conductor

Claims (7)

A fixed ground plate;
A first strip conductor having a radius different from each other, provided in an arc shape or an annular shape on the fixed ground plate with one point of the fixed ground plate as a central point;
A variable distribution phase shifter, comprising: a rotary coupling conductor that is rotatably installed concentrically with the arc or ring and that is slidably guided to the first strip conductor and the second strip conductor.   2. The variable distribution phase shifter according to claim 1, wherein the radius ratio of the first strip conductor and the second strip conductor is 3: 1.   The distribution variable phase shifter according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a conductor rod having a circular cross section that forms an electrode terminal on a back side of the fixed ground plate is installed at a center point of the fixed ground plate so as to penetrate the fixed ground plate. . A protrusion is formed at the center point of the tip surface of the conductor rod,
A rotation hole of the rotation coupling conductor is provided with a hole larger than the protrusion, and the rotation coupling conductor can be rotated by fitting the hole into the protrusion through an insulating tube. Item 4. The variable variable phase shifter according to item 3. A pin protrudes from the rotation center of the rotation coupling conductor,
A hole having a diameter larger than that of the pin is formed at the center point of the tip surface of the conductor rod,
4. The variable distribution phase shifter according to claim 3, wherein the rotation coupling conductor can be rotated by fitting the pin into the hole via an insulating cylinder.   6. The variable distribution phase shift according to claim 3, wherein an insulating film is interposed on a contact surface between the rotationally coupled conductor and the strip conductor and a contact surface between the rotationally coupled conductor and the conductor rod. vessel.   The distribution variable phase shifter according to claim 3, wherein the conductor rod and the fixed ground plane are insulated.

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