JP2012039297A - Phase shifter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly versatile phase shifter in which conduction route can be freely changed.SOLUTION: In a phase shifter, a passing board 2 comprises a body portion 6 and a plurality of microstrip line portions 7. The body portion 6 includes a body side dielectric substrate 3a on which through-holes 8 are formed at positions where connecting microstrip lines 4 are arranged, and a body side ground conductor 5a formed on the rear face of the body side dielectric substrate 3a. The microstrip line portions 7 include mounting dielectric substrates 3b detachably fitted to the through-holes 8 of the body portion 6, the connecting microstrip lines 4 formed on the front face of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b, and mounting side ground conductors 5b which are formed on the rear side of the mounting dielectric substrates 3b and electrically connect with the body side ground conductor 5a when the mounting dielectric substrates 3b are fitted into the through-holes 8. The body portion 6 and the microstrip line portions 7 are fixed by fixing means 12 and 15.

Description

  The present invention relates to a phase shifter capable of continuously changing the phase.

  In order to adjust the feeding phase of the antenna to the antenna element, a phase shifter is generally inserted into the feeding path of the antenna and the feeding phase is changed by the phase shifter.

  As a conventional phase shifter, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a main body substrate on which a plurality of pairs of microstrip lines are formed and a passage plate on which a plurality of coupling microstrip lines are formed, There is known a phase shifter in which a strip line and a coupling microstrip line face each other so as to overlap each other, and a pair of microstrip lines are electrically coupled or conducted via a coupling microstrip line.

  The passage plate includes a dielectric substrate movable with respect to the main body substrate, a coupling microstrip line formed on the surface of the dielectric substrate, and a ground conductor formed on the back surface of the dielectric substrate. .

  In this phase shifter, the phase (feeding phase) is changed by moving the dielectric substrate of the passage plate relative to the main body substrate and changing the overlap length (ie, the line length) of the microstrip line and the coupling microstrip line. Can be changed continuously.

JP 2001-237605 A

  In the conventional phase shifter, a passing plate in which a plurality of coupling microstrip lines are directly formed on a dielectric substrate is used.

  However, since the pattern of the coupling microstrip line differs depending on the type of antenna, the conventional phase shifter requires a plurality of types of passage plates depending on the type of antenna, and has a problem that versatility is low.

  Further, in the conventional phase shifter, since a plurality of coupling microstrip lines are directly formed on the dielectric substrate, only a part of the coupling microstrip lines is changed among the plurality of coupling microstrip lines. There is also a problem that the conduction route cannot be changed freely.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a phase shifter that solves the above-described problems, has high versatility, and can freely change the conduction route.

  The present invention has been devised to achieve the above object, and includes a main substrate on which a plurality of pairs of microstrip lines are formed, a dielectric substrate movable with respect to the main substrate, and a surface of the dielectric substrate. A passage plate formed by a plurality of coupling microstrip lines electrically coupled or conducted between the pair of microstrip lines of the main body substrate, and a ground conductor formed on the back surface of the dielectric substrate. A phase shifter in which the microstrip line of the main body substrate and the coupling microstrip line of the passage plate face each other so as to overlap each other. A main body-side dielectric substrate having a through-hole formed at a position where the strip line is disposed, and a main body-side dielectric substrate formed on the back surface of the main body-side dielectric substrate A main body comprising a ground conductor, a mounting dielectric substrate detachably fitted in the through hole of the main body, and the coupling microstrip line formed on the surface of the mounting dielectric substrate And a mounting-side ground conductor formed on the back surface of the mounting dielectric substrate and electrically conducting with the body-side ground conductor when the mounting dielectric substrate is fitted into the through-hole. The main body and the microstrip line part are phase shifters fixed by a fixing means.

  The mounting dielectric substrate of the microstrip line portion may have a back surface area larger than a front surface area.

  The fixing means may be a hook-and-loop fastener.

  The fixing means may be a flat plate that covers the body-side dielectric substrate and the mounting dielectric substrate from the back surface.

  The flat plate may be fixed to the main body-side dielectric substrate with screws.

  The through-holes are formed in a rectangular shape in plan view, and are formed in a plurality in alignment with the rectangular short-side direction, and the odd-numbered rows and the even-numbered rows so that parts of the rectangular long-side direction overlap. The body side dielectric substrate on the short side periphery on the overlapping portion side of the through hole is formed with a first groove on the back side extending from the through hole in the long side direction. A second concave groove extending in the short side direction facing the long side of the through hole is formed on the back surface side of the main body side dielectric substrate at the peripheral edge of the end opposite to the overlapping part of the through hole, The mounting dielectric substrate is formed in the same rectangular shape as the through-hole in a plan view, and has one short side extending in the long side direction from the back side of the mounting dielectric substrate, A first protrusion that fits into the groove is formed, and a long side near the other short side has the mounting dielectric base Of extending the opposite to the short-side direction from the back side, a second protrusion which fits into said second groove may be formed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a phase shifter that is highly versatile and can freely change the conduction route.

It is a top view which shows the phase shifter which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the passage plate used for the phase shifter of FIG. 1, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a top view, (c) is a bottom view, (d) is a 2D-2D sectional view, ) Is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2E-2E. It is a bottom view which shows the main-body part of the passage board of FIG. (A), (b) is a perspective view which shows the microstrip line | wire part of the passage plate of FIG. It is a figure which shows the passage plate used for the phase shifter which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a top view, (c) is a bottom view, (d) is 5D- FIG. 5D is a sectional view taken along line 5D, and FIG. 5E is a sectional view taken along line 5E-5E.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a phase shifter according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the phase shifter 1 mainly includes a main body substrate 100 on which a plurality of pairs (here, four pairs) of microstrip lines 101 are formed, and a passage plate 2.

  The passage plate 2 is formed on the surface of the dielectric substrate 3 that is movable with respect to the main substrate 100 and the dielectric substrate 3, and a plurality of passage plates 2 that electrically couple or conduct between the pairs of the microstrip lines 101 of the main substrate 100 ( Here, four coupling microstrip lines 4 and a ground conductor 5 formed on the back surface of the dielectric substrate 3 are provided.

  The passage plate 2 is slidable on the main body substrate 100 in a state of facing the main body substrate 100 so that the microstrip line 101 of the main body substrate 100 and the coupling microstrip line 4 of the passage plate 2 overlap each other (illustrated). (Slidable in the left-right direction).

  The microstrip line 101 and the coupling microstrip line 4 may be in direct contact and electrically connected, or may be capacitively coupled through an insulator or the like.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the coupling microstrip line 4 is formed in a U-shape will be described. However, the shape of the coupling microstrip line 4 is not limited to this, and can be arbitrarily set.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, in the phase shifter 1 according to the present embodiment, the passage plate 2 includes a main body portion 6 and a plurality (here, four) of microstrip line portions 7. is doing.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the main body 6 includes a main body side dielectric substrate 3a in which a through hole 8 is formed at a position where the coupling microstrip line 4 is disposed, and a back surface of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a. The main body side ground conductor 5a is formed.

  The through-holes 8 are formed in a rectangular shape in plan view, and are formed in a plurality (four in this case) in alignment with the rectangular short side direction (vertical direction in FIG. 3), and the rectangular long side direction The odd and even rows are formed by offsetting in the long side direction (left and right direction in FIG. 3) so that a part of them (in the left and right direction in FIG. 3) overlaps. Hereinafter, a portion where the through hole 8 overlaps in the long side direction is referred to as an overlapping portion 9.

  A first concave groove 10 extending from the through-hole 8 in the long-side direction (left-right direction in FIG. 3) is formed in the body-side dielectric substrate 3a on the short-side periphery on the overlapping portion 9 side of the through-hole 8. The first concave groove 10 is formed on the back surface side of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a, and is formed in a substantially rectangular shape in plan view.

  The body-side dielectric substrate 3a at the peripheral edge of the end opposite to the overlapping portion 9 of the through hole 8 is formed with a second concave groove 11 facing the long side of the through hole 8 and extending in the short side direction. The The second concave groove 11 is formed opposite to the back surface side of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a with the through hole 8 interposed therebetween, and is formed in a substantially rectangular shape in plan view.

  A main body side surface fastener 12 as a fixing means for fixing the microstrip line portion 7 to the main body portion 6 is bonded and fixed to the bottom portions (bottom portions viewed from the back side) of the both concave grooves 10 and 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the microstrip line portion 7 is formed on the surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3 b and the mounting dielectric substrate 3 b that are detachably fitted in the through holes 8 of the main body portion 6. The coupling microstrip line 4 and the attachment-side ground conductor 5b formed on the back surface of the attachment dielectric substrate 3b are provided.

  The mounting dielectric substrate 3b is formed in the same rectangular shape as the through hole 8 in plan view. The mounting dielectric substrate 3b is formed to have the same thickness as that of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a. The dielectric substrate 3 is completed by fitting the mounting dielectric substrate 3b into the through hole 8 of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a.

  On one short side (left side in FIG. 4) of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b, a first protrusion 13 is formed extending in the long side direction (left and right direction in FIG. 4) from the back side of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b. The The first protrusion 13 is formed so that the back surface thereof is the same surface as the back surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b, and a step is formed between the front surface and the surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b. It has become so. The first protrusion 13 is formed in the same shape as the first concave groove 10 (substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, substantially rectangular shape in plan view). The first protrusion 13 is formed on the short side of the open side of the coupling microstrip line 4 formed in a U shape.

  The other side (right side in FIG. 4) of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b has a long side in the vicinity of the short side facing the back side of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b (in FIG. 4, from the left front to the right back). A second protrusion 14 extending in the direction) is formed. The second protrusion 14 is formed such that the back surface thereof is the same surface as the back surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b, and a step is formed between the front surface and the surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b. It has become so. The second protrusion 14 is formed in the same shape as the second concave groove 11 (substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, substantially rectangular shape in plan view). The second protrusion 14 is formed in the vicinity of the short side opposite to the open side of the coupling microstrip line 4 formed in a U shape.

  The first protrusion 13 and the second protrusion 14 are part of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b. That is, the mounting dielectric substrate 3b has a back surface area larger than the front surface area.

  An attachment side fastener 15 as a fixing means is bonded and fixed to the surface of the first protrusion 13 and the surface of the second protrusion 14. When the mounting dielectric substrate 3b is fitted into the through hole 8, the first protrusion 13 is fitted into the first groove 10, the second protrusion 14 is fitted into the second groove 11, and the body side surface fastener. 12 and the attachment side surface fastener 15 contact, and the attachment dielectric substrate 3b is fixed to the main body side dielectric substrate 3a. That is, the main body portion 6 and the microstrip line portion 7 are fixed by the hook-and-loop fasteners 12 and 15 as fixing means. When the microstrip line part 7 is fixed to the main body part 6, the coupling microstrip line 4 is arranged so that the U-shaped open side is on the overlapping part 9 side, and the left and right are inverted between the odd and even lines. Will be arranged as follows.

  The attachment-side ground conductor 5b is formed on the entire back surface of the attachment dielectric substrate 3b (including the back surface of the first protrusion 13 and the back surface of the second protrusion 14). The attachment-side ground conductor 5b is electrically connected to the main body-side ground conductor 5a when the attachment dielectric substrate 3b is fitted into the through hole 8, and the ground conductor 5 is completed.

  As described above, in the phase shifter 1 according to the present embodiment, the passage plate 2 has the body-side dielectric substrate 3a in which the through hole 8 is formed at the position where the coupling microstrip line 4 is disposed. A plurality of microstrip line parts 7 each having a mounting dielectric substrate 3b which is detachably fitted in the through hole 8 of the main body part 6 and has a coupling microstrip line 4 formed on the surface side. The body portion 6 and the microstrip line portion 7 are fixed by hook-and-loop fasteners 12 and 15 which are fixing means.

  Thereby, the microstrip line part 7 in which the coupling microstrip line 4 corresponding to the type of the antenna is formed is prepared, and the microstrip line part 7 to be fitted in the through hole 8 is appropriately selected, so that the passage plate 2 The layout (conduction route) can be freely changed. Therefore, unlike the conventional phase shifter, it is not necessary to prepare a plurality of types of passage plates according to the type of antenna, so that versatility can be improved and costs can be reduced.

  Moreover, in the phase shifter 1, since the surface fasteners 12 and 15 are used as a fixing means, the microstrip line part 7 can be attached and detached easily, and workability can be improved.

  Further, in the phase shifter 1, the through-holes 8 are formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view, and a plurality of the through-holes 8 are aligned in the rectangular short-side direction, and a part of the rectangular long-side direction overlaps. The first groove 10 is formed by offsetting the odd-numbered rows and the even-numbered rows and extending in the long-side direction from the through-hole 8 in the body-side dielectric substrate 3a on the short-side periphery on the overlapping portion 9 side of the through-hole 8. And a second concave groove 11 extending from the long side of the through hole 8 in the short side direction to the body side dielectric substrate 3a on the edge of the end opposite to the overlapping portion 9 of the through hole 8 is formed. The first protrusion 13 formed on the mounting dielectric substrate 3 b is fitted into the first groove 10, and the second protrusion 14 is fitted into the second groove 11.

  Thereby, since the concave groove extending in the short side direction is not formed in the overlapping portion 9, it is possible to reduce the interval between the through holes 8 (interval in the short side direction) and to reduce the size of the passage plate 2. As a result, the phase shifter 1 can be downsized.

  Furthermore, a second groove 11 extending opposite to the short side direction is formed on the opposite side of the through hole 8 from the overlapping portion 9, and the second protrusion 14 is fitted into the second groove 11. Thus, the microstrip line part 7 can be supported at three points with respect to the main body part 6, and the microstrip line part 7 can be stably attached to the main body part 6.

  In addition, the conventional phase shifter uses a passage plate in which a microstrip line for direct coupling is formed on a dielectric substrate. Therefore, when a problem occurs in IM (Intermodulation) characteristics, the phase shifter precedes the main body substrate. It was difficult to confirm which port on the antenna element side had the problem.

  The main body substrate and the antenna element are electrically connected using a coaxial cable, and the connection between the main body substrate and the coaxial cable and the connection between the antenna element and the coaxial cable are performed by soldering. Therefore, although it is possible to separate the substrate from the main body substrate, since the solder is used, a technique is required and it takes time and effort. Also, the IM characteristics cannot be measured accurately when the passage plate is removed.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, when a defect occurs in the IM characteristic, it is possible to easily confirm at which port the antenna substrate side (the antenna element side) is defective. That is, it is possible to electrically separate the body substrate 100 from the body substrate 100 only by changing the microstrip line portion 7, and therefore it is not necessary to physically separate the body substrate 100 from the body substrate 100.

  Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The passage plate 51 shown in FIG. 5 has basically the same structure as the passage plate 2 shown in FIG. 2, and instead of the hook-and-loop fasteners 12 and 15 as fixing means, the main body side dielectric substrate 3a and the mounting dielectric substrate 3b. Is used from the back surface.

  The flat plate 52 is formed so as to cover the entire back surface of the dielectric substrate 3 (the main body side dielectric substrate 3a and the mounting dielectric substrate 3b), and is formed in a substantially rectangular shape in plan view.

  Screw holes (not shown) are formed at four corners of the flat plate 52. The flat plate 52 is fixed to the main body side dielectric substrate 3a by inserting screws 53 into the screw holes and screwing them.

  By using the flat plate 52 as the fixing means, it is possible to keep the back surface of the main body side dielectric substrate 3a and the back surface of the mounting dielectric substrate 3b flush with each other. And the coupling microstrip line 4 can be reliably brought into electrical contact with each other.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the plurality of through holes 8 are formed at intervals has been described. However, the adjacent through holes 8 are brought into contact with each other (the interval is set to zero), and the through holes adjacent at the overlapping portion 9 are formed. 8 may be communicated. Thereby, the passage plate 2 can be further downsized.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the concave grooves 10 and 11 and the protrusions 13 and 14 were formed in the rectangular shape by planar view, the shape of the concave grooves 10 and 11 and the protrusions 13 and 14 can be changed suitably.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the case where the surface fasteners 12 and 15 were used as a fixing means and the case where the flat plate 52 was used as a fixing means were demonstrated separately, the surface fasteners 12 and 15 and the flat plate 52 were used as a fixing means. May be used in combination.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Phase shifter 2 Passing plate 3 Dielectric substrate 3a Body side dielectric substrate 3b Mounting dielectric substrate 4 Coupling microstrip line 5 Ground conductor 5a Body side ground conductor 5b Mounting side ground conductor 6 Body part 7 Microstrip line part 8 Through-hole 9 Overlapping portion 10 First groove 11 Second groove 12 Body side surface fastener (fixing means)
13 1st protrusion 14 2nd protrusion 15 Attachment side fastener (fixing means)
100 body substrate 101 microstrip line

Claims (6)

A body substrate on which a plurality of pairs of microstrip lines are formed;
A dielectric substrate movable relative to the main body substrate, and a plurality of coupling microstrip lines formed on a surface of the dielectric substrate and electrically coupling or conducting between the pairs of the microstrip lines of the main body substrate; A grounding conductor formed on the back surface of the dielectric substrate, and a passage plate comprising
In the phase shifter formed by facing the microstrip line of the main substrate and the coupling microstrip line of the passage plate so as to overlap each other,
The passage plate is
A body portion comprising a body-side dielectric substrate having a through-hole formed at a position where the coupling microstrip line is disposed, and a body-side ground conductor formed on the back surface of the body-side dielectric substrate;
A mounting dielectric substrate detachably fitted in the through hole of the main body, the coupling microstrip line formed on the surface of the mounting dielectric substrate, and a back surface of the mounting dielectric substrate Formed of a plurality of microstrip line portions, and a mounting-side ground conductor that is electrically connected to the body-side ground conductor when the mounting dielectric substrate is fitted into the through-hole.
The phase shifter characterized in that the main body and the microstrip line are fixed by a fixing means.   The phase shifter according to claim 1, wherein the mounting dielectric substrate of the microstrip line section has a back surface area larger than a front surface area.   The phase shifter according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the fixing means is a hook-and-loop fastener.   3. The phase shifter according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means is a flat plate that covers the main body side dielectric substrate and the mounting dielectric substrate from the back surface.   The phase shifter according to claim 4, wherein the flat plate is fixed to the body-side dielectric substrate with screws. The through-holes are formed in a rectangular shape in plan view, and are formed in a plurality in alignment with the rectangular short-side direction, and the odd-numbered rows and the even-numbered rows so that parts of the rectangular long-side direction overlap. Formed by offset in line,
A first concave groove extending in the long side direction from the through hole is formed on the back side of the body side dielectric substrate on the short side periphery on the overlapping portion side of the through hole,
A second concave groove extending in the short side direction facing the long side of the through hole is formed on the back surface side of the main body side dielectric substrate at the peripheral edge of the end opposite to the overlapping part of the through hole,
The mounting dielectric substrate is formed in the same rectangular shape as the through-hole in a plan view, and has one short side extending in the long side direction from the back side of the mounting dielectric substrate, A first protrusion that fits into the groove is formed, and the long side near the other short side extends from the back side of the mounting dielectric substrate in the short side direction, and the second groove The phase shifter according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a second protrusion is formed to be fitted to the.

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