JPH0530322B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of a mesh antenna which is mounted on an artificial satellite and used in outer space, and which forms a mirror surface of the antenna with a metal mesh.

Prior Art As shown in FIG. 2A, a conventional mesh antenna has ribs 2 arranged radially to form a skeleton of a mirror surface of the antenna, and a metal mesh 1 is attached to the ribs 2 to form a mirror surface of the antenna. shall be. Then, a plurality of first fibers 3 are stretched in the circumferential direction between adjacent ribs 2, and on the other hand, second fibers 4 are woven radially within the metal mesh 1, and the second A fastener 5 is provided between the fiber 4 of the fiber 4 and the first fiber 3 at respective corresponding positions.
is attached, and by adjusting the fastener 5, the distance between the first fiber 3 and the second fiber 4 is adjusted, thereby maintaining the necessary mirror precision.

Figure B is a perspective view showing a part of the mesh antenna, in which the second fiber 4 is connected to the first
The state in which the mirror surface of the metal mesh 1 is formed by being stretched by the fiber 3 of the metal mesh 1 is shown. By adjusting the fastener 5 in this state, the mirror shape of the metal mesh 1 can be adjusted.

FIG. 3 is a partial view of a conventional mesh antenna, and in FIG. 3A, only one second fiber 4 is stretched radially between adjacent ribs 2. In such a state, the circumferential spacing between the fasteners 5 becomes wider toward the outer periphery, making it difficult to maintain mirror precision. In order to improve this, as shown in Figure B, the number of second fibers 4 is increased (2 in the figure).
However, on the inner circumferential side, the circumferential spacing of the fasteners 5 is too small, resulting in a disadvantage that the number of fasteners 5 becomes unnecessarily large. However, on the inner circumferential side, 1 of the fastener 5
If the part is omitted, the second fiber 4 will be in a state of floating above the normal position shown by the broken line as shown in FIG. 4, and the mirror surface formed by the metal mesh in the vicinity will be greatly different from the designed mirror surface. As a result, the mirror surface precision deteriorates.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and
To provide a high-precision mesh antenna that maintains substantially uniform spacing between adjacent second fibers without unnecessarily increasing the number of fasteners, and avoids weight increase due to the fasteners and the second fibers.

Structure of the Invention The mesh antenna of the present invention includes ribs arranged radially to form a skeleton of a mirror surface of the antenna, and a plurality of first fibers stretched in the circumferential direction between the adjacent ribs. a metal mesh attached to the rib to form a mirror surface of the antenna; a second fiber radially woven within the metal mesh; and between corresponding positions of the second fiber and the first fiber. and a plurality of fasteners for tying and adjusting the distance between the two,
In the mesh antenna in which the antenna mirror surface formed by the metal mesh is held in a desired shape by adjusting the fastener, the second fiber is inserted once on the way from the radial center to the outside. The above branched fibers are woven into the metal mesh so that the number of fibers is greater at the outer periphery than at the inner periphery, and the spacing between adjacent second fibers is approximately equal between the center and outer periphery. It is characterized by being formed as follows.

Embodiments of the Invention Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention. That is, the second fibers 4 are woven radially into the metal mesh 1 from the center, and are branched into two on the way to the outer periphery.

When the distance between the second fibers 4 or between the second fibers 4 and the rib 2 reaches a predetermined value, the branching is directed to a point that divides the first fiber 3 on the outer peripheral side into three equal parts, for example. Then branch into two branches, and make the outer part radial. At this time, the point divided into three equal parts is the first fiber 3 on the inner circumference side.
It is desirable to tie it also to the end (located on the rib 2) in order to smooth the distribution of the tensile force.

In this embodiment, the fasteners 5 can be arranged at substantially uniform intervals in the circumferential direction at the outer circumference without increasing the number of fasteners 5 at the inner circumference. Therefore, there is an effect that the necessary precision of the mirror surface can be ensured.

For example, if an S-band antenna with an aperture diameter of 2 m is configured using the conventional method, approximately 60 fasteners 5 are required, but in the case where the second fiber 4 is branched once in this embodiment, approximately 3/4 of the fasteners 5 are required. It is possible to reduce the number to 45.

For even larger antennas, a second fiber 4
In the conventional method, the number of fibers becomes extremely large, and the number of fasteners 5 also increases accordingly, but according to the present invention, the number of branches of the second fiber 4 is increased appropriately. By doing so, the number of fasteners 5 can be significantly reduced, and the reduction rate is greater than in the above example. That is, the effect of the present invention becomes greater as the antenna mirror surface becomes larger.

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the present invention, the second fibers radially woven into the metal mesh forming the mirror surface are branched as appropriate on the way to the outer periphery to increase the number. This has the advantage that the intervals between the fasteners for connecting the second fiber to the first fiber are kept substantially uniform, and a highly accurate mirror surface can be formed with fewer fasteners than in the past. Further, the reduction rate of the fastener increases as the antenna becomes larger, and a large mesh antenna can be constructed to be lightweight.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2A is a schematic plan view showing an example of a conventional mesh antenna, FIG. 3B is a perspective view showing a part of the mesh antenna, FIG. A plan view in which the number of second fibers is increased;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a part of the fastener is omitted. In the figure, 1: metal mesh, 2: rib,
3: first fiber, 4: second fiber, 5:
Fasteners.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Ribs arranged radially to form a skeleton of an antenna mirror surface, and a plurality of first fibers stretched in the circumferential direction between the adjacent ribs;
A metal mesh attached to the rib to form an antenna mirror surface, a second fiber radially woven within the metal mesh, and a connection between corresponding positions of the second fiber and the first fiber. A mesh antenna is provided with a plurality of fasteners for adjusting the distance between the metal mesh and a plurality of fasteners, the antenna mirror surface formed by the metal mesh being held in a desired shape by adjusting the fasteners, The second fibers are branched once or more on the way from the radial center to the outside, and are woven into the metal mesh so that the number of fibers is greater at the outer circumference than at the inner circumference. 1. A mesh antenna characterized in that two adjacent fibers are formed so that the spacing between adjacent fibers is approximately equal between a center portion and an outer peripheral portion.