Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a reflective plate structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the reflector structure of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a reflective plate structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the reflector structure of FIG. 3;
Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an antenna device according to a third embodiment of another aspect of the present invention;
Fig. 6 is an exploded view of the antenna device of fig. 5;
fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of an antenna device according to a fourth embodiment of another aspect of the present invention;
Fig. 8 is a schematic top view of the antenna device of fig. 5;
Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing peak gain measurement of the antenna structure of fig. 5 corresponding to different first and second widths;
Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating measurement of S11 parameters corresponding to different heights of the antenna structure of fig. 5;
FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the peak gain measurement of the antenna structure of FIG. 5 corresponding to different reflection plates and distances;
FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing measurement of S11 parameters corresponding to different reflection plates and distances of the antenna structure of FIG. 5;
fig. 13A is a Smith chart of the antenna structure of fig. 5 corresponding to different reflection plates and distances, and
Fig. 13B is another smith chart of the antenna structure of fig. 5 corresponding to different reflection plates and distances.
Description of main reference numerals:
100. 200, 500a reflecting plate structure
110. 210, 510 First plate
120. 220, 520 Second plate
130. 230, 530 Metal substrate
231. 531 Substrate
232. 532 Metal layer
233. 533 Metal ring
140. 240, 540 Closed slot
150. 250, 550 Support
160. 260, 560 Cavity
270. 570 Slotted hole
300. 300A antenna device
400. 400A antenna structure
410. 410A first antenna element
420. 420A second antenna element
411. 421, 411A, 421a excitation source
4101. 4201, 4101A, 4201a first radiating element
4102. 4202, 4102A, 4202a second radiating element
430. 430A antenna substrate
431. 431A first surface
432. 432A second surface
600. 600A support column
L, l virtual normal
W1 first width
W2 second width
H height
Distance D
F feed-in terminal
G grounding end
Detailed Description
Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For purposes of clarity, many practical details will be set forth in the following description. However, it should be understood that these practical details are not to be taken as limiting the invention. That is, in some embodiments of the invention, these practical details are unnecessary. Furthermore, for the sake of simplicity of the drawing, some well-known and conventional structures and elements are shown in the drawing in a simplified schematic form, and repeated elements are indicated by identical reference numerals.
In addition, herein, when an element (or a mechanism or module, etc.) is "connected," "disposed" or "coupled" to another element, it may be referred to as being directly connected, directly disposed or directly coupled to the other element, or as being indirectly connected, indirectly disposed or indirectly coupled to the other element, i.e., with other elements interposed therebetween. When an element is referred to as being "directly connected," "directly disposed" or "directly coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or directly coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. The terms first, second, third, etc. are used to describe various elements or components only, and there is no limitation on the elements/components themselves, so that the first element/component may be referred to as a second element/component. And combinations of elements/components/mechanisms/modules herein are not generally known, conventional or well known in the art, it is not possible to determine whether a combination relationship thereof is readily accomplished by one of ordinary skill in the art by whether the elements/components/mechanisms/modules are known per se.
Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2 together, fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a reflective plate structure 100 according to a first embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is an exploded view of the reflective plate structure 100 of fig. 1. The reflecting plate structure 100 is connected to an antenna (not shown) and is used for reflecting radiation of the antenna, wherein the antenna has an excitation source (not shown).
As can be seen from fig. 1 and 2, the reflective plate structure 100 includes at least a first plate 110, a second plate 120 and a metal substrate 130. The metal substrate 130 is mainly used for reflecting radiation emitted by the antenna, and the center of the metal substrate 130 has a virtual normal L. The at least one first plate 110 is disposed opposite to the metal substrate 130 and is connected to the metal substrate 130. The second plate 120 is floating on the metal substrate 130 along the virtual normal L and is completely separated from the at least one first plate 110 to form a closed slot 140. Specifically, the reflective plate structure 100 may further include a support 150 disposed between the second plate 120 and the metal substrate 130, and supporting and abutting the second plate 120.
Specifically, at least one of the first plate 110, the second plate 120 and the metal substrate 130 forms a cavity 160, and the cavity 160 is communicated with the closed slot 140. The closed slot 140 is located on a plane (not shown), the excitation source is projected onto the plane to form an excitation source region (i.e. the position of the excitation source on the plane where the closed slot 140 is located), and the excitation source region is located in the closed slot 140. Therefore, the reflecting plate structure 100 of the present invention can be applied to a metal reflecting plate of an antenna, and changes the radiation path of the antenna through the closed slot 140 and the cavity 160, thereby improving the antenna gain. It should be noted that the closed slot 140 in fig. 1 is rectangular, and may be circular or polygonal, but the invention is not limited thereto.
Referring to fig. 3 and fig. 4 together, fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a reflective plate structure 200 according to a second embodiment of the invention. Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the reflective plate structure 200 of fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the number of the at least one first flat plate 210 may be plural. The metal substrate 230 may include a substrate 231, a metal layer 232 and a metal ring 233, wherein the substrate 231 has a surface (not numbered), the metal layer 232 is disposed on the surface, and the metal layer 232 is used for reflecting radiation emitted by the antenna. One end of the metal ring 233 is disposed on the outer circumference of the metal layer 232, and the other end of the metal ring 233 is connected to each first plate 210. It should be noted that the metal ring 233 and each of the first plates 210 may be disposed separately or integrally formed with each other, and the metal layer 232, the metal ring 233, each of the first plates 210 and the second plates 220 form the cavity 260.
In detail, the substrate 231 and the metal layer 232 can be considered as an integral structure, and the thickness (not numbered) of the substrate 231 and the metal layer 232 is only about several millimeters, so as to minimize the volume of the reflective plate structure 200, thereby being applied to the current network communication product. In addition, the cavity 260 is located between the metal layer 232 and the first plate 210 and is covered by the metal ring 233, in other words, the cavity 260 of the second embodiment of fig. 3 is the same as the cavity 160 of the first embodiment of fig. 2. In addition, the reflective plate structure 200 may further include a supporting member 250 connected between the second plate 220 and the metal layer 232 and supporting and abutting the second plate 220, wherein the supporting member 250 has the same height as the metal ring 233, so that the second plate 220 and each first plate 210 are located on the same horizontal plane. Further, the first flat plates 210 are spaced apart from each other along the other end of the metal ring 233. Each first plate 210 may have a slot 270 therebetween, each slot 270 is connected to the closed slot 240, and the cavity 260 communicates with the closed slot 240 and all slots 270. As shown in the second embodiment of fig. 3, the closed slots 240 and the respective slots 270 may be connected to each other in a zigzag shape, and the width of the closed slots 240 and the respective slots 270 are the same. However, in other embodiments, the widths of the closed slots 240 and the slots 270 may be different, and thus the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.
Therefore, the reflecting plate structure 200 of the present invention can be applied to a metal reflecting plate of an antenna, and extends the radiation path of the antenna through the closed slot 240, each slot 270 and the cavity 260, thereby achieving the high gain characteristic.
Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 together, fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an antenna device 300 according to a third embodiment of the invention. Fig. 6 is an exploded view of the antenna device 300 of fig. 5. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the antenna device 300 includes an antenna structure 400 and a reflecting plate structure 500, wherein the reflecting plate structure 500 is used for reflecting radiation emitted by the antenna structure 400. Specifically, the antenna structure 400 may include a first antenna element 410, a second antenna element 420, and an antenna substrate 430, wherein the antenna substrate 430 has a first surface 431 and a second surface 432 opposite to the first surface 431. The first antenna element 410 is disposed on the first surface 431, and the second antenna element 420 is disposed on the second surface 432.
In detail, the antenna structure 400 has two excitation sources 411 and 421, and each excitation source 411 and 421 includes a feed terminal F and a ground terminal G. The first antenna element 410 may be a dipole antenna including a first radiator 4101 and a second radiator 4102. The feed-in end F is connected to the first radiator 4101, and the ground end G is connected to the second radiator 4102. The second antenna element 420 may also be another dipole antenna including a first radiating element 4201 and a second radiating element 4202. The feed end F is connected to the first radiating member 4201, and the ground end G is connected to the second radiating member 4202. In addition, as shown in fig. 5, the first antenna element 410 and the second antenna element 420 are Dual polarized dipole antennas (Dual-polarization dipole antenna), which means that the polarization directions of the first antenna element 410 and the second antenna element 420 are orthogonal to each other.
In more detail, the reflecting plate structure 500 is vertically disposed on the antenna structure 400, and the reflecting plate structure 500 includes at least a first flat plate 510, a second flat plate 520 and a metal substrate 530. The metal substrate 530 is used for reflecting the radiation of the first antenna element 410 and the second antenna element 420, and the center of the metal substrate 530 has a virtual normal l. At least one first flat plate 510 is disposed opposite to the metal substrate 530 and connected to the metal substrate 530. The second plate 520 is floating on the metal substrate 530 along the virtual normal line l and is completely separated from the at least one first plate 510 to form a closed slot 540. In addition, the antenna device 300 may further include a supporting member 550, and the supporting member 550 is disposed between the second plate 520 and the metal substrate 530 for supporting the second plate 520. It should be noted that the metal substrate 530, at least one first plate 510 and at least one second plate 520 form a cavity 560, and the cavity 560 is in communication with the closed slot 540. It should be noted that the closed slot 540 is located on a plane (not shown), and the two excitation sources 411 and 421 are projected onto the plane to form two excitation source regions (not shown) respectively, and each excitation source region is located in the closed slot 540.
Thus, the antenna device 300 of the present invention employs the reflective plate structure 500, and changes the paths of the radiation emitted from the excitation source 411 and the other excitation source 421 through the closed slot 540 and the cavity 560 of the reflective plate structure 500, so as to maintain the good impedance matching and high gain radiation characteristics of the antenna.
Specifically, in fig. 5 and 6, the number of the at least one first flat plate 510 may be plural, and the antenna device 300 may further include a plurality of support columns 600, where each support column 600 is disposed between the antenna substrate 430 and the first flat plate 510. In addition, each support column 600 may also be disposed between the antenna substrate 430 and the second plate 520, and is used to support the antenna structure 400.
In addition, the metal substrate 530 may include a substrate 531, a metal layer 532 and a metal ring 533, wherein the substrate 531 has a surface (not numbered). The metal layer 532 is disposed on the surface and is used for reflecting the radiation of the first antenna element 410 and the second antenna element 420, wherein the metal layer 532 may be a common metal material and is attached to the substrate 531 by a plating process technology. One end of the metal ring 533 is disposed on the outer periphery of the metal layer 532, and the other end of the metal ring 533 is connected to each first flat plate 510. Thus, the metal layer 532, the metal ring 533, each of the first plate 510 and the second plate 520 form a cavity 560.
Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of an antenna device 300a according to a fourth embodiment of another aspect of the present invention. In the fourth embodiment of fig. 7, the configuration relationship between the reflective plate structure 500a and the supporting column 600a is the same as that of the corresponding elements in the third embodiment of fig. 5, and thus, the description thereof is omitted. As shown in fig. 7, the antenna structure 400a may include a first antenna element 410a, a second antenna element 420a, and an antenna substrate 430a, wherein the first antenna element 410a and the second antenna element 420a may be a broadband antenna (Broadband antenna).
In addition, the antenna substrate 430a has a first surface 431a and a second surface 432a opposite to the first surface 431 a. The first antenna element 410a includes a first radiator 4101a and a second radiator 4102a. The second antenna element 420a includes a first radiator 4201a and a second radiator 4202a. In particular, the first radiator 4101a of the first antenna element 410a and the first radiator 4201a of the second antenna element 420a are disposed on the first surface 431 a. The second radiator 4102a of the first antenna element 410a and the second radiator 4202a of the second antenna element 420a are disposed on the second surface 432a. The first radiator 4101a and the second radiator 4102a of the first antenna element 410a are disposed on different surfaces, respectively, and the first radiator 4101a and the second radiator 4102a can be connected to each other through the feed end F and the ground end G of the excitation source 411 a. Similarly, the first radiation element 4201a and the second radiation element 4202a of the second antenna element 420a are disposed on different surfaces, respectively, and the first radiation element 4201a and the second radiation element 4202a may be connected to the ground G through the feeding end F of the excitation source 421 a.
Referring to fig. 5 to 8, fig. 8 is a schematic top view of the antenna device 300 of fig. 5. In detail, the first plates 510 are spaced apart from each other along the other end of the metal ring 533, and each first plate 510 has a slot 570 therebetween, and each slot 570 is connected to the closed slot 540. In more detail, the closed slot 540 may have a first width W1, each slot 570 may have a second width W2, and the first width W1 and the second width W2 are both greater than or equal to 2mm and less than or equal to 14mm, i.e. the first width W1 and the second width W2 are between 2mm and 14mm, but the invention is not limited thereto. It should be noted that, in the third embodiment, the closed slot 540 and each slot 570 may be connected to each other in a groined shape, and the width of the closed slot 540 and each slot 570 is the same. However, in other embodiments, the widths of the closed slot 540 and each slot 570 may be different, and thus the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.
Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing measurement of Peak Gain (Peak Gain) of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5 corresponding to different first widths W1 and second widths W2. As shown in fig. 8, the antenna structure 400 can cover an operating frequency band, and the antenna structure 400 corresponds to a peak gain of the operating frequency band according to the first width W1 and the second width W2, and the peak gain of the antenna structure 400 gradually increases when the first width W1 and the second width W2 increase.
Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 10 together, fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating measurement of S11 parameters corresponding to different heights of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5. The cavity 560 may have a height H greater than or equal to 6mm and less than or equal to 14mm, i.e. the height H of the cavity 560 is between 6mm and 14mm, but the invention is not limited thereto.
As shown in fig. 10, based on the S11 parameter= -6dB, the antenna structure 400 corresponds to a specific operation band according to the height H, and when the height H increases, the operation band decreases. In detail, the height H of the cavity 560 is the height of the metal ring 533, and the reflective plate structure 500 of the present invention can correspond to different operation frequency bands according to different heights H. For example, when the antenna structure 400 is a dual-polarized dipole antenna, the operation frequency band is between 0.7GHz and 1GHz, and when the antenna structure 400 is a broadband antenna, the operation frequency band is between 1700MHz and 2700MHz, and the dual-polarized dipole antenna and the broadband antenna are known techniques and are not the focus of the present invention, and details are not repeated.
Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 11 to 13B together, fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating measurement of peak gains of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5 corresponding to different reflection plates and distances D. Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating measurement of S11 parameters corresponding to different reflection plates and distances of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5. Fig. 13A is a smith chart of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5 corresponding to different reflection plates and distances D. Fig. 13B is another smith chart of the antenna structure 400 of fig. 5 corresponding to a different reflector and distance D. As shown in fig. 5, a distance D (i.e. the height of each support post 600) can be provided between the antenna structure 400 and the reflective plate structure 500, and the distance D can be between 0.1 times and 0.2 times the wavelength of the center frequency of the operating band.
As shown in fig. 11 to 13B, the distance D between the reflecting plate structure 500 and the antenna structure 400 is equal to the distance between a general antenna and a conventional reflecting plate (EX: 45 mm), and the antenna device 300 of the present invention can maintain good impedance matching (i.e. with better S11 parameter), high gain radiation characteristics (i.e. with higher peak gain) and better Front-to-Back ratio (F/B ratio) of the antenna. By this, the reflecting plate structure 500 is overlapped with the antenna structure 400, and the overall height of the antenna device 300 is smaller than that of the conventional antenna by 1/8 wavelength.
The first aspect of the present invention is to adjust the first width and the second width of the reflecting plate structure, so that the antenna device can be applied to various antenna structures and can achieve the effect of increasing the peak gain. Secondly, the reflector structure of the invention can reduce the overall height of the antenna device, thereby reducing the volume. And thirdly, the reflecting plate structure and the antenna device have simple structure and low manufacturing cost, and are suitable for being applied to the current network communication products.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and thus the scope of the present invention should be construed as defined by the appended claims.