Patent Application
20210066779
The present application claims priority from and the benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 201911034841, filed Aug. 29, 2019, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention is directed to an antenna mount for base station antennas and methods of using the same.
Base station antennas for wireless communication systems transmit RF signals over long distances. A base station antenna has a characteristic radiation pattern that defines the optimum direction for transmitting/receiving signals. Based on network coverage requirements, cellular operators may find it advantageous to adjust the vertical elevation angle (i.e., the vertical angle of the antenna with respect to the horizon) or “tilt” of the main beam of the radiation pattern of a linear array in order to change the coverage area of the antenna. Such adjustment is typically referred to as “downtilting” as the antenna beam is typically tilted to point at an elevation angle of 0 degrees or less with respect to the horizon such as, for example, an elevation angle of 0 degrees to −10 degrees.
Typically base station antennas are mounted to a pole or the like via two clamp assemblies and a simple pivoting “four-bar linkage” mechanism. These are shown in
It may be desirable to provide other configurations for mounting antennas.
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
In the figures, certain layers, components or features may be exaggerated for clarity, and broken lines illustrate optional features or operations unless specified otherwise. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention. The sequence of operations (or steps) is not limited to the order presented in the claims or figures unless specifically indicated otherwise.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
Referring now to the figures, a mounting assembly for an antenna, designated broadly at 100, is shown in
Referring to
A clamp 120′ (
Referring now to
As can be seen in
Referring now to
As can be seen in
Referring now to
As can be seen in
Referring now to
Referring to
The mounting assembly 100 is mounted to a pole via the clamping unit 102 and to the upper portion of an antenna via the mounting plate 110. The lower portion of the antenna is typically mounted to the pole via a single pivot as described above and shown in
The configuration described above can provide advantages over prior antenna mounts. The shape and angle of the teeth 132 on the clamps 120. 120′ can provide improved grip, while the rounded area 134 can reduce stress concentration at a potentially high stress location. The presence of the slot 126 on the clamp 120 can facilitate the mounting of the clamping unit 102 on a pole, as the threaded rod 138 can simply be slipped into the slot 126 from the side.
Also, the use of the flanges 104 to mount the proximal member 106 provides mounting locations inward from the side edges of the clamp 120′. Previously, units employed a single bar mounted to the clamp with fingers extending from the ends of the bar; the bar extended beyond the side edges of the clamp. The flanges 104 enable the use of less material (thereby reducing cost) and also permit the mounting locations for the proximal link 106 to be much closer together, thereby enabling a narrower proximal link 106 to be employed.
The use of a narrower proximal link 106 than employed in prior units allows less material to be employed in the component, thereby reducing cost. Similarly, the distal link 108 is also narrower than prior links, which also reduces material usage and, consequently, cost.
The mounting plate 110 is configured to provide mounting locations for the narrower distal link 108. Because the flanges 182 can be formed by stamping from interior sections of a single metallic sheet, less material can be employed, thereby reducing costs.
The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although a few exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201911034841 | Aug 2019 | IN | national |
