Patent Application
20250112370
This application claims the benefit of priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 112137440, filed on Sep. 28, 2023. The entire content of the above identified application is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to an antenna structure and an electronic device, and more particularly, to an antenna structure disposed on a heat sink and an electronic device having the antenna structure.
As the function and performance requirements of electronic devices increase, the location and size of the antenna in the electronic device are compressed in the limited space provided by the electronic device. At the same time, the bandwidth required by antennas is getting broader, and so the space utilization of antennas in electronic devices is very important.
From this, developing an antenna structure located in the dead space or awkward space around the heat sink and being able to couple with the heat sink to increase antenna bandwidth and an electronic device having such antenna structure is a goal in the related industry.
It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an antenna structure that is disposed on a heat sink having a plurality of cooling fins and includes a feeding source, a connecting member, and an antenna unit. The feeding source is located between two adjacent cooling fins. The connecting member is connected to the feeding source. The antenna unit includes a radiation portion, a first segment, a second segment, and a third segment. The radiation portion is connected to the connecting member. The first segment is connected to the radiation portion. The second segment is connected to the radiation portion, and is arranged in alignment with the first segment and a distance apart from the cooling fins. The third segment is connected to the feeding source and overlaps with at least one of the cooling fins.
It is another aspect of the present disclosure to provide an electronic device that includes a housing, a heat sink, and an antenna structure. The housing includes a first body part and a second body part opposite the first body part. The heat sink is disposed on the first body part and includes a plurality of cooling fins. The antenna structure includes a feeding source, a connecting member, and an antenna unit. The feeding source is located between two adjacent cooling fins. The connecting member is connected to the feeding source. The antenna unit includes a radiation portion, a first segment, a second segment, and a third segment. The radiation portion is connected to the connecting member. The first segment is disposed on the second body part and connected to the radiation portion. The second segment is disposed on the second body part and connected to the radiation portion, and the second segment is arranged in alignment with the first segment and a distance apart from the cooling fins. The third segment is connected to the feeding source and overlaps with at least one of the cooling fins.
The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
The present disclosure is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the drawings indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”. Titles or subtitles can be used herein for the convenience of a reader, which shall have no influence on the scope of the present disclosure.
The terms used herein generally have their ordinary meanings in the art. In the case of conflict, the present document, including any definitions given herein, will prevail. The same thing can be expressed in more than one way. Alternative language and synonyms can be used for any term(s) discussed herein, and no special significance is to be placed upon whether a term is elaborated or discussed herein. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the present disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the present disclosure is not limited to various embodiments given herein. Numbering terms such as “first”, “second” or “third” can be used to describe various components, signals or the like, which are for distinguishing one component/signal from another one only, and are not intended to, nor should be construed to impose any substantive limitations on the components, signals or the like.
In the present disclosure, when an element (i.e. a unit or a module) is described to “connect” to another element, it means to that the element is directly connected to the other element, or that certain element is indirectly connected to the other element, which implies that there is another element between the element and the other element. When an element is described to “directly connect” to another element, it means to no other element is between the element and the other element.
Referring to
Specifically, the connecting member can be a thimble, and the antenna unit 130 can be a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). The first segment L1 and the second segment L2 are strip-shaped and form a T-shape with the radiation portion L0. The third segment L3 is L-shaped, but the present disclosure is not limited thereby. The feeding source 110 and the connecting member 120 are both located between two cooling fins 11 of the heat sink 10. The third segment L3 is connected to a grounding layer (not labeled in the drawing). The distance G1 is greater than or equal to 3 mm. Thus, the antenna structure 100 of the present disclosure couples with the cooling fins 11 of the heat sink to increase the bandwidth and improve performance.
Referring to
In specific, the fourth segment L4 includes two branch segments L41, L42. The shape of the fourth segment L4 can be an elongated strip or a bent shape formed by two branch segments L41, L42. When the fourth segment L4 is bent into two branch segments L41, L42, the two branch segments L41, L42 are partially overlapped with the cooling fins 11, thereby reducing the overall size of the antenna structure 100a. Moreover, by adjusting the overlapping area of the fourth segment L4 and the cooling fins 11 or adjusting the length of the second segment L2, the coupling area between the antenna structure 100a and the cooling fins 11 of the heat sink 10 can be adjusted so as to adjust the high-frequency coupling of the antenna structure 100a.
Referring to
In the fourth embodiment, the antenna structure 100c is structurally similar to the antenna structure 100 of the first embodiment, and so will not be described herein. The electronic device 200 can be a notebook computer, and the first body part 21 and the second body part 22 can respective be the c cover and d cover of the notebook computer, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In specific, the antenna structure 100c further includes a grounding layer 140 and a circuit board 150. The circuit board 150 is disposed on the heat sink 10. The grounding layer 140, the third segment L3, and the feeding source 110 are disposed on the circuit board 150. The connecting member 120 is placed vertically on the third segment L3 from the first body part 21 toward the second body part 22 and is connected to the first segment L1 and the second segment L2 that are disposed on the second body part 22. Thus, by placing the antenna structure 100c in the dead spaces or awkward spaces of the electronic device 200, the size of the antenna structure 100c for placement can be increased, and the frequency bandwidth is increased as well as the performance is improved.
In view of the above, the present disclosure has the following advantages. First, the antenna structure of the present disclosure couples with the cooling fins of the heat sink to increase bandwidth and improve performance. Second, by adjusting the coupling area between the antenna structure and the heat sink, the antenna structure of the present disclosure achieves coupling matching in the low-frequency and high-frequency bands, which helps in increasing the bandwidth of the low-frequency and high-frequency bands, improving the performance of the antenna structure in the low-frequency and high-frequency bands, and reducing the size of the antenna structure. Third, by arranging the antenna structure in a dead space of the electronic device of the present disclosure, the installable volume of the antenna structure is increased, thereby increasing the antenna bandwidth and improving antenna efficiency at the same time.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112137440 | Sep 2023 | TW | national |
