Patent Application
20160308291
The present invention generally relates to an electronic connector, and particularly to a connector for coupling a coaxial cable to a strip line.
Base station antennas are built with arrays of several radiating elements, which are connected to a distribution network (e.g., power dividers, phase shifters, etc.) with transmission lines. Typically, the transmission lines are coaxial cables, and the distribution network are made with strip line devices due to high performances of the strip lines (e.g., good insertion losses, reasonable dimensions, good shielding of the lines, etc.). Specifically, referring to
Several configurations of coaxial cable to strip line interfaces already exist, which mainly comprises two families:
In the first family, the center conductor of the coaxial cable is soldered to the strip line conductor. The braid of the coaxial cable is soldered on an interface part. This interface part is connected to the strip line cover and bottom plates using screws or studs with nuts assemblies. For this family, the potential problems with the interface are:
In the second family, to remove the PIM potential problems due to screws torque variation, the center conductors of the coaxial cable and the strip line are still soldered together, but the coaxial cable braid is also directly soldered to the strip line plates, using special shapes of the plates. In this case, plates are made from material with good soldering capability (e.g., brass, copper, tin plated steel, etc.). For this family, the problems linked to the configuration are:
Based on above concerns, it would be advantageous to achieve a connector for coupling a coaxial cable to a strip line, which could improve soldering capability between the braid of the coaxial cable and the cover plate of the strip line and allow the conductor of the strip line and the center conductor of the coaxial cable to be re-soldered without disassembling.
One embodiment of the invention provides a connector for coupling a coaxial cable to a strip line, the connector comprising:
a first plate to be arranged above a conductor of the strip line to which a center conductor of the coaxial cable is soldered, the first plate including:
With the aperture formed adjacent to the first solder portion, a heat break is created to prevent heat propagation of the solder point of the first solder portion and the braid of the coaxial cable to a huge area and thus the soldering capability between the braid of the coaxial cable and the first plate (e.g., the cover plate of the strip line) could be achieved. Furthermore, as the solder point of the conductor of the strip line and the center conductor of the coaxial cable is exposed, the conductor of the strip line and the center conductor of the coaxial cable could be allowed to be re-soldered without disassembling.
With the aperture formed on the first plate (e.g., the cover plate of the strip line), the degradation of impedance of the coaxial cable to strip line interface occurs, advantageously, a portion, which is under the aperture, of the conductor of the strip line is shaped to compensate impedance degradation caused by the aperture. For example, the portion of the conductor of the strip line may be widened to compensate the impedance degradation.
Advantageously, the aperture is formed over the solder point of the conductor of the strip line and the center conductor of the coaxial cable.
Advantageously, the first solder portion comprises two solder pads, and the aperture is formed between the two solder pads.
Advantageously, a second solder portion of a second plate is soldered to the first solder portion of the second plate, the second solder portion having a hole through which the coaxial cable is passed and the braid of the coaxial cable being soldered to the second solder portion.
Advantageously, the aperture is of rectangle shape.
Advantageously, the first plate is a cover plate of the strip line, and the first plate is a bottom plate of the strip line.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Throughout the above drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like, similar or corresponding features or functions.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof. The accompanying drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. The illustrated embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive of all embodiments according to the disclosure. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
In the following Detailed Description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. In this regard, directional terminology, such as “left”, “right”, “top,” “bottom,” “front,” “back,” “leading,” “forward,” “trailing,” etc., is used with reference to the orientation of the Figure(s) being described. Because components of embodiments of the present invention can be positioned in a number of different orientations, the directional terminology is used for purposes of illustration and is in no way limiting. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
Hereinafter, for illustrative purposes only, the connector for coupling a coaxial cable to a strip line of the invention will be described using the base station antennas as one example of its application scenario; however those skilled in the art could appreciate that the connector can be used in any application scenario where coaxial cables and strip lines are used.
Referring to
The first solder portion 212 can be of any suitable configuration, but generally include two solder pads 212a and 212b, and the aperture 214 is typically formed between the two solder pads 212a and 212b, as shown in
Still referring to
Since the aperture 214 is formed adjacent to the first solder portion 212, a heat break is created to prevent heat propagation of the solder point 254 of the first solder portion 212 of the cover plate of the strip line and the braid 242 of the coaxial cable (and thus the second solder portion 232 of the bottom plate of the strip line) to a huge area and thus the soldering capability between the braid of the coaxial cable and the cover plate of the strip line could be achieved.
Advantageously, the aperture 214 may be formed over the solder point 252 of the conductor 220 of the strip line and the center conductor 244 of the coaxial cable 240 to expose the solder point 252. As such, the conductor 220 of the strip line and the center conductor 244 of the coaxial cable 240 could be allowed to be re-soldered without disassembling.
To achieve the purpose of preventing heat propagation of the solder point 254 and exposing the solder point 252 for re-soldering, the aperture 214 may be of any suitable shape, for example, rectangle, circle, ellipse, trapezium, triangle, etc. Moreover, to consider that the radiation of the aperture 214 could be negligible at the operating frequency, the biggest dimension of the aperture 214 is shaped to be less than 5% of the highest frequency wavelength of the base station antennas.
With the aperture 214 formed on the cover plate of the strip line, the degradation of impedance of the coaxial cable to strip line interface occurs, for example the return loss is degraded to 23 dB as shown in
It should be noted that the above described embodiments are given for describing rather than limiting the invention, and it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as those skilled in the art readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of the invention and the appended claims. The protection scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims. In addition, any of the reference numerals in the claims should not be interpreted as a limitation to the claims. Use of the verb “comprise” and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim. The indefinite article “a” or “an” preceding an element or step does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201310659556.7 | Dec 2013 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2014/092264 | 11/26/2014 | WO | 00 |
