This application claims the benefit of PCT Application No. PCT/GB2006/000442, filed on Feb. 8, 2006, and Great Britain Application No. 0504846.7, filed on Mar. 9, 2005.
The present invention relates to RF rotary couplers and in particular to couplers which electrically couple a passive RF sensor based on resonators or delay lines on a rotating shaft to stationary interrogation electronics in a wireless or mechanically non contacting manner.
WO96/37921 and GB 2 328 086 have described systems in which coupled microstrip lines arc used to connect to a sensor wirelessly. In particular, they use two circular coupled transmission lines of nominally equal circumference so that intrinsically the amount of coupling will always vary with rotation. These systems have the drawback, however, that they are not very effective for microstrips significantly larger than ¼λ, where λ is the wavelength of the transmitted signal.
Another system is described in GB 2 368 470 which allows for 360° coupling between microstrip lines for diameters above ¼λ. These systems work by connecting together multiple sections of ¼λ coupled microstrips together and spreading these lines around a larger diameter. These systems suffer from the fact that the larger the diameter the more ¼λ elements that are needed and the feeding networks can then become quite cumbersome. They also suffer from the same problem as the aforementioned systems in that the amount of coupling will intrinsically vary with rotation.
According to the present invention there is provided a rotary coupler comprising a stator having a first surface and a rotor having a second surface, the first and second surfaces being spaced apart from and facing each other, a first electrically conducting track provided on the first surface of the stator forming a transmission line and having spaced apart ends and a second electrically conducting track provided on the second surface of the rotor also forming a transmission line and having spaced apart ends, one end of the first track, in use, being connected to signal generating means and the other end of the first track being connected to earth through a resistor equal to the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, the first track extending along a generally circular arc substantially around the first face of the stator, the first track having a length substantially equal to an integer number of wavelengths of the signal produced, in use, by the signal generating means, and the second track extending along a generally circular arc partially around the second face of the rotor, the second track having a length which is smaller than the length of the second track.
Above and hereinafter, the term “generally circular arc” is used to cover both a path which extends along a smooth circular arc, having a length equal to the length of the arc, as well as a path which undulates but whose average path or average radius defines a substantially circular arc, whereby the actually length of the path is greater than the length of the average circular arc defined by the path.
A coupler in accordance with the invention has the advantage that there is no discontinuity in the field distribution in the stator transmission line and as a result there is no angular variation of the resonant frequency (or differential phase delay) of the sensor connected to the rotor output and measured at the stator input.
For optimum coupling, the length of the second track is substantially equal to one quarter of the wavelength of the signal produced, in use, by the signal generating means. The second track may, however, also be implemented with a length other than one quarter of the wavelength of the signal produced, in use, by the signal generating means depending upon the output impedance of the rotor.
Preferably, each of the rotor and the stator are formed of a substrate having a conducting back which forms a ground plane for the track disposed thereon. More particularly, one end of the track on the rotor is preferably connected to the ground plane, either directly or in directly. A sensor is then preferably connected between one end of the rotor track and earth, and the other end of the rotor track is then either shorted directly to ground, in which case for optimum coupling the second track should have a length substantially equal to one quarter of the wavelength of the signal produced, in use, by the signal generating means, or connected to a capacitor which is grounded, in which case the second track advantageously has a length which is less than one quarter of the wavelength of the signal produced by the signal generating means in order to achieve optimum coupling. Optionally, an inductor could be connected in parallel with the sensor connected to the one end of the rotor track.
Preferably, the rotor track extends along a substantially smooth circular arc which is concentric with the shaft on which, in use the rotor is mounted. In one embodiment, the stator track similarly extends along a substantially smooth circular arc, through slightly less than 360 degrees. In applications in which an integer number of wavelength is larger than the circumference of the arc, however, the stator track extends around the face in an undulating fashion, extending back and forth across a circular arc which defines the average path thereof. For example, the track might zig-zag around the face or travel in a more irregular fashion, in either event, the actual length of the track being longer than the length of the circular arc defining the average path.
In one embodiment, the rotor and stator are each formed by an annular disc mounted concentrically onto the shaft, the rotor and stator being axially separated from each other and the first and second faces being formed by facing axial annular faces of the stator and rotor.
Alternatively, the rotor and stator may each be formed as a cylindrical member, the rotor being concentrically positioned with the stator and having an outer diameter which is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the stator so as to define a space therebetween. The first and second faces will then be formed by the inner cylindrical surface of the stator and the outer cylindrical surface of the rotor respectively, the tracks extending around the respective surface along a circular arc, or generally along a circular arc, centred on the centre of the shaft. Any undulation or meandering in the stator track will then be in the axial direction.
Preferably, the circular arc defining the path of the rotor and stator tracks have substantially the same radii, although in the case of the cylindrical rotor and stator, the radius of curvature of the stator track will necessarily be slightly larger than that of the rotor track.
Multiple rotor tracks may optionally be provided, isolated from each other. Multiple sensors may also optionally be connected to the, or each, rotor track, either in series or parallel.
The coupler is based upon two mechanically separate microstrips of differing lengths. The microstrip on the stator assembly is circular and has an electrical length which is nominally a wavelength (λ) long (or integer multiply there of). The rotor microstrip is an arc on nominally the same radius as the stator but with an electrical length of preferably approximately ¼λ or less. The stator microstrip should be terminated in a load that is similar to the characteristic impedance of the line. The rotor can be terminated with any suitable load.
In order that the invention may be well understood, there will now be described some embodiments thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring first to
The two halves of the coupler shown in
The facing annular faces 3a, 4a of the stator and rotor discs 3, 4 each have an electrically conducting microstrip 5, 6 provided thereon which operate as antennas for respectively transmitting and receiving a signal. The microstrip 5 on the stator is defined by a substantially circular arc which is concentric with the stator disc 3, extends substantially around the face 3a of the stator disc 3 although with its ends A, B separated from each other and has an electrical length which is substantially equal to λ, the wavelength of the signal which is to be transmitted by the stator 3, thereby minimising the discontinuity in the field above the terminals ‘A’ and ‘B’. If the track length is equal exactly 1λ, and the line is loss less then the instantaneous signal seen at terminal ‘A’ will equal that in phase and magnitude of the one seen at ‘B’. The importance of this is so that the coupling to the rotor microstrip 6 will remain constant with rotation. The only property of the signal to change will be the phase as the effective path length of the signal changes with rotation.
The signal is fed from a circuit into the stator microstrip 5 between terminal ‘A’ and the ground plane formed by the substrate forming the body of the stator disc 3. Terminal ‘B’ is connected to the ground plane via a resistor the value of which is substantially equal to the characteristic impedance of the circuit feeding the signal to the stator microstrip 5.
The microstrip 6 on the rotor 4 is formed as a circular arc which extends only partially around the shaft on which, in use, the rotor 4 is mounted between terminals ‘C’ and ‘D’ and has a length equal to λ/4, one quarter of the wavelength of the signal fed to the stator 3. The main body of the rotor disc 4 again forms a ground plane for the microstrip 6 with a sensor 9 connected between the terminal ‘C’ and the ground plane for detecting the signal transmitted by from the stator 3, and the terminal ‘D’ being shorted directly to the ground plane. It will, or course, be understood that the end chosen to have a particular connection as described above is arbitrary and may be interchanged, i.e. terminal C may be shorted to ground and the sensor connected between terminal D and ground.
In the embodiment of
In a further modification of the system of
Preferably, the length of the stator strip 5 is slightly different to λ or the stator 3 load resistance slightly differs from characteristic impedance such that an amplitude variation with rotation arises. In this way, it is possible to measure the angle or speed of rotation.
In the embodiment of
In a further development of the embodiment of
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
0504846.7 | Mar 2005 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/GB2006/000442 | 2/8/2006 | WO | 00 | 4/28/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2006/095125 | 9/14/2006 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4516097 | Munson et al. | May 1985 | A |
4730224 | Komatsu | Mar 1988 | A |
5192923 | Komatsu | Mar 1993 | A |
5892411 | Schwan et al. | Apr 1999 | A |
20030174062 | Lonsdale et al. | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20080061910 | Kalinin et al. | Mar 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2 328 086 | Feb 1999 | GB |
2 368 470 | May 2002 | GB |
61106903 | May 1984 | JP |
WO 9637921 | Nov 1996 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20080278267 A1 | Nov 2008 | US |