The invention concerns the non-stationary magnetic field emitter which operates as a miniature antenna on a flat carrier with little available build height, especially on the surface of the removable card such as microSD card or SIM, mini-SIM, micro-SIM or nano-SIM card. The emitter can be used directly on the chip, on the printed circuit board (PCB), and it can be used additionally for creation of the contactless NFC/RFID communication channel in the electronic device even in case when the space with the antenna is shielded by the environment, for example by the metal cover of the host device.
Flat antennas in shape of the conductive loops are usually used for NFC/RFID, whereby in the case the carrier is small all available surface is used for the placing of the conductor. When placing the NFC antenna on the relatively small surfaces, the antenna has a form of the inscribed rectangular spiral winding with rounded corners which basically copies the outer shape of the available surface. This arrangement produced a typical shape of the NFC antennas. Antennas for NFC/RFID transfers are in principle flat, with the winding of the loops running on the edges of the available surface, for example according to DE102008005795, KR100693204, WO2010143849, JP2004005494, JP2006304184, JP2005033461, and JP2010051012.
The earlier patent publications of the Logomotion describe the arrangement of the antenna and individual layers of the removable memory card in order to set the emitting and receiving characteristics of the antenna in such a way that the reliable communication channel can be created even for various shielded slots of the card. Defined in this way, the technical task has led to realization of multiple technical solutions, which however reached satisfactory results only for some of the mobile phones; the course of invention subsequently took the direction of production of larger, sufficient antennas on the body of the mobile phone outside the shielded areas. These sufficient antennas (CN201590480 U), for example in the form of a sticker, can be contactlessly connected to the basic antenna on the card; however, such arrangement is not universal enough and the application is annoyingly complicated in the hands of the common user.
Basic theoretical and expert publications express an opinion that with small thickness and available surface the RFID or NFC antenna should be produced as flat antenna, for example according to RFID HANDBOOK, Klaus Finkenzeller, 2010, pursuant to FIGS. 2.11, 2.15, 12.7, 12.9, 12.11, 12.13. According to the same source (part 4.1.1.2 Optimal Antenna Diameter/Physical Principles of RFID Systems) it is most optimal if the semi-diameter of the emitting antenna corresponds to the square root of the required reach of the antenna.
The application of the knowledge about the existing NFC antennas to the field with little available space does not bring desired results, because with miniaturization beyond certain level the characteristics of the resulting antenna do not change linearly. The decisive benefit for the miniaturization of the NFC/RFID antenna, suitable for the placing on the microSD card, was brought by publication WO/2014/076669 which allows the creation of the contactless communication channel even with small and shielded antenna. This publication discloses the principles of a construction with the ferrite core which has a circular, rectangular or similar cross-section. However, practice has shown that further diminishing of the thickness of the antenna is needed in order for placing it in the layer above the existing elements, for example above the chip.
Such solution is needed and not known, which will secure the high conductivity of the signal emitted from the PCB board of the electronic device, from the SIM card of any dimensions, or from the removable card with a very small available space.
The abovementioned deficiencies are significantly remedied by the non-stationary magnetic field emitter used in the function of an antenna on a flat substrate, with the oblong ferrite, or at least partially ferrite, core, where on the core the conductor or wire is wound with at least three threads, whereby the essence of the emitter according to this invention lies in the fact that the core is oblong and it has mainly rectangular cross-section, where the width of the cross-section of the core is at least 3 times larger than the height of the cross-section of the core, and the length of the core is at least 10 times larger than the height of the cross-section of the core, whereby the conductor is wound onto the core with the lead of the thread changing in such a way that going from the middle zone of the core towards both ends of the core the lead of the thread increases. The lead of the thread means the pitch of the threads, that is, the distance of the middles of two adjacent threads. The increase of the lead manifests itself in the increase of an angle in which the conductor of the thread is wound onto the core.
It has been found out during the inventing of this invention that the increasing pitch of the threads, that is, the increasing lead of the thread towards the end of the core causes the saturation of the magnetic core from the middle to linearly diminish towards its edges, which lowers the hysteresis losses caused by the high intensity of the magnetic field. Wth constant increase the intensity of the field on its end diminishes hyperbolically, which means that it is initially very high and practically constant alongside the whole length with the exception of the ends where it sharply drops towards zero; therefore, the hysteresis losses are higher compared with the solution with widening threads according to this invention. It is also crucial that the width of a thread is at least three times its height, that is, it is crucial that the thread is flat.
The increase of the lead will be mainly linear according to this relationship:
p
n+1
=p
n+Δ,
where Δ is the increment of the lead, p is lead, pitch of the thread, n is the order of the thread counting from the middle towards the end. The addition of the lead will range from 10 to 30% of the width of the conductor of the thread in the middle zone; preferably it will be 20%.
Apart from the linearly increasing pitch of the thread it is possible to increase the pitch according to another curve, for example in such a way that A increments of the lead increases for any next thread n+1.
The invention can be realized by multiple technological methods. The conductor can be flat and wound in such a way that the angle of the lead gradually increases towards the end of the core. In case of flat conductors the changing angle of the lead leads to deformations, though, which increases the risk of severing of the thin flat conductor. One solution is an arrangement where the flat conductor in the unwound state is a strip with a gradually cranking, bending course. The lines in which the direction of the strip changes are set by the dimension of the respective edge of the core around which the strip of the conductor is bent during winding.
The other method of creation of the increasing pitch of the thread is application of the conductive layer without the mechanical winding, for example by vacuum steaming, printing, and so on. This allows creating a conductive layer of the thread where the pitch or lead of the thread gradually increases and the width of the conductor increases correspondingly; the gaps between adjacent threads can then be constant.
Another method which allows the change of the lead of the thread produced from the flat conductor is the composition of the flat conductor from the independent parts from above and from below. The division of the conductor to multiple parts allows the production of the threads with the changing angle of the winding without deformations leading to the severing of the conductor. From the point of view of effectiveness of the production it is possible to produce the threads from the pairs of strips. In order to achieve a reliable envelopment of the core by the conductor which is not one solid whole for a thread, such arrangement has been invented where the conductor is produced as a bi-metal strip with two layers of the material with different thermal expansion. The strip of the conductor is in cooled state developed through three sides of the cross-section of the core; preferably it will have short folds on the fourth side of the cross-section. After warming the conductor to the common temperature, the shear stresses appear between both layers in the conductor, forcing the strip to deform towards the envelopment of the core. This long-term stress stabilizes the position of the strip of the conductor.
In a preferable arrangement the first two or multiple threads are placed close to each other in the middle zone of the core; the gaps between the threads can increase towards the end of the core with the width of one thread of the conductor remaining constant. According to the used method of the winding it is possible to produce an increasing width of the conductor which then has a uniform, usually very small isolation gap between the conductors of the adjacent threads. For example, in case of application of the conductive layer onto the core or in case of the usage of the cranked strip the threads can be placed adjacently to each other without the increasing gaps. In case of increasing gaps the emitter can be equipped by a metal cover alongside the core. The metal cover can have a form of the thin iron or copper foil. In case of production of the threads by use of a bi-metal realization of the conductors the cover in form of a foil can serve during the production as a carrier of the strips of the conductor, too; these strips can be stuck to the cover in the required pitch.
The effective width w of one thread in the middle zone is in the preferable arrangement in the range re/2<w<1.5re; where re is the equivalent radius. With rectangular cross-section with the dimensions of sides “a”, “b” without the rounding of the edges the equivalent radius is re=√(a·b/π). The equivalent radius expresses the radius of the circular core which has an identical surface of the cross-section as rectangular cross-section with sides a, b.
It also has been invented that in the preferable arrangement the flat conductor can be substituted by the system of at least three conductors wound next to each other, which however further form only a single thread. These conductors are electrically connected. If we want to substitute flat conductor with the original ratio of the width and height 1:4, we use four conductors of the uniformly circular cross-section as substitutes for this conductor, we wind them next to each other as if this was a three-degree thread. If we are going to substitute the flat conductor with original 1:8 (height:width) cross-section, we use 8 conductors of circular cross-section placed next to each other, which in mechanical understanding constitute an eight-degree thread. The conductors in one multi-degree thread would not have to be isolated, because these conductors will be electrically connected at the ends of the windings; but for the purposes of technological simplicity a similar, isolated conductor can be used for each conductor of a given thread. In another arrangement only the conductors of the single thread which are on the edge are to be electrically isolated; the conductors located inside do not have to be isolated.
The examples of the dimensions of the antenna capable of emitting from the shielded slot of the SIM card in the phone are following:
The dimensional ratios described in this invention have inner connections which are related to the creation of the magnetic field. The ratios of the width of the conductor and the equivalent radius of the core are related to the theory of Helmholtz coils, which has led to excellent transmitting parameters in the arrangement according to this invention; this has been confirmed by measurings, too.
Multiple possibilities of preserving the crucial rule of increasing lead of the threads according to this invention have been invented for multiplied conductor. One possibility is that the multiplied conductor is wound with the increasing pitch of the threads, whereby there is no gap between the conductors of one thread; the gap increases only between the outer conductors of the adjacent threads. This version imitates the flat conductor with constant width. Another possibility is characterized by the fact that with the increasing pitch of the threads the conductors of one thread start to diverge from each other and the increasing gap from the first possibility is—so to say—distributed between every conductor. In such case the gap between the conductors of the thread m=n Δ/x, where x is the number of the conductors for one thread and n Δ is the increment of the lead for a given thread.
Another possibility is the reeling of another conductor up to certain number of the thread, that is, the number of the conductors of one thread gradually increases; the conductors in such case are still close to each other, but the pitch of the threads increases.
It has appeared in the process of inventing of this emitter that precisely the use of the flat thread in form of a multi-degree circular conductor and the increasing pitch manifest themselves in synergetic co-operation of multiple physical laws. Within the described range of the dimension ratios and in the vicinity of that interval there is a directional co-action of the magnetic field from the individual parts of the conductor and from the individual threads without the appearance of undesired eddy currents, whereby the magnetic field in the core intensifies and, and the same time, does not flow out along the winding outside the end fronts of the core.
The core is oblong both in the longitudal and transverse cross-section. The core can be curved, but best results are achieved with direct core rods, where the field lines of the magnetic field enclose outside the emitter in the longest possible path and there is therefore the tendency to flow of the shielded space. The core's ferrite should have the relative permeability set in such a way that the inductance of the emitter is ranging from 600 nH to 1200 nH, preferably close to 1000 nH, and in 20<Q<30 quality. When taking this criterion into account, the ferrite core can have permeability ranging from 30 to 300. The permeability of the core will be set according to technological possibilities of the maximum allowed magnetic saturation and the dimensional conditions of the core's cross-section. The term “ferrite” hereby denotes any material which increases the features of the magnetic field.
The effort to achieve homogenous magnetic field with high intensity, which will emit to the distant ends of the core, is accompanied by contradictory requirements. It is appropriate to use the smallest number of threads, but with diminishing number of the threads the current load necessary for the emission of the signal increases; the size of the current itself is, however, limited by the elements of the host device. The use of the flat conductor or the use of multi-degree conductors of one thread led in parallel adjacently to each other significantly remedies this conflict of requirements.
It has proved especially preferable in this regard to use multi-degree conductors of one thread led in parallel adjacently to each other. Such produced thread has a larger surface than monolithic flat conductor of identical width or as a conductor with identical surface of the cross-section. The larger surface or larger circumference of the cross-section, respectively, contributes to the better conducting of the electricity thanks to skin effect. This effect synergically contributes to the effective result, mainly during current flow which changes frequencies in magnitudes of MHz.
The emitter with miniature dimensions can be placed on the PCB inside the mobile communication device or it can be placed inside the body of the removable memory card or it can be placed on the SIM card or it can be placed on the battery or it can be placed in the combination of these elements.
When using the emitter according to this invention directly on the PCB of the mobile communication device (mainly mobile phone), it is the advantage of the emitter that the emitter used as an antenna has miniature dimensions and can placed wherever on the board or even directly on the chip.
From the technological point of view it will be preferable if the core is created by ferrite rod placed on the non-conductive pad. The non-conductive path will have a width corresponding to the width of the core and its length will basically be identical to the length of the core. The conductors of the threads will be wound through the ferrite rod and also through the non-conductive pad, which means that winding of the conductor mechanically holds together core and the non-conductive pad. The non-conductive pad can have little connecting surfaces for the connection of the conductors of the winding and for connection of the antenna and the carrier, for example PCB. In the connecting surface the conductors of the multi-degree winding are connected together and these contacts of the emitter are connected with the conductive circuits of the host device, too.
The solution is further disclosed by the
On
In this example according to
One thread 2 is produced by nine conductors 4 with diameter 0.035 mm led in parallel. This is substitute for the flat conductor of one thread 2 of dimensions 0.315×0,035 mm.
On the non-conductive pad 6 there are by its ends two little connecting surfaces 7 produced; on these surfaces 7 there are nine mutually conductively connected conductors 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49. Conductors 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 are mutually distancing from each other by the ends of the core 1, that is, after the last thread 2, in order to create larger space for the tip of the ultrasonic welding machine. The conductors 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 are soldered or welded by ultrasound to the connecting surfaces 7.
These connecting surfaces 7 are also connected to the contact by which the whole body of the emitter is soldered to the substrate, in this example the substrate of micro SIM card.
The advantage of nine conductors 4 led in parallel in comparison with the flat conductor is the higher conductivity in high frequencies. With regard to skin effect with depth p=17 μm/14 MHz the conductive surface of the six circular conductors is π/2 times more than with the flat conductor with a similar dimensions, which achieves lower losses. Emitter according to this example has a frequency of 14.4 MHz and the inductance L=1.2 μH and quality Q=21 with power load 13 dBm.
The material NiZn of the core 1 has following characteristics, which can vary in range ±15%:
The antenna system is composed from antenna driver, serial parallel resonation system with the emitter of the magnetic field, and low noise amplifier with high gain (limiter).
In this example according to
In this example of realization the conductor 4 is produced on the core 1 by steaming of the metal layer or by similar technology of application of conductive layer on the surface. On the core 1 there is firstly produced a mask functioning as dividing gaps between the threads 2 at least in height of the thickness of the conductor 4. In such case, the mask has a shape of the screw driven strip with the increasing pitch and also increasing angle of the slope against the axis of the core 2. The metal layer is then applied, which produces a flat, wide winding of the conductor 4.
In this example according to
In this example according to
Industrial applicability is obvious. According to this invention it is possible to industrially and repeatedly produce and use the non-stationary magnetic field emitters in the function of an antenna with the high emissivity and miniature dimensions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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PP50067-2014 | Nov 2014 | SK | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2015/058607 | 11/7/2015 | WO | 00 |