Around the mast rotary coupler having stator and rotor power dividers/combiners that are axially stacked

Abstract

A radio frequency rotary coupler with its power dividers/couplers separated among multiple circuit layers that are axially stacked and interconnected using coaxial feeds. This architecture allows for multiple layers of circuits with minimal outside diameter and while minimizing increase in axial length. The coupler includes a stator, rotor, and dynamic capacitive ring. The stator includes at least a first stator circuit layer with a primary stator power divider (SPD), a second stator circuit layer with at least one secondary SPD, and stator coaxial feeds coupling the primary SPD and the secondary SPD(s). The rotor includes a first rotor circuit layer with a primary rotor power divider (RPD), a second rotor circuit layer with at least one secondary RPD, and rotor coaxial feeds coupling the primary RPD and the secondary RPD(s). The dynamic capacitive ring couples the stator and the rotor via the secondary SPD(s) and RPD(s).

Claims

1. A radio frequency rotary coupler, comprising: a stator including: a plurality of stator circuit layers; a plurality of stator power dividers (SPDs), each SPD mounted on a particular one of the plurality of stator circuit layers, the plurality of SPDs including at least a primary SPD, a secondary SPD, and a tertiary SPD; and a stator coaxial feed set connecting from the primary SPD to the tertiary SPD via the secondary SPD; wherein the plurality of stator circuit layers are stacked axially relative to a center line of rotation and interconnected using the stator coaxial feed set; a rotor including: a plurality of rotor circuit layers; a plurality of rotor power dividers (RPDs), each RPD mounted on a particular one of the plurality of rotor circuit layers, the plurality of RPDs including at least a primary RPD, a secondary RPD, and a tertiary RPD; and a rotor coaxial feed set connecting from the primary RPD to the tertiary RPD via the secondary RPD; wherein the plurality of rotor circuit layers are stacked axially relative to the center line of rotation and interconnected using the rotor coaxial feed set; and a dynamic capacitive ring coupling the stator and the rotor via the tertiary SPD and the tertiary RPD.

2. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 1, further comprising a stator feed connected to the primary SPD.

3. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 1, further comprising a rotor feed connected to the primary RPD.

4. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 1, wherein the plurality of stator circuit layers and the plurality of rotor circuit layers are housed within dielectric supports having an outside diameter less than one inch.

5. A radio frequency rotary coupler, comprising: a stator including (a) a first stator circuit layer including a primary stator power divider (SPD), (b) a second stator circuit layer including at least one secondary SPD, (c) at least one tertiary SPD, (d) first stator coaxial feeds coupling the primary SPD and the at least one secondary SPD, and (e) second stator coaxial feeds coupling the at least one secondary SPD and the at least one tertiary SPD; a rotor including (a) a first rotor circuit layer including a primary rotor power divider (RPD), (b) a second rotor circuit layer including at least one secondary RPD, (c) at least one tertiary RPD, (d) first rotor coaxial feeds coupling the primary RPD and the at least one secondary RPD, and (e) second rotor coaxial feeds coupling the at least one secondary RPD and the at least one tertiary RPD; and a dynamic capacitive ring coupling the stator and the rotor via the at least one tertiary SPD and the at least one tertiary RPD.

6. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 5, wherein at least the primary SPD, the at least one secondary SPD, the primary RPD, and the at least one secondary RPD are housed in dielectric supports, and wherein the at least one tertiary SPD and the at least one tertiary RPD are housed on dielectric supports.

7. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 6, wherein the dielectric supports housing the primary SPD and the at least one secondary SPD are stacked axially relative to the center line of rotation, and the dielectric supports housing the primary RPD and the at least one secondary RPD are stacked axially.

8. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 6, wherein each secondary SPD and secondary RPD is housed in a corresponding dielectric support.

9. The radio frequency rotary coupler of claim 5, further comprising a stator feed connected to the primary SPD and a rotor feed connected to the primary RPD.

10. A radio frequency rotary coupler, comprising: a dynamic capacitive ring having a stator side and a rotor side, opposite the stator side; a stator arranged on the stator side of the dynamic capacitive ring, the stator including (a) a first stator circuit layer including a primary stator power divider (SPD) configured to divide a single point stator feed into first and second stator outputs, (b) a second stator circuit layer displaced axially relative to a center line of rotation with respect to said first stator circuit layer, said second stator circuit layer including at least one secondary SPD configured to divide said first stator output into third and fourth stator outputs, and (c) stator coaxial feeds coupling the primary SPD and the at least one secondary SPD; and a rotor arranged on the rotor side of the dynamic capacitive ring, the rotor configured to combine and pass energy from the dynamic capacitive ring to a rotor feed as an output, the rotor including (a) a first rotor circuit layer including at least one rotor power combiner (RPC), (b) a second rotor circuit layer displaced axially relative to the center line of rotation with respect to the first rotor circuit layer, said second rotor circuit layer including another RPC, and (c) rotor coaxial feeds coupling the at least one RPC and the another RPC, wherein the dynamic capacitive ring couples the stator and the rotor.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particular description of example embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a view of a typical radio frequency rotary coupler.

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating another view of the typical radio frequency rotary coupler of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating one side of the typical radio frequency rotary coupler of FIG. 1.

(5) FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating one side of an example radio frequency rotary coupler according to the present disclosure.

(6) FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating one side of the example radio frequency rotary coupler of FIG. 4.

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a view of an example radio frequency rotary coupler according to the present disclosure.

(8) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another view of the example radio frequency rotary of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(9) A description of example embodiments of the invention follows. The description illustrates the disclosed configuration and demonstrates the downsizing capability of the new design.

(10) FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating one side of an example radio frequency rotary coupler 400 according to the present invention. As described above, according to the concepts of the present invention, each layer of power dividers can be placed on its own circuit layer. These layers may then be axially stacked and interconnected using coaxial feeds. This architecture allows for multiple layers of circuits with minimal outside diameter. The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 includes three circuit layers 405a, 405b, and 405c of a stator side, for example, of the example radio frequency rotary coupler. The layers are shown unstacked for visibility. The first circuit layer 405a includes a primary divider 410 coupled to two coaxial feeds 430a, 430b that lead to two secondary power dividers 415a, 415b. A second circuit layer 405b includes the two secondary power dividers 415a, 415b coupled to four coaxial feeds 435a, 435b, 435c, and 435d that lead to four tertiary power dividers 420a, 420b, 420c, and 420d. The third circuit layer 405c includes the four tertiary power dividers 420a, 420b, 420c, and 420d coupled to eight coaxial feeds 425a, 425b, 425c, 425d, 425e, 425f, 425g, and 425h that lead to a dynamic capacitive ring (not shown). Each circuit layer 405a-405c includes dielectric material suitable for containing the circuit components.

(11) FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating one side of the example radio frequency rotary coupler of FIG. 4. The three layers 405a-405c are shown transparently to illustrate the overlapping arrangement of the circuit, and to show how the multi-layer approach can, thus, result in significant space savings.

(12) FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a view of an example radio frequency rotary coupler 600 according to the present invention. The illustrated rotary coupler 600 includes a stator side having a first circuit layer 605 and a two-part second circuit layer 610a, 610b. The first circuit layer 605 includes a primary power divider 640 that passes energy to the two-part second circuit layer 610a, 610b. The primary power divider 640 receives RF power from stator input 630. The two-part second circuit layer 610a, 610b includes two secondary power dividers 645a, 645b (in this example, one secondary power divider for each part of the two-part circuit layer) that pass energy to four tertiary power dividers 650a-650d via coaxial feeds 705a-705d (FIG. 7). The tertiary power dividers 650a-650d divide and pass the RF energy directly to a dynamic capacitive ring 625. The energy is then passed to four tertiary power dividers 665a-665d on the rotor side of the rotary coupler 600. The tertiary power dividers 665a-665d combine and pass the RF energy via coaxial feeds 710a-710d (FIG. 7) to two secondary power dividers 660a, 660b on a two-part second circuit layer 620a, 620b of the rotor side. The secondary power dividers 660a, 660b combine and pass the energy to a primary power divider 655 on a first circuit layer 615 of the rotor side, which passes the energy to a rotor feed 635 as output.

(13) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another view of the example radio frequency rotary 600 of FIG. 6. FIG. 7 provides a better view of coaxial feeds 705a-705d and coaxial feeds 710a-710d. It should be appreciated that multiple variations of the embodiment disclosed in FIGS. 6 and 7, for example, can exist that fall within the scope of the appended claims. For example, the coupler can include any number of circuit layers, and is not limited to the embodiments having two or three layers as shown. Further, the second circuit layer (or any of the circuit layers) can be formed of a single part (as shown in FIG. 4, for example) or can include multiple parts (as shown in FIG. 6, for example). Further, the tertiary power dividers (or last-in-line power dividers for couplers with additional layers) can be coupled directly to the dynamic capacitive ring (as shown in FIG. 6, for example), or can be coupled to the ring via coaxial feeds (as shown in FIG. 4, for example).

(14) While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.