Impact of ink deposition and trace path variations on 3D-printed antenna performance

Abstract

The application of 3D printing in the lighting industry has the promise to transform the production of custom luminaires on demand. The connected lighting system trend in the lighting industry has created the need for custom antenna design and production to improve reliable data transfer. Antenna design accuracy is crucial to the functional efficiency of wireless data communication that could be integrated into lighting products with 3D printing. The trace paths of most paste and ink deposition technologies determine the physical dimensions of the material deposited on the substrate, which can affect the performance of the antenna. A laboratory experiment study was conducted to investigate the relationship between antenna pattern and its dimension and resonance frequency in patch antenna. The study examined the variations in trace paths resulting in antenna dimension variation and compared them with theoretical model predictions of the same antenna design. One of the primary observations in this study was the 3D-printed antennas did not resonate precisely at the modeled 2.4GHz frequency, as predicted by CST Studio Suite®. Further investigation showed that the resonance frequencies were at 2.355 Hz for hatched fill pattern antennas and 2.385 Hz for concentric fill antennas, resulting in 0.045 Hz and 0.015 Hz deviation compared to the designed value of 2.4 GHz.