Metal Additive Manufactured Freeform Antenna

Micro & Optical Tech Letters

et al. 2020

A tolerance analysis approach based on interval arithmetic (IA) is proposed for heterogeneous three-dimensional (3D) printed patch antennas. Four key parameters-patch length, width, substrate thickness, and material properties-are considered that can introduce errors in the analysis results. Investigating the comprehensive effect of these parameters on resonant frequency and the E/H pattern of the patch is difficult and time-consuming when classical numerical simulations are employed. Thus, in this work, the four parameters are modeled as interval variables, and the equations between error and resonant frequency and the E/H pattern are derived using IA. Then, for the given tolerances (error intervals), the corresponding resonant frequency interval and E/H pattern interval are calculated using the proposed approach and compared with HFSS simulation results. Some samples of the patch antenna are fabricated via a self-developed heterogeneous 3D printer, which employs ink injection and laser sintering to fabricate the patch and the microstrip; furthermore, ultraviolet (UV) resin injection and curing are used to fabricate the substrate. The transmission performance of the samples is evaluated by comparing simulation and measurement results to verify the effectiveness of the proposed IA-based approach.

Section: Effect Of L/w Tolerance On E/h Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tolerance analysis of 3D printed patch antennas based on interval arithmetic

Micro & Optical Tech Letters

et al. 2020

“…Specifically, a distinct characteristic of 3‐D printed antenna is the architectural complexity, which can be hardly realized by those conventional processing crafts and breaks the typical design thought. For example, 3‐D printed torus knot antenna was proposed in Reference 8; dielectric helical antenna and lens antenna made by 3‐D printing technology were reported in References 9 and 10; 3‐D printed fractal and freeform antennas were designed in References 11 and 12. However, as another unique feature of 3‐D printing, the fully integrated manufacture has been seldom involved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fully integrated design of a probe‐fed open‐ended waveguide filtering antenna using 3‐D printing technology

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng

et al. 2021

This article presents a fully integrated design of probe-fed open-ended waveguide filtering antenna by adopting 3-D printing technology. As for the conventional processing technologies such as computer numerical control machining, they usually suffer from mutually separated parts and inquire post-processing assembly in the fabrication of complex waveguide structure. Compared with them, the 3-D printing technology can provide possibility to directly form an all-in-one architecture after reasonable design to avoid unexpected concave, thus eliminating the error caused by assembly as can as possible. In this article, the aforementioned manufacture strategy has been successfully applied to waveguide filtering antenna. By adopting a tilted setting in selective laser melting process that is a kind of 3-D printing technologies, the proposed waveguide antenna with internal structure can be fabricated without flaw and extra supporter. The probe-fed waveguide antenna is designed herein by reforming the first-and last-order cavities of a waveguidefed metal-insert filter to achieve similar filtering characteristics. This design offers a feasible example of all-in-one waveguide filtering antenna and can be extended to other waveguide components. K E Y W O R D S3-D printing technology, all-in-one architecture, selective laser melting, waveguide filtering antenna

“…During the antenna fabrication process, unavoidable geometric and material errors will ultimately affect the element patterns and array patterns. More specifically, some antennas can be fabricated by a novel technology (e.g., 3-D printing), which has the advantage of achieving a complex structure with low cost and high efficiency [13,14]. However, relative to conventional mechanical fabrication methods, this approach can produce lower precision and homogeneity [12,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taylor Expansion and Matrix-Based Interval Analysis of Linear Arrays With Patch Element Pattern Tolerance

Song

2021

IEEE Access

In this study, a novel interval analysis (IA) approach for linear arrays with element pattern tolerance is proposed. This study differentiates itself from the classic interval analysis (CIA) method because it focuses on the effects of the array element (e.g., patch) pattern tolerance on the antenna array pattern; the tolerance may be caused by fabrication errors in the element. The closed-form pattern expressions of the element (e.g., patch) and array are deduced by the interval arithmetic method. To mitigate the interval extension (also referred to as the overestimation problem) caused by the dependency problem, Taylor expansion and matrix-based interval analysis (TMIA) methods are proposed and implemented in this study. A set of numerical examples is reported and analysed to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed TMIA approach with the results of Monte Carlo (MC) and CIA methods, as well as to indicate its potential capabilities and advantages in the actual application of industrial antenna arrays.INDEX TERMS Antenna array, element pattern, interval analysis (IA), overestimation, patch, tolerance analysis.