System and method for providing an interchangeable dielectric filter within a waveguide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9077062-B2
Application number	US-201313784292-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2013
Priority date	Mar 2, 2012
Publication date	Jul 7, 2015
Grant date	Jul 7, 2015

Abstract

A system including a first dielectric filter including a plurality of resonators, a second dielectric filter including a plurality of resonators, and a hollow waveguide configured to receive the first dielectric filter or the second dielectric filter by separating the hollow waveguide into at least a first part and a second part. A width of the plurality of resonators matches a width of a groove within the hollow waveguide to allow insertion of the first dielectric filter or the second dielectric filter into the hollow waveguide where sides of the resonators are in contact with inner sides of the groove of the hollow waveguide. Another embodiment of a system and a method are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a dielectric filter including a single dielectric slab shaped to define a plurality of dielectric resonators separated and coupled by irises defined by slots formed in the dielectric slab, including a first end iris and a second end iris, the irises are electrically conductive coated except an end wall face of the first end iris and an end wall face of the second end iris and each resonator having a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall;
and
a hollow waveguide having a groove configured to receive the dielectric filter and provide metal on or proximate to the top wall, the side walls and the bottom wall of the plurality of dielectric resonators, the hollow waveguide configured to provide access to the groove to interchange the dielectric filter;
wherein a width of the plurality of resonators fits a width of the groove within the hollow waveguide to allow insertion and removal of the dielectric filter into and out of the hollow waveguide where the top, side and bottom walls of the resonators are in contact with inner sides of the groove of the hollow waveguide.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the hollow waveguide is not permanently physically altered to accept the dielectric filter and includes a first art and a second part where the first part and the second part are separable to provide access to the groove for insertion and removal of the dielectric filter.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the first end iris and the second end iris provides matching elements to couple energy into and energy out from the dielectric filter and wherein coupling into the dielectric filter is by the hollow waveguide.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the end wall face of the first end iris is a first exposed dielectric face and the end wall face of the second end iris is a second exposed dielectric face, the first exposed dielectric face configured to provide an input for coupling energy into the dielectric filter and the second exposed dielectric face configured to provide an output for coupling energy out from the dielectric filter.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the first and the second end irises are exclusive of any coupling structure.

6. A system comprising:
a hollow waveguide having a cavity and configured to interchange a dielectric filter within the cavity; and
each dielectric filter configured to fit within the cavity to provide a center frequency, a bandwidth, an impedance or a rejection characteristic for the hollow waveguide, said each dielectric filter comprises a single dielectric slab shaped to define a plurality of dielectric resonators separated and coupled by irises defined by slots formed in the dielectric slab, including a first end iris and a second end iris, the irises are electrically conductive coated except an end wall face of the first end iris and an end wall face of the second end iris and each resonator having a top wall, side walls and, a bottom wall;
wherein the system is configured to change the center frequency, the bandwidth, the impedance, or the rejection characteristic for the hollow waveguide by interchanging the dielectric filter from within the cavity with another dielectric filter which fits the cavity.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the cavity of the hollow waveguide is not physically altered to accept said each dielectric filter.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the hollow waveguide is configured to separate into at least a first part and a second part to receive said each dielectric filter.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein a width of said each dielectric filter fits a width of the cavity within the hollow waveguide to allow insertion into the hollow waveguide where the top, side and bottom walls are in contact with inner sides of the cavity of the hollow waveguide.

10. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the cavity provides metal on or proximate to the top, side and bottom walls of the plurality of dielectric resonators.

11. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the hollow waveguide includes an upper half and a lower half where the upper half and the lower half are separable to provide access to the cavity for replacement of the dielectric filter from within the cavity.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the end wall face of the first end iris is a first exposed dielectric face and the end wall face of the second end iris is a second exposed dielectric face, the first exposed dielectric face configured to provide an input for coupling energy into the dielectric filter and the second exposed dielectric face configured to provide an output for coupling energy out from the dielectric filter.

13. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the first and second end irises are exclusive of any coupling structure.

14. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the first end iris and the second end iris have a common height and width with respect to the plurality dielectric resonators.

15. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the hollow waveguide comprises a split block waveguide or an open waveguide wherein the cavity in the open waveguide is a channel.

16. A method comprising:
configuring a hollow waveguide to receive a dielectric filter within a cavity with a machine;
providing a first dielectric filter configured to fit within the cavity to provide a first center frequency, a first bandwidth, a first impedance or a first rejection characteristic for the hollow waveguide and a second dielectric filter configured to fit within the cavity to provide a second center frequency, a second bandwidth, a second impedance or a second rejection characteristic for the hollow waveguide, the first dielectric filter and the second dielectric filter are designed with a software simulation package; and
replacing the first dielectric filter with the second dielectric filter without making a permanent change to a dimension of the cavity of the waveguide to accommodate the second dielectric filter wherein each of the first dielectric filter and the second dielectric filter comprises a single dielectric slab shaped to define a plurality of dielectric resonators separated and coupled by irises defined by slots formed in the dielectric slab, including a first end iris and a second end iris, the irises are electrically conductive coated except and wall face of the first end iris and an end wall face of the second end iris and each resonator having a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein replacing the first dielectric filter further comprises separating the hollow waveguide into at least a first part and a second part to replace the first dielectric filter with the second dielectric filter.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the first dielectric filter and the second dielectric filter have different lengths.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the first dielectric filter and the second dielectric filter have a different number of dielectric resonators.

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Brady Vernon T

Classifications

• H01P1/2002 Primary

  Dielectric waveguide filters (H01P1/212, H01P1/213, H01P1/215, H01P1/219 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01P1/2084 Primary

  with dielectric resonators · CPC title

• H01P1/205

  Comb or interdigital filters; Cascaded coaxial cavities (H01P1/203 takes precedence) · CPC title