Low-loss isolating outphasing power combiner in a radio frequency device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9935663-B1
Application number	US-201715655255-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 20, 2017
Priority date	Jul 20, 2017
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

The power combiner circuit includes a transformer having a first primary coil coupled to a first power amplifier (PA), a second primary coil coupled to a second PA, and a secondary coil. The secondary coil supplies a current to an antenna based on a first direction of a first phase of a first amplified constant-envelope signal in the first primary coil with respect to a second phase of a second amplified constant-envelope signal in the second primary coil. A first load impedance is associated with the first PA and a second load impedance is associated with the second PA. The first load impedance and the second load impedance receive currents from the first PA and second PA, respectively, based on a second direction of the first phase of the first amplified constant-envelope signal with respect to the second phase of the second amplified constant-envelope signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power combiner circuit comprising:
a transformer that includes a first primary coil, a second primary coil, and a secondary coil,
wherein the first primary coil is coupled to a first power amplifier (PA) and the second primary coil is coupled to a second PA, and
wherein the secondary coil is configured to supply a current to an antenna based on a first direction of a first phase of a first amplified constant-envelope signal in the first primary coil with respect to a second phase of a second amplified constant-envelope signal in the second primary coil; and

a first load impedance associated with the first PA and a second load impedance associated with the second PA,
wherein the first load impedance and the second load impedance are configured to receive currents from the first PA and the second PA respectively, based on a second direction of the first phase of the first amplified constant-envelope signal with respect to the second phase of the second amplified constant-envelope signal.

2. The power combiner circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first primary coil and the second primary coil of the transformer are coupled in parallel to the secondary coil of the transformer.

3. The power combiner circuit of claim 1 ,
wherein the first amplified constant-envelope signal is generated by the first PA based on a first constant-envelope signal,
wherein the second amplified constant-envelope signal is generated by the second PA based on a second constant-envelope signal, and
wherein the first constant-envelope signal and the second constant-envelope signal are received by the first PA and the second PA, respectively, from a signal decomposition block.

4. The power combiner circuit of claim 3 , wherein the first constant-envelope signal and the second constant-envelope signal are generated by the signal decomposition block based on an outphasing of a modulated input signal.

5. The power combiner circuit of claim 4 ,
wherein the modulated input signal corresponds to an arbitrary signal with variable amplitude,
wherein the first constant-envelope signal and the second constant-envelope signal correspond to constant amplitude decomposed RF signals with phases in opposite direction, and
wherein the antenna corresponds to a differential antenna or a single-ended antenna.

6. The power combiner circuit of claim 1 ,
wherein the first load impedance is coupled between first terminals of the first PA and the second PA,
wherein the second load impedance is coupled between second terminals of the first PA and the second PA, and
wherein the first load impedance and the second load impedance are adjustable.

7. A power combiner circuit comprising:
a first transformer and a second transformer,
wherein a primary coil of the first transformer is coupled to a first power amplifier (PA) and a primary coil of the second transformer is coupled to a second PA, and
wherein a secondary coil of the first transformer and a secondary coil of the second transformer are configured to supply differential currents to a polarized antenna based on a first direction of a first phase of a first amplified constant-envelope signal in the primary coil of the first transformer with respect to a second phase of a second amplified constant-envelope signal in the primary coil of the first transformer; and

a first load impedance associated with the first PA and a second load impedance associated with the second PA,
wherein the first load impedance and the second load impedance are configured to receive currents from the first PA and the second PA respectively, based on a second direction of the first phase of the first amplified constant-envelope signal with respect to the second phase of the second amplified constant-envelope signal.

8. The power combiner circuit of claim 7 , wherein the polarized antenna comprises a first pair of polarized ports and a second pair of polarized ports.

9. The power combiner circuit of claim 8 ,
wherein the first pair of polarized ports of the polarized antenna is coupled with the first PA, and
wherein the second pair of polarized ports of the polarized antenna is coupled with the second PA.

10. The power combiner circuit of claim 8 ,
wherein the first pair of polarized ports of the polarized antenna is coupled with the secondary coil of the first transformer, and the second pair of polarized ports of the polarized antenna is coupled with the secondary coil of the second transformer based on decoupling of the first transformer and the second transformer in the power combiner circuit.

11. An outphasing radio frequency (RF) transmitter comprising:
a first power amplifier (PA) and a second PA,
wherein the first PA is configured to generate a first amplified RF signal based on a received first constant-envelope signal, and
wherein the second PA is configured to generate a second amplified RF signal based on a received second constant-envelope signal;

a power combiner configured to combine the generated first amplified RF signal and the second amplified RF signal, the power combiner comprising:
a transformer that includes a first primary coil, a second primary coil, and a secondary coil,
wherein the first primary coil is coupled to the first PA and the second primary coil is coupled to the second PA, and
wherein the secondary coil is configured to supply a current to an antenna based on a first direction of a first phase of a first amplified constant-envelope signal in the first primary coil with respect to a second phase of a second amplified constant-envelope signal in the second primary coil; and

a first load impedance associated with the first PA and a second load impedance associated with the second PA,
wherein the first load impedance and the second load impedance are configured to receive currents from the first PA and the second PA respectively, based on a second direction of the first phase of the first amplified constant-envelope signal with respect to the second phase of the second amplified constant-envelope signal; and

the antenna configured to transmit the transmit an output RF signal to an outphasing RF receiver, wherein the transmitted output RF signal corresponds to a combination of the generated first amplified RF signal and the second amplified RF signal.

12. The outphasing RF transmitter of claim 11 , further comprising a signal decomposition block configured to decompose a modulated input signal into the first constant-envelope signal and the second constant-envelope signal.

13. The outphasing RF transmitter of claim 12 ,
wherein the modulated input signal corresponds to a variable amplitude modulated signal, and
wherein each of the first constant-envelope signal and the second constant-envelope signal correspond to a constant amplitude decomposed RF signal with different phases in opposite directions.

14. The outphasing RF transmitter of claim 11 , wherein the antenna corresponds to at least one of a differential antenna or a single-ended antenna.

15. An outphasing radio frequency (RF) transmitter comprising:
a first power amplifier (PA) and a second PA,
wherein the first PA is configured to generate a first amplified RF signal based on a received first constant-envelope signal, and
wherein the second PA is configured to generate a second amplified RF signal based on a received second constant-envelope signal;

a power combiner configured to combine the generated first amplified RF signal and the second amplified RF signal, the power combiner comprising:
a first transformer and a second transformer,
wherein a primary coil of the first transf

Assignees

• Movandi Corp

Inventors

• Rofougaran Ahmadreza
• Gharavi Sam
• Shirinfar Farid
• Sridharan Kartik
• Boers Michael
• Yoon Seunghwan
• Shin Donghyup
• Wu Stephen
• Rofougaran Maryam

Classifications

• H03F3/2176

  Class E amplifiers · CPC title

• H03F2203/72

  Indexing scheme relating to gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal · CPC title

• H04B2001/045

  with means for improving efficiency · CPC title

• H04B1/0458 Primary

  Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages (matching circuits in general H03H) · CPC title

• H03F2200/537

  A transformer being used as coupling element between two amplifying stages · CPC title