Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Reconfigurable antennas utilizing liquid metal elements
- Patent Title (中): 使用液态金属元件的可重构天线
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Application No.: US13708747Application Date: 2012-12-07
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Publication No.: US08797221B2Publication Date: 2014-08-05
- Inventor: Bedri A. Cetiner , Yasin Damgaci , Luis Jofre , Daniel Rodrigo
- Applicant: Utah State University
- Applicant Address: US UT Logan
- Assignee: Utah State University
- Current Assignee: Utah State University
- Current Assignee Address: US UT Logan
- Main IPC: H01Q3/12
- IPC: H01Q3/12 ; H01Q3/20

Abstract:
A reconfigurable antenna that utilizes liquid metal to achieve dynamic antenna performance is disclosed. The reconfigurable antenna may utilize one or more liquid metal sections that can be variably displaced. Utilizing liquid metal may reduce certain undesirable effects associated with more conventional mechanical reconfigurable antennas including mechanical failure due to material fatigue, creep, and/or wear. Precise microfluidic techniques may be utilized in the design of a reconfigurable antenna that utilizes liquid metal. The reconfigurable antenna may utilize a circular Yagi-Uda array design and include movable parasitic director and reflector elements implemented using liquid metal (e.g., mercury (Hg)). The parasitic elements may be placed and rotated in a circular microfluidic channel around a driven antenna element utilizing a flow generated and controlled by a piezoelectric micropump. The reconfigurable antenna may operate at 1800 MHz with 4% bandwidth and be capable of performing beam steering over 360° with fine tuning.
Public/Granted literature
- US20140168022A1 RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNAS UTILIZING LIQUID METAL ELEMENTS Public/Granted day:2014-06-19
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