# US 11,909,110 B2 · Additively manufactured mesh horn antenna > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,909,110 B2 - Document ID: US11909110B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/382,288 - Filed: 2021-07-21 - Published: 2022-05-05 - Granted: 2024-02-20 - Earliest claimed: 2020-09-30 - Assignees: The Boeing Company - Applicants: The Boeing Company - Inventors: Richard W. Aston; Rachel Elizabeth Zilz; Nicole Marie Hastings; Jessica Ann Buehler - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11909110B2 ## CPC - H01Q 13/02: Waveguide horns - H01Q 13/0283: {Apparatus or processes specially provided for manufacturing horns} - B22F 5/10: of articles with cavities or holes, not otherwise provided for in the preceding subgroups - B22F 10/28: Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] - B22F 10/80: Data acquisition or data processing - B33Y 50/00: Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing - B33Y 80/00: Products made by additive manufacturing - H01Q 21/061: {Two dimensional planar arrays} - Y02P 10/25: Process efficiency - H01Q: ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS (radiators or antennas for microwave heating H05B6/72) - B22F: WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER (making alloys by powder metallurgy C22C); APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER - B33Y: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS ## Abstract An antenna device is disclosed, including an additively manufactured tubular body portion having a wall portion with a plurality of holes. The tubular body portion is configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation in a selected operating frequency range, and to have a mass below a maximum mass threshold. The plurality of holes reduce the mass of the tubular body below the maximum mass threshold without significantly adversely affecting electromagnetic radiation transmission capability of the tubular body in the selected operating frequency range. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An antenna device, comprising: an additively manufactured tubular body configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation in a selected operating frequency range, and including a wall portion having a plurality of circular holes, wherein each hole of the plurality of circular holes extends through the wall portion from a first side to a second side, and a diameter of the hole varies between the first side and the second side, wherein a minimum of the diameter of each hole is sufficiently small that the plurality of holes are effectively opaque in the operating frequency range. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein the wall portion has a thickness of at least 30 mils. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein each hole of the plurality of holes is small enough to allow printing of the wall portion without secondary support. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein each hole has a minimum diameter of less than 100 mils, and the selected operating frequency range is between 8 and 40 Gigahertz. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein each hole has a center, the centers of adjacent holes being spaced by a distance of less than 200 mils. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein the tubular body is comprised of laser sintered aluminum. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein the tubular body has a rectangular cross section. ### Claim 8 A horn antennae, comprising: tubular body portion including a plurality of planar wall portions, each wall portion having a plurality of holes, the plurality of wall portions forming a rectangular wavequide portion and a pyramidal horn portion, a stepped septum extending between two opposing wall portions of the plurality of wall portions in an internal cavity of the wavequide portion, and a base plate at a bottom end of the wavequide portion, partially occluding the internal cavity of the wavequide portion, and joined to three of the plurality of wall portions, wherein the tubular body portion, the septum, and the base plate form a single monolithic unit, and wherein the horn antenna has an operating frequency range and the holes of each plurality of holes are sized and arranged such that the pluralities of holes are effectively opaque in the operating frequency range. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The horn antennae of claim 8, wherein each hole is a circular hole through a wall portion of the tubular body portion. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The horn antenna of claim 9, wherein each hole has a diameter, and each diameter is no more than 200 mils and no less than 30 mils. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The horn antenna of claim 8, wherein the plurality of holes form a regular array. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The horn antenna of claim 8, further including a feed interface portion, wherein the tubular body portion and the feed interface portion are monolithic. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The horn antenna of claim 8, wherein the tubular body portion is configured to direct radio frequency signals. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein each hole has a maximum diameter at the first side of the wall portion, and has the minimum diameter interior to the wall portion, the minimum diameter being smaller than the maximum diameter. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The antenna device of claim 14, wherein a cross-sectional shape of each hole is symmetrical. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The antenna device of claim 1, wherein the diameter of each hole of the plurality of circular holes varies smoothly from the first side to the second side of the wall portion. ### Claim 17 (depends on 8) The horn antenna of claim 8, wherein the single monolithic unit of the tubular body portion, the septum, and the base plate is configured for printing without secondary support. ### Claim 18 (depends on 8) The horn antenna of claim 8, wherein each wall portion has a uniform thickness of at least 30 mils, and every wall portion has the same thickness. ### Claim 19 An antenna device, comprising: an additively manufactured tubular body portion including a plurality of planar wall portions, each wall portion having a regular array of circular holes through the wall portion, the plurality of wall portions forming a rectangular waveguide portion and a pyramidal horn portion, wherein: each array includes a series of regularly spaced rows, the rows being alternately offset, each hole has a center, the centers of every two adjacent holes in a row being spaced by the same distance of less than 200 mils, each hole has the same diameter, and the diameter is no more than 200 mils and no less than 30 mils, the holes of the arrays of holes account for approximately 60 percent of the surface area of the plurality of wall portions, and the antenna device has an operating frequency range and the holes are sized and arranged such that the arrays of holes are effectively opaque in the operating frequency range. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The antenna device of claim 19, wherein each hole has a diameter of no more than approximately 8 percent of a minimum expected wavelength of the operating frequency range.