Directional antenna for wireless motor connection

An antenna assembly for an electric motor assembly of an appliance, the antenna assembly comprising:

• a printed circuit board including an insulating layer, a first electrically conductive layer disposed on a top surface of the insulating layer, and a second electrically conductive layer disposed on a bottom surface of the insulating layer;
• an impedance matching network configured to match an electrical impedance between two impedance mismatched components, the impedance matching network including
• a balun configured to convert a first unbalanced signal to a first balanced signal and convert a second balanced signal to a second unbalanced signal, the balun including a unbalanced port to communicate the first and second unbalanced signals and a balanced port to communicate the first and second balanced signals,
• a first resistor including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal electrically connected to a first terminal of the balanced port, and
• a second resistor including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal electrically connected to a second terminal of the balanced port;
• a driven antenna element formed from the first electrically conductive layer and disposed on the top surface of the insulating layer, the driven antenna element including a body, a first arm, and a second arm, the first and second arms spaced apart from another, parallel to one another, and physically connected to opposing ends of the body, the first arm electrically connected to the second terminal of the first resistor, and the second arm electrically connected to the second terminal of the second resistor;
• and
• a parasitic antenna element formed from the second electrically conductive layer, the parasitic antenna element including a body, a first arm, and a second arm that are identical in shape and dimension to the body, the first arm, and the second arm, respectively, of the driven antenna element, the parasitic antenna element being disposed on the bottom surface of the insulating layer in alignment with the driven antenna element.

An electric motor assembly comprising:

• a housing including at least one wall formed from metal;
• an electric motor retained within the housing;
• a motor controller configured to control operation of the electric motor;
• a wireless transceiver module configured to receive data from the motor controller and transmit the data in a first unbalanced signal and to receive data in a second unbalanced signal and transmit the data to the motor controller;
• and
• an antenna assembly including
• a substrate including an insulating layer and a first electrically conductive layer disposed on a top surface of the insulating layer,
• an impedance matching network configured to match an electrical impedance between two impedance mismatched components, the impedance matching network including
• a balun configured to convert the first unbalanced signal from the wireless transceiver module to a first balanced signal and convert a second balanced signal to the second unbalanced signal for the wireless transceiver module, the balun including an unbalanced port to communicate the first and second unbalanced signals and a balanced port to communicate the first and second balanced signals,
• a first resistor including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal electrically connected to a first terminal of the balanced port, and
• a second resistor including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal electrically connected to a second terminal of the balanced port, and
• a driven antenna element formed from the first electrically conductive layer and disposed on the top surface of the insulating layer, the driven antenna element positioned in proximity to the at least one wall of the housing.