Vehicular slot antenna concealed in exterior trim accessory
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorsAndrew Adrian, Timothy J. Talty, Bruce R. Jones
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicular radio reception antenna is concealed within a body trim piece such as a spoiler or a luggage rack. A supporting body panel is utilized as a ground plane and a conductive loop is concealed within the trim piece. A transmission line connects two opposite sides of the resulting slot. Capacitors are used to connect the conducting loop to the sheet metal ground plane in order to form a dual slot/monopole antenna for receiving both FM and AM signals.
Claims9
A multi-band vehicular antenna for receiving signals in first and second radio-frequency bands, said antenna comprising:
- a sheet metal ground plane;
- a body trim piece elevated over said ground plane;
- a conducting loop passing through said trim piece and connected to said ground plane at first and second points, whereby said conducting loop circumscribes a slot area between said sheet metal ground plane and said conducting loop;
- a transmission line having first and second conductors, said first conductor being connected to said ground plane at a third point, and said second conductor being connected to said conducting loop at a fourth point located along said slot area between said first and second points and
- first and second capacitors coupling said conducting loop to said sheet metal ground plane at said first and second points, respectively, said capacitors providing a low impedance to said first band and a relatively higher impedance to said second band so that said antenna operates in a slot antenna mode in said first band and in a monopole antenna mode in said second band.
A dual slot/monopole antenna for a vehicle, comprising:
- a slot formed between a sheet metal body panel and a conducting loop suspended over said sheet metal body panel, said conducting loop having opposite ends coupled to said sheet metal body panel through a pair of capacitors, said slot having a predetermined length;
- and
- a transmission line having a first conductor connected to said sheet metal body panel and a second conductor connected to said conducting loop at a point located between said opposite ends;
- said dual slot/monopole antenna functioning as a slot antenna at frequencies where said capacitors provide a low impedance and functioning as a monopole antenna at frequencies where said capacitors provide a relatively higher impedance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.