Capacitive grounding system for VHF and UHF antennas
AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsLouis Leonard Nagy, Douglas Courtney Martin, Michael Jerome Lewis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A capacitive grounding system for VHF and UHF antennas (50). An outer shield (70) of a coaxial feed cable (52) is capacitively coupled to a vehicle body panel (60) proximate an edge (74) of the body panel (60) adjacent a vehicle window opening. The feed cable (52) is attached to the body panel (60) by tape (66) or glue. The resulting capacitance between the outer shield (70) and the vehicle body panel (60) provides a very low impedance path for RF signals.
Claims18
An antenna system for a vehicle, said antenna system comprising:
- an antenna element;
- a coaxial antenna feed cable including a center conductor, a dielectric layer surrounding the center conductor, and an outer shield surrounding the dielectric layer, said center conductor being electrically coupled to the antenna element;
- and
- a vehicle body panel, said body panel including an edge proximate the antenna element, said feed cable being mounted to the body panel proximate the edge so that the outer shield is capacitively coupled to the body panel to provide an antenna ground, wherein one end of the outer shield is substantially aligned with the edge.
An antenna system for a vehicle, said antenna system comprising:
- a vehicle windshield;
- a Solar-Ray antenna formed in the windshield;
- a high frequency antenna element positioned in the windshield adjacent an upper edge of the windshield;
- a coaxial antenna feed cable including a center conductor, a dielectric layer surrounding the center conductor, and an outer shield surrounding the dielectric layer, said center conductor being capacitively coupled to the antenna element;
- and
- a vehicle body panel, said body panel including an edge proximate the antenna element, said feed cable being mounted to the body panel proximate the edge so that the outer shield is capacitively coupled to the body panel to provide an antenna ground, wherein one end of the outer shield is substantially aligned with the edge.
A method of connecting a coaxial antenna feed cable to a vehicle antenna element, said method comparing the steps of:
- mounting the cable to a vehicle body panel, wherein said body includes an edge proximate the antenna element, so that an outer shield of the cable is capacitively coupled to the body panel to provide an antenna ground, wherein one end of the outer shield is substantially aligned with the edge;
- and
- electrically coupling a center conductor of the feed cable to the antenna element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.