Focusing device comprising a Luneberg lens including a homogeneous volume of dielectric and method material for making such a lens
AssigneeThomson Licensing
InventorsPatrice Hirtzlin, Christian Yves Allaire, Ali Louzir, Luc Pagnier
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Abstract
The invention relates to a focusing device comprising a Luneberg lens comprising a homogeneous volume of dielectric. It is characterized in that the dielectric comprises a granular agglomerate defined by a homogeneous granule size distribution of thermoplastic granules, at least one plurality of these granules being welded together by granule boundaries in order to keep said volume consolidated. Particular application to lenses for the tracking of nongeostationary satellites, of at least one geostationary satellite, or for use in an MMDS system.
Claims24
A focussing device comprising a Luneberg lens comprising a homogeneous volume of dielectric, comprising a granular agglomerate defined by a homogeneous granule size distribution of thermoplastic granules wherein at least one plurality of these granules being welded together by granule boundaries obtained by a partial melting of these granules in order to keep said volume consolidated.
A process for manufacturing a Luneberg lens comprising a homogeneous volume of dielectric, comprising a step of forming said volume, wherein the volume comprises a granular agglomerate defined by a homogeneous size distribution of thermoplastic granules and in that said process comprises the following steps:
- a step of heating the volume in order to raise the temperature of at least one outer layer of the volume to a transition temperature between the softening temperature of said material and the melting point of the material, the outer layer representing the outer layer of the volume extended into the volume to a predetermined depth and the transition temperature being defined by a phase change toward a viscous phase of at least part of said outer layer over said depth;
- a step of cooling said outer layer in order to harden said outer layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.