Rotating Probe: What Is the New L‑Shaped Probe?
Release date:
2022-08-19
The rotary probe head flexible shaft assembly serves as a support structure for eddy‑current rotary probe heads used in pipeline inspection. This invention essentially develops an assembly equipped with an eddy‑current rotary probe head, intended for inspecting steam generator tubes in WWER‑type nuclear power plants. Such an assembly offers excellent flexibility while maintaining both push‑pull and rotational capabilities. The rotary probe flexible shaft assembly consists of a 3.2‑mm‑diameter flexible shaft, around which two 0.5‑mm‑diameter coaxial cables are wound. These coaxial cables are secured to the shaft at 50‑mm intervals using heat‑shrink tubing. So, what is the new L‑shaped probe?
Rotating Probe: What Is the New L‑Shaped Probe?
The rotary probe head flexible shaft assembly serves as a support structure for eddy‑current rotary probe heads used in pipeline inspection. This invention essentially develops an assembly equipped with an eddy‑current rotary probe head, intended for inspecting steam generator tubes in WWER‑type nuclear power plants. Such an assembly offers excellent flexibility while maintaining both push‑pull and rotational capabilities. The rotary probe flexible shaft assembly comprises a 3.2‑mm‑diameter flexible shaft, around which two 0.5‑mm‑diameter coaxial cables are wound. These coaxial cables are secured to the shaft at 50‑mm intervals using heat‑shrink tubing. So, what is the new L‑shaped probe?
Rotating Probe: What Is the New L‑Shaped Probe?
1. With the continuous advancement of mobile communication technologies, the requirements for antennas are becoming increasingly stringent. Broad bandwidth, dual polarization, high isolation, low profile, and compact size have emerged as essential specifications for array antennas and smart antennas in mobile communications. In recent years, L‑shaped probe‑coupled feed antennas have become a research hotspot. Their key advantages include a compact structure, low profile, high radiation efficiency, and wide bandwidth, making them well suited for use as array elements. However, when such L‑shaped probe‑fed antennas are employed to realize dual‑polarized array antennas, their inherent feed asymmetry often leads to poor port isolation and low cross‑polarization discrimination. During array assembly, it is necessary to alternately rotate individual elements to improve these performance metrics, which in turn requires rotating the probes themselves. Since conventional probes are mounted on a reflector, holes must be drilled in the reflector to position the probes. As the probes rotate, these holes must also be reoriented, resulting in an interleaved pattern on the reflector that increases the complexity of the feed network and phase‑shifter layout.
2. The novel L-shaped probe-fed antenna presented in this paper is an improved version of the conventional L-shaped probe-fed antenna. By inverting the traditional L-shaped probe and mounting it on the radiating patch, it addresses the aforementioned issues and achieves identical feeding performance without altering the dimensions of either the antenna or the probe.
3. In the conventional L‑shaped probe, the vertical section of the probe is fixed to the reflector and passes through it. The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is soldered to the vertical portion of the probe on the back side of the reflector, while the outer conductor is soldered to a mounting platform on the same surface. The horizontal section of the probe lies between the radiating patch and the reflector, running parallel to them. The structure of the conventional L‑shaped probe‑fed dual‑polarized patch antenna is shown in Figure 1, which illustrates the relative positions of the patch and the probe, as well as the soldering method for the coaxial cable.
4. The feeding principle of the improved L‑shaped probe is identical to that of the conventional L‑shaped probe; by modifying the mounting configuration, several drawbacks of the traditional design can be mitigated. The vertical segment of the probe is mounted on the radiating patch, while its horizontal segment is connected to the vertical portion and runs parallel to both the patch and the reflector. A coaxial cable passes through circular apertures in the reflector and the patch, extending above the patch; the inner conductor is soldered to the vertical segment, and the outer conductor is soldered to the soldering pad on the patch. Since the outer‑conductor solder joint on the patch is not grounded, we add a grounded metal post between the patch and the reflector to provide a ground connection for that joint. This mounting arrangement eliminates the need to drill holes in the reflector for probe alignment and concentrates all feed cables in the central region of the reflector, thereby avoiding the complications associated with reconfiguring the feed network when the element array rotates.
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