Qin Peng, Wang Lei, Liu Tian-Ying, Wang Qian-Yu, Fu Jun-Heng, Huang Guan-Long, Gui Lin, Liu Jing, Deng Zhong-Shan
CAS Key Laboratory of Cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 5;21(5):1793. doi: 10.3390/s21051793.
This communication provides an integrated process route of smelting gallium-based liquid metal (GBLM) in a high vacuum, and injecting GBLM into the antenna channel in high-pressure protective gas, which avoids the oxidation of GBLM during smelting and filling. Then, a frequency-reconfigurable antenna, utilizing the thermal expansion characteristic of GBLM, is proposed. To drive GBLM into an air-proof space, the thermal expansion characteristics of GBLM are required. The dimensions of the radiating element of the liquid metal antenna can be adjusted at different temperatures, resulting in the reconfigurability of the operating frequency. To validate the proposed concept, an -band antenna prototype was fabricated and measured. Experimental results demonstrate that the GBLM in the antenna was well filled, and the GBLM was not oxidized. Due to the GBLM being in an air-proof channel, the designed liquid metal antenna without electrolytes could be used in an air environment for a long time. The antenna is able to achieve an effective bandwidth of over 1.25-2.00 GHz between 25 °C and 100 °C. The maximum radiation efficiency and gain in the tunable range are 94% and 2.9 dBi, respectively. The designed antenna also provides a new approach to the fabrication of a temperature sensor that detects temperature in some situations that are challenging for conventional temperature sensing technology.
本文介绍了一种在高真空环境下熔炼镓基液态金属（GBLM），并在高压保护气体中将GBLM注入天线通道的集成工艺路线，该路线避免了GBLM在熔炼和填充过程中的氧化。然后，提出了一种利用GBLM热膨胀特性的频率可重构天线。为了将GBLM驱动到气密空间，需要GBLM的热膨胀特性。液态金属天线辐射单元的尺寸可以在不同温度下进行调整，从而实现工作频率的可重构性。为了验证所提出的概念，制作并测量了一个频段天线原型。实验结果表明，天线中的GBLM填充良好，且GBLM未被氧化。由于GBLM处于气密通道中，所设计的无电解质液态金属天线可以在空气环境中长期使用。该天线在25℃至100℃之间能够实现超过1.25 - 2.00 GHz的有效带宽。在可调范围内，最大辐射效率和增益分别为94%和2.9 dBi。所设计的天线还为制造温度传感器提供了一种新方法，该温度传感器可在一些传统温度传感技术面临挑战的情况下检测温度。
