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EP-4742442-A1 - TELEMATICS CONTROL UNIT COMPRISING AN ANTENNA PRINTED ON A PLASTIC CARRIER

EP4742442A1EP 4742442 A1EP4742442 A1EP 4742442A1EP-4742442-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a telematics control unit (1) for a vehicle (3), said telematics control unit (1) comprising at least one antenna (10) connected to an electronic support (11), a first housing (12) and a second housing (13) that are configured to house said at least one antenna (10) and said electronic support (11), wherein it further comprises a plastic carrier (14) that is placed opposite to the electronic support (11), and wherein said at least one antenna (10) is printed on said plastic carrier (14).

Inventors

  • ATMATZAKIS, GEORGIOS
  • JAFARI, Ahmadreza

Assignees

  • Valeo Comfort and Driving Assistance

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241107

Claims (15)

  1. Telematics control unit (1) for a vehicle (3), said telematics control unit (1) comprising at least one antenna (10) connected to an electronic support (11), a first housing (12) and a second housing (13) that are configure to house said at least one antenna (10) and said electronic support (11), wherein it further comprises a plastic carrier (14) that is placed opposite to the electronic support (11), and wherein said at least one antenna (10) is printed on said plastic carrier (14).
  2. Telematics control unit (1) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one antenna (10) is metal ink printed on said plastic carrier (14).
  3. Telematics control unit (1) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said plastic carrier (14) is flat or has a curve shape.
  4. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said plastic carrier (14) forms the second housing (13) or is independent from the second housing (13).
  5. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said electronic support (11) and said first housing (12) provide ground to the at least one antenna (10).
  6. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said second housing (13) is in plastic.
  7. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said at least one antenna (10) is a full band cellular antenna.
  8. Telematics control unit (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein said full band cellular antenna (10) comprises : - a body (100), - a feeding pin (101.1) that is configured to transmit and receive power for the full band antenna cellular (10), and - a first loading pin (101.2) that is connected to a first reactive component (17) and that is configured to tune the full band cellular antenna (10) to resonate according to a frequency within a first frequency band (F1), - a ground pin (101.3) that is connected to a second reactive component (18) to generate a resonance of the full band cellular antenna (10) in a second frequency band (F2), - a second loading pin (101.4) that is connected to a third reactive component (19) and that is configured to tune the full band cellular antenna (10) to resonate according to a frequency within the first frequency band (F1).
  9. Telematics control unit (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein said body (100) comprises : - a loop (1000) that goes from the feeding pin (101.1) to the first loading pin (101.2) and a first arm (1001) that is linked to said loop (1000), said loop (1000) and said first arm (1001) being configured to create a resonance of said full band cellular antenna (10) in said first frequency band (F1).
  10. Telematics control unit (1) according to the preceding claims 8 or 9, wherein said first frequency band (F1) is a low frequency band that goes from 617Hz to 960MHz.
  11. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims 8 to 10, wherein said second frequency band (F2) goes from 1.4GHz to 5GHz.
  12. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims 7 to 11, wherein said telematics control unit (1) further comprises a NAD cellular module (NADm) on the electronic support (11) that is configured to be connected to said full-band cellular antenna (10).
  13. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said telematics control unit (1) comprises a plurality of antennas (10).
  14. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said telematics control unit (1) comprises : - a first full band cellular antenna (10 1 ) printed on the plastic carrier (22), - a second full band cellular antenna (10 2 ) printed on the plastic carrier (22), and - two middle/high band cellular antennas (12 1 , 12 2 ) printed on the plastic carrier (22) between the first cellular full band antenna (10 1 ) and the second cellular full band antenna (10 2 ).
  15. Telematics control unit (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the telematics control unit (1) is configured to be placed under the roof (30) of the vehicle (3) inside the compartment (31) of the vehicle (3), or on the roof (30) of the vehicle (3) outside the compartment (31) of the vehicle (3).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a telematics control unit for a vehicle. Such telematics control unit may be used, but not exclusively, in the automotive domain. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the automotive domain, a telematics control unit for a vehicle, known by the man skilled in the art, comprises at least one antenna printed on an electronic support. The antenna is a cellular antenna. The telematics control unit permits a connection to a base station to estimate the position of the vehicle via a triangulation. It also support voice and data connectivity within the 5G frequency band. The telematics control unit is arranged under the roof of the vehicle inside the compartment of the vehicle. It comprises a housing that is configured to house the components of the telematics control unit. The telematics control unit also integrates a cellular communication module to be connected to the cellular antenna, and often other types of antennas and other types of communication modules. These components are all supported by the electronic support. One problem of this prior art is that the telematics control unit has a housing that is limited in space and the integration of all the antennas and other components on the electronic support is complex as it must take into account not only the integration on a defined space which is the surface of the electronic support, but also the size of the compact housing of the telematics control unit. It is an object of the invention to provide a telematics control unit for a vehicle, which resolves the problem above-stated. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To this end, it is provided a telematics control unit for a vehicle, said telematics control unit comprising at least one antenna connected to an electronic support, a first housing and a second housing that are configured to house said at least one antenna and said electronic support, wherein it further comprises a plastic carrier that is placed opposite to the electronic support, and wherein said at least one antenna is printed on said plastic carrier. As we will see in details in the following, thanks to the plastic carrier, the antenna which is not anymore on the electronic support, allows to alleviate the number of components on the electronic support, and thus simplify the integration of the other components on the electronic support, while reducing its size so that it can fit in a compact housing of the telematics control unit. According to non-limitative embodiments of the invention, the telematics control unit further comprises the following characteristics. In a non-limitative embodiment, said at least one antenna is metal ink printed on said plastic carrier. In a non-limitative embodiment, said plastic carrier is flat or has a curve shape. In a non-limitative embodiment, said plastic carrier forms the second housing or is independent from the second housing. In a non-limitative embodiment, said electronic support and said first housing provide ground to the at least one antenna. In a non-limitative embodiment, said second housing is in plastic. In a non-limitative embodiment, said at least one antenna is a full band cellular antenna. In a non-limitative embodiment, said full band cellular antenna comprises : a body,a feeding pin that is configured to transmit and receive power for the full band antenna cellular, anda first loading pin that is connected to a first reactive component and that is configured to tune the full band cellular antenna to resonate according to a frequency within the first frequency band,a ground pin that is connected to a second reactive component to generate a resonance of the full band cellular antenna in a second frequency band,a second loading pin that is connected to a third reactive component and that is configured to tune the full band cellular antenna to resonate according to a frequency within the first frequency band. In a non-limitative embodiment, the body of said at least one antenna comprises : a loop that goes from the feeding pin to the first loading pin and a first arm that is linked to said loop, said loop and said first arm being configured to create a resonance of said full band cellular antenna in said first frequency band. In a non-limitative embodiment, said first reactive component, second reactive component and third reactive component are inductors or capacitors. In a non-limitative embodiment, the feeding pin is connected to a matching network. In a non-limitative embodiment, said first frequency band is a low frequency band that goes from 617Hz to 960MHz. In a non-limitative embodiment, said second frequency band goes from 1.4GHz to 5GHz. In a non-limitative variant of embodiment, said second frequency band goes from 1.7GHz to 5GHz. In a non-limitative embodiment, wherein said telematics control unit further comprises a NAD cellular module on the electronic support that is configured to be connected to said full-band cellular antenna. In a non-lim