US-20260128522-A1 - ELECTRONIC DEVICE

Abstract

Described herein is an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, wherein within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components is located a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material.

Inventors

• Kresten Lukas Coffey NIELSEN
• Kieren Peter RASMUSSEN
• Johann ZANK

Assignees

• ORICA INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20231006

Priority Date

20221007

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, wherein within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components is located a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material.
2. 2 . The electronic device according to claim 1 for use in mining, quarrying, construction, tunnelling, geotechnical monitoring and engineering operations.
3. 3 . The electronic device according to claim 1 that is selected from an explosives initiator, a monitor device, a sensor device, a location device, a beacon, a tracking device, a communications device and combinations thereof.
4. 4 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna is a coil antenna.
5. 5 . The electronic device according to claim 4 , wherein the coil antenna is a conductive metal coil antenna and the conductive metal comprises copper, steel, aluminium, tin, nickel, silver, gold and combinations thereof.
6. 6 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna is a helical coil antenna.
7. 7 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more electronic components are selected from resistors, diodes, transistors, capacitors, microprocessors, batteries, inductors, sensors, accelerometers, circuit boards, connectors and wires.
8. 8 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more electronic components are located wholly within the cavity.
9. 9 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more electronic components are located partly within the cavity.
10. 10 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field permeable composite encases the at least part of the one or more electronic components located within the cavity.
11. 11 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field permeable composite substantially fills the cavity and has the one or more electronic components partially of fully embedded therein.
12. 12 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field permeable composite substantially fills the cavity and has all of the one or more electronic components encapsulated therein.
13. 13 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the binder material comprises polymer, cement, plaster or bitumen.
14. 14 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the particulate magnetisable material is selected from iron, nickel, zinc, manganese, strontium, barium, chromium, cobalt, gadolinium, oxides or oxyhydroxides of any of the aforementioned, and mixtures or alloys of any of the aforementioned.
15. 15 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the particulate magnetisable material is a ferrite.
16. 16 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the particulate magnetisable material has a polydisperse particle size.
17. 17 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field permeable composite has a relative magnetic permeability of at least 2.
18. 18 . A method of producing an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, the method comprising locating within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material.
19. 19 . The method according claim 18 , wherein upon locating the magnetic field permeable composite in the cavity the antenna is used to generate a magnetic field to promote positioning and/or alignment of the particulate magnetisable material within the binder material located in the cavity.
20. 20 . A method of improving antenna signal detection or output performance of an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, the method comprising locating within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material, wherein the improved signal detection or output is that relative to the same electronic device absent the magnetic field permeable composite

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in general to electronic devices and in particular to electronic devices that have an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many electronic devices make use of an antenna for receiving and/or sending a signal. The antennas employed are often of a type that detect/generate a magnetic field and they are commonly present in the form of a coil structure. In addition to an antenna, such electronic devices will typically contain one or more other electronic components. Key design features for consideration when developing such electronic devices include performance, efficiency, cost and physical form. As a general rule, it is desirable to design the electronic devices so as to have optimum performance and efficiency within as compact physical form as possible. Coil based antenna systems typically present an internal cavity defined by the coil structure. To reduce the physical form of a given electronic device one option in theory is to locate one or more electronic components of the device partially or fully within the cavity defined by the coil structure. However, in practice doing so presents a number of disadvantages. For example, magnetic flux associated with the magnetic field generated by the antenna will interact with an electronic component located within the cavity defined by the coil structure and generate eddy currents. The so formed eddy currents can generate resistive losses that transform at least some of the energy input into heat. The net result of that resistive effect reduces the device performance in terms of magnetic field strength at a point away from the device, and power efficiency. The eddy currents also increase the impedance of the antenna, so that a larger driving voltage is required to produce the same current in the antenna coil. In a lumped-element model of the antenna circuit, the additional impedance appears as a so-called “external resistance”. This external resistance is equivalent to an additional resistance in series with the antenna circuit. In a similar way, magnetic flux associated with an external magnetic field detected by the device will interact with an electronic component located within the cavity defined by the coil structure and generate eddy currents. These eddy currents create their own magnetic field, which acts to oppose the externally applied field and reduce the signal appearing at the device's receiver. If the device coil is in a resonant tuned configuration, the external resistance decreases the quality factor (Q factor) of the antenna circuit. This reduces the “resonant step-up” in the antenna and hence the voltage at the device's receiver is lower. Addition of a magnetisable filler also has the well-known benefit of concentrating the flux associated with the external magnetic field such that there is a greater magnetic flux density within the antenna coil. To avoid such reductions in performance and efficiency, such electronic devices are commonly designed to minimise the formation of such eddy currents by locating eddy current causing electronic components outside of the cavity defined by the coil and suitably distant at least from the most intense part of the magnetic field. In other words, optimising the physical form of the device is typically sacrificed in preference to maintaining acceptable performance and efficiency. An opportunity therefore remains to rethink the design principles of electronic devices having antennas that detect or generate a magnetic field to enable greater flexibility in optimising the physical form of the device while still maintaining acceptable performance, cost and efficiency. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, wherein within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components is located a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material. The present invention also provides a method of producing an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within which is located at least part of one or more electronic components, the method comprising locating within the cavity and in between the antenna and the at least part of the one or more electronic components a magnetic field permeable composite, the magnetic field permeable composite comprising a binder material and particulate magnetisable material. The present invention further provides a method of improving antenna signal detection or output performance of an electronic device having an antenna that detects or generates a magnetic field, the antenna defining a cavity within