FOLDED DIPOLE ANTENNA

Folded dipole antenna is made with two or more parallel and closely spaced dipole antennas connected together at their ends with one of dipole antenna centre fed. The basic dipole can be /\/2 long but folded structures shows that it forms a complex circuit. It is the heart of many advanced antenna designs because it is mechanically more rugged than a simple dipole and bandwidth is about 10% greater then the

The size of the dipole antenna is more but gain and directivity is less, so if the dipole antenna is folded and length after folding is /\/2,than its size is reduced and radiation performance improves. As the no. of dipole elements increase the impedance radiation efficiency increases. In the folded dipole antenna, when one element is center fed then other elements are inductively coupled and transfer the radiation from one dipole to adjacent dipole and amplify the radiation. As the no. of dipoles increases, the gain & directivity increases.

Z=73
SIMPLE DIPOLE

Z=273

FOLDED DIPOLE WITH TWO ELEMENTS

Z=373 FOLDED DIPOLE WITH THREE ELEMENTS

RANGE-HF,VHF,UHF,Range. Structure 1.it is a single antenna but consist of more elements . 2.The spacing between the arms is very small and is of order of /\/100. 3.When the power is fed through first then second is inductively coupled at ends. DESIGNIf the folded dipole consist of n parallel and closely spaced dipoles the impedance -

Z=n73 73impedance of dipole. n no. of parallel dipoles. z impedance of folded

dipole. Impedance of dipole depends on (a)Spacing between dipoles. (b)Radius of dipole. (c)No. of parallel arms of dipole.

When a voltage V is applied to folded dipole, it is divided equally in each arm i.e. voltage in each dipole is V/2. I V /2

V/2

ELECTRICAL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

WHEN

V/2=IZ+IZ ICurrent in dipole 1 ICurrent in dipole 2 ZSelf impedance of dipole

ZMutual impedance

1.

between 1&2. if I= I=I for equal dimensions V/2=I(Z+Z) Since two dipoles are very small and spacing is very small Z+Z V/2=2IZ Z=V/I=4Z=473 =273

In the same way for three arm antenna Z=973=373 So for n arms Z=n73 Bandwidth of folded dipole is 10% which is greater than simple dipole.

Advantages
High input impedance Greater bandwidth Low cost

Applications

Television reciever,short distance communication, radar etc.