A tuning circuit for a radio receiver

Abstract: An improved tuner for a varactor-tuned local oscillator (54) in a radio receiver includes a winding of a pair of magnetically coupled coils (32), preferably constructed in the form of a transformer. Preferably, the first and second windings (30,34) of the transformer are magnetically coupled with reduced inter-winding capacitance by axially separating the windings on a common core. The second winding (34) is selectively coupled by a switch (48) to a capacitive load (40) in order to change the inductance of the first winding. The tuning range of the resonant circuit formed by the varactor diode set (26,28) and the first winding (30) is changed when the capacitive load (40) is coupled. The magnetic coupling between the transformer windings provides DC isolation between the oscillator and the switching circuit. Preferably, a tuning actuator has overlapping ranges of movement for selection of a signal within both the AM and FM frequency bands as the intermediate frequencies for the local oscillator are generated.

Description: The present invention relates generally to radio receivers with a tuneable local oscillator that receives multiple bands of signals and, more particularly, to such a tuneable local oscillator having at least two inductors in the form of a set of coupled coils and switched capacitive load. Audio reproduction systems often include a radio receiver adapted to receive multiple bands of radio signals. For example, a radio receiver may receive both AM 540 KHz to 1710 KHz and FM 87 MHz to 108 band signals as a signal source for audio reproduction. Accordingly, a local oscillator must tune from 97.7 MHz to 118.7 MHz in order to cover FM signals from 87 MHz to 108 MHz with a 10.7 Mhz intermediate frequency. In addition, a local oscillator must tune from 11.2 MHz to 12.4 MHz in order to cover AM signals from 540 KHz to 1710 KHz, and with a 10.7 MHz intermediate frequency. Conventionally, many production audio entertainment systems include separate local oscillators for each of these ranges, contributing substantial cost and complexity to the audio system. To avoid such duplication of components, a single local oscillator may be tuned over multiple ranges for reception of AM and FM band signals. Conventional design techniques suggest one approach in which the local oscillator can tune from 97.7 MHz to 124.1 MHz, a range of 27.4 MHz, to cover both bands. For AM reception, the 112.4 MHz to 124.1 MHz signals band of the local oscillator is switched to a divider to divide the frequencies by a factor of 10 to obtain a 10.7 MHz intermediate frequency. Tuning for each band is accomplished with a varactor diode set. The difficulty with this approach is that the larger frequency range means that a reduced portion of the varactor diodes' tuning range is used for each band, resulting in increased susceptibility to noise on the varactor diodes' tuning line due to a high gain scope (MHz/volt) of the tuning line. Another approach to designing a single local oscillator is to use two coils in the local oscillator tank circuit, each coil having a different inductance. The coils are alternatively switched into the circuit for reception of the AM or FM band signals. When separate inductors are used, the capacitance of the varactor diodes used to tune the local oscillator can be made to vary over its full range for each band, and thereby reduce the gain scope (MHz/volt) and the effects of noise present on the tuning line of the varactor diode set. Unfortunately, this development increases the number of parts in the coil selection mechanism and increases the losses in the local oscillator tank circuit because many losses are associated with a switching circuit in the high current loop of a parallel resonant circuit. In addition, such a circuit does not provide DC isolation of the switching circuit form the oscillator circuit. Another conventional approach would involve adding a second varactor diode set to the tuning network acting as a switchable padder capacitor. The structure allows each tuning varactor diode set to operate throughout its their full range, but additional losses are associated with the padder diodes which reduce the oscillator tank Q. Fr-A-2 622 054 describes a pass-band filter circuit for a duplexer to be used in radiotelephony. The filter circuit includes a tuned resonant circuit including a first coil and a first fixed capacitor. The first coil is coupled magnetically to a second coil across which are serially connected a diode and second capacitor. A switching circuit is used to switch the polarity of the diode either to conduct or not to conduct. When the diode is non-conducting, the coupling between the coils is inoperative and the resonant circuit has a fixed frequency determined by the first coil alone. When the diode is conductive, the second capacitor constitutes a short circuit at the functioning frequency and the second coil reflects a reactance into the resonant circuit. The resonant circuit therefore has a second fixed frequency determined by the two coils. DE 1 291 389 B describes a radio receiver having a resonant tuning circuit including varactor diode and a set of coils. A voltage control circuit is provided to vary the voltage of the varactor diode and thereby tune the resonant circuit. The resonant frequency of the tuning circuit is also variable by means of a switching circuit that is operable to switch the number of coils that are included in the resonant tuning circuit. The present invention as claimed now provides a tuning circuit for selecting the tuning range of a varactor-tuned local oscillator by using a set of coupled coils and a selectively applied capacitive load on one of the windings. In such a circuit, changing the value of the capacitive load on one winding results in an apparent change in inductance on the other winding, thus producing the same effect as switching two different coils for changing the tuning the range available with a single varactor diode set. Since the coefficient of magnetic coupling among the coils is less than one, the current in the loop that includes the capacitive load and the switch is lower than the current in the other winding. Accordingly, a lower current in the switching loop leads to reduced I 2 R power losses in the switch and the capacitive load, as compared to switching two inductors in and out of a tuning loop carrying a high current. As a result, this tuner maintains a high tank circuit Q. In addition, the magnetic coupling between the coils provides DC isolation between the oscillator and the switching circuits. As a result, the present invention provides better electrical performance and reduced costs over previously known approaches for tuning a single local oscillator or using multiple local oscillators in radio receivers. In addition, the present invention as claimed provides a method for receiving radio signals in multiple bands of radio signals by tuning a resonant tank circuit with coupled inductors and a capacitive load applied to one of the windings. The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic and partly diagrammatic view of a radio receiver system with the tuning circuit constructed according to the present invention; Figures 2a and 2b are schematic representations of the performance of the tank circuit constructed in accordance with the present invention; Figure 3 is a graphic representation of the tuning performance shown in Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a preferred transformer construction for a tuner constructed in accordance with the present invention. Referring first to Figure 1, a radio receiver system having a tuning circuit according to the present invention is shown comprising the front end 12 adapted to receive the signal from antenna 14 for generation of appropriate intermediate frequency signal to the signal detector for eventual reproduction of an audio signal representative of information signals received at the antenna 14. The front end 12 includes a tuning input 20, for example, a rotation knob potentiometer 22, that enables the user to particularly select the signal whose information is to be audibly reproduced within a selected band of radio signals. The voltage control 22 governs the operation of the varactor tuning circuit 24. The tuning circuit 24 comprises a set of varactor diodes 26 and 28 coupled in a tank circuit configuration with an inductor. The inductor comprises a first winding 30 of the coupled coils 32 having a second winding 34. Preferably, as shown in Figure 4, the windings 30 and 34 are magnetically coupled by a common core. In addition, the windings 30 and 34 are preferably axially spaced apart so that a reduced capacitance, represented diagrammatically at 38 in Figure 4, is induced by the coupling between the windings 30 and 34 and avoids the increased capacitance that would occur if the windings were overlapping. A circuit loop for the winding 34 includes a capacitive load 40, for example, a selected load capacitor 42, and an intrinsic physical implementation capacitance 44 representative of stray capacitance in the circuit from the winding 34 to ground. The capacitive load 42 is applied to a winding 34 by a switch 46. The switch 46, preferably a transistor 48 that is preferably switched on by application of a signal 50, is actuated in response to a user's manipulation of an AM-FM selector switch 62. The change in input impedance 52, that is input to the IC 64 that forms the local oscillator, may generally be characterised as a decrease in inductance when the capacitive load 42 is coupled to the winding 34. This effect may be represented by the equation: where: ω 0 = 1 L 2 C where ω is a selected measurement frequency input, for example, 130 MHz, ω 0 is the resonant frequency of the loop formed by coil 34 and the capacitive load 40, L 1 is the inductance of the winding 30, L 2 is the inductance of the winding 34, and m is the mutual inductance among windings 30 and 34. Accordingly, it will be understood that the effect of capacitance in the circuit loop with the second winding 34 is to increase the apparent inductance 35 of coupled coils 32 when the received signal is below the resonant frequency of the resonant circuit combining winding 34 with capacitive load 40. This effect simulates the addition of an inductance 31 as shown in Figure 2B. Likewise, capacitance 40 reduces the apparent inductance 35 when the signal frequency is above the resonant frequency and effects a subtraction of an inductance 31. Each of these effects are shown schematically in Figure 2, and the functional effect of coupling the load capacitor 42 in and out is graphically represented in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows the apparent inductance 35 applied at terminals 52, the primary terminals of a set of magnetically coupled coils, as a function of load capacitance 40, comprised of capacitances 42 and 44, measured at a fixed frequency. The inductance coupled to terminals 52 is larger when load capacitor 42 is switched out, as compared to when it is switched in. Figure 3 shows the inductance measured under varying capacitive load conditions with the measurement frequency held constant. If there is no capacitance whatsoever present in the circuit 40, the inductance measured is that of the winding 30 alone. This inductance is shown by the horizontal dotted line in Figure 3. Equations (1) and (2) show the effect of having no capacitance for 40 when C is equal to zero. When C is zero, the value of ω 0 is infinity, as shown in Equation (2). When this value is substituted into Equation (1), the second term becomes zero, resulting in an inductive impedance seen at terminals 52 is simply jωL. Further examination of Figure 3 shows that the resonant point for the circuit comprised of the secondary winding 34 and the load capacitance 40, occurs in the middle of the capacitive load range shown in Figure 3 at the fixed frequency where the measurements were made. Notice that when the load capacitance is only 44, i.e., when the switch 46 is open, the apparent inductance measured at terminals 52 is higher than that of winding 30 alone. The inductance is higher because the resonant frequency of the tank comprised of the winding 34 and capacitive load 44 is higher than the measurement frequency. This can be seen in Equation (1), when ω 0 is greater than ω. When this condition is true, the denominator of the second term is negative, resulting in inductance being added to L 1 . When load 42 is switched in, the resonant frequency of the tank circuit, comprised of the winding 34 and load capacitance 44 + 42, is lowered. In fact, the resonant frequency of the tank circuit lowered below the measurement frequency, and the apparent inductance measured at terminals 52 is lower than the inductance of winding 30 alone. The lowered inductance can also be seen by examining Equation (1). When ω 0 is less than ω, the denominator of the second term is net positive, which results in inductance being subtracted from L 1 . As a result, the local oscillator is tuned for FM reception when the capacitive load 42 is not applied to the winding 34. Likewise, the local oscillator is tuned for AM reception when the capacitive load 42 is applied to the winding 34. As a result, the tuner limits the local oscillator frequency range to between 97.7 MHz to 118.7 MHz when the capacitive load 42 is not applied to the winding 34. In contrast, when the capacitive load 42 is applied to the winding 34, the local oscillator frequency range is limited to between 112.4 MHz to 124.1 MHz. This is the range for AM radio reception. As best shown in Figure 1, the output of the local oscillator 54 is sent to a frequency divider 56. The frequency division ratio is selected to be either 1 or 10 by actuation of the AM-FM selector switch 62 that provides the signal 50 to operate switch 46 in tuning circuit 24. In the preferred embodiment, the local oscillator output 80 in the range of 97.7 MHz to 118.7 MHz is divided by one for reception of FM signals. The local oscillator output 80 in the range of 112.4 MHz and 124.1 MHz would be divided by 10 in order to provide an appropriate intermediate frequency, for example, 10.7 MHz output 58 to a signal detector 60. In the preferred embodiment, the FM IF amplifier and detector are separated from the AM IF amplifier and detector for convenience in using different bandwidth crystals in the detector circuit 60. Referring again to Figure 1, the inductors and capacitors are preferably selected to provide an overlapping range of movement on an actuator 70 to be used with the tuner 20. For example, as shown in Figure 1, the rotary potentiometer 22 includes the knob 72 that is rotatable through a first range of movement 74 for FM reception and has a range of movement overlapping with a second range of displacement 76 used in tuning the receiver for AM reception. The overlapping portion of the ranges of movement substantially simplifies the tuning activity required by the radio user. The degree of overlap is expanded throughout the range of varactor tuning by using the switched inductance without the disadvantages of switching high current inductors. The overlap is substantially increased compared to use of a single inductor tuneable across the entire 98 MHz to 124 MHz range.

Claims: An improved tuning circuit for radio receivers, comprising: a local oscillator (54) having a resonant tuning circuit including a varactor diode set (26,28); a voltage control (22,70) coupled to the varactor diode set to vary the tuning of the resonant tuning circuit; the tuning circuit comprising a set of at least two coils (32) having a first winding and a second winding (30,34) and a switch (46) to change the frequency band of the tuning circuit; characterised in that ; the second winding (34) is included in a resonant circuit loop that also incorporates a capacitive load (42), a first terminal of the capacitive load being connected to the second winding; the switch (46) comprises a switching transistor connected between a second terminal of the capacitive load (42) and earth to selectively couple said capacitive load (42) into and out of said resonant circuit loop thereby to switch the resonant frequency ω 0 of the resonant circuit loop between a higher value and a lower value, the set of coils (32) are magnetically coupled such that the apparent inductance of the first winding (30), and therefore the frequency band to which the said oscillator (54) is tuned, is dependent upon the resonant frequency ω 0 of the resonant circuit loop containing the second winding (34), and the frequency band within which the said oscillator (54) can be tuned when the capacitive load (42) is coupled into the resonant circuit loop overlaps the frequency band within which the oscillator (54) can be tuned when the capacitive load (42) is not coupled into the resonant circuit loop. A circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first and second windings (30,34) comprise primary and secondary windings wound on a common core. A circuit as claimed in claim 2, wherein said primary and secondary windings (30,34) are axially spaced along said common core. A circuit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 further comprising a frequency divider (56). A method of tuning a radio receiver, comprising: tuning a local oscillator (54) by means of a resonant tuning circuit including a varactor diode set (26,28) and a set of at least two coils (32) having a first winding and a second winding (30,34); applying a voltage control (22,70) to the varactor diode set to vary the tuning of the resonant tuning circuit; and providing a switch (46) operable to change the frequency band of the tuning circuit; characterised by ; including the second winding (34) in a resonant circuit loop that also incorporates a capacitive load (42), a first terminal of the capacitive load being connected to the second winding; the step of providing a switch (46) comprising providing a switching transistor connected between a second terminal of the capacitive load (42) and earth; operating the switch (46) to selectively couple the capacitive load (42) into and out of said resonant circuit loop thereby to switch the resonant frequency ω 0 of the resonant circuit loop between a higher value and a lower value, magnetically coupling the set of coils (32) such that the apparent inductance of the first winding (30), and therefore the frequency band to which the said oscillator (54) is tuned, is dependent upon the resonant frequency ω 0 of the resonant circuit loop containing the second winding (34), and the step of tuning the said oscillator (54) includes tuning the oscillator within a first frequency band when the capacitive load (42) is coupled into the resonant circuit loop and tuning the oscillator within a second frequency band that overlaps the first frequency band when the capacitive load (42) is not coupled into the resonant circuit loop. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said voltage control (22,70) comprises an actuator (70) having a range of movement, and wherein said oscillator tuning step comprises moving said actuator (70) in an overlapping portion of said range of movement for each of said first and second bands. A method as claimed in claim 5 or 6, further comprising frequency dividing the output from the oscillator (54) in one of said first and second bands.

Inventors: KENNEDY JOHN FRANCIS, KUO YAO HSIEN, ROBERTS HOWARD GRAEME, TILLO II, KENNEDY, JOHN FRANCIS, KUO, YAO HSIEN, ROBERTS, HOWARD GRAEME, TILLO II, EDMUND JOE
Applicants: FORD MOTOR CO, FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Application year: 1996
Main classification: H03J5
IPC codes: H03B1, H03J5