Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J23/00—Details of transit-time tubes of the types covered by group H01J25/00
  • H01J23/36—Coupling devices having distributed capacitance and inductance, structurally associated with the tube, for introducing or removing wave energy
  • H01J23/54—Filtering devices preventing unwanted frequencies or modes to be coupled to, or out of, the interaction circuit; Prevention of high frequency leakage in the environment
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J23/00—Details of transit-time tubes of the types covered by group H01J25/00
  • H01J23/16—Circuit elements, having distributed capacitance and inductance, structurally associated with the tube and interacting with the discharge

Definitions

• the invention relates to microwave tubes, in particular the 5 klystrons or the TOP (traveling wave tubes).
• FIG. 1 represents a simplified diagram of a microwave electronic tube essentially comprising three main subassemblies an electron gun 12, a microwave structure 14 and a collector 16.
• the electron gun 12 comprises a cathode 18 generating a beam of electrons 20 in the microwave structure 14 where the interaction takes place between the electron beam 20 and an electromagnetic wave created in the microwave structure. More precisely, the electron beam gives up part of its energy to the electromagnetic wave.
• the collector 16 thermally dissipates the kinetic energy of the electrons of the beam 20 remaining after interaction with the electromagnetic wave.
• the electrons emitted by the cathode are accelerated under a voltage Vo applied between the cathode and the anode of the tube and are characterized by a current Ia.
• the microwave structure is made up of resonant cavities and sliding tubes in the case of klystrons and a helix or coupled cavities in the case of a TOP.
• the microwave structure of the TOP comprises an inlet window 22, on the side of the barrel of the tube, for injecting the power to be amplified Pe into the structure and an outlet window 24, on the side of the collector, for extracting the outlet power Ps amplified.
• These input and output windows are dielectric members, often alumina, which transmit, almost without losses, in the operating frequency band of the tube, the microwave input power Pe, towards the interior of the structure, and the power output Ps, to the outside of the structure, as the case may be, while isolating the inside of the tube 35 under vacuum (residual pressure ⁇ 1 ⁇ orr) from the outside atmosphere.
• Another equally essential sub-assembly of the tube is a magnetic circuit 40 (see FIG.
• An ion pump 42 shown in Figure 1, is used to maintain the vacuum inside the tube; it is not always necessary.
• the manifold 16 is a hollow cylinder, as shown in FIG. 1.
• the beam electrons bombard the internal walls 44 of the collector 16, which heat up.
• the heat is then evacuated by the external walls of the collector which are cooled according to the power densities considered by forced air, by water circulation, by radiation.
• the collector is at the potential of the body of the structure 14 of the tube, that is to say of the mass, the cathode being at the potential -Vo.
• FIG. 2 shows a partial view of a TOP comprising a microwave structure 50 having coupled cavities 52 and a manifold 58 attached to the microwave structure 50 electrically isolated from the body of the tube, and in particular from an upper pole piece 60, by a directory insulator 62.
• the collector is isolated from the body by the insulator 62, for example ceramic, often alumina (see Figure 2).
• Figures 3a and 3b schematically represent the electrical connections of the different elements of the tube of FIG. 1, with the Al 70 power supplies. It is the body of the tube which, generally, is connected directly to the ground M or to the ground, and this for practical reasons, because it is naturally connected to outdoor installation by the input and output waveguides, often by the armature of the electromagnet, and sometimes by the tuning systems of the cavities, thermal probes.
• the collector's hydraulic connections, when they exist, must then be sufficiently insulating to force the Icoll current not to take them as a return path to the + pole of the supply, via earth.
• the collector is isolated from the body by an annular ceramic 62 (FIG. 2), or any other insulator, in general, which plays several important roles:
• this body 60-collector 58 isolation appears, from the microwave point of view, as a true radial line, itself composed of several lines of different impedances Z1, Z2, ... Zi in series.
• FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of the space Gd of connection between a body 80 and the collector 82 of a microwave tube.
• This space is presented as a series of lines of impedances Z1, Z2, Z3 in series between the inside and the outside of the tube.
• the value of these impedances is related to the geometric characteristics (h, d %) of the lines and to the presence or absence of ceramic insulation ( ⁇ o, ⁇ ).
• the presence of electromagnetic energy at the inlet of the collector may be due to leaks from the outlet cavity (or the propeller), although the sliding tube connecting it to the collector either at the cut-off at the operating frequency F and, generally, at 2. F. But this tube is often too short then allowing transmission by evanescent mode.
• This electromagnetic energy can also come from one of the many resonances of the collector excited at F, 2. F ... by the electron beam, still a little modulated.
• the radial guide can reduce to the level of the electron beam an impedance Zed sufficient for the beam, still a little modulated, to yield microwave energy to it, at a low, non-negligible level, which is then radiated outwards via the radial guide between body and collector.
• the specifications often impose a very low microwave leakage level, for example Pr ⁇ 0.1 mw / cm 2 to 10 cm from any external surface of the tube.
• Pr the parasitic radiated power Pr, which comes from the input of the collector via the body / collector isolation, comparable to a radial guide.
• the invention provides a microwave tube comprising an electron gun generating an electron beam in a cylindrical microwave structure of the tube, the microwave structure providing an output with a microwave wave, an electron collector of the beam comprising at least one electrode being mechanically connected to the microwave structure by a dielectric, the mechanical connection forming a radial guide for propagation of parasitic microwave radiation from the tube, characterized in that that, to attenuate the parasitic radiation of the tube, the radial guide comprises at least one quarter-wave microwave trap having, at at least the operating frequency F of the tube, an open circuit for the microwave wave propagating in said radial guide propagation of parasitic radiation.
• ⁇ / 4 traps at the level of the radial guide appearing in the mechanical connection between the body of the tube containing the microwave structure and the collector.
• These guides are those used, for example, on the connection flanges of waveguides or in the mounting of antennas or detector crystals.
• the radial guide comprises a microwave trap at the operating frequency F of the tube having a cylindrical groove collinear with the axis of revolution ZZ 'of the tube opening into said radial guide for connecting the body with the manifold of the tube.
• the radial guide comprises another microwave trap at frequency 2.
• F having another cylindrical groove collinear with the axis of revolution ZZ 'of the tube opening into said radial guide connecting the body with the manifold of the tube.
• collectors There is another type of collector which is not only isolated from the body but also composed of several electrodes, each being brought to an intermediate potential between -Vo and ground. The potentials are then chosen so that the electrons are braked before their impact on the internal walls and so that the dissipated thermal power is as small as possible. After interaction, the dispersion of the speeds at the input of the collector is important: this is why there are several electrodes, each slowing down the electrons occupying this or that part of the speed spectrum.
• This technique called “depressed collectors” is mainly applied to air-cooled or radiation-cooled TWTs. It allows a significant increase in efficiency by reducing the dissipated power, equal to Vo.lo without a depressed collector, as we saw earlier.
• the proposed invention applies to all types of collectors, in particular, between the different electrodes of the “depressed” type collectors, comprising several electrodes connected mechanically, each connection between two consecutive electrodes forming a radial guide for propagation of microwave frequencies.
• parasitic (Pr) of the tube in addition to the microwave trap between the body and a first electrode, and to attenuate the parasitic radiation of the tube, the radial guide between two consecutive electrodes comprises at least one quarter-wave microwave trap having, at least the operating frequency F of the tube, an open circuit for the microwave wave propagating in said radial guide of propagation of parasitic radiation.
• the following presentation will refer to a collector "not depressed", that is to say standard, for the sake of simplification of the presentation.
• FIG. 5a represents, a simplified partial view in section, of the connection zone between a body and a collector of a microwave tube;
• FIG. 5b shows a first embodiment of the microwave trap of a microwave tube according to the invention
• - Figure 5c shows a variant of the microwave tube according to the invention
• - Figure 5d shows another variant of the microwave tube according to the invention
• FIG. 6 and 7 respectively show partial views of the connection zone between the body and the collector of a tube of the state of the art without trap, and of a tube with trap according to the invention
• - Figure 8a shows an arrangement for measuring the stray power radiated in the coupling zone between the body and the collector of a tube according to the invention
• - Figure 8b shows a first measurement in the case of a collector having two grooves; - Figure 8c shows the same measurements but with manifold having a single groove.
• FIG. 5a represents, a simplified partial view in section, along a plane passing through the axis ZZ ′ of revolution of the microwave structure of the tube, of the connection zone between a body 90 and a collector 92 of a microwave tube.
• the collector 92 is mechanically connected to the body of the tube containing the microwave structure by an insulator 94.
• the electron beam 20 at the outlet of the microwave structure penetrates, along the axis
• the space Gd between the body 90 and the collector 92 behaves, as has been said previously, like a line or a microwave radial guide.
• This space is presented in FIG. 5a as a toroidal volume of very small thickness comprised between a face 100 of the body and a face 102 of the collector spaced apart by the insulator 94.
• FIG. 5b shows a first embodiment of a microwave trap of a microwave tube according to the invention.
• traps are machined or attached to the base, or better, machined in the base of the manifold cylinder, the thickness of which, at this location, is often sufficient to receive one or more coaxial grooves.
• the wavelength ⁇ g in the radial guide depends on the considered portion of the guide, and in particular, on the radial abscissa r relative to the axis ZZ 'of the tube.
• the widths of the guides represented respectively by the width Ed of the groove, (distance ab in FIG. 5b) and the thickness Eg of the radial guide (distance bc) are not infinitely small compared to the lengths of these same guides: the position of the “brought back” open circuit (infinite impedance) is then poorly defined, and the electromagnetic waves can then partially cross the trap thanks to the local presence of higher order modes. Consequently, the widths Ed and Eg must be as small as possible in order to have the best possible blocking of the stray radiated power.
• the electron beam is modulated not only at the frequency
• FIG. 5c shows a variant of the tube according to the invention.
• F see figure 5c).
• the voltage Ved can be such that it reflects electrons towards the microwave structure, thus producing parasitic modulations and oscillations.
• the solution giving rise to the embodiments, according to the invention, described above is then that the guide, at its entry into "ed” has a zero or very low value impedance (Ved # o).
• the base of the collector 92 is machined, so as to create one or more grooves or traps "quarter wave" which bring back fictitious open circuits across the radial guide formed by the isolation of body 90 collector 92.
• These circuits fictitious openings prevent much of the power to pass from the inside of the tube to the outside and therefore blocks any stray radiation.
• FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively show partial views of the connection zone between the body 110 and the collector 112 of a tube without microwave traps and the same tube connection zone produced according to the invention comprising two traps having two grooves 114 , 116 respectively for frequencies F and 2.
• This is generally vacuum, but the grooves can also be filled with dielectric of reduced dielectric constant, ⁇ r (> 1).
• ⁇ as well as the length of the grooves, is reduced in the ratio of the square root of ⁇ r compared to the case where the grooves are under vacuum.
• One can then envisage a reduction in length of the grooves in a ratio of about three, if one fills this one with alumina ( ⁇ r 9).
• FIG. 5d it is possible to place the insulator 62 of FIG. 2 or the insulator 94 of FIG. 5b, that is to say say the insulator connecting the body to the collector (or connecting two electrodes of an insulated collector), closer to the axis ZZ ', so that one or more grooves are no longer under vacuum, as in the case of Figure 5b, but in the air.
• FIG. 8a shows an arrangement for measuring the stray power radiated in the connection zone between the body and the collector of a tube according to the invention.
• the assembly comprises a body 120 and a collector 122 separated by an insulator 124.
• the collector comprises a first groove 126 for the operating frequency F of the tube and a second groove 128 for frequency 2. F, the grooves being coaxial with the axis ZZ 'of the tube.
• the internal diameters of the body 120 and of the collector 122 have a diameter D of 33 mm.
• the distance Dec separating the body of the collector is 5 mm.
• depth P2 7.65 mm.
• a microwave signal Pe is injected by a transmitter 130 at the axis ZZ 'of the tube, in the coupling body collector zone, a probe 132 is placed outside the tube at the connection zone to measure the radiated stray power Pr.
• FIG. 8b shows a first curve in the case of a tube having a manifold comprising two grooves 126, 128, one for the frequency F and the other for the frequency 2.
• F There is an attenuation between the power injected by l transmitter 130 and the parasitic power picked up by the probe 132 of approximately:
• Figure 8c shows the same measurements with the same tube of Figure 8a tube, the collector having a single groove 126 to trap the frequency F.
• the invention in addition to the significant attenuation of parasitic radiation, has the advantage of easy removal of the collector from the body. of the tube, which is not the case of the embodiments of the tubes of the state of the art using insulating resins to mechanically secure the collector to the body of the tube at the outlet of the microwave structure.

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• 2003
  • 2003-05-06 FR FR0305509A patent/FR2854728B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2004
  • 2004-04-16 EP EP04741472A patent/EP1680799B1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-04-16 WO PCT/EP2004/050557 patent/WO2004100204A2/fr active Application Filing
  • 2004-04-16 JP JP2006505559A patent/JP4499093B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-04-16 US US10/555,653 patent/US7459855B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

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