GB268797A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for smoothing unidirectional electric current - Google Patents

Abstract

268,797. Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co., Ltd., (Assignees of Slepian, J.). March 31, 1926, [Convention date]. Converting pulsating currents into steady continuous currents; vacuum. apparatus, arrangements of. - Discharge devices for smoothing pulsating or rectified current are so controlled that their impedance rises with the voltage across them, preferably by means of an auxiliary electrode so connected to the circuit as to maintain it approximately at the desired direct current voltage. The discharge devices may also act' as rectifiers, or separate rectifiers may be used. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3 alternating current is first rectified by discharge tubes 4, 5 the anodes 11 of which are connected to the secondary windings 7 of a double transformer and the cathodes 12 are heated by transformers 14; the pulsating current taken from the common terminals 8, 13 for the load 2 is then smoothed by passing it through discharge tube 52, the grid 57 of which is connected through a resistance 60 and battery 59 to the positive lead 58; grids 22, 23 in the tubes 4, 5 may also be connected to the battery, and condensers may be added as shown to increase the steadying effect. In a modified arrangement the tube 52 is omitted. the tubes 4, 5 themselves being controlled so as to smooth as well as rectify the current bv connecting their grids to the battery as before. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) comprised also an alternative arrangement shown in Fig. 3, (Cancelled) wherein the grids 22, 23 are connected between a simple discharge tube 41 of corresponding breaking-down voltage and a resistance 42 across the direct current leads. The invention may also be applied to three-phase rectifying-systems. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specifications 256,994 and 267,886.