RU178906U1 - HIGH-FREQUENCY PULSE GENERATOR BASED ON A Hollow Cathode Discharge - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to the field of high-frequency technology and can be used to create generators of high-frequency (HF) radiation. In contrast to the known high-frequency pulse generator based on a hollow cathode discharge, which is a gas discharge chamber formed by two electrodes — a hollow cathode and an anode forming a gas discharge gap, a power supply and an electric load unit are connected to the electrodes; in the proposed generator, a gas discharge chamber provides more than two electrodes forming more than one gas-discharge gap, each gas-discharge gap is formed by its corresponding hollow cathode and anode, to scrap anode and cathode of each discharge gap connected to the power supply unit and the electric load, wherein the volume of cavities of each of the cathodes are different, and the power unit enables the simultaneous supply of voltage pulses to the hollow cathode and the anode of each of the discharge gaps. The technical result consists in the formation of multi-frequency RF pulses. 1 ill.

Description

The utility model relates to the field of high-frequency technology and can be used to create generators of high-frequency (HF) radiation.

A discharge with a hollow cathode [Moskalev BI, A discharge with a hollow cathode, - M .: Energia, 1969] has the following peculiarity - under certain conditions (under certain geometric parameters of the cathode cavity, with discharge gas pressures lying in a certain range, and when a certain threshold of the discharge current density is exceeded) during its development, RF modulation of the discharge voltage occurs [Arbel D., Bar-Lev Z., Felsteiner J., Rosenberg A., Slutsker Ya.Z. "Collisionless Instability of the Cathode Sheath in a Hollow-Cathode Discharge", Physical Review Letters. 1993. V. 71. No. 18. P. 2919].

Known high-frequency pulse generators (RF generators) based on a hollow cathode discharge, similar to this generator [Bulychev SV, Vyalykh DV, Dubinov A.E. et al., “Results of studies of high-frequency RF pulse generators based on a hollow cathode discharge”. Physics of plasma. 2009, t. 35, No. 11, p. 1019], containing a gas discharge chamber, a power source, and an electrical load. The gas discharge chamber is formed by electrodes - a hollow cathode and an anode isolated from it, the electrodes are connected to a power source. Using the system for creating a gas-discharge medium, the pressure level of the working gas is required for igniting the discharge and implementing RF modulations of the discharge voltage. When a voltage pulse is applied to the electrodes in the gas-discharge gap formed by the hollow cathode and the anode, a gas discharge with a hollow cathode is initiated. An electrical load is connected in parallel with the discharge circuit. The RF component of the fluctuations in the discharge voltage is the cause of the RF oscillations of the voltage at the electric load, which, in turn, are the source of electromagnetic RF energy.

Devices of this type generate RF pulses, which are harmonic signals with a certain frequency, depending on the capacitance and inductance of the gas discharge circuit [A.E. Dubinov, I.Y. Kornilova, I.L. Lvov etc., "Generator of high-power high-frequency pulses based on sealed-off discharge chamber with hollow cathode". IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., Nov. 2010, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 3105-3108]. The most effective way to change the carrier frequency of RF generators based on a hollow cathode discharge is to change the capacitance of the near-cathode discharge layer by changing the surface area of the cathode cavity. The smaller the area (or, accordingly, the volume of the cavity), the higher the frequency. A trivial way to change the carrier frequency of RF generators is to change the volume of the cathode cavity by changing the diameter or depth of the cavity.

One of the tasks currently being solved when designing electromagnetic radiation systems based on this type of RF generators is the generation of multi-frequency RF pulses, that is, pulses at two or more different carrier frequencies. For this purpose, it is possible to use a system of two or more different RF generators based on a hollow cathode discharge, simultaneously generating RF pulses at different carrier frequencies. The volume of the cavities of the cathodes of the gas discharge chambers of the generators should differ from each other. With the simultaneous start of the RF generators, you can get a multi-frequency signal - an RF signal with various harmonics corresponding to the generation frequencies of each of the RF generators.

However, the use of several RF generators can significantly increase the overall dimensions of the generation system. To maintain the compactness of the multi-frequency RF device, it seems more promising to use gas discharge chambers in RF generators based on a hollow-cathode discharge, in which more than one gas-discharge gap would be provided, moreover, the frequencies of the RF generation upon initiation of a gas discharge in each gap would be different.

The prototype of the claimed device is an RF pulse generator based on a discharge with a hollow cathode [Bulychev S.V., Vyalykh D.V .; Dubinov A.E. et al. "Pulse-periodic generator based on a discharge with a hollow cathode and an antenna system for the emission of powerful radio pulses." Instruments and experimental technique. 2011, No. 5, p. 106-110], which is a gas discharge chamber formed by two electrodes - a hollow cathode and anode forming a gas discharge gap, a power supply and an electric load unit are connected to the electrodes. In the gas-discharge gap, the pressure level of the working gas is required for ignition of the discharge and the implementation of RF modulations of the discharge voltage. When a voltage pulse is applied to the electrodes in the gas-discharge gap, a gas discharge with a hollow cathode is initiated. The RF modulation of the discharge voltage is the cause of the impulse of the RF voltage fluctuations at the electric load, which, in turn. are a source of electromagnetic RF energy.

A device of a similar design generates RF pulses at one carrier frequency of the RF oscillations, determined by the volume of the cathode cavity, which is one of the electrodes of the gas-discharge gap.

The technical problem of the utility model is the creation of a high-frequency pulse generator based on a hollow-cathode discharge, which generates multi-frequency high-frequency pulses, that is, high-frequency pulses at different carrier frequencies, subject to the compactness of the generator.

The technical result consists in the formation of multi-frequency RF pulses.

This result is achievable due to the fact that, in comparison with a high-frequency pulse generator based on a discharge with a hollow cathode, which is a gas discharge chamber formed by two electrodes - a hollow cathode and an anode forming a gas-discharge gap, a power supply unit and an electric load unit are connected to the electrodes, the claimed device in the gas discharge chamber provides more than two electrodes forming more than one gas discharge gap, each gas discharge gap is formed by the corresponding mu hollow cathode and the anode, wherein the hollow cathode and the anode of each discharge gap connected to a power supply and block the electrical load, the volume of cavities of each of the cathodes are different, and the power unit enables the simultaneous application of the pulse voltage to the hollow cathode and the anode of each of the discharge gaps.

In this device, it is supposed to achieve a technical result by arranging two or more gas discharge gaps in the gas discharge chamber, and a gas discharge with a hollow cathode can be realized in each gas discharge gap. Two or more gas-discharge gaps are formed due to the fact that several electrodes are provided in the chamber, each gas-discharge gap is formed by its corresponding hollow cathode and anode. So, for the formation of two gas-discharge gaps in the gas-discharge chamber, four electrodes can be provided - two hollow cathodes and two anodes, three electrodes - either one common anode and two hollow cathodes, or two cavities facing two anodes can be arranged in one cathode electrode. When a pulse of supply voltage is supplied from the power supply unit to the hollow cathode and the anode of each of the gas discharge gaps, simultaneous initiation of gas discharges with a hollow cathode in all gas discharge gaps will occur. An RF load unit will simultaneously receive RF modulation of the discharge voltages at each gap. Since the volumes of the cathode cavities of all gas-discharge gaps are different, the frequencies of the RF modulation voltages at each gas-discharge gap will also be different. As a result, the resulting multi-frequency RF signal consisting of two or more RF pulses at different carrier frequencies is formed in the electric load block. An electric load unit that allows implementing pulses of multi-frequency RF radiation can serve as a broadband antenna system (the radiation range of which includes the frequency of the RF oscillations at each of the gas discharge gaps), connected to all gas discharge gaps, and several antenna systems, each of which is connected to one gas-discharge gap, and the radiation frequency of this antenna system is equal to the frequency of the RF oscillations in this gas-discharge gap.

In FIG. shows an example of the design of the inventive RF generator based on a discharge with a hollow cathode. In the gas discharge chamber, which is the basis of the RF generator, two gas discharge gaps are realized - between the hollow cathode 1 and the anode 3 and between the hollow cathode 2 and the anode 3. The hollow cathodes 1 and 2 and the anode 3 are separated by insulators 4 and 5. The cathode cavities are made in the form cylinders. The volumes of the cathode cavities are different (if the depths of the cavities are equal, the diameters of the cavities d1 and d2 are different, d1> d2). The gas-discharge gaps are connected to the power supply unit 6. In parallel with the gas-discharge gaps, an electric load unit is connected 7. In the gas-discharge gaps, the working gas pressure level required for igniting the discharge and implementing RF modulations of the discharge voltage is set.

The device operates as follows. When a high-voltage pulse of positive voltage is supplied to the anode 3 from the power supply unit 6 in the gas-discharge gaps formed by the anode 3 and the hollow cathodes 1 and 2, gas discharges with a hollow cathode are simultaneously initiated. At each gas-discharge gap, RF modulation of the discharge voltage occurs, with different frequencies, since the volumes of the cathode cavities. In the electric load unit 7, respectively, due to the RF modulation of the discharge voltages, two RF pulses at two different carrier frequencies are simultaneously triggered. As a result, the resulting RF pulse will have two different harmonics, that is, two different carrier frequencies.

In a specific implementation, the device may have the following characteristics:

two hollow stainless steel cylinders are used as hollow cathodes, the open edges of the cavities face the anode, which is a stainless steel disc;

each of the gas discharge gaps is filled with air or argon at a pressure of 0.1 Torr;

the power supply unit generates high voltage pulses with an amplitude of 2.5-6 kV in a pulse-periodic mode;

the lengths of the cylinder cavities are 50 mm, the diameters of the cylinder cavities are 30 mm and 20 mm, respectively, the frequencies of the HF oscillations in the gas discharge gaps are 120 MHz and 165 MHz;

as an electric load unit, antenna systems designed for radiation at the corresponding frequencies are connected to gas-discharge gaps.

This generator is capable of generating powerful multi-frequency RF pulses at the carrier frequencies of 120 MHz and 165 MHz in a pulse-periodic. mode. The use of one anode electrode and the organization of two gas discharge gaps in a single gas discharge chamber make it possible to realize a compact generator.

Thus, the design of the generator of high-frequency pulses based on a discharge with a hollow cathode, corresponding to the claimed technical solution, will successfully solve the problem of the utility model.

Claims (1)

A high-frequency pulse generator based on a hollow cathode discharge, which is a gas discharge chamber formed by two electrodes - a hollow cathode and an anode forming a gas discharge gap, a power supply and an electrical load unit are connected to the electrodes, characterized in that more than two electrodes are provided in the gas discharge chamber forming more than one gas discharge gap, each gas discharge gap is formed by its corresponding hollow cathode and anode, to the hollow cathode and anode of each ha orazryadnogo gap connected power supply unit, and electricity load, the volume of cavities of each of the cathodes are different, and the power unit enables the simultaneous supply of voltage pulses to the hollow cathode and the anode of each of the discharge gaps.

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