A lightweight high efficiency family of power conditioners for space TWTs

Spacecraft designers continue to desire lower mass and higher efficiency in their payload. Hughes Electron Dynamics has continued to improve the state of the art in TWT power conditioners by developing a family of space qualified EPCs using the well proven Cardwell topology. The Hughes model 2000HA EPC is a 250 watt unit designed for a 50 Volt regulated bus. It has a mass of 1150 g and 94% efficiency. These gains were achieved without resorting to exotic materials and without sacrificing any of the traditional design or performance parameters necessary for successful spacecraft integration. Provision is made to include a linearizer inside the EPC chassis, and to power the linearizer from the EPC bias supply. Examples of this family have been produced with 50 and 100 Volt regulated bus inputs, 100 to 250 watts of processed power, X, Ku and K-band, and all within the same family of mass, volume and efficiency. The 2000H EPC family uses a flexible collector supply which can drive up to at least five collectors and a "universal anode" supply allowing integration with most single or dual anode space TWTs from any supplier in the world. To ensure highest reliability and long life, the high voltage module for this new design uses the same proven vacuum encapsulation process with solid potting used for many years at HED. The solid potting means that the amplifier can operate through critical pressure with minimal attention to other areas of the amplifier.