A mini-TWT ampflifier with super-low power dissipation for Ku-band user earth stations

A new collector has been developed for travelling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers. This new collector has very low power dissipation under low duty pulse operation which is typical for TWTs used in small capacity time domain multiple access (TDMA) satellite earth stations. The average power consumption of a Ku-band, 40-W-output TWT with the new collector is only 1/7 that of a conventional ones under 1% duty pulse operation. In addition, the TWT´s volume has been reduced to 40% of conventional ones using a new design that takes advantage of the smaller quantity of heat that is generated.