• DocumentCode
    3553812
  • Title

    A 100 watt TWT amplifier for the space shuttle

  • Author

    Eallonardo, C.M. ; Behler, B.J.

  • Author_Institution
    Hughes Aircraft Company, Torrance, California
  • Volume
    19
  • fYear
    1973
  • fDate
    1973
  • Firstpage
    399
  • Lastpage
    399
  • Abstract
    A high efficiency 100 watt traveling-wave tube amplifier for space communication at C-band, 5.9- 6.4 GHz, with integrated power supply and heat pipe cooling is described. The tube incorporates a helix slow wave structure with a velocity resynchronization taper and three-stage doubly-depressed collector for efficiency enhancement. The tube generates RF power at an overall efficiency of 50%, while the power conditioner maintains greater than 80% efficiency over line, load and temperature variations. The TWTA therefore delivers RF power at over 40% efficiency from an unregulated DC power line. High efficiency, as an integrated TWTA, is achieved without sacrifice of communication system type parameters such as AM/PM conversion, transfer curve linearity, and intermodulation distortion.
  • Keywords
    High power amplifiers; Power generation; Power supplies; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Space cooling; Space exploration; Space heating; Space shuttles; Temperature;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Electron Devices Meeting, 1973 International
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/IEDM.1973.188739
  • Filename
    1477616