3 phase

I have some thyratrons with 1000 amp plates, 22 amp filaments. Three were used to drive a three phase motor. Three motors to one antenna. That was one heavy antenna. The tubes are 4 pins in mil spec packaging.

Nice thing about tubes, they are like Timex watches - take a licking and keep on ticking.

Martin

Mart> >

Iggy,

If the parallel connected idler and load(s) with circulating currents not flowing in parallel makes sense to you ..... it puts you way ahead of the pack in understanding RPCs. Most are so hung up on the "idler as generator feeding a load" that they can't get their heads around current flow in RPCs. I think I will place your name in nomination for a Fitch Fellow in the RPC Society.

Bob Swinney

All metal shell with high voltage, high temperature ceramic and glass insulation around the terminals. They were the custom designed 25 KW water cooled UHF power tetrodes video output tubes for the TTU-25B. That was RCA's first 'High power' UHF TV transmitter. A similar 12.5 KW tube was used for the Aural section of that transmitter. It was designed & built in the early '50s. That's 37.5 KW of waste heat that required a water chiller large enough to cool a decent sized office complex.

The three plate transformers were huge, too. It was all I could do to move them with a heavy duty appliance hand truck. Then there was the 30 KV armored HV cable that ran from each transformer to the Thyratron cabinet. That transmitter filled nine, four foot square aluminum cabinets. It took three trips with a 28 foot U-haul truck to move all that weight. I had to use an oxyacetylene torch to solder the four inch copper pipes for the cooling system. It took 400 A 480 V three phase just to power the transmitter. Then there was the control room, and the studio lighting.

Wrong kind of tube. You need a Krytron, which is a controlled device. You are not allowed to export them. They were made by EG&G A Thyratron is much too slow to do the job.

Actually not far off Iggy - It turned the transmitting antenna on the 1965 Radar that then proceeded into the PAR - the phased array radar.

The missiles shot could be loaded with tact nukes for destruction of many MIRV bombs - most of which were nukes.

The filaments are about pencil size and more flat ribbon.

When I taught motor control or power tubes - I'd bring a pair in connect up as a flip flop. The Argon gas inside glows when the plates are active. You can also hear the impact (effect) of electron upon the plate. The plate when switched on - square wave bam mode - would vibrate upon impact of the beam. I used TFE wire - 20 ga - on the plates - smallest wire ever used on them.

Martin

Mart> big enough to build a nuclear bomb trigger.

TWT would do it or a pyramid. I have a few K's in my shop - I destroyed all of the magnetrons I got. The mechanical parts are secret. So they were shredded. They were also a little hot. My students were design engineers who had access to scrap stuff at the aircraft plants. That was a few years ago - all of the 70's.

Mart>

"Wrong kind of tube. You need a Krytron, which is a controlled

Krytron (sp) ?

Are you sure we're not talking about "Klystrons" ? In the early days of Radar, klystrons were used as LOs in radar sets. As I understand it, the power capability of klystrons has grown to the extent they have pretty much replaced the magnetron in modern Radar.

EG&G, among other things, was the instrumentation contractor at the Mercury, NV underground testing facility.

Bob (CMIIW) Swinney

That is the right spelling. Another similar device is the Sprytron. Both are used in Exploding Bridgewire ( EBW ) systems.

Dan

Radar, klystrons were used

has grown to the

NV underground testing

Ask on news:sci.electronics.design if you don't believe me. A Krytron is an ultra fast electronic switch that allows a very high current to be switched. It is used as a trigger. There isn't a lot of published data, since it was designed for a specific use.

A Klystron is used as an oscillator or amplifier.

I've worked with 65 KW Klystrons. Big, heavy and use lots of distilled water in the cooling systems.

O.K. Here it is:

except that the photo is from before the radiation sticker was applied, and it is missing the silicone rubber insulation on one of the wires.

At the time, I just knew that they were controlled items, and not why. I later (during the export furor) discovered that use for them. (Of course, I never had the other components needed to make the device, so it did not matter. :-)

But a very different thing.

EG&G (formed by Dr. Edgerton, with Germshausen & Greer The source of the firm name) also made (and started with) Xenon flash lamps, and made at least one setup large enough to take a flash photo of the city of Boston from the air. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.