Method and apparatus for nondestructive testing of a gas discharge tube
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsDaniel Wing Shum Tam, Gregory Alan Larson, Christopher Agustin Dilay, David Russell Hilton
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for nondestructive testing of a gas discharge tube (GDT) comprising: electrically connecting a first terminal of the GDT to a first port of a vector network analyzer (VNA); electrically connecting a second terminal of the GDT to a second port of the VNA; measuring S parameters with the VNA; determining GDT capacitance and insertion loss based on the measured S parameters; comparing the determined capacitance and insertion loss of the GDT with a threshold value to determine if the GDT is functional.
Claims8
A method for nondestructively testing a first gas discharge tube (GDT) comprising the following steps:
- a. electrically connecting a first terminal of the first GDT to a first port of a vector network analyzer (VNA);
- b. electrically connecting a second terminal of the first GDT to a second port of the VNA;
- c. measuring S parameters with the VNA to obtain frequency-dependent reflection and transmission properties of the first GDT;
- d. determining first GDT capacitances at the first and second ports based on the measured S parameters related to the reflection properties;
- e. determining first GDT insertion losses at the first and second ports based on the measured S parameters related to the transmission properties;
- and
- f. comparing the determined capacitance and insertion loss of the first GDT with a threshold capacitance value and a threshold insertion loss value respectively to determine if the first GDT is functional.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.