Ridged N-way coaxial vacuum power combiner signal injector with radial feeds usable in a coaxial vacuum-electron device
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorDavid D. Crouch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorDavid D. Crouch
Estimating the term…
A radially-fed RF power combiner combines a plurality of input signals to generate a single fundamental-mode transverse electromagnetic (TEM) output. The combiner comprises a vacuum coaxial transmission line having a plurality of coaxial vacuum feedthroughs configured to receive the input signals. The feedthroughs are arranged radially around the vacuum coaxial transmission line. The inner conductive surface of the vacuum coaxial transmission line may comprise a cylindrical conductive base and a plurality of radially-aligned conductive ridges azimuthally distributed within a vacuum envelope of the vacuum coaxial transmission line. Each of the conductive ridges may be coupled to a center conductor of a corresponding one of the coaxial vacuum feedthroughs. The conductive ridges may have a taper to provide an increasing gap between the top of the conductive ridges and an outer conductive surface of the vacuum coaxial transmission line. The increasing gap may gradually transition the input signals from each coaxial vacuum feedthrough to quasi-TEM mode signals within the vacuum envelope allowing the quasi-TEM mode signals from each conductive ridge to spread azimuthally within the vacuum envelope and combine to generate a substantially pure TEM mode signal.
A radially-fed RF power combiner configured to combine a plurality of input signals and generate a fundamental-mode transverse electromagnetic (TEM) output, the combiner comprising:
A method of combining a plurality of input signals, the method comprising:
A radially-fed signal injector, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.