US 4,093,892 AGranted

Ring-and-bar slow wave circuits employing ceramic supports at the bars

AssigneeVarian Associates, Inc.

InventorNorman R. Vanderplaats

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Ring-and-bar slow wave electronic interaction circuits of the singly and/or doubly connected variety are supported from a surrounding conductive barrel structure via the intermediary of ceramic comb structures which extend along the slow wave circuit. The ceramic "teeth" of the comb structure are brazed at their ends to the connecting bars of the slow wave circuit to enhance thermal conduction from the circuit. The free space between the teeth avoids excessive dielectric loading of the circuit. The "spines" of the ceramic combs are brazed to the barrel to provide good thermally conductive paths from the combs to the barrel for cooling of the slow wave circuit. A microwave tube employing a doubly connected ring-and-bar circuit, supported as aforedescribed, provides a high power structure having a small signal gain bandwidth between 3.7 db points of 6 GHz at Ku band.

Claims6

Dependent claims

In a microwave tube apparatus, means for forming a slow wave circuit having an array of spaced coaxially aligned conductive ring portions conductively connected together by an array of conductive bar portions, means for forming and projecting a beam of electrons axially through said ring portions for electronic interaction with the microwave fields of said slow wave circuit, means for forming a barrel structure surrounding said slow wave circuit, means forming an array of ceramic insulative support member portions interposed between said surrounding barrel structure and said slow wave circuit and spaced apart along the axis of said slow wave circuit, the improvement wherein, said support member portions are finger-shaped with the ends of said finger portions supportively contacting said connecting bar portions of said slow wave circuit, said support fingers are the finger portions of a ceramic comb-shaped structure having a spine portion and said finger portions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.