High voltage power supply for a microwave electron tube

In combination, a microwave electron tube having a high voltage electrode, a DC voltage power supply for said electrode, said power supply being energized by a relatively low frequency AC source and including means responsive to the source for deriving an AC voltage having a frequency at least in the 100 kiloHertz range, voltage converter means responsive to the AC voltage for deriving the DC high voltage, the voltage converter means including plural switching series connected diodes, each of said diodes having a recovery time that is a very small fraction of a cycle of the frequency of the AC voltage.

A power supply for a travelling wave tube having cathode, collector and helix electrodes comprising an AC source, converter means connected to be energized by the AC source for deriving DC energizing voltages for the helix and collector electrodes relative to the cathode electrode, and means responsive to the cathode helix voltage difference for controlling the voltage between the collector and cathode electrodes and the voltage between the helix and cathode electrodes, said converter means including plural series connected switching diodes each having a recovery time that is a very small fraction of the time of one cycle of the AC source.

A DC high voltage power supply for an electron tube having plural electrodes at least one of which requires a high DC energizing voltage, comprising switch means connected with a series resonant circuit and a power source, means responsive to the voltage of at least one high voltage electrode of said tube for controlling the opening and closing of said switch means and the flow of current from the power source to the resonant circuit, the frequency of the resonant circuit and the length of time said switch is closed being such that at least several cycles of current flow in the resonant circuit at a frequency determined by the resonant circuit frequency each time the switch is closed, and AC to DC converter means connected to be responsive to current flowing in said resonant circuit for deriving the high DC energizing voltage for said one electrode, said converter means including plural series connected diodes poled to supply current in only one direction between said resonant circuit and said one electrode.

A power supply for a microwave electron tube having first, second and third electrodes comprising an AC source responsive to a DC power supply voltage, a converter for connecting AC voltage derived from said source into DC voltages for said electrodes, said converter including:

• first rectifying means for supplying to said first electrode a first DC voltage relative to said third electrode and second rectifying means for supplying to said second electrode a second DC voltage relative to said third electrode, means responsive to the DC voltage between a pair of said electrodes for controlling the converter means to vary the DC voltage supplied between the first and third electrodes, and means for coupling the first and second rectifying means being together so the voltage between the first and third electrodes varies relative to the DC voltage supplied between the second and third electrodes.