In order to suppress the amount of time needed for the start-up of a microwave tube carried out when voltage fed from a power source has decreased, while avoiding increase in scale of a power storage unit, this power supply device includes: a power supply unit that supplies power fed from the power source to the microwave tube that is provided with a cathode, a heater for heating the cathode, an anode, and a collector; a power storage unit that stores the fed power and, if the voltage of the fed power decreases, supplies stored power that is power obtained by the power storing, to the microwave tube; and a power supply switching unit that, if the voltage of the fed power decreases, stops supplying the stored power to the anode and does not stop supplying the stored power to the heater.

In order to suppress the amount of time needed for the start-up of a microwave tube carried out when voltage fed from a power source has decreased, while avoiding increase in scale of a power storage unit, this power supply device includes: a power supply unit that supplies power fed from the power source to the microwave tube that is provided with a cathode, a heater for heating the cathode, an anode, and a collector; a power storage unit that stores the fed power and, if the voltage of the fed power decreases, supplies stored power that is power obtained by the power storing, to the microwave tube; and a power supply switching unit that, if the voltage of the fed power decreases, stops supplying the stored power to the anode and does not stop supplying the stored power to the heater.

A number of low voltage vacuum tube circuits include using supply voltages well below the manufacturer's recommended voltages applied to the plate or screen grid. Some of the tube circuits operate at near zero plate and or screen grid voltages. Other low voltage circuits have forward biasing on one or more grids that are normally biased at a non positive voltage or a grid that is normally connected a cathode. Substantially lower supply voltages allow for example, the filament supply to also supply voltage to the plate and or grid for providing an output signal at a grid and or a plate.

A number of low voltage vacuum tube circuits include using supply voltages well below the manufacturer's recommended voltages applied to the plate or screen grid. Some of the tube circuits operate at near zero plate and or screen grid voltages. Other low voltage circuits have forward biasing on one or more grids that are normally biased at a non positive voltage or a grid that is normally connected a cathode. Substantially lower supply voltages allow for example, the filament supply to also supply voltage to the plate and or grid for providing an output signal at a grid and or a plate.

The objective of the invention is to provide a microwave tube, or the like, wherein gas adsorption action of a getter may be satisfactorily performed independently from a microwave amplification operation. In order to solve this problem, this microwave electron tube comprises: a helix wherein a microwave may progress oriented from an input section to an output section within a helical tube; an electron gun emitting an electron flow oriented toward the helix; a focusing device causing the electron flow to traverse the vicinity of the helix in the direction of a collector; the collector absorbing the electron flow; and a getter having a heater insulated from the cathode provided in the electron gun.

A microwave generation system comprising a microwave generator, a pulse generator and an impedance network. The pulse generator is arranged to provide pulses of electrical power to the microwave generator and is operable to vary the power of the pulses of electrical power which are provided to the microwave generator. The impedance network is connected between the pulse generator and the microwave generator. The impedance network is switchable so as to substantially match an impedance across the pulse generator according to variations in the impedance of the microwave generator.

An energy supply unit for a traveling wave tube is configured to transform a first voltage present at a low voltage interface into a second voltage providable at a high voltage interface. The second voltage is greater than the first voltage and corresponds to a required operating voltage of the traveling wave tube. The energy supply unit is configured to receive a signal pattern via a signal input interface and to output a control signal via a control interface to the traveling wave tube for operating the traveling wave tube based on the signal pattern and to gradually and/or iteratively align or adapt the control signal to the signal pattern being present at the signal input interface when changing an operating mode of the traveling wave tube. A power draw at the beginning of the switched-on state may increase slowly and voltage drops at the high voltage supply may be minimized.

An energy supply unit for a traveling wave tube is configured to transform a first voltage present at a low voltage interface into a second voltage providable at a high voltage interface. The second voltage is greater than the first voltage and corresponds to a required operating voltage of the traveling wave tube. The energy supply unit is configured to receive a signal pattern via a signal input interface and to output a control signal via a control interface to the traveling wave tube for operating the traveling wave tube based on the signal pattern and to gradually and/or iteratively align or adapt the control signal to the signal pattern being present at the signal input interface when changing an operating mode of the traveling wave tube. A power draw at the beginning of the switched-on state may increase slowly and voltage drops at the high voltage supply may be minimized.

The present invention relates to a modulator system adapted to generate high voltage pulses suitable for supply across a high voltage load having a thermionic cathode, such as a magnetron. The modulator system comprises a high voltage DC PSU connected to a switching mechanism adapted to generate high voltage pulses from the high voltage DC PSU for application to a thermionic cathode of a high voltage load. The modulator system further comprises an isolation transformer; a heater PSU adapted to be connected to a cathode heater through the isolation transformer and to provide an AC current thereto. The modulator system further comprises a controller to receive pulse instruction signals and trigger generation of corresponding high voltage pulses by the switching mechanism, to calculate the estimated arrival time of a next pulse instruction signal, based on the time between previous pulse instruction signals, and disable the heater PSU for a preset time, commencing before the estimated arrival time of the next pulse instruction signal, such that no current is supplied from the heater PSU while current is supplied from the high voltage PSU.

A radio frequency (RF) modulating signal splitter used by a multi-beam electron beam RF amplification system includes an RF input port and a plurality of RF output ports. A body frame distributes the RF modulating signal from the input port to the of output ports. The body frame and each one of the RF output ports have dimensions so that each one of the plurality of RF output ports is impedance matched with each other. In a method of modulating a RF input signal onto a plurality of electron beams, the RF input signal is split into a plurality of different paths directed to a plurality of output ports that are impedance matched to each other. RF energy is directed from each output port to a different input cavity of electronic beam RF amplification devices of a multi-beam electronic beam RF amplification system.