Speakers: Marcus Lau, Jens Weber, TRUMPF Hüttinger GmbH

Moderator: Dr. Nawin Junthong

Topic:

Our lessons learned: TRUMPF Hüttinger Industrial Solid State Power Amplifier for Scientific Customers – Technical Highlights and the Challenge of Customization

Abstract

RF power amplifier systems based on solid-state technology with power levels of several 100kW require combining of a large number of transistor amplifiers. It is known that for this the signals of each individual amplifier must be well matched in amplitude and phase. In addition, also driver stages, circulators, and power combiners are subject to tight tolerances. For a reproducible series production of large quantities this brings the challenge, to guarantee this performance across operating conditions and production samples. Such low tolerance values are typically only achieved by enormous tuning efforts during production. Nevertheless, the remaining tolerances of the different stages can still accumulate in a significant extend. We developed a fully automated calibration technique with superior performance at reduces production efforts for improving the overall system performance. Any imbalances within the entire signal chain are compensated, and individual power levels of each transistor and their status is monitored. To facilitate maintenance, RF building blocks that automatically restore their system balance can be replaced. Attention needs to be paid to circulators at low frequencies since they tend to drift in directivity and impedance. For overcoming this, we developed a tracking technique maintaining stable circulator performance over time, power, and temperature.