Ra pi d Cl a ss C Pl a t e T an k Desi gn

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Rapid Class C Plat e Tan k Design By Keit h A. Kunde, K8KK

Several year s ago I developed a free comput er program called T ANKIT t o assist in t he design o f plat e and cat ho de t ank cir cuit s for Class AB or B grounded-gr id linear amplifier s. One part of t hat program is independent o f t he class o f operat ion and produces t he act ual pi or pi- L t ank co mponent valu es needed t o mat ch an RF plat e lo ad resist ance t o t he out put load. 1, 2 Here is how t o use t hat sect ion o f t he program t o rapidly design a plat e t ank for your Class C final. Befo re we get int o t he det ails, let s t ry out t he program wit h a gener ic example. Downlo ad T ANKIT.exe fro m my websit e, www.radiok8kk.co m ( it is not necessar y t o download any o f t he document at io n at t his t ime). T he progra m is self-co nt ained and about 112 kB in size. St art t he program and select Pat h 3 fro m t he main menu. T his pat h is t he o nly part of t he program usable for C lass C design work.

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Fi g ur e 1 - Compl e te d Path 3 i np ut sc r e e n

Figur e 1 shows a co mplet ed Pat h 3 input screen wit h represent at ive values ent ered for all pro mpt s. You can eit her use t hese values or ent er so me o f yo ur own choosing (t he values for R2 and Rm are default sjust hit ent er t o see t hem, or ent er your own). I f you make an ent ry error keep go ing unt il t he next act ion menu appear s at t he bottom o f t he screen, t hen go back and edit yo ur dat a. While edit ing, just hit ent er to keep t he exist ing dat a in any field. Whe n you co me t o a pro mpt you wish t o change, simply t ype your new dat a in its entiret y over any o ld dat a in t he field ( ignore any o ld dat a which may st ill b e vis ible in t he ent r y fie ldt he program only looks at your new ly ent ered dat a). Not e t hat t he second line o f t he prompt for t he desired operat ing Q, Qo , spec ifies a minimum allo wable valuet he program wont accept a Qo lower t han t his in order to insur e t hat t he result ing net work design will per fo r m sat isfact o rily.

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When you are sat isfied wit h your input dat a, hit t he ent er key. T he net wo rk co mponent values for all HF bands are displayed as shown in F igure 2.

Fi g ur e 2 - Ne twor k c omp one nt val ue s

At t his po int t he net work compo nent value t able can be pr int ed on an y Windo ws pr int er by hit t ing t he ent er key. Line pr int er s (e.g., LPT1) are no t support ed. That is basically how t he T ANKIT program works. Now, let s make it wo rk fo r yo ur design. The key figure needed, o f course, is t he RF plat e load resist ance,

RL ,

requ ir ed for your final t ubes operat ing condit io ns; t his is designat ed R1 in t he programs input prompt . The for mal way o f ca lculat ing RL is t o divide t he peak value o f RF plat e vo lt age swing by t he peak fundament al co mponent o f RF plat e current (whee!). You may alr eady know a simpler wa y t o det er mine t he RL value fo r your t ubes operat ing condit io ns, but if not t he fo llowing met hod gives a close approximat io n:

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1. Choo se a Class C operati ng angle ( i. e., plat e current conduct ion angle) fro m t he fo llo wing t able ( all Class C amplifier s operat e wit h p lat e current conduct io n ang les o f less t han 180 degr ees). I f you arent sure what t his means, a go od co mpro mise angle for eit her pho ne or CW is around 140 or 150 degrees alt ho ugh phone angles as short as 120 were once t he nor m ( much more har mo nic cont ent , however, and harder on t he final t ube). The operat ing gr id bias gover ns t he co nduct io n angle (t his angle is difficult t o measure; see not e 8 belo w). Operating Angle 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 Factor F01 1.571 1.611 1.651 1.689 1.725 1.760 1.794 1.825 1.854 1.881

2. Insert fact or F01 fro m t he t able int o t he fo llo wing for mula:

RL

.9 Vb F 01 I b

In t his for mula, Vb is your plat e supply vo lt age (B+). The .9 mult ip lier represent s a t ypical 90% swing o f RF plat e vo lt age which occur s at t he peak o f t he RF plat e current pulse, alt hough it might have t o be a bit less t han t his for t he o lder screen gr id or beam t ype t ubes. I b is t he nor mal DC plat e current yo u will be running, in amp eres . It is mult iplied by a fact or called F01, which is (hang on t o your hat s) t he rat io of t he peak fundament al co mpo nent o f RF p lat e

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current to t he average DC plat e current . The net of t his for mula is t hat it co mes prett y clo se t o t he for ma l met hod of calculat ing RL ment io ned ear lier. Heres an example o f how it works: Fro m yo ur t ubes operat ing dat a you det ermine t hat your plat e supply will be 2200 vo lt s and yo ur plat e current will be 225 mA, giving a plat e input of about 500 wat t s. Wit h a 140 plat e current conduct ion angle, t he maximum t heoreti cal plat e efficiency is:
N p max F 01 1.725 100% 100% 86.3% 2 2

To realize t his t heoret ical effic iency t he plat e vo lt age would have t o swing all t he way down t o zero at t he peak o f t he plat e current pulse, which, o f course, it just cant do. Since wer e using a 90% swing fact or in t he numerat or of o ur

RL fo r mula, we should mult iply t he t heoret ical number by .9 t o get 77.67%

efficiency at t he plat e. However, since we are usually more int erest ed in o ur efficiency at t he out put load, we need to deduct anot her 5 or 10% (or possibl y even more above 20 MHz) due t o var ious losses in t he out put t ank cir cu it . Mu lt iplying t he 77.7% number by .9 represent s a 10% t ank cir cuit power loss and g ives us an out put effic iency at t he load of a bit less t han 70%. Wit h 500 W plat e input , your usable carr ier out put power will be about 350 W and your out put on modulat io n peaks (assuming plat e modulat io n) will be roughly four t imes t his, or 1400 W PEP. Finally, plugging t he nums int o t he fo r mula for RL (dont forget t he parent heses if youre us ing a calculat or!):

RL

.9 2200 V 5100 1.725 .225 A

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At t his po int you can run T ANKITs P at h 3 and design your own pi or pi- L plat e t ank cir cuit should t ake you just a minut e or t wo. Notes: 1. The t ot al induct ance needed for your t ank design is t he value list ed for t he lo west frequenc y band you int end t o use. The higher frequenc y bands are t apped off t his t ot al value at t he induct ance list ed for each band, as measured fro m t he input end o f t he t ank co il. T he t ot al induct ance ma y be split amo ng t wo or t hree separ at e coils which t oget her add up t o t he tot al. 2. The var iable port ion o f t he t ot al capacit ance for C1 or C2 required for each band may be det er mined by subt ract ing t he smaller figure in t he report fro m t he larger. Add at least 25% to t his value; t hat is all t hat must be var iablet he rest ma y be a fixed capacit ance. This might save space and expense on 160 and even 80 met ers if you can figure out how to handle t he band swit ching. 3. The minimum capacit ance Cmin (i.e., plat e output capacit ance + C1s minimu m capacit ance + st ray capacit ance) across t he t anks input will usually fo rce t he operat ing Q to rise subst ant ially at t he higher fr equencies. I f Qo exceeds 25 or so, be prepared for signific ant t ank co mpo nent heat ing on t hose bands if you plan t o run higher power. Heavy t ubing co ils and even a lit t le fo rced air dir ect ed at t he t ank co mponent s may be requir ed. In t he above example, t he peak fundament al current is 1.725 .225 A .388 A , t imes t he Qo fo r t he 10 met er band o f about 48, gives a peak circulat ing current of approximat ely

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18.6 amperes, or a lit t le over 13 amperes RMS ; for 6 met ers it is over 23 A RMS ! 4. Mo st t ransmit t ing t ubes have plat e modulat ed Class C phone plat e diss ipat ion rat ings t hat are only t wo-t hirds t he nor mal plat e dissipat io n rat ing. For exa mple, a 4-400A has a 400 W normal plat e dissipat io n rat ing, but only 270 W in AM phone ser vice. Your fixed bias (a.k.a., safet y bias) should keep t he p lat e dissipat ion at or below t his number when no gr id excit at ion is pr esent . 5. Co nsu lt t he o lder handbooks for help in designing your fina ls gr id t ank cir cu it s and biasing arrangement s. 6. The LC met er kit offered by Almost All Digit al E lect ronics 3 is an excellent too l fo r t ank design work and t he pr ice is reasonable. Check t heir web sit e fo r spec ificat io ns. 7. The L/C/ F/ co il winding slide rule o ffered by t he ARRL 4 is indispensable for design ing co ils and resonant cir cuit s. The only clinker wit h t his t hing is t he out rageo us shipping cost ! 8. The plat e current conduct io n angle can be roughly est imat ed by dividing yo ur measured out put power at resonance by yo ur DC input power, mult iplying by 100%, t hen co mpar ing t he result t o your efficiency at t he load for t he desir ed co nduct io n angle, calculat ed using t he met hod discussed ear lier. Adjust t he finals bias unt il t he t wo efficiency figures mat ch reasonably well; t his shou ld put you close enough to t he ballpark t o at least smell t he crowd. References
1

E l m er A. Win gfi el d, W5FD, N e w a n d Im pr oved For m ul a s for th e Desi gn of Pi a n d Pi -L Net wor ks, QST , August , 1983, pp. 23-29

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2 3

Pi -Net wor k E qua t i on s a t C m i n , The AR R L Handbook 2000 , p. 13. 6 LC Me te r II-B , Al m ost Al l Di git a l E l ect r oni cs, 1412 E lm St . S. E. , Auburn, WA, 98092, 253351-9316, www. a a de. c om 4 L/ C/ F and Si ngle -Lay e r Coil Wi ndi ng Calc ul at or , or der n um ber 9123, ARRL, 225 Ma in St. , Ne wi n gt on , CT 06111, or der ph on e (US) 1-888-2 77-5289, (For ei gn ) 860-594-0355