E2V Technologies

The Mode of Operation of the EEV IOT (Inductive

Output Tube) and its Use in UHF Television Transmitters

CONTENTS
1 What is an IOT?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Where is the EEV IOT used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Historical Background and Alternative Amplifiers for UHF TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3.1 From VHF to UHF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.2 The Klystron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.3 Solid-State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.4 The Tetrode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.5 The IOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.6 The Diacrode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Detailed Description of EEV IOT Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4.1 Magnet Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2 The EEV IOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3 Input Cavity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.4 Output System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.5 Linearity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

5 How to Tune EEV IOT Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

E2V Technologies Limited, Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2QU England Telephone: +44 (0)1245 493493 Facsimile: +44 (0)1245 492492
e-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.e2vtechnologies.com Holding Company: Redwood 2002 Limited
E2V Technologies Inc. 4 Westchester Plaza, PO Box 1482, Elmsford, NY10523-1482 USA Telephone: (914) 592-6050 Facsimile: (914) 592-5148 e-mail: [email protected]

#E2V Technologies Limited 2002 A1A-TPD170 Issue 4, July 2002

527/5564
1 What is an IOT? 3 Historical Background and
The Inductive Output Tube or IOT is a high vacuum, Alternative Amplifiers for UHF TV
electron tube which works in combination with a
specially designed circuit assembly to provide the
3.1 From VHF to UHF
heart of a high power UHF amplifier. The tube and Television transmission began with relatively few
cavity combination, or system (see Fig. 1) is designed channels, and these could be accommodated in VHF
to give an 8 MHz pass-band when tuned to any bands I and III between 50 and 260 MHz. The
channel in the frequency range 470 to 860 MHz. The necessary transmitters could be made using coaxial
system contains the high negative voltages inside a triodes or tetrodes in coaxial cylindrical line cavities,
safe grounded enclosure. X-ray and RF leakage are and the 25 kW maximum vision power could often be
reduced to a safe level. provided by one final stage tube. These transmitters
The IOT system must be connected to cooling water were the first to be replaced by solid-state equipment
and air, the cathode high voltage supply, isolated in the 1980s and 1990s.
heater, ion gauge and grid bias supplies at high In the 1960s the demand for television services
voltage, and a focus current supply. A peak RF drive increased, and at the same time there was a
power of up to 1000 W is fed into the input cavity, requirement for higher definition and colour
and up to 100 kW peak UHF power can be taken from transmission. It now became necessary to use the
the output coupler to a suitable load or aerial. An UHF bands IV and V to accommodate all the wider
interlock protection and control logic system is channels required by public and commercial
required to check the availability of necessary broadcasting.
services and switch on the amplifier in the correct The four main amplifier types (klystron, transistor,
sequence. In case the tube should flash over tetrode and IOT), shown for comparison in Table 1,
internally, a crowbar circuit is required to protect the were all invented before this requirement came up,
internal tube structure from follow through currents but the klystron amplifier was the obvious choice at
until the high voltage supply can be disconnected by a the time. Transistors were very new and only
normal fast circuit breaker. modestly developed; tetrodes could not reliably be
made with close spacing until the advent of the
2 Where is the EEV IOT used? carbon grid in the early 1970s. The IOT had not even
been considered because of its high drive requirement
The main use for the EEV IOT is in high powered UHF and the lack of the technology for making a reliable
television transmitters, particularly in the USA. There grid.
may also be future uses for the tube in industrial
heating, and RF power supplies for physics research
machines. 3.2 The Klystron
In the 1990s, the IOT almost completely replaced the The amplifier klystron has large internal spacings and
klystron as the preferred electron tube for the final a very high gain, and could be driven by 5 or 10 W
high power amplifier of UHF television transmitters. It amplifiers using available high frequency miniature
is more efficient than the klystron and reduces energy gridded vacuum tubes. The poor efficiency of the
consumption by 50% for the same transmitter power klystron was accepted because there was no
rating. In addition it is linear enough to permit the alternative. The klystron also provided poor linearity
combined amplification of sound and vision, which and it was necessary to amplify the sound and vision
allows medium powered transmitters to be simplified separately in two klystrons and combine afterwards to
to the minimum tube complement of one only avoid interference (crosstalk or intermodulation
compared with klystrons, where two are required for product distortion). However, the klystron was very
separate vision and sound amplification. reliable and long-lived.
The IOT is also the best choice for final high power
amplification of digital signals in the coming digital
television (DTV) revolution.

TPD170, page 2 #E2V Technologies

 HIGH VOLTAGE IN

"
"

RF IN

INPUT CAVITY " RF OUTPUT POWER

TO ANTENNA

IOT "

" SECONDARY OUTPUT

CAVITY

PRIMARY OUTPUT "

CAVITY

DRIFT TUBE "

COOLING WATER

MAGNET FRAME "

"

COLLECTOR COOLING
WATER

Fig. 1 IOT system

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 3

 Klystron Klystron Klystron Transistor Tetrode IOT Diacrode
sync. pulsed MSDC
Invention 1939 1975 1982 1948 1936 1938 1990
Adoption 1960 1980 1985 1970 1975 1990 1994
Gain (dB) 40 40 40 7 13 20 13
Electrical efficiency 9 14 28 16 24 32 29
(grey and sync.) (%)
IPD (dB) 740 740 740 740 750 750 750
Common amplification no no no yes yes yes yes
Maximum power per device (kW) 70 70 70 0.1 50 110 100
Typical average life (hours) 50 000 25 000 50 000 450 000 15 000 30 000 15 000
Table 1 UHF TV amplifier types

Once the klystron had been adopted for UHF TV modules with 250 W, 500 W, 1000 W outputs. Each
transmission, klystron makers and users then worked device is connected through protective circuitry so
to improve the performance of their product, that the failure of one device cannot produce an
particularly in electrical efficiency, to reduce the high avalanche of destruction through its neighbours. The
running costs and to respond to competition from linearity of such amplifiers is modest, but with
alternative systems as they came along. At first the multiple modules there is no difficulty providing
klystron was run with a fixed beam power sufficient to separate amplification of vision and sound. The
provide the sync. pulse power. At this maximum electrical efficiency remains poor, and the capital
power the basic efficiency of the klystron (35% say) cost continues high. However, solid-state
was obtained, but at the mid-grey average signal level transmitters are being purchased wherever extreme
the efficiency was only 7%. Basic efficiency was reliability is thought to be required and only the
improved to 45% (bringing mid-grey to 9%) by ‘graceful’ decline in power of multiple device
designing for lower gain as higher power drive amplifiers can be tolerated.
amplifiers became available. Then a major step-up in
efficiency was achieved by pulsing the beam current 3.4 The Tetrode
up for the sync. pulse and down to a level sufficient
Tetrode electron tubes with thoriated tungsten mesh
for black for the rest of the picture period; this moved
filaments and molybdenum grids were used for 500 W
mid-grey level picture efficiencies up to 14%. Finally
UHF TV transposers from the late 1960s. In the early
the multistage depressed collector was added to the
1970s the pyrolytic graphite grid became available and
klystron with the necessarily greater tube and power
was used in UHF tetrodes with 0.2 mm electrode
supply complexity involved, but a further
spacings and peak sync. power outputs of 10, 20 and
improvement in efficiency up to 28% for mid-grey
30 kW. These devices have to have very high power
level.
densities because there are fundamental limitations on
maximum internal dimensions. There are risks of
3.3 Solid-State parasitic standing waves, or modes, if any internal
Transistors were soon in use in amplifiers to drive dimension, such as length or diameter exceeds 1/16 of
klystrons, and equipment makers were keen to use a wavelength (a rough rule-of-thumb). Also, the finite
them in complete transmitters despite their poor screen grid end-cap to anode capacitance prevents
efficiency because of their perceived reliability. the current node/voltage anti-node of the tuned
However, there are fundamental physical limitations circuit being centred on the active area of the tube.
to the maximum output powers of individual Nevertheless, the tetrode is still electrically efficient
transistors at UHF. The features that increase output and linear, and can be used for transmitters up to
power, i.e. increased junction area and reduced 30 kW peak sync. vision only or 20 kW peak sync.
device thickness, also increase capacitance and limit combined sound and vision amplification. At first
maximum frequency. Further, the skin effect limits smaller tetrodes were used as sound and/or vision
the useful junction area to a few microns’ width next driver tubes, but lately solid-state amplifiers have
to the edge, and the length of edge has to be taken over these jobs. The UHF tetrode has never
increased by dividing the junction area into a finger been able to demonstrate lives comparable with the
like pattern. The most advanced UHF transistors can klystron (or IOT), especially above about 15 kW of
now produce of the order of 100 W effective output peak sync. power.
and are arranged in series/parallel arrays to make

TPD170, page 4 #E2V Technologies

3.5 The IOT 4 Detailed Description of EEV
The arrival of pyrolytic graphite on the electron tube IOT Operation
scene provided a suitable material for the fine In Fig. 2 an IOT system is shown exploded into its
spherical grid closely spaced in front of a spherical major sub-systems:
indirectly heated dispenser cathode for the IOT.
Magnet Frame;
The first practical tube to be made was the so-called
‘Klystrode’, a klystron/tetrode hybrid. At that time IOT;
UHF drive amplifiers were still relatively expensive, Input Cavity;
and this encouraged the klystrode designers to Output Circuit consisting of a primary and
incorporate regenerative feedback to increase the secondary output cavity.
tube gain; this gave them some inherent hazards of
linearity and stability to overcome. The klystrode also 4.1 Magnet Frame
encountered serious problems with spurious emission The magnet frame supports the tube through its lower
from its grid. pole piece. It is shown in Fig. 3, together with the
EEV (now E2V Technologies) came next with its IOT, tube pole pieces and drift tubes. The magnetic flux
which eliminated the grid emission problem and produced by the coils follows the high permeability
settled for lower gain, thus avoiding the instability of materials. Between the pole pieces and inside the drift
input cavities using feedback. E2V Technologies had tubes there is a magnetic field to focus the electron
different problems to overcome: the RF drive had to beam and prevent it hitting the drift tubes.
be fed through isolating chokes (or blocking The magnet frame supports the secondary output
capacitors) to the gun at high negative voltage cavity and brings the output coupler to a specified
(735 kV); at first these chokes could not stand high plan position and height.
operating temperatures and broke down; the problem
The frame also provides a system ground connection,
was subsequently solved by the use of ceramic
and supports customers’ wiring harnesses and other
chokes.
interfaces.
The EEV IOT has provided long life and reliable
operation and has become the preferred tube for
most high power UHF TV transmitters. 4.2 The EEV IOT
The EEV IOT is a sealed, high vacuum device, which
3.6 The Diacrode allows an electron beam to travel from one end to the
other in a precisely controlled way. It is shown
In what is probably the final stretching of the tetrode separately in Fig. 4.
technology, the Diacrode joins two tetrodes back to
The electrons are emitted from the spherical front
back on their common cylindrical axis with a coaxial
surface of a dispenser cathode (tungsten matrix
socket/header on either side of a common anode.
impregnated with barium aluminate), which is heated
The screen grid is connected to both sides, but the
from behind by a radiant tungsten heater. The flow of
control grid and cathode are connected to one side
electrons is controlled by a fine spherical pyrolytic
only for cathode heating and cathode drive. With an
carbon grid spaced close to the cathode. The grid and
anode cavity on each side, the tube has achieved the
cathode are mounted on metal supports which are
advantage of bringing the current node/voltage
separated by a hermetic ceramic insulator which is
antinode to the middle of the screen grid/anode
part of the tube envelope and through which the drive
structure.
signal passes. The cathode is maintained at 735 000 V
The diacrode is being applied to a range of combined by a 3 A DC power supply; the grid is biased at
vision and sound amplification UHF TV transmitters. 7100 V with respect to the cathode by an isolated
Its service life will probably be limited to an absolute supply floating on the negative high voltage. This gun
maximum of about 20 000 hours (about half that of an is isolated from the grounded IOT body by a hermetic
EEV IOT) by the inevitable depletion of the carburising ceramic insulator covered with convoluted silicone
of the slender thoriated tungsten wire in the mesh rubber to increase the surface tracking length and
cathode. prevent voltage breakdown.

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 5

 INPUT CAVITY IOT

"

"
"

"

MAGNET FRAME

OUTPUT CIRCUIT

Fig. 2 IOT system components

TPD170, page 6 #E2V Technologies

Fig. 3 Magnet Frame

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 7

 "
HEATER CONNECTION
CATHODE VOLTS
735 000 V
"
CATHODE CONNECTION
"

GRID VOLTS
CERAMIC RF INPUT WINDOW "
735 100 V
"
7 +

GUN INSULATOR CERAMIC "

BIAS SUPPLY
(100 V)
"
POLE PIECE
"

HIGH VOLTAGE
OUTPUT CERAMIC " POWER SUPPLY
(35 000 V)

+
"

"
POLE PIECE
COLLECTOR CERAMIC "
A CATHODE CURRENT

COLLECTOR " "

mA BODY CURRENT

WATER JACKET "

"

"

COOLANT IN COOLANT OUT

Fig. 4 The IOT

TPD170, page 8 #E2V Technologies

If the grid voltage is made less negative with respect The lowest frequencies can be tuned using a 3/4 l
to cathode potential, then more current flows from mode with the door movement near mid-range. As
the cathode. The electric field makes the beam the frequency increases the door is tuned to the limit
converge into the anode nose where the increasing of its range (lowest volume) for 3/4 l. Above this
space charge turns it parallel to the tube axis. The frequency the 3/4 l current antinode is nearer the grid-
magnetic field shown in the previous section then cathode gap than the door can reach. The door must
holds it parallel through the output gap. After the now be retracted towards maximum cavity volume
beam has passed the lower pole-piece, where the position to include an extra half wavelength for the
5
magnet focus field is removed, it diverges under /4 l mode. Moving the door from maximum volume
space-charge repulsion and is dissipated on the to minimum volume now covers the top part of the
inside of the water cooled collector. The current frequency band on the 5/4 l mode.
picked up by the body other than the collector can The cavity design also contains features to overcome
be measured separately by the circuit shown in Fig. 4. two potential problems. The insulating chokes provide
a path through which RF energy can escape from the
4.3 Input Cavity grid-anode cavity into the cathode-grid cavity. At
The input cavity and the top half of the IOT are certain frequencies this feedback can be in the
shown together in Fig. 5. correct phase and have sufficient power to cause
oscillation of the IOT; the grid-anode cavity has
4.3.1 Input Cavity Tuning therefore been loaded with ferrite material to absorb
sufficient RF energy to make the system stable at all
The input cavity is a medium-Q resonant coaxial line frequencies. Secondly, the input cavity has other
cavity whose volume can be adjusted to tune from resonances than the 3/4 l and 5/4 l modes shown in
470 to 860 MHz using a 3/4 l mode at the low Fig. 6. However, the design is such that these are not
frequency end and 5/4 l mode at the high frequency excited if the tuning door is pre-set to the correct
end, see tuning curves Fig. 6. The outer case and the position for the drive frequency that is to be used.
adjustable volume of the cavity are at ground
potential. The input power is fed in through a 4.3.2 Input Cavity/Junction Box
grounded coaxial cable to a loop antenna on the
cavity side of the movable annular tuning short circuit The input cavity contains inside its grounded lid an
or door. The input signal causes a current to flow in insulating junction box for the high voltage supplies.
and out of the end capacitance of the loop antenna. These supplies arrive along insulated cables inside a
An alternating magnetic field is generated grounded flexible conduit which terminates at the lid.
perpendicular to the loop, and this induces a current The supplies consist of the high negative voltage,
to flow up the inside cavity cylinder across the high current supply to the cathode (which also serves
underside of the tuning door and down the outside as the heater return), the heater supply, the ion pump
cavity cylinder and vice versa. This excites a resonant supply, and the grid bias. The last three are isolated
standing wave to build up in the cavity over 10 or 20 supplies floating at high voltage. The grid bias lead
cycles to a final level in proportion to the input signal. passes through a coaxial feed-through capacitor at
the cathode plane to bypass any RF that would
The coaxial line continues inside the IOT between the
otherwise flow back to the supply.
cylindrical supports of the cathode and grid. Because
the gun is at 735 kV, this smaller coaxial line section In building up a system, the IOT is equipped with
must be connected to the larger tunable grounded leads, and these are plugged into the junction box
outer section by a disc shaped section incorporating once the input cavity has been installed.
DC isolating RF chokes, one in the inner line to the
cathode and a second similar one in the outer line to 4.3.3 Input Cavity/Beam Pulsing
the grid. Before the IOT beam can be powered the system
The standing wave in the cavity is distorted as it goes must be prepared as described below and as shown in
through this zig-zag path through the disc shaped Fig. 1.
region containing the chokes. To explain the tuning The IOT is positioned in the magnet frame; the
procedure, a simplified schematic layout is shown in primary output cavity is clamped round the tube and
Fig. 7, in which a straight cavity section with no the secondary cavity screwed to the primary; the
chokes ends immediately at the grid to cathode gap. output coupler at the top of the secondary is joined to
The best input tune is obtained by adjusting the door a suitable RF load. It is imperative not to draw any
position for maximum beam current. This occurs electron beam current without the output cavities
when the grid-cathode gap is part way between a being in place because only they can contain safely
voltage node and antinode at a point where the the RF and X-ray radiation (see data sheet). The
voltage to current ratio exactly matches the magnet frame earth and collector lead are connected.
impedance of the grid to cathode capacitance.

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 9

Fig. 5 Input cavity

TPD170, page 10 #E2V Technologies

 900

850

800 5/4l

750

700

650

600

550
FREQUENCY (MHz)

500 3/4l

450

400
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
COUNTER NUMBER
MAXIMUM CAVITY VOLUME MINIMUM CAVITY VOLUME

Fig. 6 Input cavity tuning curves

7 V + 7 I + 7 V + 7 I +
" " " " " " " "
"

LIMITS OF
TUNING DOOR
MOVEMENT
"

SCHEMATIC HALF VOLTAGE AND CURRENT SCHEMATIC HALF VOLTAGE AND CURRENT
SECTION OF CAVITY STANDING WAVES 3/4l SECTION OF CAVITY STANDING WAVES 5/4l
WITHOUT CHOKES WITHOUT CHOKES

Fig. 7 Resonance modes

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 11

The input cavity is lowered over the tube, the leads electron current would begin to be collected by the
connected to the junction box, and the top lid closed grid. The tube should in general not be driven harder
to activate the microswitch safety interlock. than this to avoid grid heating and consequent grid
The arc detector leads are connected to the emission. An intermediate grey level signal is also
monitoring/control circuits. shown in this diagram.
Water cooling to the collector and body, air cooling to It can be seen that the beam current increases
the input and output cavities, and magnetising approximately sinusoidally in the positive going half
current to the frame are switched on. cycle and is largely suppressed in the negative going
With all the necessary support services in action, the half cycle. The electrons released through the grid are
interlocks will now permit the heater power to be accelerated through 35 kV before entering the anode
switched on. After five minutes warm-up, monitoring drift tube, and at this energy form bunches denser in
circuitry will check the readiness of the crowbar to the middle and about 100 mm long at mid-range
fire. Then a suitable grid bias (of the order of 7100 V) frequencies. It is these bunches that will give up their
can be applied and the high voltage switched on. An energy to the output cavity at the output gap.
idle current of about 600 mA is required as the best
amplifier linearity will be obtained in class AB 4.4 Output System
operation. 4.4.1 Double Tuned Output
The input cavity is tuned to the chosen channel by The output system comprising primary and secondary
adjusting the cavity for maximum beam current on a output cavities and the output coupler is shown
low level signal of the appropriate frequency. The two together with the IOT output section in Fig. 9. A
output cavities are now both tuned to the same single output cavity across the IOT output gap does
frequency and their intercoupling adjusted to give the not have sufficient bandwidth to amplify uniformly all
necessary 6 or 8 MHz pass band at the correct frequencies across the necessary 6 or 8 MHz
position with respect to the carrier frequency. The bandwidth needed for an American or European UHF
output coupling is also adjusted to give the best flat TV channel respectively. A double tuned output
response - see section 5.0 for details. system has therefore been adopted, with two similar
If drive power is now fed to the input cavity at this shaped cavities loosely coupled by an adjustable loop
chosen channel then an alternating UHF voltage is in the primary cavity connected to an electrostatic
added to the grid bias to give the total grid voltage coupling electrode (called a door knob) in the
with respect to cathode as shown in Fig. 8. secondary; the aperture round the door knob and the
A sync. level signal is shown which takes the grid dome opposite it imitate in the secondary cavity the
voltage just up to cathode voltage, beyond which form of the output gap in the primary cavity.
GREY LEVEL SIGNAL
SYNC. LEVEL SIGNAL
BEAM CURRENT (A)

IDLE CURRENT
"

0.6

0 180 360
0
GRID VOLTAGE wrt CATHODE (V)

GRID BIAS
"

7100

Fig. 8 Beam current variation vs. grid voltage

TPD170, page 12 #E2V Technologies

 OUTPUT COUPLER

"

"

PRIMARY OUTPUT CAVITY

"

SECONDARY OUTPUT CAVITY

Fig. 9 Output cavities
Both cavities can be tuned in the same way; each has oscillatory current at its steady state, and by
a door at the back and a door at the front, screw convention it goes in the opposite sense to the
driven and coupled together so that they approach electrons. As the bunch advances, the voltage builds
each other symmetrically to reduce the volume and up and the current decreases (Fig. 10b) until at 908
increase the frequency, or alternatively withdraw (Fig. 10c) the current is at zero and the voltage is at a
towards the ends of the boxes to reduce the maximum retarding value when the densest part of
frequency. the bunch is in the middle of the gap. The retarding
voltage decreases as the electron bunch continues
4.4.2 Electron Interaction with Primary across the gap and the current begins to build up in
Output Cavity the opposite direction (Fig. 10d). The bunch has
The electron bunches as described in section 4.3.3, passed through the gap while the retarding voltage
interact with the primary output cavity and give up has been growing to a maximum and then declining;
their energy to it in a way shown in Fig. 10 and the electron bunch has lost energy, which has been
described below. transferred to the cavity, and the electron bunch
continues into the collector with less energy to waste.
The cavity is a high-Q resonant circuit and when fed
with a sequence of constant amplitude electron The bunch begins to leave the interaction gap when
bunches can build up a UHF voltage swing over the voltage is once again at zero (Fig. 10e) and gives
approximately 20 cycles, to a steady value appropriate an impulse to the current in the opposite direction by
to the steady drive level releasing the bunches from repelling electrons from the collector end nose round
the gun. the cavity to the anode end nose. The accelerating
voltage now builds to a maximum and declines again
The electron bunch begins to enter the interaction
to zero (Figs. 10f to 10h) while there are few or no
gap when the voltage across it is zero (Fig. 10a) and
bunch electrons in the gap; in this way little or no
gives an impulse to the cavity current by repelling
energy from the output cavity is wasted in
electrons from the anode end nose, round the cavity
accelerating electrons into the collector where the
to the collector end nose. This impulse maintains the
energy would be lost making heat.

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 13

 Fig. 10a (08) Fig. 10b (458)
I ELECTRON FLOW

+ +

"
"
"

"
7 7

V V

0 0

I I

0 0

Fig. 10c (908) Fig. 10d (1358)

+ + + + + +

7 7 7 7 7 7

V V

0 0

I I

0 0

Fig. 10 Electron interactions

TPD170, page 14 #E2V Technologies

 Fig. 10e (1808) Fig. 10f (2258)
I ELECTRON FLOW

"
"
" 7 7

"
+ +

V V

0 0

I I

0 0

Fig. 10g (2708) Fig. 10h (3158)

7 7 7 7 7 7

+ + + + + +

V V

0 0

I I

0 0

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 15

4.4.3 Secondary Cavity and Coupling In and The alternating voltage in the door knob couples
Out of it capacitively with the secondary cavity and induces a
The coupling between the primary and secondary large resonant voltage to build up between the dome
cavity and then the coupling from the secondary and the coupling loop aperture, with high current I3
cavity into the output feeder are shown schematically flowing round the inside of the box between them in a
in Fig. 11. The currents in the primary cavity induced pattern similar to that illustrated for the primary (Fig.
by the beam pulses passing the gap (see Fig. 10) flow 10).
radially across the top of the cavity, down the sides This secondary current in its turn couples
and radially across the bottom of the cavity and vice magnetically with an adjustable output loop and
versa as shown as I1. The current alternating at UHF induces a current I4 in the loop. This current flows in
generates an alternating magnetic field inside the and out of the end capacitance of the open end of the
cavity space with circular magnetic field lines around loop and the start of the output feeder.
the IOT output section. This magnetic field links with The output cavity frequencies are adjusted together
the intercoupling loop and induces in it an alternating with the inter-coupling to give the flat pass band
current I2. This current flows in and out of the end required for the chosen channel. The output loop is
capacitances of the door knob and the open end of adjusted to match the desired maximum output
the loop, generating alternating voltages in each. power to the feeder (see section 5.0).

MAGNETIC FIELD OUT OF PAGE

MAGNETIC FIELD INTO PAGE

"

+ 7
"

7 +
I3

I4
"

I1
++
"

77

+ 7 77
I2
"

7 + ++

" ++
77

Fig. 11 Secondary cavity

TPD170, page 16 #E2V Technologies

4.5 Linearity d) Note: when tuning the output circuit, because the
two output cavities are loosely coupled, any
For a given input signal voltage the standing wave in
adjustment made to one will have an effect on the
the input cavity builds up to a steady level
other.
proportional to the input voltage. This releases
electron bunches from the gun with an average e) Before fine tuning the IOT, both coupling loops
current in proportion to the input voltage. After should be set to about 308. This will allow the relative
acceleration through the anode, these bunches positions of both the primary and secondary output
excite the primary output cavity to resonate up to a cavities to be seen, by giving a ‘double-humped’
steady voltage which is also proportional to the input response.
signal. It is the good linearity of the relationship f) To fine tune the IOT, adjust the frequency of the
between amplifier input voltage and amplifier output primary output cavity to give a peak approximately
voltage that enables the IOT to amplify combined 2 MHz below vision carrier frequency, and the
sound and vision signals with low intermodulation secondary output cavity to give a second peak just
product distortion that is easily brought to typical above the aural carrier frequency. It may be necessary
transmission specification levels by simple pre- to adjust the inter-cavity coupling to achieve this. The
correction techniques. frequency response should now resemble Fig. 12a.
Changing the inter-coupling will result in movement of
both peaks when either is tuned.
5 How to Tune EEV IOT Systems
g) Adjust the output coupling to raise the centre
The following steps will allow the user to tune the portion of the frequency response to give the best flat
complete EEV IOT amplifier system, for analogue TV overall response. Generally, moving the output loop
service, in a logical manner without any risk of towards 908 will raise the centre, and towards 08 will
damage to the tube or circuit. It is important to achieve the opposite. This operation may also affect
adhere to these basic rules when tuning the system, the bandwidth slightly, and this should be readjusted
as damage can occur if mistakes are made. to the required value by adjusting the primary and
It will be assumed that the IOT has been assembled secondary output cavities, and the inter-cavity
and installed correctly in the transmitter, that all coupling if necessary
interlock and protection systems are operating h) It is possible to achieve a flat passband with many
normally, and that the IOT has been powered to the combinations of inter-cavity and output cavity
correct beam voltage and idle current (typically 500 to coupling. However, not all of these combinations will
700 mA). result in efficient operation of the IOT. In general, the
When tuning the IOT, it is important to remember best combination of couplings is achieved by reducing
that the collector CANNOT dissipate full beam power. the inter-cavity coupling to as small an angle as
Therefore, once the input cavity has been tuned, the possible whilst maintaining adequate bandwidth and
output cavities and coupler must be at least coarse passband flatness. Typically, the wider the tuned
tuned before the IOT is driven to full beam power. bandwidth, the more likely it is to have a small dip in
The most convenient method of tuning an IOT is with the centre of the response. It is best to alter the
a sideband adaptor or video sweeper in conjunction couplings and door positions in small, progressive
with the transmitter’s exciter and intermediate power steps. Start by adjusting the inter-cavity coupling
amplifier, along with a spectrum analyser to view the slightly, then compensate for the resultant ‘non-
frequency response. Then proceed as follows: flatness’ in the passband by adjusting the output
a) Bypass the SAW filter and all of the transmitter coupling.
pre-correction circuits. Disable the aural drive. Using It may also be necessary to fine tune the cavity doors
the coarse tuning tables provided in the IOT assembly at this point.
manual, tune all three cavities for the desired channel. i) The tuning is completed by repeating step h) several
b) Limit the peak drive power to the IOT to 30 W times.
maximum. A lower peak drive power is acceptable. j) Re-insert the SAW filter in preparation for pre-
c) Apply a low amplitude, white level sweep to the correction.
input of the IOT and tune the input cavity to vision k) Slowly raise the drive power to its full value,
carrier frequency by observing the spectrum analyser, ensuring that all tube parameters are within
or the output from a DC current probe connected to specification, and that the ion pump is able to
measure collector current. If the beam current panel remove any residual gas. This is particularly
meter is being used to monitor the input tuning, the important when tuning a new IOT.
additional current drawn will be small, because the The effect on the frequency response on adjusting
low drive power being used at this stage will not draw the various controls of the IOT circuit is summarised
much current above the idle current, observed under diagrammatically in Figs. 12b to 12g.
DC conditions.

#E2V Technologies TPD170, page 17

 Fig. 12a Output tuning circuit

Fig. 12b Cavities and loops coarse tuned Fig. 12c Effect of inter-cavity loop

Fig. 12d Effect of output loop Fig. 12e Effect of primary output cavity

Fig. 12f Effect of secondary output cavity Fig. 12g Effect of input cavity

Fig. 12 Output circuit tuning

TPD170, page 18 #E2V Technologies

6 Conclusion
This paper describes the mode of operation of the IOT
without the use of complex mathematics, and
positions the IOT with respect to the alternative
available technologies.
The IOT had to wait over 50 years, after being first
proposed as a design concept, until the technology of
the production of graphite grid structures enabled a
practical, working tube to be constructed. Since the
first EEV IOT went into service in 1991, the tube has
become the preferred choice for use in high power
television transmitters worldwide. This is because the
broadcasting industry has recognised the advantages:
* long life,
* reliability,
* linearity,
* low energy consumption.

The IOT will continue to serve the UHF TV

broadcaster as it begins to appear as the final
amplifier tube in the new generation of high power
digital television transmitters, now entering service.
E2V Technologies provides engineering advice and
assistance to existing and potential users of the IOT.
Additionally, a Cost of Ownership calculation
designed to compare the relative cost of owning an
EEV IOT transmitter at a given power level, with the
cost of an alternative technology, will be provided free
of charge on request. This can be customised to take
account of specific individual requirements.

Whilst E2V Technologies has taken care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein it accepts no responsibility for the consequences of any use
thereof and also reserves the right to change the specification of goods without notice. E2V Technologies accepts no liability beyond that set out in its standard
conditions of sale in respect of infringement of third party patents arising from the use of tubes or other devices in accordance with information contained herein.

#E2V Technologies Printed in England TPD170, page 19