Vic Roberts is the guy for RF Discharge Question

Jeff Engel · Oct 13, 2012

Hello lighting folks - wonder if any one here can help?

I'm working on an RF discharge tube project (as a spectroscopist, not as a
lighting engineer) using gas fills that may react with a 'conventional' tube
with internal electrodes .

My current (working) setup is a 100W HAM HF radio transmitter driving an ATU
and air-cored tuned transformer then on to external electrodes - and
there-in lies my question.

After studying a lot of references, I am unable to find any 'pros and cons'
type of comparisons of common external electrode configurations. Some
designs use external collars, some coils(s) and some full length plates.
Driving frequencies vary from , say, 3Mhz to 150Mhz (I suspect that this may
be driven as much by local radio spectrum allocations rather than discharge
efficiency)

Assuming that the RF wavelengths used to drive the tube are much greater
than the sizes of / distance between the electrodes, are their any rules of
thumb / references that provide guidance on an optimum electrode
configuration?

MTIA

Ian Mackay
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Vic Roberts is the guy for RF Discharge Question

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