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G8MNY > TECH 22.04.24 16:28l 347 Lines 16537 Bytes #3 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Valves (Tubes)
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From: G8MNY@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : TECH@WW
By G8MNY (Updated Sep 16)
(8 Bit ASCII graphics use code page 437 or 850, Terminal Font)
Although Valves are considered old hat nowadays, they are still used in big Tx,
RF heating systems, microwave ovens, & of course in lots of old kit.
Here is some valve information for anyone who wants to brush up on the basics.
HT VOLTAGES
Most valves use quite high voltages, the High Tension e.g. 90, 120, 200, 250,
350, 1k5V 2kV, 3kV etc. Only a few special Rx valves use voltage as low as +12V
HT.
So care must be taken if you don't want a nasty HT nip or even DEATH!
HEATERS VOLTAGES
Only special cold cathode & gas filled valves need no heaters. The heater power
can be quite large compared to the total power. For battery radio valves heater
voltages of 1.4V or 3V are normal. The most common voltage is 6.3V & for mains
heater chains where all the heater in a set are in series, either 0.3 or 0.1Amp
are the 2 common standards with a dropper resistor (line restistance cord), AC
capacitor, or diode to make up the mains supply voltage. Negative temperature
thermistors were commonly put in mains chains, to take the warming up shock
from the cold low resistance heaters.
On diagrams the heater chain/wiring is normally not drawn with the rest of the
stages.
CONNECTIONS
Like lamps Valves have limited lifetimes 2000 hours for some of the bigger ones
& >20,000 hours for CRTs etc. Turning them off & on is oftem more limiting than
leaving on! Most come with a pin connection base standard for easy replacement.
These are give names like... B7G, B9A, MO, IO, P, P5, B9, B7, B5/4, UX7, UX5,
UX4, etc.
_
ｳ ｳ Top Cap
.�'~~~'�.
/ \
ｳ ｳ ___
ｳ ｳ Getterﾄﾄ.浯�. / \
ｳ ｳ Marks ｳ ｳGlass ｳ ﾚﾄﾄﾄﾁﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾁﾄﾄﾄｿFinned
ｳ ｳ/ ｳ ｳEnvelope /~\ ｳ 4CX250B ｳExternal
ｳ ｳ ｳ ｳ ｳ ｳ ｳ ｳAnode
\ / ｳ ｳ ﾄﾄ=======ﾄﾄ ﾀﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾙ
ﾃﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄｴ ｳ ｳ \_/ G2 ﾚﾁﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾁｿ~\Ceramic
ｳ ｳ ﾀﾂﾂﾂﾂﾂﾙ ｳ Screenﾀﾄﾂﾂﾂﾂﾒﾂﾂﾄﾙ Insulator
ﾀﾒﾒﾒﾒﾒﾒﾒﾙ Through glass Acorn Ring ｳｳｳｳｺｳｳ
ｺｺｺｺｺｺｺ wire pins Type ﾀﾄｽ
Soldered on Central Grid
valve base pins Locating Pin
Many valves have top cap connections usually for Anodes on Tx & power valves
like TV sweep tubes, but may also be a sensitive control Grid on Rx valves!
Getter marks are shiny silver/black areas where Magnesium has been vaporised
onto the glass to catch the last remnants of gasses in the evacuated tube. A
white getter mark indicates air has got into the valve & it is useless!
With the all glass construction & a good magnifying glass, it is often possible
to determine not only what the internal constructions are (diode, triode,
pentode etc.) but often also their pin out connections. But I have seen
tetrodes assemblies wired up as a "rectifier diode internally" though (must
have had a surplus?).
INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION _____
Most valves are cylindrical / \ Anode
design with the Anode & /.�'''�.\ � = Grid Wire
Cathode electrodes as ( � (*) � ) � = Grid Support
coaxial tubes with wire grid \'�...�'/ ( ) = Cathode tube
structures between them. \_____/ * = Heaters
Punched Mica sheets then plan view
support the supports.
VALVE NUMBERS
There are several systems! Some reflect the heater voltage & valve type, while
others have no meaning at all.
EBC33 has 6.3V heaters (E), having Diode detector (B) & a Triode (C) with
electrical & connection valve type 33.
CV123 is a UK military type, often with loads of commercial equivalents.
12AU7 is a 12V heaters (2x 6.3V) double triode.
A good valve data book will give you all the information for the type number &
include direct equivalents. But like transistors, many applications may not
need a direct equivalent, but electrode connections & heater voltages are most
important to get right!
CATHODE
The Cathode can be directly heated
by current through the Cathode wire, Indirectly Heated
or indirectly heated with insulted ｳ ｳ Glass Cathode
wire inside the Cathode tube. \/~\/ envelope ｳ /~~\ ｳ
Electrons boil off the hot Cathode ｳ~ｳ \ｳ_/\_/
electrode, normally helped buy an Directly ｳ ｳｳ
emitting coating enabling lower Heated Wire Heaters
temperatures to be used (dim red glow). Cathode
Without the coating the Cathode has
to be very HOT, more like a lamp!
Directly heated Cathodes on AC supply often use a centre tapped AC supply, or a
"hum dinger" pot across heater line to minimise hum due to the heater voltage.
The boiled off electrons form a cloud in the vacuum, & can be attracted to the
Anode electrode if it is positive (or very near) with respect to the Cathode.
ANODES
These attract the electrons & have to
absorb kinetic energy from the fast ｳ
moving electrons & radiate it as heat. .-ｳ-.
On power valves Anode structures are / ﾄﾁﾄ \
designed to radiate the heat away, ｳ Anode ｳ
or may even be externally finned to
do this.
If the electrons are very fast then they can dislodge electrons in the Anode
causing secondary emission from the Anode to other electrodes. To stop this
some power valves use carbon/carbonised Anodes which better soak up electrons
to stop most of this unwanted emission.
DIODES
These use the 2 electrodes in an Anode
evacuate tube to conduct current .-ｳ-.
one way. / ﾄﾁﾄ \
\ /~\ /
Note that electrons flow the 'ｳ-ｳ'
opposite way to current e.g. -ve to Directly
+ve, as electrons were discovered Heated
after the properties of current Cathode
had been determined.
Unlike solid state devices, there is no voltage drop across valve signal diodes
as the nearby Cathode electron cloud actually gives up electrons freely to the
Anode (space charge current).
Anode
.-ｳ-.
In Rx valves, they are often / ﾄﾁﾄ \
part of a multi valve single tube G1 ﾄﾅ - - - ｳ
for IF detectors & AGC detectors D1 ﾄﾅﾄｴ/~~\ﾃﾅﾄ D2
plus the 1st AF amp stage. \ /\ｳ /
~~ｳｳｳ~
HH Cathode
RECTIFIERS 350VAC 350VAC
These are just powerful Anode1 Anode2
versions of the diode .嵭-ﾄ-ｳ�.
used in power supplies. / ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
ｳ ｳ
Bi-phase designs are \ /~~~~~\ /
common. ~ｳﾄﾄ-ﾄﾄｳ~
ｳ4V 2Aﾃﾄﾄﾄ>+350V DC
Voltage drop may be up to 30V @100mA. Heater
Efficiency diodes rectifiers used in old TV stages, unusually have the Cathode
as the top cap with very good Cathode to heater insulation for several kV.
TRIODES +150V HTﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄ
These have a Control Grid 47K Large inverted
between the Cathode & Anode ﾃﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄｴﾃﾄﾄﾄ Output
that reduces the flow of .-ｳ-. 0.01uF
electrons. Gain "gm" or "mu" 10n / ﾄﾁﾄ \ 250V
is in Anode mA per Grid Volt. ﾄｴﾃﾄﾂﾄﾅ - - - ｳ
The Grid is usually negative Input ｳ ｳ /~~~\ ｳ
with respect to the cathode, 1M \ /\ ｳ/
& an AC bypassed cathode gridｳ ~ｳｳ~ﾃﾄﾄﾄｿ+
resistor is a common way to leakｳ HH ｳ ===
obtain this bias. ｳ 1K ｳ 25uF
ﾄﾄﾁﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾁﾄﾄﾄﾁﾄ
There is quite high capacitance between the Anode to the adjacent Grid & this
causes high frequency negative feedback (Miller effect) in these high impedance
circuits. The electron flow is proportional to the Grid voltage, but also the
attracting Anode voltage, so there is considerable negative feedback in the
triode, which keeps the Anode impedance low in common Cathode mode.
ﾚﾄ +1500V HT
Common Grid mode (drive on the Cathode) )RFC
is used in some PA & RF amp designs ﾃﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄｴﾃﾄﾄﾄ Output to
with its reduced power gain, it has .-ｳ-. 1n 3kV pi Tank
the advantage of no Miller effect as / ﾄﾁﾄ \
well as applying current NFB, making ｳ - - - ﾅﾄﾄｿ
the stage stable, quite linear & with ｳ /~\ ｳ _ｳ_
low impedance drive. \_ｳ ｳ_/ ///
RF Drive ﾂﾄｴﾃﾄﾄｴ ｳ RF Floating
ﾀﾄﾄﾄｴﾃ)ﾄｴ Heaters & Cathode DC
For large Tx valves the triode may even be run with no bias & very large
amounts of Grid current, when the Grid is pushed positive by the drive signal,
but the Grid must be designed for this, or it will be destroyed! In data books
you see mode of operating "class A B or C" with suffix "1 or 2", 1 indicates NO
grid current 2 is with Grid current.
TETRODES
These have 2 Grid electrodes, HTﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂ_ ___
a control Grid (G1) & a screen 10kK )||( LS
Grid (G2). The screen Grid ｳ _)||(___
provides screening for G1 ｳ .-ｳ-. 25:1
from the Anode reducing the ｳ / ﾄﾁﾄ \
Miller effect & also ﾀﾅ - - - ｳ
maintaining a + attracting Inputﾄﾅ - - - ｳ
electrode other than the Anode ｳ /~~~\ ｳ
reducing the Triodes NFB \ｳ_/\_/
effect & increasing gain. 100uFﾚﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄｴ ｳｳ
Tetrodes are commonly used in === 220R
AF output stages. ﾄﾄﾁﾄﾄﾄﾄﾄﾁﾄ
BEAM TETRODE A
These have extra earthed .ﾄｳﾄ.
electrode structure (attached / ﾄﾁﾄ \
to cathode) shielding much of ｳ ] [ ｳ
the Anode structures electrical G2 ﾄﾅﾄ - - \ｳ
effects from the Grids. G1 ﾄﾅﾄ - - ｳｳ
The Grids may also be exactly ｳ /~~~\/ｳ
in line to improve efficiency, \_/\_ｳ/
by keeping G2 currents low. ｳｳ ｳC
PENTODES A
These have an earthed suppressor .-ｳ-.
Grid (G3) between the screen / ﾄﾁﾄ \
Grid (G2). This also does Grid G3 ﾄﾅﾄ - - |ｳ
Anode shielding, but also reduces ｳ - - ﾄﾅﾄ G2
secondary emission effects, G1 ﾄﾅﾄ - - |ｳ
improving gain & linearity. ｳ /~~~\ﾀﾅﾄ Screening
For RF signal amplifiers an outer \ｳ_/\_/
painted on or inner electrical Cｳ ｳｳ
screening may be used.
Variable gain (mu) can be obtained Stage
if the pitch of the G1 wire in Gain
manufacture is made variable, then 100%ｴ�..ﾄﾄ--.._ Normal Valve Cut
increasing the -ve bias will slowly 75%ｴ ''洄.. \ Off & Distortion
reduce the small signal gain of the 50%ｴ Variable''\�..
valve rather than just cut off the 25%ｴ Mu Gain \ ''洄.._
whole valve. Rx AGC & Tx ALC use 0%ﾅﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄﾄﾄﾂﾄﾄ~ Bias
this feature to control gain. 1 2 3 4 5 -Volts
Anode IF
HEPTODES .-ｳ-.
With more electrodes / ﾄﾁﾄ \
some valves can be a Suppressor G5 ﾄﾅﾄ - - ｳ
mixer plus oscillator ｳ ﾄ - ﾄﾅﾄ G4 Osc Anode
using the same ｳ - - ﾄﾅﾄ G3 Osc Grid
electron flow. Screen Grid G2 ﾄﾅﾄ - - ｳ
RF signals G1 ﾄﾅﾄ - - ｳ
ｳ /~~~\ ｳ
\ｳ_/\_/
Cｳ ｳｳ
BEAM MIXERS
A good performance mixer can be A1 A2
made using a balanced out of .-ｳ-ﾄ-ｳ-.
phase Anodes A1 & 2, & a pair / ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
of beam bending deflection P1 ﾄﾅﾄｴ ﾃﾄﾅﾄ P2
plates P1 & P2 fed with the ｳ - - - ﾄﾄﾅﾄ G2
balanced local oscillator. G1 ﾄﾅﾄﾄ - - - ｳ
The amplified radio signal on ｳ /~~~~~\ ｳ
G1 is then fed in turn to A1 or \ｳ__/~\___/
A2 depending on of the phase of Cｳ ｳ~ｳ
the balanced local oscillator.
MULTIPLE VALVES At Ap
As vales are quite big it is .-ｳ-ﾄﾄﾄﾄ-ｳ-.
quite common to include more / ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
than one in a glass envelope if ｳ ﾚ - - - ｳ
there will be no interference G1t ﾄﾅﾄ ﾄ ﾄ ｳ - - ﾄ ﾅﾄ G2p
(e.g. not multiple RF stages). ｳ ｳ - - ﾄ ﾅﾄ G1p
Here a detector Diode, audio D1 ﾄﾅﾄｴ /~~~~~~~\ ｳ
Triode & audio output Pentode \ /~~\ ｳ /
all share the same Cathode. ~~ﾄｳﾄ--ﾄｳ~ｳ~
Sometimes in a diagram only part H H C
of the valve may be shown in a
part of the circuit.
A A'
Some push pull VHF/UHF Tx valves .--ｳ-ﾄﾄﾄﾄ-ｳ--.
use twin beam tetrode assembles / ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
with one Cathode & G2, but two ｳ ] [ ] [ｿ ｳ
G1s & Anodes. Internal Anode G2 ﾄﾅﾄ - - -ﾄﾄ- - -ｳ ｳ
to Grid neutralising capacitors G1 ﾄﾅﾄ - - - - - -ｳﾄﾅﾄ G1'
between A'- G1 & A - G1' are ｳ /~~~~~~~~~~\ｳ ｳ
possible with push pull valves \___ /~\ ___ｳ/
in one envelope. ~~ｳ~ｳ~~ ｳC
INDICATOR TUBES
Often called magic eye or tuning
indicators, these give a varying A1 A2
area of green fluorescent display .ｳ-ﾄﾄﾄ-ｳ-.
depending on the signal. They are / ﾃﾄﾄｿ ｳ \
commonly twin triodes, where the ｳ ﾄﾁﾄ ｳ ﾄﾁﾄ ｳ
anode of the first is the beam G1ﾄﾅ ﾄ ﾄ ﾀﾄ ﾄ ﾄ ｳ
altering grid of the second triode ｳ /~~~~~~~\ ｳ
& connected to HT with a high value \ｳ___/~\___/
resistor. The second triodes' anode Cｳ ｳ~ｳ
at HT is phosphor coated, or used
as an accelerator anode to phosphor
on the glass to give the display.
BEAM TUBES
Many types of special electron beam tubes exist other than the Cathode Ray Tube
they include Travelling Wave Tubes, Klystrons etc. Most amplify or self
oscillate & can produce very useful gains (e.g. 40dB) & powers (kW) at some
astonishing frequencies (10s of GHz).
GAS FILLED
Gases are normally not wanted in valves as it ionises & poisons the Cathode.
But cold Cathode tubes using neon, or other gasses do make good shunt voltage
regulators (like zeners), & even triggered timebases using a Thyratron. The DOT
or sometimes hatching, represents the gas inside the envelope.
+ .-ｳ-.
.-ｳ-. .-ｳ-. Trigger / ﾄﾁﾄ \ .-ｳ-ﾄﾄ-ｳ-.
/ ﾄﾁﾄ \ / ﾄﾁﾄ \ Gate ﾄﾅ - -�- ｳ / ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
ｳ � ｳ ｳ � ｳ Grid ｳ /~~~\ ｳ ｳ � ｳ
\ ﾄﾂﾄ / \ﾚ o / \ｳ_/\_/ \_/~~~~~~\_/
'-ｳ-' Start/-ｳ-' ｳ ｳｳ ｳ~~~~~~ｳ
NEON REGULATOR HEATED HEATED HIGH CURRENT
80V 2mA 150V 80mA THYRATRON GAS RECTIFIER
NOTES: OA2 = 150v much typ 1007 cold kathode (octal)
------ OB2 = 90v See book: (US militair app's)
(From ON4CBL) 150C1K (octal) EEV-GenE. ...
More complex neon ones make up NIXI number display tubes, & nowadays Mercury
vapour ones make fluorescent lamps & the hart of Plasma TV display panels.
With liquid Mercury as a Cathode, large ones use (before the silicon diode)
to be used as large poly phase rectifiers, with 3, 6, or even 12 Anodes, many
Amps at several kVs can be rectified this way.
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6
.-ｳ---ｳ---ｳ---ｳ---ｳ---ｳ-.
/ ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ ﾄﾁﾄ \
ｳ ｳ
\_ ﾚ o _/
~ｳ~~~~~~~~~ｳ~~~~~~~~~~~
Starter C
See my bulletins on "Early AVO Valve Tester", "Old Valve Radios", "Microwave
Ovens" & for PAs "4CX250B PA Regulated Supplies" & "4CX250B PA Timing &
Control", & also "Reforming Caps" or "Oscilloscopes" for CRT information.
Why Don't U send an interesting bul?
73 De John G8MNY @ GB7CIP
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