Envelope-to: dave@picks.force9.co.uk Delivery-date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:36 +0100 Received: by pih-mxcore11.plus.net with spam-scanned (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1EMUpg-0000Xq-9c for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:36 +0100 Received: from post.thorcom.com ([193.82.116.20]) by pih-mxcore11.plus.net with esmtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1EMUpg-0000XQ-2q for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:36 +0100 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 4.14) id 1EMUpV-0003fS-OE for rs_out_1@blacksheep.org; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:25 +0100 Received: from [193.82.116.32] (helo=relay1.thorcom.net) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1EMUpV-0003fJ-9s for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:25 +0100 Received: from web25415.mail.ukl.yahoo.com ([217.146.176.233]) by relay1.thorcom.net with smtp (Exim 4.51) id 1EMVQ5-0001Ew-Fp for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:52:14 +0100 Received: (qmail 2797 invoked by uid 60001); 3 Oct 2005 18:14:17 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.co.uk; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=LGDcqHg1691TWJygSRA6iw8TMIBofPMjCpSaxJ0EMkLKb6qtOzTiQxGvI0XsQd9j9YVLMj2SM5lCb9DyfMDVBZ9Ywt86D3165Ac1ZW34DlnnKAe6R6Vl+U9WWRf8Pq36hlb33TS7rKK+vcgdy3Jx1JhD+WaFG2q3fXzcb7S4ong= ; Message-ID: <20051003181417.2795.qmail@web25415.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Received: from [213.78.182.231] by web25415.mail.ukl.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:14:17 BST Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 19:14:17 +0100 (BST) From: brian hodgson To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: LF: Advice (again) please Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group X-SA-Exim-Rcpt-To: rs_out_1@blacksheep.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No; SAEximRunCond expanded to false X-PN-SpamFiltered: by PlusNet MXCore (v2.00)
Hi Chris -
 
I've been dabbling with some PA circuits recently - the usual hard switching, push-pull fets and transformer output follwed by a pi (C-L-C) Lowpass filter.
 
One trick I did discover was that by increasing the inductance of the low pass filter (using the tried and tested technique of  poking a large ferrite rod inside the coil) from 120 to 185 microhenries the voltage waveform on the drains became a lot smoother - more like class E - and the overall efficiency went up to better than 90% (over 200 watts out for 220 watts input).
 
Adjustment was quite sharp but not "critical". Watching the drain waveform voltage on the scope was the best way to tweak but just tuning for minimum supply current seemed almost as good.
 
Brian
  
"OSBORN, Chris" <Chris.OSBORN@astrium.eads.net> wrote:
I'm generating 100 watts into my 50 ohm dummy load but
only getting an efficiency of about 50%.
The output transformer toroidal core is getting quite hot and I
suspect that it's permeability is too low as the capacitance
required
to bring it to resonance is far higher than those of published
designs
in the LF Experimenter's handbook, using the same number of turns.
These capacitors are running very hot too (as mentioned by PA0SE in
his LFEH article).


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