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Abstract
As compared to high power tubes
for Satellite borne communications transmitters, tubes for a space power
station have no requirements on bandwidth and linearity characteristics. For
this reason, the travelling wave tubes, which are interesting for
communications because of their ability to transmit wide frequency bands,
would
very likely be discarded for power generation, because of their lower
efficiency, which would require a rather complicated depressed collector.
Among the various types of klystrons, the electrostatically
focussed tube would bring the advantage of a lower weight, but this tube has
to be improved to reach the efficiencies which have been demonstrated for
magnetically focussed tubes. The discussion of a figure of merit in comparing
various types of tubes for this particular application, shows the importance,
to reduce the overall weight, of operating the collector at as high a
temperature as possible. This could be done with klystrons, where the heat
dissipating electrode is well separated from the gun and the microwave
structure. This high temperature operation of the heat radiators, together
with a new technology based on an open structure and the extensive use of
heat pipes should put the klystron in a good competitive position for the
equipment of space power stations.
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