Magnetic Pulse Modulators

Increasing emphasis on the reliability of the components used in electronic equipment is leading component and system designers to greater use of magnetic devices to take advantage of their almost unlimited life. These devices have been used to replace limited life items, such as hydrogen thyratrons, electron tubes, etc., or to relegate such items to a part of the circuit where long life can be obtained by operation well below rating. Examples of the application of magnetic devices to improve the reliability of radar system modulators are the ac and dc magnetic pulse modulators to be described herein. These radar modulators provide short-duration high-voltage highcurrent negative pulses to a magnetron which generates microwaves for the system. An essential function of the modulator, accordingly, is one of intermittently switching a high-voltage high-current source across a load. In a typical system, the duration of the switching action might be one microsecond · or less, and a thousand such switches a second would be required. A typical voltage might be 30,000 volts and the peak current 943