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Vacuum tube rejuvination



Original poster: Brett Miller <brmtesla2@xxxxxxxxx>

Scott,

Thank you for that excellent description of thorium
oxide depletion in tube filaments.  I will also read
the articles you have linked.  This is exactly what I
wanted to know.

-Brett


--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Original poster: "huil888" <huil888@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Brett-
>
> In a vacuum-tube with a directly-heated
> thoriated-tungsten filament,
> the actual source of electrons is thorium oxide,
> which is alloyed
> with the tungsten filament. The thorium is brought
> to the surface of
> the filament during special processing when the tube
> is built. As
> this surface layer of thorium is slowly depleted
> during tube
> operation, electron emission gradually drops. Very
> slight increases
> in temperature greatly increase the rate of thorium
> depletion, which
> is why tube manufacturer's specify VERY close
> control of filament
> voltage (= filament temperature).
>
> With a tube that is already showing reduced
> emission, a way to
> temporarily increase emission is to increase
> filament temperature.
> However, this will relatively quickly deplete the
> remaining thorium.
> Nevertheless, given the total run time of a typical
> VTTC, this may
> yield acceptable results.
>
> There are a number of papers available on the web on
> increasing the
> filament emission of "tired" vacuum tubes, and also
> guidelines on
> first firing-up high power vacuum tubes that have
> sat in storage for
> many years. Search on "vacuum tube rejuvenation" or
> similar topics. A
> general recommendation seems to be to run the tube
> for some period of
> time with filament power applied, but with no B+
> applied. 24-48 hours
> of operation in this mode allegedly helps to de-gas
> the tube, and
> reduce the potential of internal arcing.
>
> Here is an article describing the "rejuvenation" of
> low-emission
> tubes:
>
http://www.antiqueradios.com/chrs/journal/rejuvenation.html
>
> Here is a relatively recent paper describing
> low-emission problems
> with high power RF tubes used in the CERN nuclear
> particle
> accelerator, and how filament power monitoring and
> control led to
> greatly increased tube life.
>
>
http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/p99/PAPERS/MOP146.PDF
>
> Regards,
> Scott Hanson




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