With Britain already at war, a single prototype of this magnetron was carried to the US as a top-secret device. This was nearly a hundred times more power than anyone else had ever produced at that wavelength. Still, it produced over 400 watts of power at the extremely short wavelength of 9.8 cm (about 4 inches). However, it was complicated to machine from a block of metal. All that changed in 1939, when two British physicists at the University of Birmingham (UK) produced a prototype of a much-improved version (Figure 1). In brief, the first crude unit was developed in the 1920s by an American engineer working at General Electric, and in 1934, the cavity magnetron – the first-generation of “modern” version – was developed at the legendary Bell Telephone Laboratories.īut the cavity magnetron was not ready for widespread use: it was large, inefficient, and unreliable. Magnetron-based radar was a key element in the British victory in the skies during the Battle of Britain against German planes, and in ship operations against other ships and even U-boat submarines as their periscopes could be spotted via radar.Ī: The history of the magnetron development, implementation, and the role has been extensively covered and recounted in books and articles. In addition, the shorter wavelengths gave a much higher resolution. The magnetron operated at over 1 GHz and enabled radar systems which were far smaller and could use a modest-size parabolic antenna which could be fitted into the nose of aircraft, on ships, and even submarines, in addition to land-based systems. Prior to the magnetron, power oscillators for radar could only operate to about 100 to 300 MHz ) – now considered to be a low-end RF frequency, but not in the 1930s and 1940s – which meant long wavelengths, poor reflected-signal resolution, and physically large antennas. This part explores the development and special history of the device, as well as disruptive alternative technologies for some applications.Ī: The development and production of the magneton was a major advance during World War II. Part 1 of this FAQ looked at the application and operating principles of the magnetron.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |