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Re: [Amps] Coupling a blower to an air system socket

To: "Vic Rosenthal" <k2vco.vic@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Coupling a blower to an air system socket
From: "Carl" <km1h@jeremy.mv.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:18:35 -0400
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>
It all depends upon the blower cfm/backpressure rating and the socket plus tube contribution. If you look at the Ameritron bases they are not very large or look at the various Alpha 8874 amps which are mighty small. A blower that is too big is not the answer either.

Carl
KM1H



----- Original Message ----- From: "Vic Rosenthal" <k2vco.vic@gmail.com>
To: "Carl" <km1h@jeremy.mv.com>
Cc: "amps" <amps@contesting.com>; "Bill Fuqua" <wlfuqu00@uky.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2013 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] Coupling a blower to an air system socket


How big does the pressurized subchassis have to be to smooth out the airflow? My amp under construction (4cx1000a) has the socket in a 7x7x2 inch box with the blower pushing air into the side. Too small?

Vic K2VCO

On Mar 16, 2013, at 7:16 AM, "Carl" <km1h@jeremy.mv.com> wrote:

If youre building from scratch then Id think you would make the effort to accomodate the cooling system from the beginning. Use a subchassis for the tube that is easily pressurized (Ameritron will sell you several types and the blower that mates to them) or construct internal walls in a large chassis; companies sell those parts. Then mount the blower on the rear of the main chassis.

If a duct is required then "Shop Vac" hoses or dryer ducts can be used. I use a large Shop Vac hose to cool a military surplus 432 mHz cavity amp and fabricated a small box to transition from the hose to the cavity air inlet. The hose is very flexible and allows the blower to be conveniently mounted so that air is drawn over the PS and control circuitry. The cavity inlet air is barely warm and the 2750W Pd tube is only running 1200W out (If I cranked it up my feedline and antenna would melt) so everything runs comfortable.

Ductwork has air resistance so use as short a length as possible unless the blower has sufficient capacity.

Carl


----- Original Message -----
I believe the air system socket connected to a duct is especially useful when you can't have a pressurized cabinet. There are situations where large cabinets
are used and sealing them is not possible.

73
Bill wa4lav

At 09:04 PM 3/15/2013 -0400, KA4INM wrote:
On 03/15/13 16:58, Alan Ibbetson wrote:

For minimum airflow resistance for a forced air cooled amplifier it
would seem the blower needs to discharge in a straight line directly
into the underside of the valve socket. This leads to a fairly tall
structure with the blower underneath the RF deck.

What is the "right" way to make the physical connection between blower
and air system socket? Rigid ducting? Something resilient like rubber?
Or (what intrigues me) how about a fabric transition duct as shown in
several places here

http://users.pipeline.com.au/~burst/stc.htm

The "floppy" fabric seems attractive as a way to take up minor (major?)
misalignment between the blower and RF deck if they are built as
separate units and should help isolate any blower vibration. A competent seamstress (seam-master) would be able to take differences in duct shape
and size in their stride too.

Has anyone got a feel for the pros and cons of the use of fabric rather
than more rigid blower couplings?

 I should think the difference is negligible and not worth the bother.
Many successful amplifiers using all kinds of air cooled tubes have been built with the system where they are simply pressurizing the box under the tube/s with the air passing through or around the tube/s above.
--
 Ron  KA4INM - Youvan's corollary:
               Every action results in unwanted side effects.
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