[Amps] Plate Load Impedance

[Will Matney]

Gerald,
I just noticed the below formula and it didn't look quite right. 
Probably a misprint. Anyhow, plate resistance;

RP = EP / 1.8 X IP

1.8 = K factor for class AB1 (Changes with ZSAC)
RP = Plate Resistance
EP = Plate Voltage
IP = Plate Current

The formula shown was, "plate load impedance= (plt voltage/plt 
current)/K factor"

Best & 73's

Will Matney


-----Original Message-----
From: TexasRF at aol.com [mailto:TexasRF at aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 10:29 AM
To: dhallam at rapidsys.com; amps at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Plate Load Impedance

The RCA Power Tube book shows plate load impedance= (plt voltage/plt
current)/K factor. Note that plate voltage is the d.c. value from the power
supply and plate current is as measured by the d.c. plate current meter; not
the peak values seen on a graph or load line.

K factor is shown as 1.8 for class AB. K factor is determined by the
conduction angle of the plate current. A K factor of 1.8 implies an angle of
(1/K) X 360 or 200 degrees. If the class of operation were A then the
conduction angle is 360 degrees and K=1. If the class is C then the
conduction angle is less than 180 degrees and K will be greater than 2 and
possibly as much as 3.

K factor is altered by the value of zero drive plate current. As the zero
drive current is made lower by additional grid bias, the conduction angle is
made less, which raises the K factor. Conversely, raising the zero drive
plate current will lower the K factor. This is intuitive since we would be
moving toward class A operation in this case.

The RCA book discusses the proper level of zero bias plate current for class
AB as being related to 1/3 the tube plate dissipation rating. For an 8877
running at 4kv this comes out as .125 amps which is pretty close to what we
typically use.

73 de Gerald/K5GW