Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Raymond Eugene Hann

James John Polston

Makoto Andrew Igawa

Louis C Josephs

Jerome I Glaser

A method and apparatus for use with a transistor array for enhancing the array's performance and/or reliability and/or longevity by sensing the temperature of each transistor in the array and initiating corrective action to maintain its temperature within a desired operating range. Each array transistor has a temperature sensor closely thermally coupled thereto preferably mounted within the transistor package, in close physical proximity to the transistor junction.

Power transistor array temperature control system

A power conversion unit and method for efficient conversion of power for one or more variable loads are disclosed herein. Power having a first form is supplied to one or more power conversion units (PCUs) connected to the one or more variable loads. The PCUs are adapted to convert the power from the first form to other forms suitable for use by the components of the destination system. Based at least in part on a predicted load requirement of the variable load, the operation of the PCUs can be controlled to provide sufficient power to the one or more loads at the appropriate time while minimizing wasted power generation by deactivating any unnecessary PCUs during a decrease in power consumption or by activating PCUs during an increase in power consumption. Additionally, based at least in part on a predicted temporary change in the load requirements, the PCU can change its output voltage in anticipation of the temporary change in the load requirement, such as by increasing the output voltage to provide additional energy to the one or more variable loads during a temporary increase in power consumption or by decreasing the output voltage during a temporary decrease in power consumption. The present invention proves particularly beneficial when employed to distribute power within a radar system.

Power conversion in variable load applications

An embodiment of the present invention comprises a voltage regulator including a droop compensation circuit and a voltage regulator circuit. The droop compensation circuit compensates for an output that changes over a period of time. This variable output may be the result of voltage regulator droop and/or a load transistor droop. For instance, the voltage regulator droop may be associated with the decrease in regulator output voltage that occurs during the course of applying a load. The load transistor droop may correspond to the decrease in RF transistor gain that occurs over the course of a transmit pulse. The variable output could be attributable to other phenomena. Moreover, the variable output that is compensated for is not necessarily decreasing over time, but, in fact, could be increasing over time, or could exhibit increases and decreases over time.

Droop compensation circuitry

A power regulator regulates the power provided to a transistor-based circuit, such as that which might be employed in a high stability MTI radar system. According to the invention, a variable reference voltage is controlled based on the frequency of operation. The output voltage of the power regulator is then modified accordingly. Preferably, the reference voltage is controlled based on the location of the target frequency in relation to the overall operational frequency band, which has been divided into a series of sub-bands.

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San Bernardino, CA, United States of America

Raymond Eugene Hann