AR Europe produce bespoke test system for high current RF testing applications

AR Benelux was recently presented with a unique and interesting challenge. One of their customers wanted the ability to test the RF current breakdown of the components they used (capacitors, PIN-switches, RF connectors etc.) at levels of >50A rms. The reason for this was many of these components were poorly or simply not rated with respect to the maximum RF current they can handle.

Not only did the customer want to perform tests at this level they were also looking for a way of achieving this with their existing amplifier which rated at 30kW pulse could only produce around 24A in a conventional 50Ω system!

For this AR Benelux designed a bespoke solution, allowing the customers R&D department to optimise the overall reliability of their designs, exceeding the 50A requirement.

In the basic concept, a ¼ wavelength transformer brings down the 50Ω output impedance of a 30kW RF pulse amplifier to 5Ω. A special 5Ω RF load build up as an array of 20 parallel connected 100 Ω resistors utilises a star-design of ten 50 Ω transmission lines to assure broadband operation.

For more information you can download the PDF document here.

For more information on this system or to discuss any similar application requirements please contact ardeinfo@ar-europe.com.