Design of Radial Power Combiners Based on TE 01 Circular Waveguide Mode

Abstract

Modern microwave and millimeter-wave systems require high-power amplifiers in very diverse fields such as communications or plasma physics. Although amplification technology has significantly evolved in the last decades, a single module is not enough for achieving the required power level. The solution in this case is the combination of several individual modules with power combiners. In this chapter, this concept is shown with two E-plane radial power combiners, both carrying a high-power signal with the circular waveguide TE 01 mode. The first design is a 16-way Ku-band combiner with an excellent experimental performance: return loss better than 30 dB, with a balance for the amplitudes of ±0.15 dB and ±2.5 o for the phases, in a 16.7% fractional bandwidth (2 GHz centered at 12 GHz), and efficiency better than 95% in this band. The second design is a 5-way W-band combiner, showing excellent characteristics as well: the experimental prototype has a return loss better than 20 dB, with a balance for the amplitudes of ±0.4 dB and ±3.5 o for the phases, in a 12.8% fractional bandwidth (12 GHz centered at 94 GHz), and efficiency better than 85% in this whole band. The experimental results obtained in both designs are the state of the art in the area of radial power combiners.