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Henrik_Volkers
Posts: 1,745

Experimental archaeology: (re)building the first tube charge amplifier

[ Edited ]

While investigating some aspects of charge amplifiers I went back to the roots and had a look at the first patent by Mr. Kistler from 1948 (granted 1950)

The idea came up to rebuild the simple triode CA from fig. 1 and see how it perform. I have a nice collection of tubes, so let's use them :smileyhappy:

Here the figure from the patent:

Fig1 Kistlerpatent.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the realized schematic (I used a Telefunken PC92, but used a 12AT7 for simulation)

 

Tube CA PC92 Sim.png

 

 

Pic of the amp:

 

IMG_0988k2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and in the lab for testing

IMG_0984k.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It worked quite well, here the FRF

Röhre 1.PNG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is still some hum and noise and the THD hasn't been investigated.

Well, sand nowadays works better :smileywink: but it was great fun to  build.

 

If I manage to replace my Kepco (beam power tetrode regulated) HV source with a small transportable (universal input) power supply,  I will take it to my presentation at the IMEKO XX  :smileyhappy:

Greetings from Germany
Henrik

LV since v3.1

“ground” is a convenient fantasy

'˙˙˙˙uıɐƃɐ lɐıp puɐ °06 ǝuoɥd ɹnoʎ uɹnʇ ǝsɐǝld 'ʎɹɐuıƃɐɯı sı pǝlɐıp ǝʌɐɥ noʎ ɹǝqɯnu ǝɥʇ'
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