Compactrons are a type of vacuum tube , which contain multiple electrode structures packed into a single enclosure. They were designed to compete with early transistor electronics and were used in televisions , radios , and similar roles.
106-531: The Compactron was a trade name applied to multi-electrode structure tubes specifically constructed on a 12-pin Duodecar base. This vacuum tube family was introduced in 1961 by General Electric in Owensboro, Kentucky to compete with transistorized electronics during the solid state transition. Television sets were a primary application. The idea of multi-electrode tubes itself was far from new and indeed
212-401: A rechargeable battery when it is being charged, the roles of the electrodes as anode and cathode are reversed. Conventional current depends not only on the direction the charge carriers move, but also the carriers' electric charge . The currents outside the device are usually carried by electrons in a metal conductor. Since electrons have a negative charge, the direction of electron flow
318-412: A thermionic tube or thermionic valve utilizes thermionic emission of electrons from a hot cathode for fundamental electronic functions such as signal amplification and current rectification . Non-thermionic types such as a vacuum phototube , however, achieve electron emission through the photoelectric effect , and are used for such purposes as the detection of light intensities. In both types,
424-410: A 9 pin base. The exhaust tip is on the top or bottom of the tube, depending on the manufacturer's preference. It is currently in production by Electro-Harmonix.(The new power amp, Linear Tube Audio's Ultralinear, uses 4 17JN6 compactron tubes as the power tube in the amp.) The amp generates 20 watts of power with these inexpensive TV tubes. A distinguishing feature of most Compactrons is the placement of
530-404: A beam of electrons for display purposes (such as the television picture tube, in electron microscopy , and in electron beam lithography ); X-ray tubes ; phototubes and photomultipliers (which rely on electron flow through a vacuum where electron emission from the cathode depends on energy from photons rather than thermionic emission ). A vacuum tube consists of two or more electrodes in
636-550: A blower, or water-jacket. Klystrons and magnetrons often operate their anodes (called collectors in klystrons) at ground potential to facilitate cooling, particularly with water, without high-voltage insulation. These tubes instead operate with high negative voltages on the filament and cathode. Except for diodes, additional electrodes are positioned between the cathode and the plate (anode). These electrodes are referred to as grids as they are not solid electrodes but sparse elements through which electrons can pass on their way to
742-649: A blue glow. Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt significantly improved on the original triode design in 1914, while working on his sound-on-film process in Berlin, Germany. Tigerstedt's innovation was to make the electrodes concentric cylinders with the cathode at the centre, thus greatly increasing the collection of emitted electrons at the anode. Irving Langmuir at the General Electric research laboratory ( Schenectady, New York ) had improved Wolfgang Gaede 's high-vacuum diffusion pump and used it to settle
848-401: A certain sound or tone). Not all electronic circuit valves or electron tubes are vacuum tubes. Gas-filled tubes are similar devices, but containing a gas, typically at low pressure, which exploit phenomena related to electric discharge in gases , usually without a heater. One classification of thermionic vacuum tubes is by the number of active electrodes . A device with two active elements
954-501: A combination of a triode with a hexode and even an octode have been used for this purpose. The additional grids include control grids (at a low potential) and screen grids (at a high voltage). Many designs use such a screen grid as an additional anode to provide feedback for the oscillator function, whose current adds to that of the incoming radio frequency signal. The pentagrid converter thus became widely used in AM receivers, including
1060-466: A common circuit (which can be AC without inducing hum) while allowing the cathodes in different tubes to operate at different voltages. H. J. Round invented the indirectly heated tube around 1913. The filaments require constant and often considerable power, even when amplifying signals at the microwatt level. Power is also dissipated when the electrons from the cathode slam into the anode (plate) and heat it; this can occur even in an idle amplifier due to
1166-497: A direction "from East to West, or, which will strengthen this help to the memory, that in which the sun appears to move", the anode is where the current enters the electrolyte, on the East side: " ano upwards, odos a way; the way which the sun rises". The use of 'East' to mean the 'in' direction (actually 'in' → 'East' → 'sunrise' → 'up') may appear contrived. Previously, as related in the first reference cited above, Faraday had used
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#17327808722661272-586: A far superior and versatile technology for use in radio transmitters and receivers. At the end of the 19th century, radio or wireless technology was in an early stage of development and the Marconi Company was engaged in development and construction of radio communication systems. Guglielmo Marconi appointed English physicist John Ambrose Fleming as scientific advisor in 1899. Fleming had been engaged as scientific advisor to Edison Telephone (1879), as scientific advisor at Edison Electric Light (1882), and
1378-399: A few high end Hi-Fi stereos. They were also used by Ampeg and Fender in some of their guitar amplifiers. No modern tube based Hi-Fi systems are known to use this tube type, as simpler and more readily available tubes have again filled this niche. One tube, the 7868, is used in some Hi-Fi systems made today. This tube is a Novar tube. It has the same physical dimensions as the compactron, but
1484-400: A low potential space charge region between the anode and screen grid to return anode secondary emission electrons to the anode when the anode potential is less than that of the screen grid. Formation of beams also reduces screen grid current. In some cylindrically symmetrical beam power tubes, the cathode is formed of narrow strips of emitting material that are aligned with the apertures of
1590-419: A more electrically reactive (less noble) metal attached to the vessel hull and electrically connected to form a cathodic protection circuit. A less obvious example of this type of protection is the process of galvanising iron. This process coats iron structures (such as fencing) with a coating of zinc metal. As long as the zinc remains intact, the iron is protected from the effects of corrosion. Inevitably,
1696-414: A pair of beam deflection electrodes which deflected the current towards either of two anodes. They were sometimes known as the 'sheet beam' tubes and used in some color TV sets for color demodulation . The similar 7360 was popular as a balanced SSB (de)modulator . A beam tetrode (or "beam power tube") forms the electron stream from the cathode into multiple partially collimated beams to produce
1802-412: A printing instrument was needed. As a result of experiments conducted on Edison effect bulbs, Fleming developed a vacuum tube that he termed the oscillation valve because it passed current in only one direction. The cathode was a carbon lamp filament, heated by passing current through it, that produced thermionic emission of electrons. Electrons that had been emitted from the cathode were attracted to
1908-509: A relatively low-value resistor is connected between the cathode and ground. This makes the cathode positive with respect to the grid, which is at ground potential for DC. However C batteries continued to be included in some equipment even when the "A" and "B" batteries had been replaced by power from the AC mains. That was possible because there was essentially no current draw on these batteries; they could thus last for many years (often longer than all
2014-413: A result of the oxidation reaction. In an electrolytic cell , the anode is the wire or plate upon which excess positive charge is imposed. As a result of this, anions will tend to move towards the anode where they will undergo oxidation. Historically, the anode of a galvanic cell was also known as the zincode because it was usually composed of zinc. The terms anode and cathode are not defined by
2120-407: A simple oscillator only requiring connection of the plate to a resonant LC circuit to oscillate. The dynatron oscillator operated on the same principle of negative resistance as the tunnel diode oscillator many years later. The dynatron region of the screen grid tube was eliminated by adding a grid between the screen grid and the plate to create the pentode . The suppressor grid of the pentode
2226-419: A small-signal vacuum tube are 1 to 10 millisiemens. It is one of the three 'constants' of a vacuum tube, the other two being its gain μ and plate resistance R p or R a . The Van der Bijl equation defines their relationship as follows: g m = μ R p {\displaystyle g_{m}={\mu \over R_{p}}} The non-linear operating characteristic of
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#17327808722662332-464: A vacuum inside an airtight envelope. Most tubes have glass envelopes with a glass-to-metal seal based on kovar sealable borosilicate glasses , although ceramic and metal envelopes (atop insulating bases) have been used. The electrodes are attached to leads which pass through the envelope via an airtight seal. Most vacuum tubes have a limited lifetime, due to the filament or heater burning out or other failure modes, so they are made as replaceable units;
2438-429: A wide range of frequencies. To combat the stability problems of the triode as a radio frequency amplifier due to grid-to-plate capacitance, the physicist Walter H. Schottky invented the tetrode or screen grid tube in 1919. He showed that the addition of an electrostatic shield between the control grid and the plate could solve the problem. This design was refined by Hull and Williams. The added grid became known as
2544-445: Is a current . Compare this to the behavior of the bipolar junction transistor , in which the controlling signal is a current and the output is also a current. For vacuum tubes, transconductance or mutual conductance ( g m ) is defined as the change in the plate(anode)/cathode current divided by the corresponding change in the grid to cathode voltage, with a constant plate(anode) to cathode voltage. Typical values of g m for
2650-489: Is a diode , usually used for rectification . Devices with three elements are triodes used for amplification and switching . Additional electrodes create tetrodes , pentodes , and so forth, which have multiple additional functions made possible by the additional controllable electrodes. Other classifications are: Vacuum tubes may have other components and functions than those described above, and are described elsewhere. These include as cathode-ray tubes , which create
2756-460: Is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode , an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the device. A common mnemonic is ACID, for "anode current into device". The direction of conventional current (the flow of positive charges) in a circuit is opposite to the direction of electron flow, so (negatively charged) electrons flow from
2862-413: Is electrically linked to the protected system. As a result, the metal anode partially corrodes or dissolves instead of the metal system. As an example, an iron or steel ship's hull may be protected by a zinc sacrificial anode , which will dissolve into the seawater and prevent the hull from being corroded. Sacrificial anodes are particularly needed for systems where a static charge is generated by
2968-410: Is not important since they are simply re-captured by the plate. But in a tetrode they can be captured by the screen grid since it is also at a positive voltage, robbing them from the plate current and reducing the amplification of the tube. Since secondary electrons can outnumber the primary electrons over a certain range of plate voltages, the plate current can decrease with increasing plate voltage. This
3074-456: Is opposite to the direction of conventional current. Consequently, electrons leave the device through the anode and enter the device through the cathode. The definition of anode and cathode is different for electrical devices such as diodes and vacuum tubes where the electrode naming is fixed and does not depend on the actual charge flow (current). These devices usually allow substantial current flow in one direction but negligible current in
3180-564: Is the Loewe 3NF . This 1920s device has three triodes in a single glass envelope together with all the fixed capacitors and resistors required to make a complete radio receiver. As the Loewe set had only one tube socket, it was able to substantially undercut the competition, since, in Germany, state tax was levied by the number of sockets. However, reliability was compromised, and production costs for
3286-416: Is the dynatron region or tetrode kink and is an example of negative resistance which can itself cause instability. Another undesirable consequence of secondary emission is that screen current is increased, which may cause the screen to exceed its power rating. The otherwise undesirable negative resistance region of the plate characteristic was exploited with the dynatron oscillator circuit to produce
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3392-460: Is the positively charged electron collector. In a tube, the anode is a charged positive plate that collects the electrons emitted by the cathode through electric attraction. It also accelerates the flow of these electrons. [REDACTED] In a semiconductor diode , the anode is the P-doped layer which initially supplies holes to the junction. In the junction region, the holes supplied by
3498-411: Is used to coat steel, when a breach of the coating occurs it actually accelerates oxidation of the iron. Another cathodic protection is used on the impressed current anode. It is made from titanium and covered with mixed metal oxide . Unlike the sacrificial anode rod, the impressed current anode does not sacrifice its structure. This technology uses an external current provided by a DC source to create
3604-564: The Edison effect , that became well known. Although Edison was aware of the unidirectional property of current flow between the filament and the anode, his interest (and patent ) concentrated on the sensitivity of the anode current to the current through the filament (and thus filament temperature). It was years later that John Ambrose Fleming applied the rectifying property of the Edison effect to detection of radio signals, as an improvement over
3710-684: The plate ( anode ) when the plate was at a positive voltage with respect to the cathode. Electrons could not pass in the reverse direction because the plate was not heated and not capable of thermionic emission of electrons. Fleming filed a patent for these tubes, assigned to the Marconi company, in the UK in November 1904 and this patent was issued in September 1905. Later known as the Fleming valve ,
3816-429: The screen grid or shield grid . The screen grid is operated at a positive voltage significantly less than the plate voltage and it is bypassed to ground with a capacitor of low impedance at the frequencies to be amplified. This arrangement substantially decouples the plate and the control grid , eliminating the need for neutralizing circuitry at medium wave broadcast frequencies. The screen grid also largely reduces
3922-480: The 6GH8 /ECF82 triode-pentode, quite popular in television receivers. The desire to include even more functions in one envelope resulted in the General Electric Compactron which has 12 pins. A typical example, the 6AG11, contains two triodes and two diodes. Some otherwise conventional tubes do not fall into standard categories; the 6AR8, 6JH8 and 6ME8 have several common grids, followed by
4028-482: The 6SN7 , is a "dual triode" which performs the functions of two triode tubes while taking up half as much space and costing less. The 12AX7 is a dual "high mu" (high voltage gain ) triode in a miniature enclosure, and became widely used in audio signal amplifiers, instruments, and guitar amplifiers . The introduction of the miniature tube base (see below) which can have 9 pins, more than previously available, allowed other multi-section tubes to be introduced, such as
4134-454: The evacuation tip on the bottom end, rather than the top end as was customary with "miniature" tubes, and a characteristic 3/4" diameter circle pin pattern. Examples of Compactrons type types include: Due to their specific applications in television circuits, many different Compactron types were produced. Almost all were assigned using standard US tube numbers. Integrated circuits (of the analogue and digital type) gradually took over all of
4240-467: The magnetic detector . Amplification by vacuum tube became practical only with Lee de Forest 's 1907 invention of the three-terminal " audion " tube, a crude form of what was to become the triode . Being essentially the first electronic amplifier , such tubes were instrumental in long-distance telephony (such as the first coast-to-coast telephone line in the US) and public address systems , and introduced
4346-468: The quiescent current necessary to ensure linearity and low distortion. In a power amplifier, this heating can be considerable and can destroy the tube if driven beyond its safe limits. Since the tube contains a vacuum, the anodes in most small and medium power tubes are cooled by radiation through the glass envelope. In some special high power applications, the anode forms part of the vacuum envelope to conduct heat to an external heat sink, usually cooled by
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4452-462: The spark gap transmitter for radio or mechanical computers for computing, it was the invention of the thermionic vacuum tube that made these technologies widespread and practical, and created the discipline of electronics . In the 1940s, the invention of semiconductor devices made it possible to produce solid-state devices, which are smaller, safer, cooler, and more efficient, reliable, durable, and economical than thermionic tubes. Beginning in
4558-413: The 19th century, telegraph and telephone engineers had recognized the need to extend the distance that signals could be transmitted. In 1906, Robert von Lieben filed for a patent for a cathode-ray tube which used an external magnetic deflection coil and was intended for use as an amplifier in telephony equipment. This von Lieben magnetic deflection tube was not a successful amplifier, however, because of
4664-485: The Audion for demonstration to AT&T's engineering department. Dr. Harold D. Arnold of AT&T recognized that the blue glow was caused by ionized gas. Arnold recommended that AT&T purchase the patent, and AT&T followed his recommendation. Arnold developed high-vacuum tubes which were tested in the summer of 1913 on AT&T's long-distance network. The high-vacuum tubes could operate at high plate voltages without
4770-547: The Loewe company of Germany was producing multi-electrode tubes as far back as 1926, and they even included all of the required passive components as well. Use was prevalent in televisions because transistors were slow to achieve the high power and frequency capabilities needed particularly in color television sets. The first portable color television, the General Electric Porta-Color , was designed using 13 tubes, 10 of which were Compactrons. Even before
4876-433: The action of flowing liquids, such as pipelines and watercraft. Sacrificial anodes are also generally used in tank-type water heaters. In 1824 to reduce the impact of this destructive electrolytic action on ships hulls, their fastenings and underwater equipment, the scientist-engineer Humphry Davy developed the first and still most widely used marine electrolysis protection system. Davy installed sacrificial anodes made from
4982-400: The allied military by 1916. Historically, vacuum levels in production vacuum tubes typically ranged from 10 μPa down to 10 nPa (8 × 10 Torr down to 8 × 10 Torr). The triode and its derivatives (tetrodes and pentodes) are transconductance devices, in which the controlling signal applied to the grid is a voltage , and the resulting amplified signal appearing at the anode
5088-444: The anode (even though it is negative and therefore would be expected to attract them, this is due to electrode potential relative to the electrolyte solution being different for the anode and cathode metal/electrolyte systems); but, external to the cell in the circuit, electrons are being pushed out through the negative contact and thus through the circuit by the voltage potential as would be expected. Battery manufacturers may regard
5194-422: The anode and the other the cathode according to the roles the electrodes play when the battery is discharged. This is despite the fact that the roles are reversed when the battery is charged. When this is done, "anode" simply designates the negative terminal of the battery and "cathode" designates the positive terminal. In a diode , the anode is the terminal represented by the tail of the arrow symbol (flat side of
5300-474: The anode combine with electrons supplied from the N-doped region, creating a depleted zone. As the P-doped layer supplies holes to the depleted region, negative dopant ions are left behind in the P-doped layer ('P' for positive charge-carrier ions). This creates a base negative charge on the anode. When a positive voltage is applied to anode of the diode from the circuit, more holes are able to be transferred to
5406-409: The anode is the positive terminal imposed by an external source of potential difference. The current through a recharging battery is opposite to the direction of current during discharge; in other words, the electrode which was the cathode during battery discharge becomes the anode while the battery is recharging. In battery engineering, it is common to designate one electrode of a rechargeable battery
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#17327808722665512-400: The anode of a galvanic cell , into an outside or external circuit connected to the cell. For example, the end of a household battery marked with a "+" is the cathode (while discharging). In both a galvanic cell and an electrolytic cell , the anode is the electrode at which the oxidation reaction occurs. In a galvanic cell the anode is the wire or plate having excess negative charge as
5618-523: The anode, anions (negative ions) are forced by the electrical potential to react chemically and give off electrons (oxidation) which then flow up and into the driving circuit. Mnemonics : LEO Red Cat (Loss of Electrons is Oxidation, Reduction occurs at the Cathode), or AnOx Red Cat (Anode Oxidation, Reduction Cathode), or OIL RIG (Oxidation is Loss, Reduction is Gain of electrons), or Roman Catholic and Orthodox (Reduction – Cathode, anode – Oxidation), or LEO
5724-409: The base. There was even an occasional design that had two top cap connections. The earliest vacuum tubes evolved from incandescent light bulbs , containing a filament sealed in an evacuated glass envelope. When hot, the filament in a vacuum tube (a cathode ) releases electrons into the vacuum, a process called thermionic emission . This can produce a controllable unidirectional current though
5830-536: The cathode, no direct current could pass from the cathode to the grid. Thus a change of voltage applied to the grid, requiring very little power input to the grid, could make a change in the plate current and could lead to a much larger voltage change at the plate; the result was voltage and power amplification . In 1908, de Forest was granted a patent ( U.S. patent 879,532 ) for such a three-electrode version of his original Audion for use as an electronic amplifier in radio communications. This eventually became known as
5936-431: The cathodic protection. Impressed current anodes are used in larger structures like pipelines, boats, city water tower, water heaters and more. The opposite of an anode is a cathode . When the current through the device is reversed, the electrodes switch functions, so the anode becomes the cathode and the cathode becomes anode, as long as the reversed current is applied. The exception is diodes where electrode naming
6042-489: The compactron design was unveiled, nearly all tube based electronic equipment used multi-electrode tubes of one type or another. Virtually every AM/FM radio receiver of the 1950s and 60's used a 6AK8 (EABC80) tube (or equivalent) consisting of three diodes and a triode which was designed in 1954. Compactron's integrated valve design helped lower power consumption and heat generation (they were to tubes what integrated circuits were to transistors ). Compactrons were also used in
6148-403: The control grid, reducing control grid current. This design helps to overcome some of the practical barriers to designing high-power, high-efficiency power tubes. Manufacturer's data sheets often use the terms beam pentode or beam power pentode instead of beam power tube , and use a pentode graphic symbol instead of a graphic symbol showing beam forming plates. Anode An anode
6254-426: The depleted region, and this causes the diode to become conductive, allowing current to flow through the circuit. The terms anode and cathode should not be applied to a Zener diode , since it allows flow in either direction, depending on the polarity of the applied potential (i.e. voltage). In cathodic protection , a metal anode that is more reactive to the corrosive environment than the metal system to be protected
6360-418: The electrode leads connect to pins on the tube's base which plug into a tube socket . Tubes were a frequent cause of failure in electronic equipment, and consumers were expected to be able to replace tubes themselves. In addition to the base terminals, some tubes had an electrode terminating at a top cap . The principal reason for doing this was to avoid leakage resistance through the tube base, particularly for
6466-426: The electrons are accelerated from the cathode to the anode by the electric field in the tube. The simplest vacuum tube, the diode (i.e. Fleming valve ), was invented in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming . It contains only a heated electron-emitting cathode and an anode. Electrons can flow in only one direction through the device – from the cathode to the anode. Adding one or more control grids within
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#17327808722666572-434: The evacuated tube due to being heated by a filament, so electrons can only enter the device from the external circuit through the heated electrode. Therefore, this electrode is permanently named the cathode, and the electrode through which the electrons exit the tube is named the anode. The polarity of voltage on an anode with respect to an associated cathode varies depending on the device type and on its operating mode. In
6678-409: The event of a later convention change it would have become West to East, so that the East electrode would not have been the 'way in' any more. Therefore, "eisode" would have become inappropriate, whereas "anode" meaning 'East electrode' would have remained correct with respect to the unchanged direction of the actual phenomenon underlying the current, then unknown but, he thought, unambiguously defined by
6784-425: The exception of early light bulbs , such tubes were only used in scientific research or as novelties. The groundwork laid by these scientists and inventors, however, was critical to the development of subsequent vacuum tube technology. Although thermionic emission was originally reported in 1873 by Frederick Guthrie , it was Thomas Edison's apparently independent discovery of the phenomenon in 1883, referred to as
6890-403: The filament as the cathode; this is called a "directly heated" tube. Most modern tubes are "indirectly heated" by a "heater" element inside a metal tube that is the cathode. The heater is electrically isolated from the surrounding cathode and simply serves to heat the cathode sufficiently for thermionic emission of electrons. The electrical isolation allows all the tubes' heaters to be supplied from
6996-408: The following examples, the anode is negative in a device that provides power, and positive in a device that consumes power: In a discharging battery or galvanic cell (diagram on left), the anode is the negative terminal: it is where conventional current flows into the cell. This inward current is carried externally by electrons moving outwards. In a recharging battery, or an electrolytic cell ,
7102-473: The functions that the Compactron was designed for. "Hybrid" television sets produced in the early to mid-1970s made use of a combination of tubes (typically Compactrons), transistors, and integrated circuits in the same set. By the mid-1980s this type of tube was functionally obsolete. Compactrons simply don't exist in any TV sets designed after 1986. Other specialist uses of the tube declined in parallel with
7208-469: The future. Since the later discovery of the electron , an easier to remember and more durably correct technically although historically false, etymology has been suggested: anode, from the Greek anodos , 'way up', 'the way (up) out of the cell (or other device) for electrons'. In electrochemistry , the anode is where oxidation occurs and is the positive polarity contact in an electrolytic cell . At
7314-400: The high impedance grid input. The bases were commonly made with phenolic insulation which performs poorly as an insulator in humid conditions. Other reasons for using a top cap include improving stability by reducing grid-to-anode capacitance, improved high-frequency performance, keeping a very high plate voltage away from lower voltages, and accommodating one more electrode than allowed by
7420-411: The influence of the plate voltage on the space charge near the cathode, permitting the tetrode to produce greater voltage gain than the triode in amplifier circuits. While the amplification factors of typical triodes commonly range from below ten to around 100, tetrode amplification factors of 500 are common. Consequently, higher voltage gains from a single tube amplification stage became possible, reducing
7526-433: The least reactive materials for anodes. Platinum erodes very slowly compared to other materials, and graphite crumbles and can produce carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions but otherwise does not participate in the reaction. In a battery or galvanic cell , the anode is the negative electrode from which electrons flow out towards the external part of the circuit. Internally the positively charged cations are flowing away from
7632-650: The lion says GER (Losing electrons is Oxidation, Gaining electrons is Reduction). This process is widely used in metals refining. For example, in copper refining, copper anodes, an intermediate product from the furnaces, are electrolysed in an appropriate solution (such as sulfuric acid ) to yield high purity (99.99%) cathodes. Copper cathodes produced using this method are also described as electrolytic copper . Historically, when non-reactive anodes were desired for electrolysis, graphite (called plumbago in Faraday's time) or platinum were chosen. They were found to be some of
7738-456: The magnetic reference. In retrospect the name change was unfortunate, not only because the Greek roots alone do not reveal the anode's function any more, but more importantly because as we now know, the Earth's magnetic field direction on which the "anode" term is based is subject to reversals whereas the current direction convention on which the "eisode" term was based has no reason to change in
7844-573: The mid-1960s, thermionic tubes were being replaced by the transistor . However, the cathode-ray tube (CRT) remained the basis for television monitors and oscilloscopes until the early 21st century. Thermionic tubes are still employed in some applications, such as the magnetron used in microwave ovens, certain high-frequency amplifiers , and high end audio amplifiers, which many audio enthusiasts prefer for their "warmer" tube sound , and amplifiers for electric musical instruments such as guitars (for desired effects, such as "overdriving" them to achieve
7950-561: The miniature tube version of the " All American Five ". Octodes, such as the 7A8, were rarely used in the United States, but much more common in Europe, particularly in battery operated radios where the lower power consumption was an advantage. To further reduce the cost and complexity of radio equipment, two separate structures (triode and pentode for instance) can be combined in the bulb of a single multisection tube . An early example
8056-451: The more straightforward term "eisode" (the doorway where the current enters). His motivation for changing it to something meaning 'the East electrode' (other candidates had been "eastode", "oriode" and "anatolode") was to make it immune to a possible later change in the direction convention for current , whose exact nature was not known at the time. The reference he used to this effect was the Earth's magnetic field direction, which at that time
8162-402: The negative electrode as the anode, particularly in their technical literature. Though from an electrochemical viewpoint incorrect, it does resolve the problem of which electrode is the anode in a secondary (or rechargeable) cell. Using the traditional definition, the anode switches ends between charge and discharge cycles. In electronic vacuum devices such as a cathode-ray tube , the anode
8268-431: The number of external pins (leads) often forced the functions to share some of those external connections such as their cathode connections (in addition to the heater connection). The RCA Type 55 is a double diode triode used as a detector, automatic gain control rectifier and audio preamplifier in early AC powered radios. These sets often include the 53 Dual Triode Audio Output. Another early type of multi-section tube,
8374-435: The number of tubes required. Screen grid tubes were marketed by late 1927. However, the useful region of operation of the screen grid tube as an amplifier was limited to plate voltages greater than the screen grid voltage, due to secondary emission from the plate. In any tube, electrons strike the plate with sufficient energy to cause the emission of electrons from its surface. In a triode this secondary emission of electrons
8480-528: The oscillation valve was developed for the purpose of rectifying radio frequency current as the detector component of radio receiver circuits. While offering no advantage over the electrical sensitivity of crystal detectors , the Fleming valve offered advantage, particularly in shipboard use, over the difficulty of adjustment of the crystal detector and the susceptibility of the crystal detector to being dislodged from adjustment by vibration or bumping. In
8586-445: The other direction. Therefore, the electrodes are named based on the direction of this "forward" current. In a diode the anode is the terminal through which current enters and the cathode is the terminal through which current leaves, when the diode is forward biased . The names of the electrodes do not change in cases where reverse current flows through the device. Similarly, in a vacuum tube only one electrode can emit electrons into
8692-652: The plate current, possibly changing the output by hundreds of volts (depending on the circuit). The solid-state device which operates most like the pentode tube is the junction field-effect transistor (JFET), although vacuum tubes typically operate at over a hundred volts, unlike most semiconductors in most applications. The 19th century saw increasing research with evacuated tubes, such as the Geissler and Crookes tubes . The many scientists and inventors who experimented with such tubes include Thomas Edison , Eugen Goldstein , Nikola Tesla , and Johann Wilhelm Hittorf . With
8798-471: The plate, it creates an electric field due to the potential difference between them. Such a tube with only two electrodes is termed a diode , and is used for rectification . Since current can only pass in one direction, such a diode (or rectifier ) will convert alternating current (AC) to pulsating DC. Diodes can therefore be used in a DC power supply , as a demodulator of amplitude modulated (AM) radio signals and for similar functions. Early tubes used
8904-405: The plate. The vacuum tube is then known as a triode , tetrode , pentode , etc., depending on the number of grids. A triode has three electrodes: the anode, cathode, and one grid, and so on. The first grid, known as the control grid, (and sometimes other grids) transforms the diode into a voltage-controlled device : the voltage applied to the control grid affects the current between the cathode and
9010-414: The plate. When held negative with respect to the cathode, the control grid creates an electric field that repels electrons emitted by the cathode, thus reducing or even stopping the current between cathode and anode. As long as the control grid is negative relative to the cathode, essentially no current flows into it, yet a change of several volts on the control grid is sufficient to make a large difference in
9116-399: The power used by the deflection coil. Von Lieben would later make refinements to triode vacuum tubes. Lee de Forest is credited with inventing the triode tube in 1907 while experimenting to improve his original (diode) Audion . By placing an additional electrode between the filament ( cathode ) and plate (anode), he discovered the ability of the resulting device to amplify signals. As
9222-448: The present-day C cell , for which the letter denotes its size and shape). The C battery's positive terminal was connected to the cathode of the tubes (or "ground" in most circuits) and whose negative terminal supplied this bias voltage to the grids of the tubes. Later circuits, after tubes were made with heaters isolated from their cathodes, used cathode biasing , avoiding the need for a separate negative power supply. For cathode biasing,
9328-532: The question of thermionic emission and conduction in a vacuum. Consequently, General Electric started producing hard vacuum triodes (which were branded Pliotrons) in 1915. Langmuir patented the hard vacuum triode, but de Forest and AT&T successfully asserted priority and invalidated the patent. Pliotrons were closely followed by the French type ' TM ' and later the English type 'R' which were in widespread use by
9434-440: The suppressor grid wired internally to the cathode (e.g. EL84/6BQ5) and those with the suppressor grid wired to a separate pin for user access (e.g. 803, 837). An alternative solution for power applications is the beam tetrode or beam power tube , discussed below. Superheterodyne receivers require a local oscillator and mixer , combined in the function of a single pentagrid converter tube. Various alternatives such as using
9540-542: The television set manufacture. Manufacture of Compactrons ceased in the early 1990s. New old stock replacements for almost all Compactron types produced are easily found for sale on the Internet. Vacuum tube A vacuum tube , electron tube , valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as
9646-418: The triangle), where conventional current flows into the device. Note the electrode naming for diodes is always based on the direction of the forward current (that of the arrow, in which the current flows "most easily"), even for types such as Zener diodes or solar cells where the current of interest is the reverse current. In vacuum tubes or gas-filled tubes , the anode is the terminal where current enters
9752-458: The triode caused early tube audio amplifiers to exhibit harmonic distortion at low volumes. Plotting plate current as a function of applied grid voltage, it was seen that there was a range of grid voltages for which the transfer characteristics were approximately linear. To use this range, a negative bias voltage had to be applied to the grid to position the DC operating point in the linear region. This
9858-407: The triode. De Forest's original device was made with conventional vacuum technology. The vacuum was not a "hard vacuum" but rather left a very small amount of residual gas. The physics behind the device's operation was also not settled. The residual gas would cause a blue glow (visible ionization) when the plate voltage was high (above about 60 volts). In 1912, de Forest and John Stone Stone brought
9964-464: The tube allows the current between the cathode and anode to be controlled by the voltage on the grids. These devices became a key component of electronic circuits for the first half of the twentieth century. They were crucial to the development of radio , television , radar , sound recording and reproduction , long-distance telephone networks, and analog and early digital computers . Although some applications had used earlier technologies such as
10070-646: The tube were much greater. In a sense, these were akin to integrated circuits. In the United States, Cleartron briefly produced the "Multivalve" triple triode for use in the Emerson Baby Grand receiver. This Emerson set also has a single tube socket, but because it uses a four-pin base, the additional element connections are made on a "mezzanine" platform at the top of the tube base. By 1940 multisection tubes had become commonplace. There were constraints, however, due to patents and other licensing considerations (see British Valve Association ). Constraints due to
10176-455: The tube. The word was coined in 1834 from the Greek ἄνοδος ( anodos ), 'ascent', by William Whewell , who had been consulted by Michael Faraday over some new names needed to complete a paper on the recently discovered process of electrolysis . In that paper Faraday explained that when an electrolytic cell is oriented so that electric current traverses the "decomposing body" (electrolyte) in
10282-482: The tubes) without requiring replacement. When triodes were first used in radio transmitters and receivers, it was found that tuned amplification stages had a tendency to oscillate unless their gain was very limited. This was due to the parasitic capacitance between the plate (the amplifier's output) and the control grid (the amplifier's input), known as the Miller capacitance . Eventually the technique of neutralization
10388-420: The vacuum known as the Edison effect . A second electrode, the anode or plate , will attract those electrons if it is at a more positive voltage. The result is a net flow of electrons from the filament to plate. However, electrons cannot flow in the reverse direction because the plate is not heated and does not emit electrons. The filament has a dual function: it emits electrons when heated; and, together with
10494-421: The voltage applied to the control grid (or simply "grid") was lowered from the cathode's voltage to somewhat more negative voltages, the amount of current from the filament to the plate would be reduced. The negative electrostatic field created by the grid in the vicinity of the cathode would inhibit the passage of emitted electrons and reduce the current to the plate. With the voltage of the grid less than that of
10600-403: The voltage polarity of electrodes but the direction of current through the electrode. An anode is an electrode of a device through which conventional current (positive charge) flows into the device from an external circuit, while a cathode is an electrode through which conventional current flows out of the device. If the current through the electrodes reverses direction, as occurs for example in
10706-443: The zinc coating becomes breached, either by cracking or physical damage. Once this occurs, corrosive elements act as an electrolyte and the zinc/iron combination as electrodes. The resultant current ensures that the zinc coating is sacrificed but that the base iron does not corrode. Such a coating can protect an iron structure for a few decades, but once the protecting coating is consumed, the iron rapidly corrodes. If, conversely, tin
10812-449: Was also technical consultant to Edison-Swan . One of Marconi's needs was for improvement of the detector , a device that extracts information from a modulated radio frequency. Marconi had developed a magnetic detector , which was less responsive to natural sources of radio frequency interference than the coherer , but the magnetic detector only provided an audio frequency signal to a telephone receiver. A reliable detector that could drive
10918-412: Was believed to be invariant. He fundamentally defined his arbitrary orientation for the cell as being that in which the internal current would run parallel to and in the same direction as a hypothetical magnetizing current loop around the local line of latitude which would induce a magnetic dipole field oriented like the Earth's. This made the internal current East to West as previously mentioned, but in
11024-405: Was called the idle condition, and the plate current at this point the "idle current". The controlling voltage was superimposed onto the bias voltage, resulting in a linear variation of plate current in response to positive and negative variation of the input voltage around that point. This concept is called grid bias . Many early radio sets had a third battery called the "C battery" (unrelated to
11130-617: Was developed whereby the RF transformer connected to the plate (anode) would include an additional winding in the opposite phase. This winding would be connected back to the grid through a small capacitor, and when properly adjusted would cancel the Miller capacitance. This technique was employed and led to the success of the Neutrodyne radio during the 1920s. However, neutralization required careful adjustment and proved unsatisfactory when used over
11236-401: Was usually connected to the cathode and its negative voltage relative to the anode repelled secondary electrons so that they would be collected by the anode instead of the screen grid. The term pentode means the tube has five electrodes. The pentode was invented in 1926 by Bernard D. H. Tellegen and became generally favored over the simple tetrode. Pentodes are made in two classes: those with
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