Radio-Frequency (RF) Amplifier Circuits and Related Techniques
First Claim
1. A system for delivering and controlling power from a number N greater than two radio-frequency (RF) power sources to a single output, the system comprising:
- N RF power sources each having an output port, each of said N RF power sources configured to deliver RF power to its output port;
a lossless power combiner, said lossless power combiner comprising N input ports, 2N−
2 reactive branches having specified reactance values, and an output port configured to receive RF power, wherein each of the output ports of the N RF power sources are coupled to a corresponding one of the input ports of said lossless power combiner, and RF power delivered to the output port of said power combiner is controlled by adjusting the phases of the N radio-frequency power sources as a function of the reactance values of the 2N−
2 reactive branches.
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Abstract
A power combining and outphasing system and related techniques for simultaneously providing both wide-bandwidth linear amplification and high average efficiency is described. Providing linear amplification encompasses the ability to dynamically control an RF output power level over a wide range while still operating over a wide frequency bandwidth. The system and techniques described herein also operate to maintain high efficiency across a wide range of output power levels, such that a high average efficiency can be achieved for highly modulated output waveforms.
34 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A system for delivering and controlling power from a number N greater than two radio-frequency (RF) power sources to a single output, the system comprising:
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N RF power sources each having an output port, each of said N RF power sources configured to deliver RF power to its output port; a lossless power combiner, said lossless power combiner comprising N input ports, 2N−
2 reactive branches having specified reactance values, and an output port configured to receive RF power, wherein each of the output ports of the N RF power sources are coupled to a corresponding one of the input ports of said lossless power combiner, and RF power delivered to the output port of said power combiner is controlled by adjusting the phases of the N radio-frequency power sources as a function of the reactance values of the 2N−
2 reactive branches. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A radio-frequency (RF) system comprising:
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four or more RF signal sources each of said four or more RF signal sources having an output port; and a reactive power combiner having four or more input ports and an output port, each reactive power combiner input port coupled to a corresponding one of the RF signal source output ports and wherein said reactive power combiner includes 2N−
2 reactive branches, each of the 2N−
2 reactive branches having a predetermined reactance value, wherein the power delivered to the reactive power combiner output port is controlled by adjusting a phase characteristic of each of said four or more RF signal sources as a function of the reactance values of the 2N−
2 reactive branches. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A radio-frequency (RF) system comprising:
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N greater than or equal to 8 RF signal sources each of said at least N RF signal sources having an output port; and a reactive power combiner having at least eight input ports and an output port, each reactive power combiner input port coupled to a corresponding one of the RF signal source output ports and wherein said reactive power combiner includes 2N−
2 reactive branches, each of the 2N−
2 reactive branches having a predetermined reactance value, wherein the power delivered to the reactive power combiner output port is controlled by adjusting a phase characteristic of each of said N RF signal sources as a function of the reactance values of the 2N−
2 reactive branches. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A power amplifier system comprising:
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N power amplifiers where N=2M and M is an integer greater than one, each of the N power amplifiers having an input port and an output port; a reactive combiner having an output port and N input ports, each of the N input ports of said reactive combiner coupled to an output of a respective one of the N power amplifiers, said reactive combiner including a plurality of reactive branches with each of the reactive branches having an impedance characteristic corresponding to one of M specified impedance levels; and a control system configured to adjust an amplitude of a voltage at the output of the combiner by controlling the relative phase of the N power amplifiers as a function of all of the M specified impedance levels. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification