Selective power combiner using phase shifters
First Claim
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1. A circuit for the selection and combination of power amplifiers, said circuit comprising:
- first and second power amplifiers each having an input terminal and an output terminal;
coupled to said amplifiers, means for shifting the signal appearing at one of the two output terminals by 180°
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a 180°
3dB hybrid coupler having first and second inputs respectively coupled to the output terminals of the first and second power amplifiers, and having first and second outputs;
a first 180°
phase shifter, having an input and an output, the input of which is coupled to one of the two outputs of the hybrid coupler; and
an output power combiner having first and second inputs and a single output at which appears the output power of the circuit, wherein the inputs of the output power combiner are respectively coupled to the output of the 180°
phase shifter and the output of the hybrid coupler that is not coupled to the input of the 180°
phase shifter.
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Abstract
A circuit for selecting and combining power signals of a pair of parallel amplifiers (3,4) using phase shifters (5,6) having fixed phase. Either amplifier (3,4) may be selected to produce a power signal of power P at the circuit output (9), where P is the power at the output (11,12) of each amplifier (3,4). Alternatively, power from the two amplifiers (3,4) may be combined to produce a signal of power 2P at the circuit output (9). By using a passive circuit to achieve the selection and combination, the use of heavier and less reliable relay switches is avoided.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A circuit for the selection and combination of power amplifiers, said circuit comprising:
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first and second power amplifiers each having an input terminal and an output terminal; coupled to said amplifiers, means for shifting the signal appearing at one of the two output terminals by 180°
;a 180°
3dB hybrid coupler having first and second inputs respectively coupled to the output terminals of the first and second power amplifiers, and having first and second outputs;a first 180°
phase shifter, having an input and an output, the input of which is coupled to one of the two outputs of the hybrid coupler; andan output power combiner having first and second inputs and a single output at which appears the output power of the circuit, wherein the inputs of the output power combiner are respectively coupled to the output of the 180°
phase shifter and the output of the hybrid coupler that is not coupled to the input of the 180°
phase shifter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for selecting and combining a pair of power amplifiers, said method comprising the steps of:
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splitting a power signal between two parallel paths to produce two input signals; selectively amplifying at least one of the input signals to achieve a desired output power level; 3dB hybrid coupling the amplified input signals at 180°
to produce two output signals;phase shifting by 180°
exactly one of the two output signals; andcombining the output signal thus phase-shifted with the non-phase-shifted output signal. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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Specification