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Feed-line analysis & design software
Balanced-Pair Transmission Lines, 20Hz-500MHzAuthor: R.J.Edwards G4FGQ © 12th September 1998
Introduction These components replace the same volume of air with materials having higher permittivity and greater dielectric loss. Their effects on line capacitance and conductance (leakance) are not directly calculable. Instead, the program user is asked to enter the more familiar HF or VHF values of Zo and VF. A value can always be assigned to Zo. If not known VF can easily and accurately be determined by measuring a resonant frequency of a known length. The program also computes conductor spacing and so provides a cross-check with reality. From nominal Zo, wire diameter, VF, dielectric loss factor, all other primary and secondary characteristics are computed using exact, classical transmission line formulae. Performance for a given line termination can then be analysed. Specifying
the Line Conductor diameter is input. Solid copper round wires are assumed. The program then computes centre-to-centre conductor spacing corresponding to nominal Zo, followed by wire resistance including skin and proximity effects. For stranded conductors enter 90% of actual overall diameter. This approximation will be OK at MF and above but, at ELF, resistance and attenuation will be underestimated. Line length should be consistent with intended application and frequency else numerical overflow may occur. A blinking warning is given. If in doubt, enter initially a very short length - say 1 metre. Any item of input data may be re-entered later, on a "what-if" basis. The most uncertain input item will be dielectric loss factor (DLF). But for all normal, clean, dry dielectrics, especially on ladder-lines below 200 MHz, loss is so small in comparison with that in the conductors, entering a guess of DLF = 0.00003 will not result in significant errors. Loss Factor, Tan-Delta,
Power Factor, Q, Conductance, Leakance, Insulation The combined effect can be represented on an equivalent circuit of a short line by a pair of high-value resistors in shunt with line capacitance. One resistor represents a loss which is independant of frequency and relates to insulation resistance and surface leakage which can be assumed independent of frequency. The second resistor represents the dielectric hysterisis loss which increases directly proportional to frequency. ( R = 1/F ). It is convenient to quantify the effect in terms of the ratio of the capacitive reactance to the very high shunt resistance. This ratio, the Dielectric Loss Factor DLF, is a constant for the composite insulating/supporting material and is input to the program. IMPORTANT: If a material occupies 5% of the volume of the space between the conductors then, very crudely, the effective loss factor will be 5% of that of the material itself. Only for a 75-ohm line should the insulant be assumed to occupy 100% of the space. Consider 1/DLF equal to Q of the line capacitance. VF
= Velocity Factor = Propagation Velocity at HF Relative to Light A figure-of-8 pvc line typically has Zo = 135 ohms and VF = 0.67. A continuous-web 300-ohm line has a VF approximately 0.72 A 450-ohm ladder line with a sparce web may have VF = 0.95 or more. Uncertainty in the entered value of VF results in errors in computed resonant lengths and in the computed conductor spacing. When spacing is already known, enter VF such that computed spacing is correct. Terminating (or
Load) Impedance Computed
Line Characteristics Resistance, inductance, capacitance and conductance are in units per metre of line but attenuation is shown as decibels per kilometre. It is common to report phase shift as radians/metre but in this program the more practical value of the relative propagation velocity is shown. On all lines the velocity decreases with frequency until at power frequencies it is a fraction of the HF value. Computed Input Impedance
for a Given Termination Design
of Transmission Line Impedance Transformers Transformers are not restricted to purely resistive terminations. Any pair of complex Z's can be matched - including a conjugate match. Note that minimum loss on a long line occurs with a conjugate termination and not with minimum VSWR. As with a Smith Chart, using this program for transformer design improves with practice. Computed
Performance Data VSWR is a useful monitor of conditions on an HF line when actually in use, but it is not a direct indication of power transmission efficiency. At HF, the VSWR at line input is less than at the reflection which causes it. It decreases with line length at twice normal line attenuation rate. At audio frequencies, where Zo may have a large -ve angle, unusual values of VSWR may occur. Overall transmission loss when "correctly" terminated, i.e., a "matched" line, is computed for comparison with the actual loss using the specified termination. In all engineering applications, when energy is to be transported between generator and load, e.g., between transmitter and antenna, what really matters is power transmission efficiency. This program settles the question directly by computing the power lost in the feedline as a percentage of input power. Q or Quality Factor applies to resonant lengths of line. As with corresponding coil and capacitor equivalents, Q is the ratio of line reactances to loss resistances. High Q = high selectivity when lines are used as tuned circuits and in frequency-filters. In the vicinity of resonance the relationship between Q and bandwidth is identical to that of lumped L & C circuits. This program does not take into account radiation loss which may occur when the spacing between conductors exceeds a few percent of the free-space wavelength. It may be important at UHF and is avoided by using coaxial lines or cavities. Miscellaneous Notes When a zero value for resistance or reactance is entered, to avoid numerical overflow the value actually used in calculations is 1 micro-ohm. Extremely high "open-circuit" values are truncated and the value actually used is displayed. To enter frequently used standard lengths of lines with one key operation, hit Q to enter exactly one Quarterwave, A to Add another quarterwave, etc. The 3 dB line lengths are actually 3.0103 dB which corresponds to a power ratio of 2 to 1. The 60 db length corresponds to a power ratio of 10^6. A fast way of finding Zo in terms of Ro + jXo is to hit "6". Regardless of the terminating impedance, the line input impedance, Rin + jXin, will then be equal to Zo. When velocity decreases, e.g., due to more, thicker, spacers, the result is an increase in attenuation for the same wire diameter and spacing. This important effect cannot be demonstrated directly because, when a lower VF is entered, to maintain the same Zo the program considerably increases spacing. So decrease Zo and then decrease VF to restore the spacing. Then note the higher loss. Hint: determine VF at >3 MHz where it will have become constant vs frequency. More on Insulation
Resistance (IR), Dielectric Loss Factor (DLF), and Q The Q of capacitor C is the ratio (Parallel loss resistance)/(Reactance). The parallel loss resistance decreases with frequency and so Q for most dielectrics materials remains fairly constant with frequency. DLF is the reciprocal of Q. Instead of a large shunt resistance, loss can be represented by a small conductance in shunt with C. For an entered DLF the program computes the equivalent conductance, G, in units of micro-mhos (micro-Siemens) per metre of line.
Multiply DLF's by fraction of volume between
conductors occupied by spacers.
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the Web or Download and Run it from Your Computer Also see other versions of this program: This page was last modified: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:59:30 GMT
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