Crescend Technologies announces the delivery of a 400 kilowatt, solid state L-band power system to a customer site. It is believed to be the first large scale deployment of high-power solid state RF power in the world. The application is processing large volumes of high-value biomass products.
The overall system consists of eight PTL-50 solid state microwave generators, each providing 50 kilowatts of continuous RF power in the 902-928 MHz ISM band. The generators are paired to produce four 100 kilowatt waveguide feeds to the microwave applicator. This system also includes comprehensive software support for controlling the generators and interfacing to the user process.
Crescend’s PTL-50 L-band microwave generator delivers 50 kilowatts of continuous or pulse width modulated power. Power control and measurement is accurate to better than 0.1%. The PTL-50 is supplied with the PrecisePower feature-rich Windows™-based interactive control software suite which includes support for advanced features such as frequency sweeping, automatic tuning, load analysis, and built-in analytic tools to help scientists and engineers better manage the setup and operation of their microwave applications. External control options include Ethernet, LabView and PLC compatible electrical interface.
In the past, the only choice of high-power RF for these types of applications has been magnetron-based microwave generators. Compared to magnetrons, solid state power provides many important new advantages, including radically higher reliability, lower operating costs, easier and safer maintenance, better energy efficiency, frequency agility, and automatic load matching.
Crescend’s Solid State Generator System portfolio includes models covering ISM bands of 2.4-2.5 GHz with 1 kilowatt to 12 kilowatts and 902-928 MHz with 3 to 100 kilowatts. Standard and customized configurations are available. All products are engineered and manufactured in Crescend’s Schaumburg, Illinois USA facility.