Cathode Performance Automatic Test System

Electric vacuum devices such as traveling wave tubes and klystrons are indispensable parts of aerospace,satellite radar and other projects.The hot cathode plays a very central role in these electric vacuum devices.Therefore,the development of the hot cathode affects the national armament and high technology strength to some extent.The testing of cathode emission characteristics and active lifetime is very important for the development and production of cathodes.Therefore,the demand for cathode automatic test system with higher development efficiency is becoming increasingly urgent.The research of this subject is the design and realization of the cathode automatic test system.The main purpose of this subject is to realize the automated testing of various characteristics and complete the function of post-processing the test data.In order to solve the problems under the current test method.For example,the test cycle is long,the test error is large,the test function is incomplete,and the test data cannot be stored in a standardized manner.This subject is based on the theoretical basis of cathode testing principles,data post-processing methods and characteristic analysis,and on the basis of learning from traditional testing methods,the design and implementation of the cathode automatic testing system are studied.The whole is divided into system hardware and software.The hardware includes the construction and connection of the computer,power source,data acquisition module,computer and power connection bus,and sensors.The software design includes the design and development of the software interface,the communication protocol between the computer and the power sources,the software post-processing algorithm,the visualization of the test data,the data storage and reading,and the report output.This system uses C++ and Qt as the main software development tools,and DC power source,pulse power source and filament power source as the basic hardware equipment.The system send data packets from the computer to the power source within the TCP/IP protocol,directing the power sources to power up the device.At the same time,the data acquisition module collects electrical signals of the device,and then sends them back to the computer.The software then calculates and processes a series of data obtained from the test,and the tester can also process the test results according to their needs.It can be stored as a data file in XML format,the test pattern can be saved as a picture,and it can also be outputed as a report in Word,Excel and others.The system is convenient,efficient,and highly accurate,and can test the volt-ampere characteristic,under-heated characteristic and filament-off characteristic of the cathodes.In order to prove the accuracy of the system.This system will be connected with non-inductive resistors,and compare the automatic test results with the manual test results.At the same time,the fluctuations of each power source within 3 hours are tested and analyzed.The experimental results confirm the stability of the cathode performance automatic test system and the reliability of the test results.