Operation of a Thyratron as a Rectifier

The half-wave thyratron rectifier circuit is treated theoretically taking into account the difference between the firing potential and the tube drop during conduction. Four loads are considered ranging from a pure resistance to a pure inductance, the impedance angles being 0, 59.15, 85.6, and 90 degrees. The first three of these are checked oscillographically and good correspondences are obtained between (1) calculated average current and measured current and (2) oscillographic waveshape of current and calculated waveshape. It is also noted that errors in the current calculation due to erroneous values of E
f
(firing potential) are higher for loads of higher impedance angles.