The power handling of RF coaxial connectors will decrease as the signal frequency increases. The change of transmission signal frequency directly leads to changes in loss and voltage standing wave ratio, which affects the transmission power capacity and skin effect. For example, the power handling of a general SMA connector at 2GHz is about 500W, and the average power handling at 18GHz is less than 100W.
The power handling mentioned above refers to continuous wave power. If the input power is pulsed, the power handling will be higher. Since the above reasons are uncertain factors and will affect each other, there is no formula that can be directly calculated. Therefore, the power capacity value index is generally not given for individual connectors. Only in the technical indicators of microwave passive devices such as attenuators and loads will the power capacity and instantaneous (less than 5μs) maximum power index be calibrated.
Note that if the transmission process is not well matched and the standing wave is too large, the power borne on the connector may be greater than the input power. Generally, for safety reasons, the power loaded on the connector should not exceed 1/2 of its limit power.
Continuous waves are continuous on the time axis, while pulse waves are not continuous on the time axis. For example, the sunlight we see is continuous (light is a typical electromagnetic wave), but if the light in your home starts to flicker, it can be roughly viewed as being in the form of pulses.
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Post time: Nov-08-2024
