Power handling is a common concern to customers and manufacturers, practically power handling is a complicated topic, because the cause of a device failure from power also depends on the operating conditions such as ambient temperature, heat dissipation, peak power pulse & width etc.
RF ONE offers a wide range of low power, medium power and high power attenuators from average 1 W to 2000 W, available in DC to 3GHz and up to 67GHz operating frequency ranges.
Two example reports of avg power handling tests of RF ONE medium 40GHz 2.92mm 10W attenuator and high power 3 GHz 1 kW attenuators are presented here.
For medium 10 W 40GHz attenuator, we use 2GHz~18GHz Power Amplifier for the 10 W input into the DUT continuously for 60 minutes.
Please check the details at 40GHz 2.92mm 10 Watt Fixed Attenuator Power Handling Test.
For high power 1000 W 3GHz attenuator, since we do not have the power amplifier up to 1 kW output and up to 3GHz, also based on the fact that the causes of avg power failure are heat related, the DUT is tested at a given AC current level for 2 hours providing sufficient time for the attenuator to warm up.
Please check the details at 1000W Fixed Attenuator Power Handling Test.
We have proven that the DUT attenuators can survive its specified avg input power with minimum degradation in specs.
In practice, it is recommended to choose one with higher power handling capability than required power. Moreover it is always good to have an attenuator with better heat dissipation and keep the case temperature under 85 ℃ for safety and best attenuator performance considerations.
