More Vacuum Tubes

This page is an extension to the large page on Vacuum Tubes, containing additional experiments and
information as they develop.

Type 31 Power Triode

The type 31 power triode is one of the last examples of a type of amplifier tube that was replaced almost
completely during the 1930's by the power pentode. This type was designed for use as the power
amplifier driving the loudspeaker in small battery-powered radio sets. Nevertheless, it has the same
general characteristics and was used in the same way as more powerful tubes, such as the 2A3, a larger
power triode. While the 2A3 could supply up to 15W as a push-pull amplifier, the 31 was generally used
singly, with an output up to 375 mW.

Power triodes are characterized by a low , of 5 or less. They were intended for power amplification, not
voltage gain, and had to be preceded by a driver stage that would produce the necessary grid swing,
usually a medium-mu triode like the type 30. Both tubes could be replaced by a single pentode, which had
high gain as well as power output. Nevertheless, power triodes had certain advantages as amplifiers,
among them low distortion even without feedback, and low Miller effect. They are still prized by
vacuum-tube audiophiles, and all power triodes are now very hard to find and quite expensive. Even the
31 was a bit expensive, although not used in hi-fi amplifiers, but a sale price made it more accessible.

The 31 was designed for receivers using lead-acid cells as a power source. A vibrator and rectifier could
be used for the B+ supply, while the filament was supplied directly from 2V DC. The oxide filament was
very efficient, taking only 0.13A for a filament power of 260 mW. The type 30 medium-mu triode
required only 0.06A, since the plate current requirement was less than for a type 31. This should be
compared with the normal 6.3V at 0.3A, or 1.89W, for a heater-type cathode. The 31 was made in later
days with the graceful ST12 envelope, but retained the typical small 4-pin base traditionally used for
filament-type triodes. The type 30, with a similar envelope and base, was modernized as the 1H4-G and
given an octal base. The type 31 never received this treatment, since it was already obsolete and used only
for replacements.

The basing is shown at the right. The two large pins, 1 and 4, were always for the filament,
pin 2 for the plate, and pin 3 for the grid. This basing was standard on all filament triodes
with a small 4-pin base. There was a type 11 with a different basing, but its 4-pin base had
only one large pin (2, the plate; the filament was on pins 1 and 3.). The similar type 12 had
normal basing. Maximum plate voltage is 180. At a grid voltage of -30V, the plate current
was 12.3 mA. The large grid voltages are characteristic of low-mu triodes.

The first thing I did was run some characteristic curves. A carefully preset variable DC source was used
for the filament. In the dark, the faint red glow of the filament could just be seen as an inverted V, looking
through the top of the tube. You have your choice of which end of the filament to use as the cathode
connection. Which choice you makes changes the grid bias by 1 V either way. I made pin 4 +2V and used
it as the cathode connection. This makes the average grid bias 1 V below the cathode-grid voltage, which
I did not take into account, merely labelling the grid voltage by the grid-cathode potential. I used grid
voltages of 0, -2, -6, -10 and -14 V, with plate voltages from 10 to 120 V. Both voltages are limited by
my tube-testing apparatus, but provided sufficient range for good results. I did not let the plate current
reach 20 mA, so dissipation was always under control. In fact, the plate appears to be unblackened, shiny
nickel. The coarseness of the grid winding was noticeable; this is what gives the low mu. I found an
amplification factor of 3.75 and a transconductance of 1.050 mS, both almost spot-on the specifications.
This is remarkable for a device that is probably 60 years old, and shows the very high point that vacuum
tube design and manufacture had reached by the 1930's.
Next, I wanted to make a power amplifier. I chose a plate supply of 180V, and a load line that passed
through 30 mA, corresponding to a load resistance of 6k. The quiescent point was determined by the grid
bias of -14 V, which gave a plate current of 11.6 mA at a plate voltage of 111 V. For a bias of -14 V at
11.6 mA, a 1200 cathode resistor (1/4W) was required. I did not bypass the cathode resistor. Using a
load resistor, a 28 V swing at the grid (the maximum without driving the grid positive) gave a 70 V swing
at the plate, a voltage gain of -2.5, and a power output of 204 mW. Had I used a transformer converting
an 8 speaker to a 5k load, and bypassed the cathode resistor, I probably could have obtained a larger
power output. At any rate, the amplifier worked very well.