A METHOD OF OPERATING AN N-WAY POWER COMBINER NETWORK AND AN N-WAY POWER COMBINER NETWORK

摘要

Method of operating a power combiner network (1), the power combiner network (1) comprising a power combiner device (10) having N secondary ports (11(1, 2, N)) combining into one primary port (12), wherein respective N secondary port (11(1, 2, . . . , N)) is provided with a phase shifter arrangement (13) and a load control arrangement (14). Respective phase shifter arrangement (13) is configured to set a phase of a signal fed through respective N secondary port (11(1, 2, . . . , N)). Respective load control arrangement (14) is configured to set the N secondary ports (11(1, 2, . . . , N)) in an active or in an inactive operation mode. For I inactive secondary ports (11(1)) the load control arrangement (14) is further configured to set a phase of the signal reflected from the I inactive secondary ports (11(1)). The method comprises the method steps of; step A (100), selecting which of the N secondary ports (11(1, 2, . . . , N)) that should be set in an inactive operation mode and which of the N secondary ports (11(1, 2, . . . , N)) that should be set in an active operation mode, step B (110), setting selected I inactive secondary ports (11(1)) in an inactive operation mode by means of the load control arrangement (14), step C (120), retrieving a phase required for respective I inactive secondary port (11(1)) and retrieving a phase required for respective A active secondary port (11(2)) in order for respective A active secondary port (11(2)) to minimize the reflected signal from the power combiner device (10) and provide desired power to the primary port (12), step D (130), setting respective load control arrangement (14) for respective I inactive secondary port (11(1)) according to respective retrieved phase, and step E (140), setting respective phase shifter arrangement (13) for respective A active secondary port (11(2)) according to respective retrieved phase.