Hartley Oscillator: Two Coils, No Cap

Would it be possible to build a single transistor Hartley oscillator by substituting a pancake (spiral) coil for each leg of the center-tapped inductor, and then placing one coil flat on top of the other so the insulation between them takes the place of the cap?

If the current in each coil is made to flow opposite to the other, could their proximity to each other also be used to vary the overall inductance?

Kevin Foster

Reply to
Kevin Foster
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Hardly.

The tapped coil (tap is usually lower than center) is an auto-transformer. You need considerable mutual inductance between the parts.

You need a lumped capacitor to make a tuned circuit of the coil and capacitor. I doubt that there is an useful resonance with your idea.

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-TV
Reply to
Tauno Voipio

  • Why? How much? lose proximity of the 2 coils can give decent mutual inductance. and splitting the larger inductance of the Hartley into two coils that sandwich the smaller can further increase the mutual inductance.
  • Really? the above sandwich scheme can bring in a fair amount of capacitance. Using thin high-K insulation (tape) will further add to that, with minimal increase of leakage inductance. May be rather good even in the mid-DC frequencies (~200Mhz region) and up.
>
Reply to
Robert Baer

If you distribute the capacitance alon the coil, you'll get a transmission line instead of a tuned circuit.

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-TV
Reply to
Tauno Voipio

But you can build a perfectly respectable oscillator with transmission line that gives you a 360 degree phase shift / one period delay.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

And multiples of that. Then it's up to guess which of the modes responds.

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-TV
Reply to
Tauno Voipio

I don't see why not. I have built such one transistor oscillators using two axial dogbone ferrite inductors side-by-side. Mine had an external capacitor but coil self capacitances might do. I found I could get suprisingly big separations like 1cm before oscillation ceased.

piglet

Reply to
piglet

The mutual inductance of a Hartley reduces the impedance seen at the base, but otherwise it's just like a Colpitts. The k factor of an air-core solenoid is no better than 0.7 or so which is pretty poor for an autotransformer.

You can build an oscillator by just hanging an emitter follower on the right tank circuit. The resistance in the emitter circuit makes the input resistance negative.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

A tapped inductor is not required. Two uncoupled inductors will suffice just as two uncoupled capacitors does with the Colpitts.

See figure 4.7 in Experimental Methods in RF Design by Wes Hayard, Rick Cambell, and Bob Larkin. ISBN # 0-87259-879-9.

Reply to
John S

(A) You do not need a tapped coil to make a Hartley. You do not need any mutual inductance. You can argue about calling it a Hartley, but a two- coil one-cap oscillator still perks along just fine.

(B) You do not need a lumped cap. That's not to say that the OP's idea will work, but anything that gives the right amount of phase shift will work. Stepping away from Hartley oscillators, there's plenty of oscillators out there that use tuned circuits made of microstrip or coax.

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--

Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com 

I'm looking for work -- see my website!
Reply to
Tim Wescott

In fact, circuit designers have been doing this inadvertently for decades, if not a century or so (I think the same thing can happen with a cathode follower in a toob circuit).

--

Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com 

I'm looking for work -- see my website!
Reply to
Tim Wescott

Never heard of using a shorted or open stub (of a transmssion line) in oscillators?

Reply to
Robert Baer

Are you positive?

Reply to
Robert Baer

I IMAGINE you are REFLECTING a POSITIVE observation.

Reply to
Robert Baer

This one is my favorite

...it's just a jfet soldered to a piece of wire

I think it worked without the tuning cap but it was >25 years ago so I might be wrong there...

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Yeah, but you cheated and built a Hartley. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

If you let the headset bearings on your hog get really loose, is that a Harley oscillator?

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Tim Wescott 
Control systems, embedded software and circuit design 
I'm looking for work!  See my website if you're interested 
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott

?

You'll end up with fairly large amount of indeterminate capacitance and low er-Q coils and tank circuit. The lower Q means less frequency stability, dr ift and wander due to external influences that results from a weaker phase- frequency gradient. If you don't care about any of that, go ahead with it, you can still get a working oscillator.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

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