Vibrating Converter

an electrical apparatus that converts low-voltage direct current into high-voltage direct current by means of an electromechanical vibrator. Its electromagnet, which is periodically connected to a DC supply (usually a 2.5-volt to 24-volt storage battery), causes an elastic steel armature fitted with contacts to oscillate (vibrate). When the armature vibrates, a contact alternately connects the current supply first to one and then to the other half of the transformer’s primary winding. As a result, a stepped-up alternating voltage appears (is induced) in the secondary winding and is then converted by a contact into a unipolar pulsating voltage. The voltage pulsations are smoothed by an electrical filter; high-voltage direct current is produced at the output.

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, vibrating converters with an output strength of up to 450 volts and a power supply up to 75 watts were manufactured, chiefly for small radio apparatus (automobile radio receivers, portable radio transceivers, and so on). In the 1960’s the electromechanical vibrators in vibrating converters were replaced with powerful pulse transistors. With the appearance of radio equipment using transistors that operate on low-voltage current supplies, the production of vibrating converters was greatly reduced.