Over the past few months I have been trying to design my own image pickup tube that I could realistically build with my limited resources. I have been so interested that I have nearly filled a whole notebook just with Cathode Ray Tube related sketches. I have experimented with making working crude electron accelerator tubes using a cheap vacuum pump and some glassware I picked up at my local crafts store. I have found that in order to make something permanent, I will need to properly heat up and melt the glass instead of just using a dremel and epoxy. So I have messed around with melting glass with my blow torch.
The tube I have designed is the product of months of sketching various types of CRT's.
I call it the "Crudicon Tube" because it is in fact crude.
It seems to be a cross between an original Iconoscope tube and a Vidicon tube. It works on a principle closer to the Vidicon yet uses the same offset electron gun design that the Iconoscope tube uses. This is because of my lack of a transparent conductor, which means that the selenium covered plate would have to be intercepted by the scanning beam on the same side that the image is focused onto it. Like a Vidicon, this tube outputs a video signal through photo-resistance differential; which means that the selenium changes its photo-conductive properties based on the amount of light hitting a particular area. Since this tube does not allow for charge storing, I expect performance to be pretty weak compared to other tubes. I used selenium as my photo-conductor since it was cheap, and I could easily melt a coat of it onto a small steel plate. The beam deflection will be done electromagnetically, not electrostatically, because I find electromagnets easier to work with then electrostatic plates.
I would like any feedback I could get for my design.
I am not an expert, so I may have overlooked something huge.