Crystal ovens maintain a constant temperature and pressure around a quartz crystal to prevent environmental changes that can affect its resonant frequency. They are used in high-precision devices, such as military-grade radio systems, and can be small or large. While they are unnecessary for common electronic devices, they are needed for high-end watches, diagnostic tools, and audio equipment, as well as for local broadcasting hubs and military systems.
A crystal oven is a sealed environment placed around a quartz crystal in high-precision devices. These furnaces maintain a constant temperature and pressure, isolating the internal crystal from environmental changes. Generally, a crystal furnace is only used on very high precision devices, such as military-grade radio systems and cell towers. On devices of lower precision, the benefit is far overshadowed by the cost and potential bulkiness of the device.
When a quartz crystal is used as a resonator in a device, it is an important part of sending and receiving signals. The resonant frequency of the quartz is used to tune the transmitter, keeping the sent signals stable. The frequency of the quartz is determined by several factors, including the size of the crystal. As quartz heats up and cools down, it can expand and contract. This results in small size changes, which change the frequency of the crystal.
Devices that cannot afford to have frequency fluctuations use a crystal oven to keep the crystal stable. By keeping the situation of the crystal stable, regardless of actual conditions, its frequency never changes. The most common form of crystal oven is used inside a crystal oscillator.
A crystal oscillator is a common component found in precision measuring instruments, transmitters and receivers. These devices can be very small and are often built directly into the circuitry of a device. When a crystal oven is used in these devices, it is usually an unpowered isolating device. It relies on its mechanical construction to keep the crystal stable.
Other devices have larger ovens that work on a completely different scale. These devices are built as sealed containers containing their own stable environment. These kilns often require external power and purpose built crystals. While this type of crystal oven can be much larger than the oscillator version, some versions are still small enough to be wired directly into a circuit system.
In most cases, crystal ovens are unnecessary. On common electronic devices, the degree of precision given by a crystal oven is far superior to that required by the user. This, coupled with the added cost of incorporating them into the device, causes many manufacturers to skip them in their designs.
On the other hand, they are needed when users require a very high level of accuracy or stability. At the consumer level, this is usually found in high-end watches, diagnostic tools and audio equipment. Commercially, local broadcasting hubs such as cell towers or radio broadcasting stations use these ovens to keep their frequencies within the correct bandwidth. Finally, military systems use these ovens to keep transmission bands narrow to prevent unwanted transfer of adjacent frequencies.
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