Facility 290:  27' X 40' Cryopumped Vacuum

 

Description: Facility 290, also known as the Space Environment Simulator (SES) is a very large vertical loading thermal vacuum chamber capable of achieving ultra-low pressure and a wide range of thermal conditions. In addition to the 27’D x 40’H nitrogen shroud, two auxiliary helium shroud configurations are available (25’D x 15’H and 25’ x 27’H). A 1 kW at 20K helium refrigerator is used to cool the helium shrouds and/or other auxiliary equipment. An integrated HEPA filtration system provides a Class 10,000 environment in the chamber and anteroom. The chamber is used for thermal vacuum and thermal balance testing, and baking out very large test articles.

 

Mode Of Operation: To load large test articles the chamber dome is rolled back to allow loading with the overhead crane. Small test articles and equipment are brought in through the personnel entrance located in the basement. Wearing of clean garments is required. Entry to instrument the payload, connect ground support equipment cabling, and install hardware is through a cleanroom air shower at the personnel door. Scaffolding may be erected to provide access to the payload. An area adjacent to the main facility control console is reserved for the experimenter’s ground support equipment.

 

Chamber evacuation is provided by eight rotary piston mechanical pumps with Roots blowers, seven cryopumps and a turbomolecular pump. Thermal control is provided by an aluminum tube-in-sheet cylindrical shroud with both liquid nitrogen and gaseous nitrogen operational modes. The dome and bottom shrouds are also connected to the thermal skid. Helium shrouds, resistance heater arrays and gaseous nitrogen panels are available for special thermal requirements. Thermoelectric quartz crystal microbalances (TQCMs) and a residual gas analyzer (RGA) provide both quantitative and qualitative monitoring of molecular contamination and gaseous constituents within the chamber. Closed circuit television coverage is available for monitoring the test article.

 

Helium Skid: A 1.0 kW helium refrigeration system is piped to 2.54 cm (1”) VCR fittings inside the chamber that may be connected to manifolds providing the capability of achieving 20K on those surfaces. This is enough cooling energy to cool and maintain large thermal shrouds at cryogenic temperatures.

 

Vibration Isolation Table: The pneumatic isolation system and payload platform (with counter weights) is designed to support and provide vibration isolation to delicate spacecraft and component payloads during testing in Facility 290. The isolation system consists of three constant-effective-area pneumatic isolators controlled by three height sensing servo valves with an adjustable deadband. The isolation system will support any load up to its maximum capacity of 6032 kg (13,300 lbs).

 

The isolation system is configured with heaters to maintain the system above 0°C during cold wall testing in Facility 290. The maximum operating temperature for the system is +50°C.

 

Natural Frequencies:

Vertical:                                  0.7- 0.9 Hz

Horizontal:                             0.4- 0.5 Hz

Dimensions:                           43” High 120” Diameter

 

Parameters:

Test pressure:                                   13.3 μPa (10-7 Torr)

Shroud temperature:

            GN2 mode:                           -130°C to +80°C (-202°F to +176°F)

            LN2 mode:                           -180°C (-292°F)

Chamber pumping speed:

            7 cryopumps:                       2.1 x 105 L/sec (4.5 x 105 cfm) @ 133 μPa (10-6 Torr)

            Turbomolecular pump:     6,000 L/sec (12,700 cfm) @ 133 μPa (10-6 Torr)

 

Physical Characteristics:

Test volume:                                      8.23 m diameter x 12.19 m H (27’ x 40’)

Payload support:                               11794 kg (26000 lb)

Viewport:                                            30 cm (12”) Standard electrical feedthroughs: 61-pin, 37-pin, 7-pin, 4-pin, RF

Personnel door:                                 1.8 m H x 1.5 m H (6’ H x 5’ W)

Crane capacity:                                  13,608 (15 ton)

Crane hook height:                            12.8 m (42’) to I-beam structure

 

Integral Instrumentation:

Pressure:                                      Convectron (2) - Atm to 0.13 Pa (10-3 Torr)

                                                      Ion gauge (3) 0.13 Pa to 13.3 μPa (10-3 to 10-7 Torr)

Payload temperature:                760 channels of thermocouples

Contamination monitor:          TQCM, cold finger, scavenger plate, res. gas analyzer

TQCM frequencies:                     15 MHz (4); 10 MHz (2)

 

Auxiliary Equipment: Portable thermal systems are available to control base plates, the thermoelectric quartz crystal microbalances (TQCMs), and contamination mirrors.

 

Rental Rate:  Inquire