Thermal Vacuum Bakeout Facility TVAC #2

​Ensuring proper vacuum bakeout of flight hardware is increasingly important to mission success. Our thermal vacuum chamber TVAC#1 is regularly operated for monitored vacuum bakeout of test and flight hardware to ECSS-Q-ST-70-01 and so in 2017 we expanded our thermal vacuum facilities by building TVAC#2. This chamber is slightly larger than TVAC#1 with doors at either end meaning loading larger or more awkward hardware is easier. As with TVAC#1, flight hardware or sensitive samples can be loaded into the chamber from within Class 8 clean tent.

The TVAC#2 chamber features:
  • PID controlled thermal plate with resistive heating and liquid channels for cooling either by chiller circulator or LN2
  • Cold trap with removable fascia for lab analysis if required
  • QCM for bakeout monitoring 
  • Residual Gas Analyser (Hiden Analytical)
  • Standard 16 T-type thermocouple channels (more channels, or different TC types can be added with notice)
  • Temperature, pressure, QCM and RGA all logged digitally
  • Door seal and chamber wall fluid cooling lines for high temperature tests (>300°C)
  • Scroll pump and magnetically levitated turbo molecular pump meaning a completely oil-free pumping system

We also have a multi-part shroud under manufacture which will use the same resistive heating and fluid line design as the thermal plate. This is scheduled to be installed towards the end of the year (2018) when we tend to have more downtime for our test house facilities.