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.

We also have an in-house FTIR facility for processing molecular contamination witness plates in accordance with ECSS-Q-ST-70-05C.

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