Thermal vacuum chamber for space materials

SimulTek offers high vacuum chambers, thermal shrouds, pumping systems, support electronics, and precise temperature control systems designed and manufactured for any particular application (TVC chambers and equipment). Our products range includes different size TVC systems small enough for laboratory scientific research applications up to systems large enough to accommodate a fully assembled satellite. Features: • Internal volume: 0.5-10 m³ • High thermal vacuum test facility • Operating vacuum: 10^-8 Torr • Temperature range: +250°C to -180°C (523 K to 93 K) • Heating rate: to 50°C/min, cooling rate: to 30°C/min • Uniformity: ±2°C • Fully automatic control systems using PLC’s or PC-based operating systems • Data Acquisition Systems, including real time and historical trend analysis and alarming Depending on the configuration and size of the object of study, the TVC chamber may include a range of subsystems and additional devices. These include infrared (IR) lamps for heating the object, Liquid Nitrogen (LN₂) shrouds to cool down or reduce the heat loss of the sample in the TVC chamber, additional thermocouples or other means of measuring temperature, etc. The ground-based radiation testing can be required in various space programs to identify the most stable spacecraft materials and coatings and to provide data that can be used to design spacecraft that can tolerate on-orbit material degradation. This combined radiation + thermal cycling vacuum chamber allows simulation of the proton component of the low Earth orbit (LEO) radiation environment (protons (P , electrons, UV) to provide the possibility to expose the space-bound materials and spacecraft components to variable-energy high-intensity proton beams combined with a wide range of other factors (ultra-high vacuum conditions, temperature conditioning/ thermal cycling, fast atomic oxygen, etc.), with the basic proton beam characterization and analytical capabilities. The model (SimulTek TVC-P50 E50 NUV VUV +TC) has radiation (VUV/NUV, proton (50keV), electron (50keV)) + thermal cycling of research objects. The volume of the vacuum chamber is 0.8 m³, the working pressure is 5×10^-8 Torr. The system has an oil-free pumping system. Radiation protection of this model guarantees the safe use of radiation sources with energies up to 50 keV. All models have an automatic data acquisition and data logging for main operational parameters.