Benchcooler
The Benchcooler is an ultra high vacuum (UHV) system
and its purpose is to test satellite components such
as infra red (IR) sensors under space conditions
that is at ultra high vacuum base pressure and at
temperatures below 90° K.
The Benchcooler is
mounted on an optical table (not shown) to
keep vibration to a minimum and is suitable
for a class 100,000 clean room environment.
The
system is designed to operate non-stop as required
by the quality assurance protocol of the component
to be tested.
The ultra high vacuum chamber is
evacuated by a set of two (2) turbo molecular
pumps, each
turbo
molecular
pump is backed by an oil free scroll pump.
The turbo pumps are mounted at opposite ends of
the vacuum chamber. Low vibration uhv gate
valves
isolate
the chamber in case of power failure. In
the unlikely event that one pump would fail prematurely
the
second pump has sufficient pumping capacity
to maintain
uhv base pressure.
A closed cycle two stage
cryostat is mounted on top of the chamber. It
is used to cool
down the
satellite
components through non contact means. The
helium compressor is cooled by two closed
loop chillers.
Each chiller is backed by 50 gallon water
reservoir.
The Benchcooler frame, cable
management system and chamber mounting arrangements
allow 6
axis of motions
without compromising the alignment, parallelism
and cooling performance, and to accommodate
multiple test set-ups of different shaped
satellite components.
Diagnostic equipment includes a residual
gas analyzer, 1-100 amu. Vacuum base
pressure is
measured by
a multi gauge controller, Pirani and
combination (cold
cathode and Pirani) gauges.
The operation
of the Benchcooler is automated through a
dual PC/PLC based system installed
on site and
from a remote location. The process
control system includes data acquisition, data
logging, continuous
display of temperature and vacuum pressure,
status of vacuum hardware and generation
of documents.
Detailed specifications
and performance data available on request.
The system is modular in design and
can be adapted to suit exact requirements
Black Body System
Available
for use as a fixed cold target at 80° K or
variable target, at 180° K – 360° K.
The
possibility to control to +/- 0.1° K is
inherent in the mechanical and thermodynamic design
ultimate control quality will be determined by
the availability of stable and accurate temperature
sensors and controllers.
Guaranteed active area 16” square – other
sizes on request.
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