Space hardware must withstand very demanding environmental conditions whilst in orbit. The combination of extremely low pressure and sudden temperature changes is critical because heat dissipation is limited without the help of the surrounding air molecules.
Our TVACs provide the necessary vacuum levels and allow simulating extensive and quick temperature variations occurring in orbit. They are used worldwide to validate and test space hardware, from small mechanisms and parts to complete spacecraft assemblies.
Our chambers can be manufactured in a very wide range of shapes and sizes, ranging from small compact vertical cylindrical chambers for testing of electronic modules to big mailbox shaped chambers allowing easy loading of a complete spacecraft for testing.
Telstar TVACs are designed to perform a wide range of tests, reliably and efficiently:
We can also provide special chamber designs for special tests and characterization experiments of ion thrusters, optical systems, etc.
Thermal Conditioning Units (TCUs) are the most important subsystem of a thermal vacuum chamber. They must ensure that the system complies with test requirements in terms of temperature range, heating/cooling rates, in addition to temperature uniformity across the thermal panels and or baseplate.
Telstar masters two different technologies based in different circulation fluids, depending on the temperature range required. Silicone oil based TCUs provide excellent uniformity but low temperature is limited to -90ºC. This is enough for many applications but some test campaigns need to reach temperatures as low as -193ºC (80K). For this application we can use GN2/LN2 circulation TCUs. This second type of TCUs provides excellent uniformity and covers the complete temperature range, but represents a more important operational and capital investment than the silicone oil based TCUs.
Our chambers are delivered with a flexible, user-friendly control system allowing both manual control of all the elements and complete and efficient test automation. The use of the most appropriate technologies (SCADA, redundant PLCs, touch screens, robust hardware and software) offers the client safety, ease of use, speed and productivity, from test preparation to reporting. Our control system is configured to client requirements, addressing all aspects of the test process (monitoring, control of parameters, test automation, data acquisition, processing and archiving).
Instrumentation typically includes residual gas analyzers (RGA) for vacuum quality monitoring, and QCM analyzers for characterization of the outgassing effect.
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