A new thermal vacuum facility for hughes space and communications at El segundo, california

摘要

A new thermal vacuum test facility has been recently completed at the Hughes Space and Communications Company in El Segundo, California. The facility was designed, fabricated, installed and tested as a turn-key project by Pitt-Des Moines Inc. The chamber has a 12.19 meters by 14.48 meters (40 feet by 47 feet, 6 inches) flat floor and a half-cylindrical roof with a diameter of 12.19 meters (40 feet). One end of the chamber has a full cross section door, equipped with a translating motor for horizontal motion. The chamber is provided with six 1.89 meters (48 inches) cryopumps to obtain an ultimate pressure of 3 x 10 sup -7 Torr (Clean-Dry-Empty). The thermal shroud is designed to operate at a maximum of -179 degree (-290 0 F) with an internal heat input of 300 kW using liquid nitrogen. The shroud is also designed to operate at any temperature between -156 degree (-250 0F) and 121 degree (+250 0F) usign gaseous nitrogen, and heat or cool at a rate of 1.1 degree (2 0F) per minute. A removable internal liquid nitrogen panel allows the test envelope to be subdivided to support test of two items simultaneously.