Toxicology Experiments performed with Acrylic Pressure and Vacuum Chamber

There are several occasions when you will have to perform toxicology experimentation on your engineered systems. One of them is on aerospace components and subassemblies intended to be installed on spaceships and airplanes. During spaceflight, humans exhale carbon monoxide and other gasses which can become deadly if the concentration reaches above 5%. There are also other deadly gasses which also accumulate and must be accounted for in order to ensure safe flight.

Our client, who performs toxicology experiments that aid spaceflight missions contact us to discuss how our regular vacuum chambers could be modified in order to fit their specific need. They did not tell us exactly what experiments they were performing. However, they asked us to customize our standard vacuum chamber.

What you are looking at is our vacuum chamber that has a 5 psi pressure option with a 10 psi safety relief valve which will pop open if the pressure exceeds more than 10 psi (gauge pressure) inside the chamber. The chamber dimensions are 14 inch cube. In order to modify our acrylic vacuum chamber to be able to withstand a max of 10 psi overpressure, we had to install thumb screws that would hold the lid compressed against the O-Ring in order to keep an air tight seal.

In addition to the overpressure option, we also added two NW50 / KF50 Vacuum Ports on the rear wall. These vacuum ports are blanked off by an aluminum blank and a NW50 centering ring. This blank was removed and our client installed their own NW50 connection to their ports. On the Right wall we provided our client with two tube liquid or gas feedthroughs for the 1/4 inch tube OD. These liquid/gas vacuum feedthroughs will allow our client to run liquid or gas into the vacuum chamber without compromising the vacuum. On the Left wall, we added two gas or liquid vacuum feedthroughs for the 1/8 inch tube Outside Diameter. Also, on the left wall is a 1/2 NPT female port that was blanked off with a plug and later used by our customer to add temperature measuring device into their vacuum chamber.

Are you an aerospace company that is looking to get a vacuum system? We have worked with all major US aerospace companies such as NASA, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman. Contact us to see why such amazing companies chose to work with us.

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We are an Engineering Excellence Company. There is a tremendous amount of valuable resources and information regarding vacuum systems and vacuum technology; check them out by clicking on the links below.

Altitude Simulation Systems
Altitude simulation systems are devices that simulate a certain altitude equivalent by controlling the vacuum inside a vacuum chamber. Altitude is a function of absolute pressure, therefore if a certain pressure is accomplished inside a vacuum chamber, a specific altitude can be simulated from the set pressure. Altitude simulation systems can be configured to not only hold a certain pressure, a complete pressure vs time profile can be programmed to be run. Furthermore, pressure vs time recipes can be loaded and run based on test requirements.
D-SUB Vacuum Feedthroughs
D-Sub Vacuum Feedthroughs are universal connectors that enable you to connect from the outside towards the inside of your vacuum chamber. We carry a large list of D-subminiature connectors for your vacuum applications such as the 9 pin, 15 pin, 25 pin, 37 pin, and 50 pin or a combination of any described.
Our Work: High Altitude Vacuum Testing of Electrical Connectors and Components
This was an interesting project where one of our customers needed to test wires up to 44 inches long within a high altitude simulation environment. In addition to testing wires, several other electric connectors required altitude testing as well. The altitude requirements were 100,000 feet (30.510 km) which corresponds to 8.36 Torr - a piece of cake when it comes to the vacuum requirements of our chambers.
Related Articles: Selecting a Proper Vacuum Pump for your Acrylic Vacuum Chamber
In this article we will talk about Vacuum Pumps - but also about other equipment which is used to produce vacuum inside a closed system or chamber. We will talk about the workings of a vacuum pump, vacuum generation, pump down, pump horsepower. This article is intended to provide you a practical guide which should help you select the appropriate vacuum pump for your system.