Vacuum Chamber use in Solar Energy Research

Vacuum Chamber use in Solar Energy Research 01
Vacuum Chamber use in Solar Energy Research 01
This vacuum chamber was built to perform Solar energy research on Photovoltaic Cells. We had some constrains with regards to the outside dimensions of the chamber. As you can see, it could not be too tall because it had to fit into our clients assembly jig. We therefore removed our standard lid handles and machined the handles themselves right into the acrylic chamber lid. Concurrently, we also removed our 3-Port Plate that houses the vacuum valve, the venting valve, and the vacuum gauge and moved each of them to the side wall of vacuum chamber. Finally, a way to connect electrical signals and power to the interior of the vacuum chamber from the outside, while the Solar Cell is under vacuum, was to provide an electrical feedthrough. This electrical power feedthrough was placed on the opposite wall of the vent valve, vacuum valve, and vacuum gauge.

As you can tell, there is a square and large window made from Quartz Glass coupled to the lid. The reason Quartz was used is because acrylic has limiting optical transmission properties - it does not transmit light at all in the Ultra Violet spectrum. Most of the time, this is not critical; however, in some applications, such as photovoltaics and solar power research, the transmission properties of the vacuum chamber wall become vital. Keep in mind that Ultraviolet Transmitting Acrylic does exist, but in our situation, it was not cost effective, and it did not provide replacement options.

You can read more about Ultraviolet Transmitting Acrylic Here: Optical Transmission Properties of Acrylic

One of the advantages is also the option that our client has to remove the 6 inches by 6 inch Quartz Window and replace it with any other material with various optical transmission properties. All that needs to be done is loosen the bolts that are fastening the Window Holding Plate, made from 6061 Aluminum, remove it, remove the Glass, and replace this viewport with another Window made from a different material with different optical transmission properties such as Sapphire Glass, Borosilicate, Pyrex, etc.

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Helium Leak Testing Systems
Helium Leak Testing Systems are instruments which detect leaks in specimen by detecting present of helium. Helium is used as a tracer gas to detect and quantify a leak. For example, a test specimen is filled with helium and placed into a test chamber, a vacuum is pulled and a helium mass spectrometer is connected to the test chamber. If helium is detected, it is due to the fact that it has escaped from the specimen through a leak path. Helium Leak Testing is a qualitative and quantitative method of detecting product leaks.
Power Vacuum Feedthroughs
Power vacuum feedthroughs are hermetically sealed off the shelf components used to transfer electrical power from the outside of the vacuum chamber into the inside of the vacuum chamber without compromising the vacuum. One example application would be powering an electronic device inside the vacuum chamber
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: Anatomy of the Pressure Decay, Vacuum Decay, and Force Decay Curve
How do you know that you have a good part during your leak test? In order to understand your leak test, you must first understand the Test Decay Curve and what it tells you about your test specimen. There is a certain way that a test specimen behaves during the leak test.