Defining Vacuum Technology and Vacuum Chambers

1. Defining Vacuum Technology and Vacuum Chambers Vacuum technology includes carrying out various activities under conditions of below-normal atmospheric pressure. Vacuum is a space with no air or atmospheric pressure. There are various reasons behind carrying out processes in vacuum, such as:  To avoid the interference of atmospheric components which can cause unwanted reactions during a process To disturb an equilibrium condition that exists at normal atmospheric pressure and room conditions To change particle collision conditions To reduce molecular impacts    And, others for various experiments, process and industrial applications. Vacuum technology uses vacuum chambers and its various components to carry out different processes for industrial applications. A vacuum chamber and its components are specialized vessels created with high-strength material to maintain a high vacuum process environment for various applications.

2. These chambers consist of a wide range of components including feedthrough collar, baseplate, etc. Complex chambers are designed on a custom basis to meet specialized industrial requirements for particular needs. Welding chambers, Gloveboxes, surface analysis chambers and degassing boxes are some of the vacuum chambers which are pre-engineered for industrial needs. Gloveboxes and degassing chambers operate in low vacuum ranges for applications like welding, encapsulating components, composite laminates or degassing plastics. In general, a vacuum chamber is a rigid enclosure with a vacuum pump as its main component. This pump is used to remove air and gases from the chamber to create the desired vacuum environment. The vacuum, which is a low pressure environment, allows researchers to conduct various physical experiments, chemical experiments; and allow industrialists to test mechanical devices to be operated in outer space. Thechamber is also used for vacuum drying and vacuum coating. Vacuum chamber construction These chambers must be without air so inside pressure is low but the outside pressure is high. Therefore,only a few options are left for creating vacuum chambers. The metal in use may or may shield applied external magnetic fields. Materials for making vacuum chambers are selected based on pressure, strength and permeability. Commonly used materials are:      Brass Stainless steel Aluminum Hard steel High density ceramic Components Chambers have multiple ports, covered with flanges to allow installation of various instruments in the walls of the chamber. When it comes to low or medium vacuum applications, elastomer-o-rings are used to seal the ports. For high vacuum applications, these flanges are machined with knife edges. There’s one type of thermal vacuum chamber, especially used in spacecraft engineering, for providing a condition similar to experienced in space. Source URL: https://bit.ly/2R7QyM3