Space Simulation Tutorials
Monday, October 21, 2024
8:00 a.m. Introduction
8:05 - 10 a.m.
Electrostatic Discharge Fundamentals and Hardware Safety
This tutorial will cover the fundamentals of electrostatic discharge prevention. Topics will include grounding, ionization, triboelectric and inductive charging, dissipative materials, discharge models and device characterization, auditing, and control plan development. Live demonstrations of core concepts will be shown along with mitigation methods to ensure safe handling.
10:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Fundamentals of Vibration Testing and Data Acquisition Systems
The tutorial will cover the theory, common applications, best practices, and advances for Vibration Testing Control Systems and Data Acquisition Systems. We will cover various test modes, like random and sine excitation, sine on random, sine burst, and shock. We’ll also cover in depth aspects like sampling, control strategies, advantages of recording time history data, and what can be done with it. Additionally, we’ll cover the fundamentals of advanced features like force limiting and notching. Subjects will be accompanied by live demos of data acquisition and shaker tests, with opportunities for hands on participation by attendees.
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Acoustic Qualification with Direct Field Acoustic Testing (DFAT): Theory and Practice
This tutorial will describe different aspects of an alternative acoustic test method to the ubiquitous reverberant chamber: Direct Field Acoustic Testing (DFAT®). With DFAT, a circle of loudspeakers surrounds a test article and creates a direct acoustic field that simulates liftoff and flight noise. DFAT is used for the same purposes as traditional acoustic testing in a reverberation chamber, with the advantage that DFAT can be an attractive alternative to reverberant testing due to its portability, reduced schedule, and reduced cost. DFAT has found wide application in the US for Commercial, NASA, and DoD test articles, and has recently been used to test spacecraft in Europe. In this tutorial, the principle of DFAT in terms of both the noise generation system as well as the control of the acoustic field will be discussed. Applications and limitations of this method and data from the latest works and publications will also be provided.
3:15 - 5:00 p.m.
Vacuum Technology and How to Keep Your Pumps Healthy
As Benjamin Franklin famously said in 1736, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”Nowhere is this truer than with vacuum equipment. Improperly maintained vacuum pumps can lead not only to system downtime, but also contamination and down-stream failures of other equipment in the lab. This presentation aims to instruct you on the potential consequences of neglecting preventive maintenance operations, as well as tips and tricks to help maintain and troubleshoot your vacuum equipment, so that you can focus on what really matters – your research!