Ruggedized, Condition-Based Maintenance for Vacuum Insulation Systems

Superconducting systems require cryogenic atmospheres for operation. These cryogenic atmospheres are maintained using vacuum insulated components to restrict convection, conduction, and radiation heat transfer. Over time, materials under vacuum outgass minute amounts of gases that increase the pressure and convection heat transfer. Getter materials (i.e. activated carbon) are materials that adsorb gases onto their surface from atmospheres down to high vacuum. Certain getter materials experience an irreversible chemical reaction with the molecules limiting their useful life while others are able to be regenerated through reversing the adsorption reaction. This proposal addresses the latter. The Advanced Regenerative Getter (ARG) utilizes a regenerative getter material to reduce vacuum pressures from 0.1 torr to 10-6 torr. The ARG is regenerated by a cartridge heater that increases the temperature of the getter to the point where the adsorbed molecules are outgassed to pressures above atmospheric pressure and expelled from the ARG.