Facilities at Thoughtventions

Thoughtventions currently occupies 3,000 square feet of office and laboratory space with a wide variety of sophisticated experimental research and development support equipment. Thoughtventions has invested many years of its owner's time and company resources to fund development projects and to acquire a variety of sophisticated furnace, mechanical, optical, electronic, and vacuum equipment, as well as fabrication, testing and support equipment. An optics lab centers on a single sapphire fiber imaging calibration station. A vacuum processing lab centers on a multiple high vacuum chambers. Cryogenics equipment centers on a Janis Supertran Liquid Helium Cryostat with optical access. Air and vacuum furnaces (to above 2200°C) are used for furnace development and material processing experiments. Transparent furnaces and transparent furnace tube production facilities permit total optical access to small pieces undergoing heat treatment at temperatures up 1200°C.

Major Thoughtventions facilities include:

Furnace Systems:

• Vaccuum/Inert Furnaces:Furnace Equipment Facility
  • 2000°C tungsten element furnace, 5x25 cm hot zone
  • 2200°C graphite furnace, 6x20 cm hot zone
  • Multiple vacuum furnace shells suitable for a variety of heating cores
• Air Furnaces: 1600°C 8x30 cm hot zone SiC element heat treatment furnace, 1300°C tube air furnace, 1300°C 50 cm cube kiln, 700°C low power furnace (75 watts), a 250°C 45x35x55 cm oven, plus variety of 1200°C and below kanthal element furnaces. Oven, all types of standard and high temperature (PtRh) thermocouple monitors.
• Transparent Furnace Apparatus: Two temperature-controlled transparent furnaces (a single zone and a 2-zone type) and associated hardware designed to permit total optical access to small pieces undergoing heat treatment at temperatures up to 1200°C. These furnaces contain heat radiation to achieve high operating temperatures by using an infrared reflecting outer shell.

• Coating Equipment:

  • Apparatus for vacuum evaporation internal gold coating of tubes. Tube ID Gold Coater

• Optics Laboratory:

  • Apertures: Wide variety of pinholes, square apertures down to 10microns.
  • Fiber Optics: Wide variety of fibers: sapphire, quartz, glass, plastic; fiber polishing equipment, fiber test optical mounts, fixturing devices, focussing optics.
  • Filters: Wide assortment of ND, line, and broadband filters, polarizers.
  • Galvanometers: 2-axis precision controlled mirrors.
  • Imaging Equipment: Ophir SP928 high resolution laser monitoring camera with analysis and operation software, Orion Starshoot G3, image processing software.
  • Lasers: Polarized and unpolarized 1.5mW precision lasers, 15W CO₂ laser, low power HeNe lasers.
  • Lenses: Wide variety of focal length convex, plano, concave.
  • Light Sources: Arc lamps, compact arc flash lamps, high power halogen lamps, mercury UV lamp, tungsten filament lamps, fiber optic illuminators.
  • Microscopes: stereo and standard microscopes 7 - 400X, Near Infrared (NIR) video camera for thermal imaging.
  • Mirrors: Low f-number elliptical and planar electrodeposited mirrors, variety of wavelength-variable filters, gold-coated mirrors.
  • Optical Mounting Equipment: Optical bench with vibration isolation legs, precision linear and rotary positioners, fiber mounts, wide variety of optics mounts.
  • Reticles: Various Line, Circle, AF Test Pattern.
  • Windows: Wide variety of sapphire, quartz, pyrex, ZnSe, and gold-coated windows.
  • Misc.: Spatial filter, fiber bundles and illuminators, optical cements. Precision radiant power meter, illumination meter, high speed intensity detector.

• Cryogenic Systems:

  • Janis Supertran-VP continuous flow cryostat with a dual temperature controller that allows optical inspection of samples held at a temperature adjustable from 1.4 to 325 K. 100 and 500 liter LHe, 500 liter LN2 dewars, standard cryogenic equipment consisting of dewars, vacuum insulated transfer lines, thermometry, and level detection.

• Vacuum Equipment:

  • Multiported, Instrumented Diffusion Pump Vacuum Stations: Two multiported vacuum coating chambers with large diffusion pumps and high current feedthrus, rated 10^-7 torr, one 60 cm ID x 40 high, and one 20 cm ID x 110 cm long High Vacuum Chamber. with automated controls, 50 cm bell-jar vacuum station
  • High Vacuum Turbopump Station (10^-9 torr) with Residual Gas AnalyserTurbopump Vacuum Chamber
  • Conflat Sealed High Vacuum Chamber:High Vacuum Chamber
  • Diffusion Pumps: Multiple 8", 6", 4", and 2"
  • Gate Valves: Multiple 7", 5", 3" and metric
  • Leak Test Facility:Leak Test Equipment
  • Vacuum Valves: manual and pneumatic
  • Mechanical Vacuum Pumps: 10-1000 CFM
  • Degassing Chambers: 4" to 15"
  • Vacuum Diagnostics: Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA), ionization gauges and meters, convectron gauges, capacitance manometers
  • Misc.: LN₂ baffles and traps, large inventory of of conflat, KF & ISO vacuum parts and sealing hardware.

Other significant Thoughtventions facilities:

• Combustion Equipment: Variety of laminar and turbulent burners of different geometries, torches, compressed flammable gases.
• Data Acquisition Systems: A variety of slow and fast multichannel data acquisition systems.
• Electronic Equipment: Tektronix TDS 380 400MHz digital storage oscilloscope, Tektronix 2213A oscilloscope, HP 4274A Multifrequency LCR Meter, pulse generator, frequency generator, high precision adjustable power supplies, high precision multimeters, low current meters, photoelectric sensors & amplifiers, and a wide variety of electronic supplies.
• Electrical Equipment: Wide variety of electrical and electronic supplies, timers and waveform generators, oscilloscope and multimeter equipment, high power variacs.
• Fluid Sensors, Controls, and Supplies: Standard and miniature electronic pressure sensors, high and low pressure multiple gas supplies, gauges and fittings, compressed air and bottled gases. Liquid, gas flowmeters, filters; hydraulic pumps and fittings.
• High Pressure Testing Equipment
• High Temperature Insulation: Zirconia board, mat, and balls, rated to 2400°C, alumina board rated to 1750°C, fiber rated to 1800°C, alumina/silica mat rated to 1450°C and 1260°C, wide variety of lower temperature ceramic insulators, pure boron nitride rated to 3000°C in nitrogen. Tungsten and molybdenum sheet for radiation insulation.
• Hydraulic Equipment: Hand and motor driven hydraulic pumps to 1 kbar, Hi, Med, and Lo pressure gauges, tubing and fittings, double acting 3000 psi gas pressurization cylinder, 10 kpsi hydraulic presses.
• Materials and Chemicals: Rare metals, precious metals, polishing materials, sapphire, quartz, ceramic insulation and glues, specialized chemicals, solvents, flameproof storage, hazardous chemical handling and storage equipment.
• Materials Processing Equipment: 20 ton press, Strasbaugh polishing machine with polishing apparatus, manual polishing equipment. Precision diamond cutoff saw, diamond band saw, variety of diamond tooling.
• Mechanical Apparatus: Thoughtventions has a complete machine shop, including large and small lathes and milling machines. It has ceramic machining capabilities including diamond tools, large and small diamond circular saws, a diamond band saw, and a wide variety of micrometers, large and small slip rolls, an 8" shear, and an 16" variable speed scroll saw.
• Power Supplies: Low power to 10kW AC and DC power supplies, low power to 7kW Variacs, precision temperature feedback controlled power supplies single phase and three phase, 1000A 10:1 transformer and high power variacs, Hughes HRW 250B 250 Joule Tack welding power supply.
• Safety Equipment: Flammables storage cabinet and glove box, fume hood, clean-up equipment, laboratory exhaust system.
• Sample Preparation Equipment: Wide variety of polishing materials, laps, fixtures, cutting devices and tools for both metals and ceramics.
• Misc: controlled atmosphere glovebox, hood and vent systems, ultrasonic cleaners, precision balances. Pure gases: Ar, He, N2, H2/N2 forming gas. Multiple mobile 2-ton lifting cranes.

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Last updated: October 2022