Course Objectives

• Identify your vessel performance requirements by analyzing and managing risk.
• Review standard and unconventional structural and mechanical design solutions.
• Understand the affects of vessel design on vacuum pump down and ultimate pressure.
• Learn practical acquisition strategies, including vendor qualification, contract options, and Statements of Work, while containing costs with appropriate specifications.
• Add up-to-date vacuum vessel resources to your toolbox.

Course Description

Vacuum vessels are basic infrastructure workhorses in a tremendous variety of applications and industries, including aerospace, microelectronics, lasers, and high-energy physics. A vacuum vessel is often a large capital investment that has a major impact on the cost, schedule, and technical performance of a system. Success in designing or specifying a vessel to meet aggressive requirements relies on a careful assessment of present and future operations and a graded approach to managing risk. Early decisions can have enormous leverage on not only the initial acquisition, but also the long-term operability and efficiency of the facility that it serves.

This course will review practical issues to consider when deploying vacuum vessels from bench scale to 100+ tons. The use and limitations of national standards, such as the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel code will be presented. Sample calculations are presented for spherical, cylindrical, and rectangular shells. Numerous examples of real vessel designs are shown. Additional topics include fabrication, cleaning, and installation; safety margins, weld details, pressure relief, windows and seal designs. The course offers guidance for choosing an appropriate acquisition strategy, including a review of specification options and when to use them. Resources provided include codes and standards references, sample procedures and forms, commercial components, vendor contacts, government agencies, and web links.

Attendees are encouraged to bring case studies from their workplace. Time will be reserved discuss vacuum vessel issues of specific interest to the course participants.

Course Materials

Course Notes