VACCO Etched Disc Propellant and Pressurant Filters
VACCO Industries
All-titanium or all-stainless-steel etched-disc filters providing 2 to 100 micron absolute filtration for spacecraft propellant and pressurant systems since 1961.
Technical specifications
- Filtration range
- 2 to 100 microns absolute
- Materials
- All-titanium or all-stainless-steel, diffusion-bonded
- Construction
- Stacked, photochemically etched metallic discs, no welding, class-10,000 clean room assembly
- Pressure rating
- Withstands 100% system differential pressure in forward or reverse flow
- Flight heritage
- In production since 1961; 98% of NASA Space Shuttle filters; Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)
- Mass
- 0.068 kg (0.15 lbm)
- Operating Pressure Range
- 4000 psig
- Burst Pressure
- 12000 psig
- Proof Pressure
- 6000 psig
- Filtration Rating
- 10 micron abs
- Flow Rate
- 4.5 scfm GHe
- Pressure Drop (Clean)
- <20 psid @ Rated Flow
- Pressure Drop (Dirty)
- <50 psid with 0.05 g ACCTD
- External Leakage
- <1 x 10^-6 sccs GHe
- Operating temperature
- +19°F to +131°F (-7°C to +55°C)
- Weight
- <0.065 kg (0.145 grams)
- Proof Pressure (2)
- 6000 psig / 5 min
- External Leakage (2)
- 6.2 x 10^-6 sccs @ 4000 psig
- Flow / Pressure
- 0.05 psid @ 4.50 scfm GHe
- Random Vibration
- 2.1 Grms / 2 min/axis
- Dirty Capacity
- 0.275 psid @ 4000 psig with 100 mg ACCTD
About
As a producer of flight-qualified, high-performance etched-disc propellant and pressurant filters, VACCO has provided absolute filtration for satellites and spacecraft since 1961. Etched-disc filters are constructed from thousands of stacked metallic discs chemically micro-machined with micronic flow channels, enabling precision filtration from 2 to 100 microns absolute. Each flow path is created by high-precision photochemical etching, each disc is individually cleaned before stacking and assembly in a class-10,000 clean room, and no welding is performed on the stack assembly, ensuring a clean, reliable filter. The filter element withstands 100% system differential pressure without collapsing in either forward or reverse flow. Available in all-titanium and all-stainless configurations, diffusion-bonded for high efficiency. VACCO supplied 98% of the filters used on the NASA Space Shuttle Program and provided the high-pressure filter for NASA JPL’s Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover) mission.
Documentation
- filters_high_pressure.pdf PDF source: www.vacco.com ↗
- filters_low_pressure.pdf PDF source: www.vacco.com ↗
- VACCO_Filtration_Catalog_042121_FINAL_with_bookmarks_web.pdf PDF source: www.vacco.com ↗
Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.