Industrial Plasma Applications
Alta's experience in plasma sources for electric thrusters is applied with success to down-to-Earth applications.
Technology transfer case 1
From electrothermal arcjet technology to the waste management sector
Thermal plasma reactors are an effective system for the treatment of “special” waste, such as incinerator ashes, asbestos, leather and paper industry process waste, sanitary waste from hospitals. Materials and configurations developed for space application provide efficiency and maintenance edge over conventional plasma torch technology. Alta’s system is built around a modular plasma torch system sized for small distributed waste treatment applications, using an arcjet-type plasma torch at 50 kW water cooled or 20 kW radiation cooled operation.
Technology transfer case 2
From Hall thrusters to the surface modification and material processing field
Hall ion sources are particularly relevant to large surface thin film deposition and ion implantation on metals and ceramics, to increase throughput and productivity of industrial plants. Alta supplies custom-designed, turn-key plasma processing systems for cable coating, diamond film deposition, thin-film photovoltaics, automotive components & parts.
High Vacuum Systems
All space simulators at Alta, most of which are unique facilities with special performance requirements, are the result of in-house design. Alta's custom vacuum systems experience is complemented by proprietary engineering tools for analysis, design and verification of high and ultra-high vacuum systems, such as DSMC and PIC low density internal gas dynamics codes, and state-of-the-art commercial engineering software for structural, thermal and electromagnetic finite element analysis. In addition to conceptual and detailed design, installation, commissioning and acceptance testing, Alta's high vacuum systems team has full development-cycle competence, including management of large facility procurements, guidance and monitoring of subcontractors, and quality control/product assurance. Installations may include special items such as custom cryogenic pumping stages (40 K) with LN2 + H2O shrouds for thermal load dissipation, full automatic digital control system (NI VXI/MXI architecture), electrostatic and optical plasma diagnostic instrumentation, class 10,000 and climatically controlled environment.
External customers of Alta High Vacuum Systems Division include the European Space Agency (ESTEC plant in the Netherlands) for the CORONA facility modifications for plasma high voltage plasma interaction experiments, and Thales Alenia Space (Torino, Italy plant) for turn-key supply of the NBF special customized facility for micro force measurements.
Engineering
With proprietary software tools such as airfoil shape optimization using genetic algorithms, Alta's numerical simulation team provides consulting on fluid dynamics issues and thermo-structural design for civil and mechanical construction. In June 2004, Alta was selected to provide engineering support for the Italian “+39” America’s Cup 2007 team for hull drag and stability prediction, fluid/structural optimization of keel/rudder and foil profile, and fluid/structural optimization of composite mast section.
