ATTACHMENT 1 - Statement of Work.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) # 80ARC023R0005

Statement of Work: Scaled Up In-House TPS (SUIT) Processing Equipment

Code TSM, 23 June 2023

I) Background

NASA Ames Research Center plans to purchase processing equipment (oven, infusion, solution storage, waste condensation, among other functions) to support larger scale parts ~1.8m flat) and near net shape (NNS) up to ~1.25m. These parts will support Class-D missions, Thermal Protection (TPS) manufacturing surge mitigation, and small business requests for TPS materials.

The processing equipment will be used to process a series of composite materials in the carbon phenolic family. Safely house solution, transfer solution into the vacuum oven; condense, transfer and store significant volumes process byproduct;

and controlling all systems related to processing. Due to space limitations the outer dimensions are critical in meeting our needs. Additionally chemical resistance of the oven and all subsystems is critical. Multiple set point vacuum, temperature, gas flow, solvent drain (and transfer to storage drums) shall be variably controlled through time.

II) The SUIT Processing Equipment shall have the following minimum requirements (items 1 to 34)

Quote as separate line if feature classifies as custom work

All features shall be quoted as separate line item regardless of if considered standard.

A) Oven and Controls:

1. Interior: 75” to 86” W x 75” to 85” D x 48”. Height can be taller such that exterior height and floor height requirements are met.

a. Internal floor of oven must be minimum of 6” above lowest spot of oven (i.e., 6” above the bottom of leveling feet set at the shortest height).

i. Preferred height of center of the oven is 36” to 48” off the ground.

ii. Space under oven (excluding insulation) should be accessible for storage.

Closeout panels optional but must be removable.

b. Any protrusions into the heated volume add additional dimension. For example:

an internal brace that is 1” per side requires internal W dimensions to become 77”

c. Stainless steel (ss) interior/all wet surfaces (300 series only).

2. 5 wall heating – all except door.

3. Exterior: Must be moved through a door 102” tall. X 96” wide

a. No crane in space where oven will operate.

b. 13’ from roll up to nearest structure outside use space.

4. No shelving or internal trays required. NASA will design this hardware inhouse.

5. Power options are quite flexible including: 480 volt 3Ø, 208 volt single and 3Ø

6. Temperature capability: up to 220 °C continuous.

7. Electrical heating only.

8. Ramp rate of 20 °C/hr ± 10 °C

a. For empty oven heating while sweeping N2 or air between 25 and 50 L/min

9. Uniformity: 2.25% of set point

10. Must provide proof of uniformity with calibrated probe array or similar calibrated means.

11. Vacuum tight to 1 Torr.

a. 10 Torr/hr leak rate or better.

b. Room temp oven/part with no liquids in the oven.

c. Gasket shall Viton between 45 and 60 Shore D.

d. Please provide price for 3 gaskets.

e. Max Pressure – 1 atm, Nitrogen or Air

12. Able to operate and heat in vacuum and atmosphere pressure (inert gas or air).

a. Exhaust valve if oven door is positively locked

b. Replaceable exhaust valve in case exhaust valve is damaged or made inoperable

c. Cannot prevent vacuum from being pulled if exhaust valve is damaged.

13. Control of temperature AND vacuum level variable through time.

a. A minimum of 160 programming steps if vac and temp. are a single unit

i. Shall be able to split into 15 to 25 separate profile or combined into as few as one.

14. Mass flow control between 5 and 200 L/min. Programable with controller and variable through time.

a. Corrected for N2 gas

15. Vacuum gauge(s):

a. Gauges sensitive to contamination are not allowed.

i. Capacitance gauges do fall under this category to some degree

b. Capacitance style gauges with ceramic sensors have worked well for previous smaller scale installations of this process.

i. Gauges used for control shall be connected to oven with between 36” and 60” of tubing from connection between oven and gauge.

1. ¼” tube with Swagelok fittings work well

2. Tube must be replaceable (with system/oven inactive).

3. Gauge(s) must be swappable in case of failure (mid-run or otherwise).

4. Tube can next to oven or perpendicular away from oven.

5. Tube shall angle downward to allow condensate to drain back into oven.

ii. Valve between tube and gauge to isolate gauge during processes not requiring vacuum.

1. Manually controlled is acceptable if within 12” from or back of oven.

2. Full rough vac. (29.9 in. Hg) rated ball valve is acceptable.

c. Price 3 gauges.

i. One in use

ii. One redundancy (with seamless transfer)

iii. One out for calibration

16. Temperature, vacuum level, and mass flow control shall all be programmed through the same controller.

a. With room for in-field expansion: N2 pre-heater for example.

17. All controls and data logging [hardware] separated from oven and connected via umbilical.

a. Size of enclosure [Controls Cart] used to house hardware not to exceed 36” W x

24” D x 48” tall.

i. Enclosure shall be on lockable casters.

b. Cannon plug, or similar, to connect control wires.

i. TC wires can be run in TC pairs with miniplugs to terminal block that then get connected to data logger

ii. OR. TC pairs connected direct to terminal block of data logger with above mention umbilical or separate TC umbilical.

c. Power (mains) and data/low voltage shall be separate runs.

d. All cable bundles shall be sheathed in protective jacket

i. PVC, flexible jacket, flexible conduit, or similar. Shall be chemical resistant.

e. Umbilical length 30’ to 40’

i. Any EMF issues should be factored.

ii. Power to heaters can be local to oven.

1. Signal and control must be

18. Cascade/open loop control required.

a. Multiple monitor TCs embedded into parts with logic to hold process until a certain threshold:

i. Shall allow 3 to 4 TCs monitoring a part or parts shall allowed to dictate advancement of profile steps.

ii. A combination of thresholds – temp. and vacuum for example

iii. Guaranteed soak

iv. Max delta T for ramping segments.

b. Programming of all functions (i.e., anything not manually operated) will be done onboard Controls Cart and/or interface to computer software

i. NASA ARC will provide computer that interfaces with provided data acquisition controller. NASA computer to store temperature and vacuum readings.

ii. Any software will be pre-approved prior to start of work.

19. Data logging of oven temp. vacuum level, gas flow, all TCs for monitoring.

a. Can be integrated into controller or a standalone unit that interfaces with NASA provided storage computer.

b. Bonus if possible: Record heater temp(s) and power applied to heaters

c. Acquisition rate of 2 minutes, all channels simultaneous.

B) Operations ports:

All threaded fittings shall be removable. No permanent or semi-permanent thread locking allowed.

20. 1 Port for vacuum

a. KF40 or similar.

21. 2 ports for N2 supply

a. One of which shall be opposite side as vacuum

b. The other shall be on a parallel face of the oven. See schematic below for suggested placement of ports

c. Vacuum port requirement shall match pump and condensing equipment. KF40 or

KF50 is primary choice.

d. N2 Port can be KF25 or KF40 with NPT female thread between .375” and .5”

i. Through-bore swagelok, or similar, fitting adapted to KF.

ii. If N2 Preheater fittings conflict, match pre-heater fitting size

22. 1 port for gauge(s)

a. Cannot be shared with vacuum port nor N2 ports

23. Exhaust valve can be manifolded from 1 of the N2 ports or an additional operations port

a. If manifold option shall be 1 KF port horizontal to ground and exhaust port opening welded vertically such that when exhausting flow is directed away from the ground. Size of the opening intended for exhaust can match exhaust valve.

Interface to oven shall be welded.

b. If separate port, flow directed away from the ground. Size of the opening can match exhaust valve. Interface to oven shall be welded.

C) Accessory ports:

All threaded fittings shall be removable. No permanent or semi-permanent thread locking allowed

24. QTY 4 minimum KF40

a. Minimum QTY does is in addition to ports used for vacuum, or N2.

25. Ports will be used for:

a. liquid lines

i. KF to FNPT adapted to NPT to through-bore ultratorr .375*

b. Monitor TCs feedthrough(s) for part and/or oven (see bullet bellow for TC feedthrough details).

c. Preferred within 12” from door sealing surface on the left and right

d. Centerline of all ports shall be between 3” and 12” from the top of the oven interior.

e. 2 or more accessory ports per side of oven.

Figure 1: Options for port placement. Minor adjustment acceptable with approval to avoid interference with structural members, heater elements, etc. Note: Illustrative purpose only. Not to scale nor shall it be considered final design.

26. TC feedthrough with compatible potted-style TC wires.

a. 12 TCs minimum.

b. Type K or J required

c. Minimum TC channel requirement shall be met with no more than 2 feedthrough units.

d. KF40 connection to accessory port

e. Wire insulation FEP or similar

f. Vacuum side wire length between 120” and 220”

i. Terminated with ceramic miniplugs

g. Air side length: sufficient to run to data logger.

h. Not high vac bare/ridged wire version.

Figure 2: Example of good style TC feedthrough (LEFT). And bad style feedthrough (RIGHT).

D) Spill Protection:

27. Integrated catch pan(s) for spills and leak or processing solution, and processing byproduct

a. Liquid tight

b. Shall be fixed to oven – bolts and weld tabs for example.

c. Can be Al or 300 series SS.

d. Must be able to contain 150% of liquid volume

i. If a section contains only a pump or just liquid waste, then the section only needs to account for 150% of those volumes individually.

ii. If a section contains the pump and oven, that section needs to be about to contain 150% the largest volume.

1. Largest volume potentially up to 900 L = 1300 L of containment required.

e. Can be in multiple sections to fit space as long as each section meets volume requirement of equipment designated for that section.

28. Integrated drip catch and drip tray to direct processing byproducts to a containment tank/drum

a. Lip spanning majority of door on the inside of the oven

i. Use case: condensate covers floor of internal volume floor. Opening the door allows to drain. (Shall be same material as interior of door)

b. Tray or gutter under door on the air side of the side.

i. Use case: when door first opens, any condensate on door or floor of oven will flow into tray and directed toward a dedicated collection drum or pail.

(Can be Al or 300 series ss).

E) Pump and Condensate Handling:

29. minimum free air displacement of 20 …40? cfm

a. Shall be able to pump down below 125 torr in 15 minutes or less

b. Shall be able

c. Oil or oil free okay.

d. Must be able to handle some contamination – primarily high boiling point solvent.

e. A line item quoted as a second for spare use (identical pumps)

i. An example of a much smaller system is the Welch duoseal 1376.

30. Isolation valve in case of pump swap or equipment malfunction is required

i. Shall match fitting size of collection system

ii. Shall be between collection system and oven

iii. Shall be N.O. and operated from the control panel independent of controller.

31. Cold trap/Condenser/Collection System.

a. No LN2

b. No glass

c. Typical operating temperatures for this process are between -7 and -10 °C.

32. Collection of condensates.

a. Up to 600 liters of condensate

i. Periodic emptying of condensate under vacuum shall be programmable through time. This programming is in addition to programming steps required for controlling temp, pressure, atmosphere.

ii. This function ideally would be part of the main control/programming and would increase minimum number of programmable steps by 10.

iii. Two accumulators collect condensate one at a time. When one is filled, it is automatically isolated from vacuum path and the second accumulator begins filling. While second accumulator fills, the first is drained. Either directly into a storage drum by gravity OR funneled into a transfer pump.

1. Accumulator isolation and drain shall be controlled with programable timing AND limit switch (dual redundancy).

iv. This function reduces need for single collection volume to match required storage needs and minimizes re-volatilization/partial pressure issues associated with keeping condensate under vacuum the entire profile run

v. Manual bypass/drain in case automated drain fails.

vi. Sight gauge option appealing, but not required – in case of component failure or unexpected condensation rate would provide insight into system.

1. Located between condenser(s) and auto drain system

2. Can be glass

3. Must be replaceable (high contamination risk)

4. NO metal gaskets

5. Glass brazing (if used) must be compatible chemically compatible.

b. Collection of condensate after draining will not be stored under vacuum.

i. A rain catchment approach is a good visual for the air side storage of condensate. Multiple drums next to each. When one fills, the next one in line begins to fill.

Figure 3: Schematic of catchment and storage of condensate after evacuating from auto drain system. Schematic shall not be considered functional design.

33. Valves can be pneumatically controlled and/or electrically controlled

a. Any valve not related to an automated or remote control can be manual.

F) Infusion (NASA proprietary solution – solvent & resin):

34. Liquid pre-heater and pump.

• This hardware is intended to intake and pre-heat a premixed solution from NASA supplied mixing tank.

a. 5 to 30 L/h flow

i. Single set point at a given time but can change between uses in this range

b. Continuous heating and operation: 80% duty cycle.

i. We fill a set volume and then pause. Then repeat.

ii. 50 °C ± 5 °C

iii. N2 cap over reservoir

iv. *The accessory port intended for liquid feedthrough lines calls out .375 tube. If this diameter is incompatible with this system, adjust ultratorr throughbore fitting.

c. Oven under vacuum while pumping

d. Programable active solution pump and holds.

i. Maintain a vacuum range inside oven throughout liquid transfer duration.

e. Wet parts cleaned easily with sufficient acetone. Isopropanol works but less effective.

f. Viscosity will range between 40 and 300 cP.

g. Cleaning of wet parts with acetone.

III) Pre Shipment Support:

NASA will plan to be onsite for a pre-ship inspection and oven acceptance at the vendors facility prior to shipment to NASA facilities. Contractor will need to notify the contracting officer and the contracting officer representative to arrange this pre-shipment no later than 5 January 2024.

NASA will arrange for shipping to NASA Ames at Moffett Field in California.

IV) Post Shipment Support:

Once delivered and installed at NASA vendor should also plan for 1-2 day of equipment start up / on-site training at the NASA facilities located at Moffett Field, CA – prior to end of POP (30 March 2024). NASA will give vendor 30 day’s notice prior to scheduling on-site training.

V) Other preferred but not required items (price as separate options)

• N2 supply: 450 scfh clean dry N2 @ 60 to 120 PSI o 160 gallons on demand storage (minimum.)

o Compressor supplying sufficient clean dry air

• Pre-heater for N2 supply.

o Between 20 °C above ambient and 200 °C

▪ Flow range below 100 scfh only. Any higher flow rates required would not need pre-heating.

• Roof-mounted exhaust ventilation and filtration suggestions are welcome o Enclosure volume is approximately 20’ x 10’ x 10’ tall.

o Open area expected to be ~10 to 20 % o Minimum. face velocity: 80 cfm (per internal safety requirements).

VI) Delivery Delivery of the oven is required by 14 January 2024.

VII) Period of Performance No later than 30 March 2024 – after vendor completes on-site training at NASA facilities.

VIII) Government Furnished Equipment NASA will provide a computer to interface with the equipment for data storage.

[End of Attachment 1]