Altair Technologies, Inc. takes very seriously the worldwide concerns that metals mined in the conflict areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be making their way into the materials supply chain. Altair Technologies’ policy requires that it complies with the expectations in the EICC program by requiring its supply chain partners to certify in writing that they do not knowingly sell gold, tantalum, tungsten or tin from conflict areas of the DRC for use in any of Altair Technologies’ products or contract manufacturing services by using EICC Conflict Free Smelters only. Based on this, Altair Technologies confirms that any of the aforementioned metals utilized by our supply chain and contained in our products are not derived or sourced from mines in the conflict areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and are “DRC Conflict-Free”.
November 27th, 2012
8-Liter Ion-Pump Design
Altair Technologies commitment to innovative product development has lead to a new look on an old design. As mentioned last time, one of the technologies that has been submitted as a SBIR grant proposal is a new 8 liter ion pump design. As promised, lets discuss a few of the proposed innovations in this entry.
The current ionization pumps that are commercially available suffer from loss of vacuum due to corrosion, cannot withstand bake-out temperatures greater than 450 C and use less than ideal metal-ceramic braze joint designs that result in tensile stresses that have also led to vacuum loss. Read the rest of this entry »
October 18th, 2012
Altair Technologies Submits SBIR Grant Proposals
Altair Technologies continues it’s development of innovative RF components with the recent submission of six Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant proposals. As part of our proposals. we are teaming with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SNAL) and Northern Illinois University (NIU) which we believe will lead to collaborations beyond the proposals. The proposed developments range from an increased capability ion pump to innovative X-band sources. Over the next few weeks we will discuss each new technology in depth and let everyone know how we do on the proposals. Next time, we’ll highlight our innovative new 8 liter ion pump design which takes advantage of Altair’s advanced abilities in brazing and accelerator technology.
June 26th, 2012
Altair Technologies Ships X-Band Mobetron Accelerator
Altair Technologies is excited to ship a turnkey X-Band Mobetron accelerator this week; the guide is targeted for the medical market specializing in electron therapy. Altair Engineering implemented various redesign features and contributed to the development of new IP. The accelerator uses Altair’s standard electron-gun assembly. Congratulations to the team for reaching a pinnacle milestone!
June 21st, 2012
RF Linear Accelerators for Medical and Industrial Applications
A friend of Altair Technologies, Dr. Samy Hanna, has authored a new textbook, RF Linear Accelerators for Medical and Industrial Applications, and it is currently available at Amazon Books.
The book offers very practical explanations and details of basic concepts surrounding the operations and manufacturing processes of accelerator guides used for medical and industrial applications. We recommend picking up a copy to add to your technical library.
June 9th, 2010
STRINGERS & PIPES
Recall the blistering or ruptures that can be experienced when you braze non-OFE Copper in Hydrogen (see Blog Post October 7, 2009). As a follow-up post, we want to briefly discuss “stringers.” Stringers are actual holes or leaks paths in the material that follow grain directions and are intrinsic to many grades of materials that are used in vacuum applications. Read the rest of this entry »
June 1st, 2010
A Vision and a Street Name
Back in the early 90’s, our founders Greg Cody along with Co-Founders Robert Butwell and Mike Green, set out to fill a niche within the TWT industry and brazing community. At the time Greg was in between jobs and contract manufacturing was becoming mainstream in nearby Silicon Valley. This along with their professions and experiences led them to believe their collective resolve could undoubtedly fill this void. They firmly believed they could be successful and managed to convince some friends and family to invest in their start-up as well. Read the rest of this entry »
April 30th, 2010
CTE Sample Calculation
Our last blog entry discusses the importance of understanding the thermal expansion behavior of dissimilar materials when brazing. This post will illustrate a sample calculation used for determining the nominal dimensions when designing an appropriate braze gap.
CTE is used to calculate the dimensions needed at the time of fabrication, in order to achieve a desirable braze gap (.000” to .005”) at braze temperature, between two dissimilar materials. Read the rest of this entry »
April 22nd, 2010
Thermal Expansion and Brazing
Thermal expansion is the material property of a volume change in response to changes in temperature. The net volume growth over a given temperature is dependant on the initial volume of the component. So, for most common braze materials (copper, stainless steel, ceramics, etc), this expansion varies from four to twenty thousandths of an inch of growth per inch of material in a given direction. With this in mind, brazed assemblies with different materials must be designed and toleranced such that the joint has the proper clearance at braze temperature taking into account the thermal expansion of each individual material.
To accomplish this, braze joint fit-up at room temperature may need to be made with “excessive” clearance or even interference such that at braze temperature, proper joint clearance exists to allow capillary action to work. Read the rest of this entry »
April 9th, 2010
Amparo Celebrates 10 Years with Altair
Altair Technologies is pleased to announce another wonderful employee has been inducted into the prestigious “Decade Club”, as Assembly Technician Amparo Contreras is celebrating 10 years of continual service. A major contributor for the many production and engineering projects here at Altair, she has been an absolute delight to work with and we all look forward to the next decade together. Congratulations!!
L-R: Chris Wallace, Amparo Contreras, Jeff Piazza