EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR

ANHYDROUS AMMONIA CHARGING FACILITY

1. Introduction

2. General requirements

3. Typical Schematic of facility

4. Evacuation System

5. Evacuation and charging system

6. Baking Chamber

7. Cryostat with cooling pads

8. Residual Gas Analyzer

9. Sensors and Instrumentation

10. PLC based Data Acquisition and Control Systems (DACS)

11. Safety and protection

12. Wiring

13. Environment

14. Utilities available with ISAC/ISRO

15. Installation, Commissioning and Testing

16. Preliminary Design Review

17. Deliverable Documents

1. Introduction

ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore is a lead centre of Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO) for design, fabrication, assembly and testing of satellites

in India. Thermal Systems Group (TSG) of ISAC/ISRO is responsible for providing a

suitable thermal control system for all its satellites. As a part of thermal control system,

efficient heat conductor / distributers, namely, heat pipes are used.

Heat pipe is a hermetically sealed two-phase heat transport device. It is made ofa

hollow aluminum tube having two independent channels, each channel contain a small

quantity of fluid like ammonia, ethane, acetone etc. The inner diameter of each channel

may vary from 2mm to 15mm, length can vary from 100mm to 3000mm and weight

from 30g to 500g per meter length.

In our application, fluid is ultra-high purity ≥ 99.999% with water vapor content <

0.5ppm. It is transferred in gaseous form from ammonia cylinder through a manifold

after thorough out gassing of tube using heating and evacuation equipments. No added

contaminants in to the tube and into the gas including water vapors are allowed during

transfer of the gas from cylinder in to tube.

The major functions of the proposed anhydrous ammonia charging equipment are:

• Evacuation / baking of the tubes, up to 250oC.

• Gaseous ammonia transfer into both channels of tube by local cooling of tube

• Baking the tube at the selected temperature and finally flushing out, one by one

from each channel of the tube, one at time.

• Gaseous Ammonia charging into one channel of the tube and measuring ammonia

leak through second channel of tube by gas analyzer.

The facility shall be used to charge ammonia into maximum of twelve number of heat

transport tubes simultaneously.

On behalf of ISRO, ISAC invites the proposal from reputed and experienced vendors

for “ammonia charging facility” as per the following requirements / specifications

provided in the subsequent section of this RFP.

2. General requirements

2.1 Scope of work

� The vendor shall fabricate, demonstrate, and install anhydrous ammonia

charging facility at ISRO Satellite Centre, Vimanapura, Bangalore -17,

Karnataka, India or any other location in Bangalore specified by ISAC/ISRO.

2.2 Experience / Expertise

� Vendor shall have experience / expertise in manufacturing and installation of

vacuum systems, heating/cooling systems, handling of highly corrosive

gases, etc.

� Vendor shall submit, along with offer, brief overview of vendor’s

infrastructure, technical capabilities and purchase order copies of similar

facilities developed and installed for other organizations/industries.

� Vendor shall hold full responsibility of execution of this system completely

in all aspects.

� Vendor/s shall be asked to make detailed presentations on their offer to the

expert committee of ISAC/ISRO at ISAC/ISRO as a part of vendor

evaluation process. Vendor shall provide confirmation for this detailed

technical presentation in the technical offer / quotation.

� Offers without the above information or offers with incomplete / inaccurate /

false information will be rejected.

3 Typical Schematic of facility

The heat transport tube assembly to be loaded into the ammonia charging facility is

shown in figure 1.The facility shall have a baking chamber with horizontal supporting

platforms made of SS 304L at the center onto which the heat transport tubes shall be

loaded as shown in figure 2.

Fig.1. Schematic of heat transport tube

The valves on either side of the heat transport tube shall be connected to flexible bellows

to suit specified lengths and shapes of heat transport tubes. These flexible bellows in

turn shall be connected to high vacuum evacuation system and anhydrous ammonia

cylinder through vacuum compatible, high pressure resistant & corrosive grade

manifolds with different types of valves in the charging line. The evacuation system and

ammonia cylinder shall exist on either side of the platforms, as shown in Figure-3.

4 Evacuation System

It consists of two separate sets of ultra-high vacuum evacuation systems as shown

in Figures-3A, 3B, and 3C. The evacuation systems are based on rotary cum turbo

molecular pumps with vacuum level better than 10-6 mbar inside the channels of heat

transport tube.The evacuation system and its accessories shall be compatible with

anhydrous ammonia (corrosive grade). No parts/ components including oil, if any used

in pump, shall contaminate the connected vacuum manifold etc. It shall have nitrogen

gas purging port with suitable interface (I/F) for connecting the gas cylinder. All joints

shall have leak rate less than 1x 10-9Standard cm3/s (SCC/s).

Double stage rotary vane pump shall be used as backing pump with pump

speed≥15m3/hrat for the turbo molecular pump of suitable capacity. Safety valve shall

Two channels

Needle valve

be used to separate the pump from the high vacuum side during shut-down and Gas

ballast valve to avoid contamination in the lubricant oil. Lubricant selected (Fomblin oil

or equivalent) shall not contaminate the flow lines and compatible with ammonia. Other

accessories such as cables, connectors, etc.required for effective and safe operation of

turbo molecular pump (if any) shall be included in the quote.

The detailed specifications of the turbo molecular pump and the rotary pump are

given in section1 and 2.

Fig. 2: Schematic of baking chamber

Chamber Wall

Base compartment

Tube holding trays Sliding fixtures

Front View

Cut-outs for flexible

hoses/bellows Sliding doors

Section View from side

Section-1:Compact turbo molecular pump system specifications

I. Pumping Speed (Nitrogen)

Handling fluid : anhydrous ammonia

400 litre/sec. or better

II. Ultimate vacuum at pump inlet Better than 5 E-10 mbar

III. Inlet Flange ISO-CF 160 mm or suitable

IV. Fore line Flange KF 25 mm or suitable

V. Bearing compatible with ammonia gas

VI. Liquid Trap Zeolite dry trap shall be

provided at the fore line of the

turbo pump

VII. Installation Orientation Any

VIII. Cooling Air cooled ( preferred)

IX. Venting Flange 10 KF or suitable

X. Purge Gas Flange 10 KF or suitable

XI. Pressure gauge Suitable cold cathode gauge at the

inlet of turbo pump

XII. Compatible Drive-unit/controller shall be supplied.

XIII. Display screen: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

Accessories such as

Power supplies for powering pump series with integrated drive electronics

Venting valves

Heating jackets

Specifications for the gate valve

XIV. Body material Stainless steel or aluminium (compatible

with anhydrous NH3)

XV. Actuator Pneumatic actuator , double acting with

position indicator with solenoid

XVI. Flange DN 160 CF-F or suitable

XVII. Sealing material (for gate and bonnet) Compatible with ammonia gas

XVIII. Feed through Bellows (SS) sealed mechanism without

lubricant

XIX. Leak rate ~1x10-9 mbar l/sec

XX. Pressure range ~1x10-10 to ~1.5 bar

XXI. Mounting position Vertical

XXII. Supply voltage for solenoid 24 VDC

Section-2: Specifications for the rotary pump

a) Pumping speed ≥15m3/hr

b) Inlet flange DN 25 ISO KF or suitable

c) Exhaust flange DN 25 ISO KF or suitable

d) Ultimate Pressure i) With gas ballast

ii) Without gas ballast

~5x10-2 mbar &

~5x10-3 mbar

e) Compact full range Vacuum gauge 1000 to 5x10-9 mbar

f) Vacuum gauge display and control unit RS 232C/GPIB Interface or equivalent

g) O-rings / Seals Compatible with Ammonia

Pump shall have a anti suckback provision

h) Gate Valve Electro-pneumatically activated

i) Compressed air requirement 4 to 6 bar

j) Pumping oil Compatible with ammonia

k) In-line valve type Manually operated valve

l) Mobility for turbo-pumping system A trolley with caster wheels and proper

locking system capable of bearing the

weight of the turbo-pump, backing pump

and the related accessories

m) • Oil mist separator and condensate separator shall be provided

• Adsorption filter shall be provided.

• The system must be supplied with reputed make pumping systems from Agilent, Leybold,

and Pfeiffer.

v a c u u m h e a d e r p ip e

R o ta ry p u m p

T u rb o - m o lec u la r p u m p

R G A

T o a m m o n ia e x h a u st

A m m o n ia c y l in d e r

A m m o n ia h e a d e r p ip e

E le c tro -p n e u m a t ic v a lv e s

C o n tr o l p a n e l

E le c tro -p n e u m a tic v a lv es

B a k in g c h a m b e r

v a c u u m h e a d e r p ip e

R o ta ry p u m p

T u r b o -m o le c u la r p u m p

R G A

T o a m m o n ia e x h a u s t A m m o n ia c y lin d e r

A m m o n ia h e a d e r p ip e

n e e d le v a lv e s

a ll d im e n sio n s a r e in m m a n d a re a p p ro x im a te

N o te : L v a r ie s fr o m 0 .3 m to 3 m

E le c tro -p n e u m a tic v a lv e sH T T -1H T T -2

H T T -3H T T -4

H T T = H e a t T r a n sp o r t T u b e

D A C S

E v a c u a tio n & c h a rg in g sy s te m E v a c u a tio n & c h a r g in g sy s te m

A m m o n ia e x h a u st

w a te r ta n k

T ra y h o ld in g su p p o rt

v er tic a lly s l id a b le tu b e h o ld in g tra y s

Fig.3A: Typical sketch of anhydrous ammonia charging facility

Rotary pump

Turbo-molecular pump

To ammonia exhaust

Ammonia cylinder

flexible bellow of ~1.5m length

vacuum header pipe

RGA Ammonia header pipe

TRAY

all dimensions are in mm and are approximate

solenoid valves

Rotary pump

Turbo- molecular pump

To ammonia exhaust

Ammonia cylinder

vacuum header pipe

RGA Ammonia header pipe

solenoid valves

20mm dia.tube

20mm dia.tube

6.35mm dia.tube12.7mm dia.tube

TOP VIEW OF BAKING CHAMBER

TUBE HOLDING TRAY-1

solenoid valves

Control panel

DACS

Evacuation & charging system Evacuation & charging systemTray holding support

Fig. 3B: Schematic of top view of the ammonia charging system showing one flow line from vacuum header on either side.

Fig.3C: Typical sketch of side view of the ammonia charging system showing one flow line

5 Evacuation and charging system : Evacuation and charging system is a separate manifold system connecting the heat

transport tube with anhydrous ammonia cylinder and evacuation system. Two such

systems shall be installed on either side of the baking chamber to cater to the needs of

two channels of heat transport tubes.

Single channel heat transport tubesshall have connection with evacuation / charging

line on any one side of the climatic chamber. Each channel of the dual-channel heat

transport tube shall be connected to separate evacuation / charging line, generally

located on opposite sides.

Various types of valves, washers, flexible bellows / hoses, etc. shall be used as a part

of evacuation and charging system. Requirementsand brief descriptions of these

components aregiven below:

5.1 Valves Solenoid operated valves shall be used in evacuation and charging lines as shown in

Figure-4. The requirements for these valves are given in section 3.The valves in vacuum

line help in isolating the ammonia line from the vacuum pumpsduring ammonia

charging / evacuation. The valves in charging line need to be operated for a specified

duration to fill anhydrous ammonia into heat transport tubes. The valves shall be

selected such that ammonia charge control shall be in the order of ±0.1g.

Fig.4: Typical sketch showing location of valves in evacuation / charging lines

Section-3: Typical requirements for electro-pneumatic valves ( corrosive grade application)

Differential Pressure rating during operation Up to 12 bar

Operating temperature limits

� Lower limit

� Upper limit

~ 0oC

~ +45oC

Input power supply Suitable power supply unit shall be provided to

operate the valve within the above pressure

range

Solenoid Supply Voltage ~ 24 V DC

Actuator Double acting with solenoid valve & position

indicator

Differential pressure on gate valve 1 bar or better in either direction

Material of body Aluminium or SS - suitable grade (to be

compatible with anhydrous ammonia)

Flange connection& Centering ring Suitable (to connect to the charging system)

Leak tightness ~1 X 10-9 mbar liters/sec or better

End connections Size : 3/4” , Type : integral male

Vacuum range ~ 1x 10-10 mbar.

5.2 Flexible bellows / hoses:

Flexible bellows / hoses are required in order to accommodate heat transport tubes of

different lengths and shapes in the baking chamber. These bellows shallconnectthe needle

valves of heat transport tubes with the evacuation / charge lines. Lengths of the bellows

shall be designed to accommodate any specified lengths& shapes of heat transport tube in

the baking chamber with sufficient margins. Typical requirements for the bellows are

given in section 4.

Section 4: Typical requirements for flexible bellows / hoses

Working pressure ~ 10-9 mbar to ~ 45bar

Temperature range -50°C to +250°C

Material SS 316L

Hose dia. ( OD) 1/2”

Nominal length of hose ~ 1.5m

End connections Size : ½”

Type: integral male

Braided type Double braided

All tubing shall be seamless tube and made of SS-316L tube with electro polished for

handling ultra-high purity ammonia gas.

6 Baking chamber

Evacuation / degassing is to be done at high temperature in order to remove adsorbed air

molecules and moisture from the inside surface of heat transport tubes, manifolds and

valves. The baking chamber is a closed enclosurewith required door / opening / exhaust,

which houses a vertical support and horizontal platforms on the inside, onto which heat

transport tubes are loaded. The baking chamber and the horizontal platforms shall be

seated on a base compartment at a height suitable for working, as shown with a conceptual

sketch in Figure-2 with requirements as given in section 5.

The following shall be considered while designing the baking chamber:

• Heating system shall be designed with sufficient power margin, accommodating heat

leak / loss from heat source.

• Heaters shall be baffled from test space to prevent direct radiation on heat transport

tube.

• Materials compatible with ammonia shall be selected for all parts / components used in

heating system.

• The doors, located on front and back sides, shall be of sliding type and large enough to

load / unload maximum size heat transport tubes. The sliding doors shall have

provision to move up and down vertically and shall be operated both manually and

through PLC based motor control. Provision shall exist to lock the sliding doors when

in OPEN position, as a safety feature.

• Appropriate provision shall exist to have access to inside of the baking chamber for

connecting / disconnecting manifolds & valves, fixing / removing temperature sensors,

servicing / maintenance operations, etc. The system shall be custom built to meet all

the specified requirements.

• There shall have exhaust system with fansat the top side in order to purge out ammonia

vapour if any gets accumulated inside the chamber.

• Provision shall exist to treat and dispose ammonia collected in the exhaust system to

meet statutory and regulatory requirements for hazardous gases.

• The baking chamber shall have good structural rigidity to withstand the load of tubes

and its loading system. Also, the chamber shall be designed to withstand movement of

a person, weighing about 100kgs.

• The vendor shall design, fabricate, demonstrate, and supply a suitable mechanism for

safe loading and unloading of tubes into the facility. It shall be a light weight rigid

structure with suitable frame and made of SS 304L materials. This mechanism shall be

of manual pull-push type for tubes loading/unloading. The vendor shall submit the

proposed mechanism of the tubes loading system in the offer.

• The space between interior and exterior shall be insulated using multi layered,

environmental friendly, low thermal conductive, non-hygroscopic material.

• The base platform for the charging facility shall be of appropriate height (~ 1m) for

easy loading by a person in standing position.

• Thickness of the insulation shall ensure chamber outside temperature less than50oC

when chamber is maintained at its extreme temperature for 24 hrs or more.

• The chamber exterior shall be made of formed stainless steel-SS304L sheet or

equivalent. Also it shall be designed with sufficient reinforcement to withstand the

various loads.

• The chamber shall be a light weight rigid structure with suitable frame and made of SS

304L materials. All materials used inside the baking chamber must be compatible with

anhydrous ammonia.

Section-5: Typical requirements for baking chamber

Clear working volume (L x B x H) ~4m x ~3.5m x ~2.5m

Operating Temperature ambient to +250oC, adjustable

Temperature stability Within ±1oC of set value

Heatsource Electric resistance heaters

Temperature sensor/s for control Six or more PRTs inside enclosure on the tube

Temperature control By Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based

data acquisition & control system (DACS)

operable through PC.

Average heating rate at atmospheric

pressure

~1.5°C/min. or better

Exterior wall temperature < 50oC

Duty cycle Continuous heating up to 7 days or more without

degrading its specification

Material i) Double walled chamber

ii) Inner / outer walls made of SS 304 and

powder coated outer surface

Thickness ~ 300mm

Other mandates:

(i) Provision for air ventilations

(ii) Air circulating fan.

(iii) Variable microprocessor based digital temperature controller with digital display and

thermometer.

(iv) Dampers shall be provided at the bottom and top of the baking chamber

7 Residual Gas Analyzer

Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) shall be installed in the evacuation / charging lines to

measure channel-to-channel leak rate of ammonia in heat transport tubes. One channel

shall be filled with a small amount of ammonia gas and RGA connected in the line of

other channel shall measure ammonia leak rate and vice-versa. The specifications of the

RGA shall be as given in section 7.

Section-7: Typical specifications of the RGA

Detection range of Atomic Mass Unit

(AMU)

1 to 100 AMU

Partial pressure measurement range 10–5Torr to5 × 10–11Torr.

Resolution ≤ 1AMU

Programming software Lab view or any suitable software

Interfacing with PC Through RS-232 and Ethernet cable

8 Cryostat with cooling pads

An approx. length of about 300mm to 500mm at the non-filling end of heat transport tubes

shall be cooled and maintained at a temperature of -20ºC, using individual cooling pads,

during the process of transferring anhydrous ammonia vapour. The cooling system shall

have the requirements as given in section 6 of Table-1.

Section-6: Typical requirements for Cryostat

Circulating Fluid temperature Adjustable from ~ -35oC to ~ +40oC

Cooling capacity ~150W at -20oC

flow rate ~ 15 litre/min

Pump flow pressure Variable

Type of temperature sensor PRT

Temperature accuracy ± 1oC of set value

Setting/ display resolution 0.1oC

Digital interface RS 232 or equivalent

Temperature control By Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based data

acquisition & control system (DACS) operable

through PC

Connecting Tubes Flexible. About 2m length each for inlet and outlet connections of about 12.5mm diameter with suitable thermal insulation

9 Sensors & Instrumentation

9.1 Facility sensors: Vendor shall supply and incorporate the necessary sensors for measuring the pressure,

temperature, fluid flow and leaks at appropriate locations in the charging equipment.

9.2 User sensors: The vendor shall incorporate the temperature sensors for measuring the temperature at

various locations on the heat transport tubes in the equipment.

Vendor shall provide adequate numbers of suitable types of temperature sensors

required for operation and control of the entire system. The total number of sensors

shall be approximately60 Nos.

These sensors shall be easily mountable and detachable using connectors to /from

tubes. They shall have both male-female connectors for easy routing / removal inside

the baking chamber.

Sensors shall be cadmium free inside the chamber.

9.3 Run time meter

Run time counter shall be provided for recording process running time and total

cumulative running time of the chamber.

9.4 Digital panel meters

Individual digital panel meters shall be provided to display the following parameters

of the baking chamber:

i) Chamber temperature

ii) Chamber pressure

iii) Humidity level

9.5 Mimic panel: The vendor shall provide a circuit diagram of ammonia charging facility with LED

indicators to show the status of each unit/equipment/valves/pumps/heaters/cryostat /etc.

Separate status display for turbo molecular pump controllers, gauge controllers, heaters,

controllers, etc. shall be provided.

10 PLC based Data Acquisition & Control System (DACS)

Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based Data Acquisition and Control System

(DACS) is required for acquiring, controlling, logging, storing, displaying and analyzing

the on-line and off-line parameters such as vacuum data, temperature data, and electrical

parameters (voltage, current etc.). Necessary ON/OFF switchers, timers, display monitors,

etc. shall be provided in a control panel in addition to front end interface with personal

computers. The DACS shall have the following specifications:

• The scan period for monitoring shall be 10 seconds or less and selectable for overall

acquisition and control functions.

• The Data storage shall be at least once in 30 seconds and time selectable.

• The system shall be modular and scalable.

• The hardware shall be rack mountable.

• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and PLC based GUI software

shall be used for control function.

• The PLC units, input/output modules and digital input/output modules shall be

connected through a common back plane and data and communication bus. Total

number of monitoring/ controlling channels shall be achieved by interconnecting many

modules.

• The control unit and input/output system shall be complete with control and recording

environment capable of continuous analog, logic and sequential control combined with

secure data recording.

PLC (Programmable Logic controller)

• PLCs shall have redundancy.

• Latest version of processor with suitable processing speed and functional capabilities

shall be provided. The PLC processor shall also have spare capacity of its memory to

take care of future up gradation of data acquisition and control logic programme.

• It shall have other features such as software protection with password, Ethernet

communication between peer systems, serial port, and operator panel with touch

screen display for programming and visualizing all the control functions and variables

for running the facility in standalone mode.

• Three phase power protection:-

Single phasing protection

Reverse phase protection (Phase sequence protection)

Noise level of the chamber shall be less than 70dB (A) (typically at 1 m distance from

chamber)

11 Safety and protection

• Vendor shall provide false tolerance and fail safe features in case of mains power

failure.

• Safety over temperature protection independent of equipment shall be employed to

switch off / trip the main contactor when the chamber temperature exceeds the

maximum set limit.

12 Wiring

All the wires shall be suitably numbered for easy identifications and documentation,

Strapped/bundled, and shall be routed in the ducts.

i. All electrical circuits shall have reliable safety devices like fuse or circuit breaker.

ii. Power connection terminal block and ground lugs shall be provided for easy utility

connections.

Complete wiring of the facility shall meet International and National Standard Code.

13 Environment:

The whole equipment must be operational continuously under the ambient condition ranging from +100C to +500C and relative humidity 20% to 90% RH.

14 Utilities available with ISRO/ISAC

• Cooling water pressure: ~ 3.0 bar

• Pneumatic air supply pressure: 5 bar to 6 bar

• Electricity : Voltage: 230 V single phase ac / 415V 3 phase ac± 10%, & Frequency :

50Hz

15 Installation, Commissioning and Testing

a. Installation, testing and commissioning shall be carried out by the VENDOR at

ISITE / ISAC / ISRO, Bangalore.

b. Vendor is responsible for unloading, unpacking, erection, installation and

commissioning of total facility at ISAC / ISRO, Bangalore.

c. Final acceptance of the facility is subjected to the successful demonstration of the

ammonia charging conducted at the time of commissioning at ISAC. The

acceptance test matrix shall be mutually agreed between vendor and ISRO.

d. No logistic / tool support, in any form, until unless specified in the final contract,

will be provided by ISAC / ISRO. Vendor shall consider only the normal working

hours of 08:30AM to 05:00PM from Monday to Friday (excluding holidays

declared by ISAC / ISRO).

16 Prelim

inary Design Review

Preliminary Design Review (PDR) will be conducted for all vendors, approximately

within a month after the due date for Expression of Interest. Prior to this, the vendor

shall submit a detailed design review document containing detailed description

ofdesign of baking chamber, high vacuum evacuation system, heating&cooling

systems, data acquisition & control system, etc. along with realization plan, test

/validation plan, detailed schedules and other relevant data.

17 Deliverable Documents

Hard/and soft copy of the following documents/information, but not limited to, are

required to be submitted by the vendor, along with the proposal:

Brief overview of vendor’s infrastructure, technical capabilities and purchase order

copies of similar facilities developed & installed for other organizations/industries.

Technical compliance statement mentioning compliance details against each

Note:

The technical compliance statement should be given point-wise for all of the

specifications. Mere writing “complied” against each of the specification points is not

sufficient. Instead the exact numerical values are to be mentioned, wherever required.

Any deviation in specification leading to better performance shall be clearly

highlighted with merits. Otherwise the offer will not be considered.

specification with description / numeric values / etc. wherever required.

Preliminary design review document(including details of proposed plan, design

concepts, work flow charts, schedules& delivery period, conceptual

drawings,tentative facility layout plan, proposed software for automation, subsystem

details / data sheets /manuals, etc.)