This thesis presents a design and analytical process in the application of the heater used in a near infrared filter working in Big Bear Solar Observatory, CA. The objective of the project is to achieve the physics parameters for the filter, which will be used in the observation of the solar activity.
The most important part of this design is to keep a relatively fixed temperature inside the oven-like heater. The reason is that optical properties of calcite (kind of filter in telescope) are pretty sensitive to a tiny disturbance on inside temperature. This was the biggest issue in this design. In cooperation with Dr. Jingshan Wang, former Ph.D. candidate in Physics at NJIT, several ways were attempted to achieve the acceptable temperature disturbance, and accordingly, a decision was reached to leverage the excellent heat insulating property of industry PVC material to make the plan work. The important role of PVC insulation discs in the functionalities of the heater will be presented.
The second most important thing is the mechanical structure. The design should guaranty good heat conductivity for the container holding calcite so that it's respectively easy to achieve a uniform temperature field. Sometimes, the trade-off between mechanical structure and physics capacity turned out to be a quite difficult regression process. Finally, even the position of a bolt will cause much consideration due to the heat dissipation. Also, operation of this equipment must be taken into account, because this will affect the design of the mechanical structure.
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