Maryland's 10-ft diameter vacuum chamber is a unique facility to measure rotating frequencies (fan plot) and strains on rotor blades.
Features:
- It is a 3-ft high cast iron cylindrical chamber.
- It can maintain up to 99% vacuum.
- An electric motor outside the chamber drives the rotor inside by a belt-pulley system through a vacuum sealed bearing to a maximum rpm of 1400.
- There is a 65-channel slip-ring and a special actuator at the hub to excite the blades.