Shenqi Vacuum Gauge The largest mechanical instrument in China's aerospace history

When God 7 is in heaven, astronauts will walk out of the airlock cabin door and take the first step in China’s “spacewalk”. Because space is in a vacuum, the astronauts must balance the internal and external pressures in the airlock between the spacecraft and space before they go into space and return to the spacecraft. When can I take a step? The vacuum pressure gauge suspended by the door of the airlock cabin is the basis for operation. This is specially tailored for the walking astronaut.

In the exhibition room of Yihang Kaitian Electronics Co., Ltd., the reporter saw a piece of such a vacuum pressure gauge. The pressure gauge has a round dial with a diameter of 26 cm. The dial has two circles, yellow and white, respectively. There are also two pointers within the length, where the short pointer's indication area is also yellow and white. "When the short pointer points to yellow, read the yellow data pointed by the long pointer; when the short pointer points to white, read the white data pointed by the long pointer." Zhang Xin, an engineer involved in the development of the pressure gauge, pointed to the pressure gauge and said: "Space is in vacuum State, when the astronaut is out of the cabin, the gauge is also exposed to space. Therefore, its range must be very large. It can be displayed under different pressure conditions existing in space.”

It is understood that the vacuum gauge is the largest mechanical instrument ever used in China's space flight history. The previously used instruments were less than half the size of the vacuum gauge. Why do you want to make a pressure gauge so big? “This is tailor-made for the astronauts.” Zhang Xin explained: “The astronauts observe the outside world through the eyepieces on the helmet before going out of the cabin. To facilitate the astronaut’s watching, the astronauts are deliberately making the instruments bigger.”

However, the larger the meter, the longer the pointer, and the more difficult it is to grasp its accuracy. Moreover, after experiencing the high-intensity, high-frequency vibrations of the Rockets, the pressure gauge must be able to achieve various accuracy indicators. In order to develop this pressure gauge, Zhang Xin spent two years and experienced countless tests. He finally succeeded in making this instrument with the largest external dimensions, the highest test volume, and the highest technical performance requirements.