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Home » Additional Services » Specialty Fabrication

Specialty Fabrication

In 1985 Astropak Corporation created a new design, fabrication and precision cleaning facility that would serve as its San Diego division. It was primarily dedicated to building and servicing Diver's Life Support Systems for the United States Navy. Astro Pak's San Diego division has designed and built specialized panels as well as fabrication of gas and liquid regulating and transfer stations for a number of clients. A spectrum of business segments including aerospace, food and beverage, medical and marine industries have since benefited from our experience and service in this field.

Types of Systems Serviced

Employee Qualifications and Training
Each professional Astro Pak Field and Cleanroom Technician is experienced and well-trained in the high purity cleaning field. Our technicians receive thorough training as new employees and on-going instruction to stay on the cutting edge of providing superior service. The required Basic Astro Pak Training Modules each technician completes includes Acid-Base Chemistry, Assembly Techniques, Basic Pipefitting, Flow Through Cleaning, Fundamentals of Cleaning, Passivation, Pharmaceutical Cleaning & Passivation, and Good Customer Service.

Equipment Used
500 Sq. FT. Class 100,000 Cleanroom
Tube Flaring Machine for 1/4 " OD - 2" OD Tubing per MS33584C up to .120 wall thickness
Tube Bending 1" OD -1" OD .049-.120 wall thickness per MS33611 and KSC-SPEC-Z-0008
Coning and Threading of Super-pressure Tubing 1" OD-1" Max Working Pressure 22,500 psig
Hydrostatic Testing to 30,000 psig
Pneumatic Testing to 20,000 psig

Applicable Standards
MILSTD 1330 D
GD 5-75192 Type I-IX
KSC-C-123H
NFPA 99 CGA 4.1
ASTM G 93-88

Quality Assurance

Astro Pak adheres to the quality systems IAW ANSI/AQC-Q9002 and NASA NHB 5300.4 (1C).
Our quality goal is 100% customer acceptance of work performed by Astro Pak Corporation personnel. In order to achieve this goal, Astro Pak personnel will strive to understand and exceed all customer quality requirements. We will create total customer satisfaction by exceeding our customers' needs and expectations

The management of Astro Pak Corporation considers the above objectives to be the duty and responsibility of all of its employees. Managers are expected to promote quality consciousness and awareness, and to provide the tools, skills and training to enable every employee to produce a safe and reliable product. Every employee, regardless of job assignment or title, will be held fully responsible for the quality of his or her work provided to any customer.

The management of Astro Pak Corporation is committed to a process of total quality management, which results in continuous quality improvement.

Astro Pak Corporation maintains a uniform quality system that meets the requirements of ISO-9002 and MIL-I-45208 (latest revision). The quality assurance department has the responsibility and full authority delegated by the President of Astro Pak Corporation, to enforce all requirements of the quality system and to revise those requirements to ensure continuous improvement and control of product and process quality.

Success Stories

NITROX Breathing Gas System for
NASA Sonny Carter Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL)
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

In 1995, Astro Pak was selected by Oceaneering Space Systems, Houston, Texas, to fabricate and install the NITROX Breathing Gas System (BGS) for the NBL project. This project under the prime direction of The McDonnell Douglas Company provided NASA with a 6.2 million gallon training pool where astronauts and engineers are currently trained for the critical assembly processes and techniques required to assemble the International Space Station (ISS). The NITROX BGS provides the necessary life support gas to each astronaut and diving tender while submerged in the training pool.

Astro Pak fabricated the required control panel modules and instrumentation racks in our shop in San Diego along with the high pressure gas storage system. Upon completion of shop work all equipment was crated and shipped to Houston for installation at the site. Once at the job site all the equipment previously built along with the high pressure compressors were installed and all necessary interconnecting tubing fabricated. Upon completion of the fabrication process all the systems were precision cleaned and tested. All the demanding NASA specifications were met and our work was commended. To date, this is the world's largest breathing gas system of its kind.

Oxygen Enrichment Control Manifold Skids for
Monsanto NutraSweet Kelco Division San Diego, CA and Okmulgee, OK
Astro Pak was chosen by Monsanto for the construction of twenty two units primarily for our experience in the fabrication of oxygen service systems. These units were custom built to provide 100% pure oxygen to a 40,000 gallon fermentation vessel used in producing a food grade bio-gum product. Each unit was fabricated from 70/30 copper nickel pipe and components all housed on a 304 stainless steel square tube frame enclosed in Plexiglas. A complete pneumatic/electronic control system was also included which controls the flow of oxygen, purge air and the sterilization process. All fabrication cleaning and testing was performed at our shop in San Diego with the finished product shipped to Okmulgee, OK for installation at the plant there. All units were delivered on time and on budget and are still in constant use today.

Propellant Systems Pneumatic Purge Gas Control Modules for
The Boeing Company Delta Launch Services
SLC-37 Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL and SLC-6 Vandenburg Air Force Base, CA
Through a competitive open bid process, Astro Pak was the successful bidder to The Boeing Company for a firm-fix price contract. For this project, Astro Pak was responsible for the procurement of all materials, components, fabrication, precision cleaning, testing, and safe delivery of thirty two individual modules to each launch site complex. Each module regulates and reduces the incoming gas pressure via an electronic control system. High pressure gaseous nitrogen and helium is controlled by each module to supply purge gas to the various propulsion systems onboard the launch vehicle while it is on the launch stand prior to lift-off.

Each set of modules were built and tested in our shop in San Diego. After source inspection and testing by Boeing personnel, each module was individually crated and shipped to its respective launch site. Upon arrival, the modules were installed in the launch support services building by Boeing personnel. After months of complex system testing, Boeing successfully launched their first Delta IV EELV vehicle from Cape Canaveral. As of this date, they are in the final preparations for launching the first Delta IV EELV from SLC-6 at Vandenburg Air Base, CA.

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