Development
Capabilities
Development & Test Capabilities
AST’s product development team is constantly seeking for new features, improved performances and higher production yield in its existing products as well as for new ones. With its core activity in fluidic components and system development for space applications, the development engineers at AST also create unique test equipment for qualification and serial production test purposes.
Products
Product Development
Many product developments at AST are performed for further integration of functions in its flow path boards. Design ideas are often built in development models and characterized through tests. This allows to overcome uncertainties in fluidic design and analysis of non-linear fluidic media like Xenon. With this approach excessive production process qualification has been undertaken to identify stable production parameters.
Wherever possible, a rapid prototyping approach is used to test new product ideas or to characterize a large parameter space to find an optimum design. For that AST uses 3D- printing techniques – some available in-house, some from external partners.
Testing
Test Support Equipment Development
For characterization and verification of integrated fluidic boards, AST has developed own test setups – for specific products and development stages. To allow for automized testing, e.g. for lifetime qualification tests or automated serial production acceptance test, AST has its own electronics and software engineering capabilities.
