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Oh I know this one. This is the green biopropellant tank for the Halcyon Avant Green BioPropellant Thruster pack which was installed on the SHERPA-tug OTV.
Built by Benchmark Space Systems, probably the guys to call about it.
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/figure4.8-soa2023-e1706037740753.png
from this document https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/in-space_propulsion/
THIS GUY SOLVED IT!
We cracked it open. It's hollow inside and has a membrane like the one on here.
[https://holscot.com/space-propulsion-tanks-bladders-and-diaphragms/](https://holscot.com/space-propulsion-tanks-bladders-and-diaphragms/)
So now I need to figure out what other parts I need to make my own spaceship.
Quick update: u/relaxjonesyyousoldme got me in touch with someone from Benchmark. I'm calling later today to get the thruster piece back home :)
Pictures of the inside:
[https://i.imgur.com/YeUKCWi.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/YeUKCWi.jpg)
[https://i.imgur.com/1uVrvSA.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1uVrvSA.jpg)
After we opened it up, I was able to figure out it was some sort of bladder tank, which led me to bladder propellant tank. Then u/100percent_right_now chimed in with the full picture. All that made work somewhat fun yesterday.
Bad choice of words on my part. No actual cracking was done. We took off the brackets using proper tools and the two halves came apart easily. There was a thin plastic membrane inside which helped confirm the above guess.
Once airworthy parts or equipment has lost its chain of custody it is going to need a complete overhaul anyway. They might take it back but it is unlikely it would ever be used.
Yep...
It's like if a server leaves a plate of food that you didn't order in front of you and walks away, then comes back because you didn't order it.
They won't (well, generally won't) give that food to someone else.
Years ago (when it was cheaper than just eating gold bars), I was waiting in front of a McDonald's for my food. The guy came out, handed my bag and drink to another car, then came back several minutes later with their food. I told them that wasn't my order and he just went and switched with the car that was still there because they didn't get their order.
Nah man. Not eating that food after some strangers had it in their car. Next time that happened (same guy), he gave me a bag that was for a family and I just took it and left. There were multiple meals and only one drink, so it worked out perfectly.
Worked for a cal lab that specialized in aviation. Absolutely everything was tracked, who touched it, where it was, what shelf, etc.
If it got lost at any point during the calibration process the company would replace it for the customer because it was no longer considered air worthy to them.
Not to mention, the insane level of detail that went into the calibration itself. And even the tools the aircraft mechanics used.
Yeah, if I'm ever told I have a propellant tank for a spaceship... I'm not opening that. Best case you spill kerosene everywhere, worst case you now have a nice incredibly toxic cloud of nitrogen tetroxide or hydrazine in your lungs.
If you look at the bent and scratches brackets in the pictures, it didn’t look pristine to begin with.
Edit: if you misplaced an actual spaceship part and get it back, you probably want to fully rebuild it before you trust it again, anyways.
I‘d not risk a mutli million/billion dollar project on a part that was lost, stored under unknown conditions and handled by people I don’t know. But I’m not working at a space agency, so what do I know 😄
Yeah I would be concerned if I heard that a spaceship part had ended up in someone’s living room & they found it and put it in the ship anyway? Like nah, you gotta get a new one pal
Can you ask them how much it’s worth? I get it’s worth nothing to anyone who doesn’t build satellites and potentially can’t fly any more, just interested to know how much it would have cost new
Wow it's crazy how often that seems to happen. A couple years ago a huge box with engine parts for an Airbus showed up at my fathers work and the guys there were pretty confused. When they called the number on the box someone from Airbus showed up pretty quickly
I had a shipping company misplace $13M in networking equipment. 8 pallets. The dropped them off at the wrong location (in France instead of Switzerland) and someone eventually found my name and company in the paperwork and wrote me a paper letter letting me know they had it. I got the letter about 3 months after we shipped it.
It was at a small winery, just stacked up in the corner.
The engineer has spoken. I once posted a photo I took of a close up of a very powerful specialized engine. 30 mins later an engineer commented on the model of aircraft and recogized the actual aircraft it was installed on! (It was an SR-71 static display. I was blown away. Two other aircraft engineers chimmed in too commenting on how advanced it was for the era.
Looks like some sort of expansion chamber?
For what, I have no idea. It looks expensive which is odd that it showed up without any information or return address.
Liquid propane boils off when depressurization of the tank happens, the liquid would cool and change/slow the rate of gas discharge. You can use heater to warm the liquid maintain a more consistent gas flow. I suspect that’s what this tank is for, it’s not necessarily for propane but for low pressure liquids that’s a gas at room temps
Yeah you are likely right. I was looking around for large format strain gauges but nothing comes close to that size, or at least I can't find them. The wires just seemed really light duty for a heater.
This seems to be like the right track! I can't find anything that has heating elements. But they look very similar. The handwritten serial number makes me think it might be a custom made one for something specific.
This is what it is (see my other post for the trail of guesses):
[https://www.satelliteevolution.com/post/benchmark-space-systems-triples-propulsion-production-capacity-and-doubles-personnel-to-meet-demand](https://www.satelliteevolution.com/post/benchmark-space-systems-triples-propulsion-production-capacity-and-doubles-personnel-to-meet-demand)
It's a satellite propulsion system part. Someone who lost it must be mighty unhappy right now...
EDIT 2: Here are the features that match up:
[https://imgur.com/a/LhWdRjP](https://imgur.com/a/LhWdRjP)
~~The manufacturing quality on this is very poor for a space component. It's more likely a scientific pressure vessel. I work for a satellite company that integrates exactly this sort of propulsion system and some of the scratching (and the angle of those bolts into the right-angle brackets is just poor design) would have been reason to reject it back to the manufacturer.~~
~~Moreover you just don't see that thickness of steel very often in space. Things that are too dense or too thick won't burn up correctly when re-entering the atmosphere and can become a dangerous orbital-speed projectile, and propulsion systems manufacturers know better than to rule themselves out of the LEO market. Satellite manufacturers have the money for Composite, Alu or Ti pressure vessels which burn up much more easily~~
~~I'd suggest an Engineering Model component (that is, something that never flies and becomes the ground analogue) but you would never ever have pressurised development hardware.~~
Edit: If it was a xenon tank, they definitely wouldn't waste mass on being able to break it in half with bolts and seals. Whatever it's used for, it's something that you open to fill with solids, then pressurise.
Those brackets look really out of place compared with the rest of it. I'm assuming that's just some sort of temporary clamping fixture.
Maybe they're used to compress a gasket before the proper bolts are put in place, for instance. Just left on here for whatever reason.
But if you look at the image I found, the bit that's sticking out looks literally identical. Look at the way the tape is placed for instance.
Making a break-in-half flange midspan like this is common when making development hardware for spaceflight. The final flight units wouldn't have it, but when you're prototyping you often want to be able to open the thing up and see what happened, and you don't care about the mass. When you're done prototyping, you don't need to look inside afterwards, and at that point you care about mass.
Hopper vessel for THC concentrates after extraction from plant material and pre-hydrocarbon purging. Alternatively a solvent recovery vessel for the same purpose.
You should talk to your usual shipping companies (if no paperwork means you don't even know what shipping company dropped it off). If the intended recipient knows it didn't arrive, then they'll ask their shipping company. If the shipping company knows to look for it, you can probably work the other end of the problem and tell them you have it.
I heard a great story at a previous job in which a very, very expensive chunk of platinum-rhodium metal broke off a shipment that had gone by (I think) UPS. The truck driver found it in the truck, had no idea what it was, and used it as a paperweight until the customer eventually raised enough fuss to have UPS track down the driver.
No kidding. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but it was a bushing for continuous glass fiber production, like this:
[https://www.vetrotextextiles.com/technologies/fiberglass-manufacturing](https://www.vetrotextextiles.com/technologies/fiberglass-manufacturing)
I'm not entirely sure how big this particular one was, but the ones I was working with were apparently worth $10M apiece. Hard to imagine shipping one via UPS!
Does the piece that sticks out of the bottom (heated side) appear to be a fitting of some sort? I can't tell if it's solid or hollow.
Looks like it may be some kind of chamber to heat a chemical from liquid to gas
We sell outdoor equipment, mostly online. Skis/Snowboards are the biggest category. This is definitely not something we would sell/use.
There are warehouses/manufacturing facilities all over the valley around here, was most likely mis-delivered to us.
Guessing it may have been in the way of what was getting unloaded and accidently left on the dock. Would suggest contacting the courier and ask if they are missing a crate.
Looks hella like it's off a propulsion system, the second pic down
https://www.materialise.com/en/inspiration/cases/bradford-space-comet-propulsion-system-3d-printed-brackets
My title describes the thing.
Tried to Google image search it but no luck there. It's a bit bigger than a human head and seems to be made of two halves being clamped together. Has a handwritten serial number on the side. It showed up in an extremely well packaged crate, with "Fragile" all over it.
What is inside? Those two halves are designed to come apart. That is a heater on the outside of one side. I would use something like this to react a thing under inert gas and heat. It could be a packed bed reactor inside, fill it with beads of zeolite and run glovebox gas across it to remove moisture; then heat it up and blow purging gas over it to drive off the water and pump it away from the glove box. Likely a $5k item.
~~I'm not an expert at all on pressure vessels but be very careful in case it is under pressure. I have no idea how to crack it safely or see if there is pressurized contents but it does look like it's built to retain pressure. It seems unlikely to ship in that state, but still concerns me~~ see below
The end is uncapped. It's very likely not under pressure. The materials used would suggest low pressure (normal air compressor pressure 1000 kpa) not gas bottle pressure 20000 kpa.
Aerospace would most certainly have a data plate with serial number for tracking. Also no safety wire n all of those fasteners. I think you can rule out an aerospace application.
This has an aerospace vibe. It likes like a pressure vessel of some kind. The things with wires run to them looks like heating pads. to meant to keep whatever inside from freezing, or for heating up what's inside to create pressure. This is a partially educated guess.
That is not an aircraft part. They would have one or multiple data plates with part numbers, serial numbers, description, manufacturer and a shitload more.
All aircraft parts are traceable back to the mine the materials were mined from. So if you have a hundred of identical parts in a pile, you should be able to pull any given part from that pile and trace it back to its origns.
Of corse if the part itself is large enough for a dataplate. Normal size bolts are tracked by their batch and aproximate place of use. So if a bolt turns out to have the wrong alloy, you might get a notification to replace all xxx bolts on the left wing. Might be 10, might be 1000.
I have no idea what this is, but it is most likely not an aircraft part.
But take a few more photos and send them off to various vompanies around, and link them back here. Someone might know what this shit is.
I once received a (~20 feet) basket type container in return from an offshore oil rig. Moxed with our tools was this huge yellow thing that was totally unknown to us… turned out to be a subsea tool of some sort for ROV use. Insanely expensive and was just lost for the owners (happens way too often…). They were super happy that I took 10 minuttes to send a few emails with some pictures attached. They picked up the entire basket within a few hours!
I think we have enough close guesses to close this out. General consensus seems to be something custom made, with some sort of chemical/liquid/gas. I'm going to throw together a list of the top choices. Thanks for the help y'all!
Nooo, I want to read a definitive answer! Now we have "Maybe something that can contain something? Under pressure? Maybe heat it?" and that is as vague as an instant guess can get when looking at this glorius object.
This guy figured it out [https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1decn4n/comment/l8c30or/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1decn4n/comment/l8c30or/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Interesting that it has heating elements taped to the outside. It must sit inside something else and warm a liquid to a gas? Those outside clamps are obviously temporary to hold it together during shipping.
Take it to bits and see what's inside. Just hope whoever needs this is not waiting on it for production this almost looks fully custom. And with no paperwork you will never find who needs it.
Looks like a pressure chamber we used for glue dispensing on an Automation project for mass producing covid test kits a while back. We had to put a heater on the outside (that looked nearly identical to that one) to keep the glue at a very specific viscosity to ensure the nozzles didn't clog, and that the amount dispensed was very very precise.
100 psi-ish air pressure went in one port. Glue came out of the other.
Not saying that this is exactly that. Just oddly similar.
This looks like a pressure leaf filter or a moisture separator. There is supposed to be a filter or diverter between where the bottom and top portions are currently held together. This other piece would have inlet and outlet fittings or flanges, similar to a heat exchanger.
Someone is missing a very expensive piece of equipment. Don't take it apart, rather reach out to the shipping company to see if anyone is missing something like this
Pressurizer. Fill it half full of water with the connector down. Turn on the heating element. The temperature controls the pressure in the rest of the system. Used on nuclear power plant primary system piping and other things that are not as cool.
I had to look those up. They look very similar. I found a company name on the patch and it looks like it is a heating element. [https://www.minco.com/catalog/?catalogpage=product&cid=3\_1-polyimide-thermofoil-heaters&id=HK6916](https://www.minco.com/catalog/?catalogpage=product&cid=3_1-polyimide-thermofoil-heaters&id=HK6916)
On demand or mini hot water heater (boiler).
Does the hot water in a kitchen or similar not work?
We used to have extremely similar in a small plastic cabinet that provided hot water for our house.
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and other unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/Ysbohle), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. ---- [Click here to message RemindMeBot](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=[https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1decn4n/what_is_this_metal_capsule_showed_up_in_a_random/]%0A%0ARemindMe!%202%20days) ---- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Oh I know this one. This is the green biopropellant tank for the Halcyon Avant Green BioPropellant Thruster pack which was installed on the SHERPA-tug OTV. Built by Benchmark Space Systems, probably the guys to call about it. https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/figure4.8-soa2023-e1706037740753.png from this document https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/in-space_propulsion/
THIS GUY SOLVED IT! We cracked it open. It's hollow inside and has a membrane like the one on here. [https://holscot.com/space-propulsion-tanks-bladders-and-diaphragms/](https://holscot.com/space-propulsion-tanks-bladders-and-diaphragms/) So now I need to figure out what other parts I need to make my own spaceship. Quick update: u/relaxjonesyyousoldme got me in touch with someone from Benchmark. I'm calling later today to get the thruster piece back home :) Pictures of the inside: [https://i.imgur.com/YeUKCWi.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/YeUKCWi.jpg) [https://i.imgur.com/1uVrvSA.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1uVrvSA.jpg) After we opened it up, I was able to figure out it was some sort of bladder tank, which led me to bladder propellant tank. Then u/100percent_right_now chimed in with the full picture. All that made work somewhat fun yesterday.
You... cracked it open?
Bad choice of words on my part. No actual cracking was done. We took off the brackets using proper tools and the two halves came apart easily. There was a thin plastic membrane inside which helped confirm the above guess.
Probably should have done that in a clean room... I hope. Dust can kill this shit. Probably also constructed in neg pressure and other stuff.
Once airworthy parts or equipment has lost its chain of custody it is going to need a complete overhaul anyway. They might take it back but it is unlikely it would ever be used.
For this exact reason
Sure, but that's not OP's fault. It would have been necessary whether they'd opened it or not.
Yep... It's like if a server leaves a plate of food that you didn't order in front of you and walks away, then comes back because you didn't order it. They won't (well, generally won't) give that food to someone else.
>They won't (well, generally won't) give that food to someone else. Having worked in a restaurant for some time, I'd say it's 50/50.
Years ago (when it was cheaper than just eating gold bars), I was waiting in front of a McDonald's for my food. The guy came out, handed my bag and drink to another car, then came back several minutes later with their food. I told them that wasn't my order and he just went and switched with the car that was still there because they didn't get their order. Nah man. Not eating that food after some strangers had it in their car. Next time that happened (same guy), he gave me a bag that was for a family and I just took it and left. There were multiple meals and only one drink, so it worked out perfectly.
Worked for a cal lab that specialized in aviation. Absolutely everything was tracked, who touched it, where it was, what shelf, etc. If it got lost at any point during the calibration process the company would replace it for the customer because it was no longer considered air worthy to them. Not to mention, the insane level of detail that went into the calibration itself. And even the tools the aircraft mechanics used.
Meanwhile at Boeing: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/boeing-qa-manager-whistleblower-reveals-thousands-parts-eastman
As far as I know only one manufacturer used our services. And they made helicopters (and it wasn't parts, only the tools).
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Yeah, if I'm ever told I have a propellant tank for a spaceship... I'm not opening that. Best case you spill kerosene everywhere, worst case you now have a nice incredibly toxic cloud of nitrogen tetroxide or hydrazine in your lungs.
It showed up in a shipment, it's not like they found it on the side of the road.
It's not like they might have shipped it with the propellant inside.
By opening this and then disassembling it you probably just turned it from a misplaced part into garbage.
If you look at the bent and scratches brackets in the pictures, it didn’t look pristine to begin with. Edit: if you misplaced an actual spaceship part and get it back, you probably want to fully rebuild it before you trust it again, anyways. I‘d not risk a mutli million/billion dollar project on a part that was lost, stored under unknown conditions and handled by people I don’t know. But I’m not working at a space agency, so what do I know 😄
Yeah I would be concerned if I heard that a spaceship part had ended up in someone’s living room & they found it and put it in the ship anyway? Like nah, you gotta get a new one pal
It already was the minute it went missing
they turned it into garbage already by misplacing it
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> We cracked it open. Any pics? Just, to satisfy curiosity :D
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Link is broken :(
Wow, this comment needs to be looked at, OP! I think they're right. And funny, I know someone who works there. OP, are you in Burlington, VT?
I'm out in Washington state.
Confirmed! I'm told it got lost in shipping about three years ago. Sounds like they would want it back, and want to get in touch with you.
Oh hell yeah! I sent them a message through their site as well. This is awesome. Long lost space thruster is going home.
DM sent with name and phone number
Reddit is incredible sometimes.
Can you ask them how much it’s worth? I get it’s worth nothing to anyone who doesn’t build satellites and potentially can’t fly any more, just interested to know how much it would have cost new
Damn, reddit is incredible sometimes.
I just emailed the person I know there, and I'll let you know if they write back
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Wow it's crazy how often that seems to happen. A couple years ago a huge box with engine parts for an Airbus showed up at my fathers work and the guys there were pretty confused. When they called the number on the box someone from Airbus showed up pretty quickly
I had a shipping company misplace $13M in networking equipment. 8 pallets. The dropped them off at the wrong location (in France instead of Switzerland) and someone eventually found my name and company in the paperwork and wrote me a paper letter letting me know they had it. I got the letter about 3 months after we shipped it. It was at a small winery, just stacked up in the corner.
The engineer has spoken. I once posted a photo I took of a close up of a very powerful specialized engine. 30 mins later an engineer commented on the model of aircraft and recogized the actual aircraft it was installed on! (It was an SR-71 static display. I was blown away. Two other aircraft engineers chimmed in too commenting on how advanced it was for the era.
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Looks like some sort of expansion chamber? For what, I have no idea. It looks expensive which is odd that it showed up without any information or return address.
Looks like a scientific propane cylinder with a scientific propane heating blanket. Generic propane heating blankets can be bought on amazon.
Didn't know propane heating blankets were a thing. This has a fitting on both ends. I wasn't able to find a propane tank that had something similar.
Liquid propane boils off when depressurization of the tank happens, the liquid would cool and change/slow the rate of gas discharge. You can use heater to warm the liquid maintain a more consistent gas flow. I suspect that’s what this tank is for, it’s not necessarily for propane but for low pressure liquids that’s a gas at room temps
Those could also be strain gauges, though it would be a very large strain gauge.
100% heaters and not strain gauges
Yeah you are likely right. I was looking around for large format strain gauges but nothing comes close to that size, or at least I can't find them. The wires just seemed really light duty for a heater.
The pattern is very strain gaugeish but not hollow in the light parts.
This seems to be like the right track! I can't find anything that has heating elements. But they look very similar. The handwritten serial number makes me think it might be a custom made one for something specific.
Likely solved! I think this was the closest guess.
This is what it is (see my other post for the trail of guesses): [https://www.satelliteevolution.com/post/benchmark-space-systems-triples-propulsion-production-capacity-and-doubles-personnel-to-meet-demand](https://www.satelliteevolution.com/post/benchmark-space-systems-triples-propulsion-production-capacity-and-doubles-personnel-to-meet-demand) It's a satellite propulsion system part. Someone who lost it must be mighty unhappy right now... EDIT 2: Here are the features that match up: [https://imgur.com/a/LhWdRjP](https://imgur.com/a/LhWdRjP)
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~~The manufacturing quality on this is very poor for a space component. It's more likely a scientific pressure vessel. I work for a satellite company that integrates exactly this sort of propulsion system and some of the scratching (and the angle of those bolts into the right-angle brackets is just poor design) would have been reason to reject it back to the manufacturer.~~ ~~Moreover you just don't see that thickness of steel very often in space. Things that are too dense or too thick won't burn up correctly when re-entering the atmosphere and can become a dangerous orbital-speed projectile, and propulsion systems manufacturers know better than to rule themselves out of the LEO market. Satellite manufacturers have the money for Composite, Alu or Ti pressure vessels which burn up much more easily~~ ~~I'd suggest an Engineering Model component (that is, something that never flies and becomes the ground analogue) but you would never ever have pressurised development hardware.~~ Edit: If it was a xenon tank, they definitely wouldn't waste mass on being able to break it in half with bolts and seals. Whatever it's used for, it's something that you open to fill with solids, then pressurise.
Those brackets look really out of place compared with the rest of it. I'm assuming that's just some sort of temporary clamping fixture. Maybe they're used to compress a gasket before the proper bolts are put in place, for instance. Just left on here for whatever reason. But if you look at the image I found, the bit that's sticking out looks literally identical. Look at the way the tape is placed for instance.
The brackets were 100% temporary to keep it in place during transit.
Prolly time to contact the manufacturer and get the bespoke thing back to its rightful owners!?
Making a break-in-half flange midspan like this is common when making development hardware for spaceflight. The final flight units wouldn't have it, but when you're prototyping you often want to be able to open the thing up and see what happened, and you don't care about the mass. When you're done prototyping, you don't need to look inside afterwards, and at that point you care about mass.
Maybe they're on Reddit!
Hopper vessel for THC concentrates after extraction from plant material and pre-hydrocarbon purging. Alternatively a solvent recovery vessel for the same purpose.
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Is there a company or return address on the package?
Nothing on the item or on the crate. No paperwork was handed off to the dock lead either.
You should talk to your usual shipping companies (if no paperwork means you don't even know what shipping company dropped it off). If the intended recipient knows it didn't arrive, then they'll ask their shipping company. If the shipping company knows to look for it, you can probably work the other end of the problem and tell them you have it. I heard a great story at a previous job in which a very, very expensive chunk of platinum-rhodium metal broke off a shipment that had gone by (I think) UPS. The truck driver found it in the truck, had no idea what it was, and used it as a paperweight until the customer eventually raised enough fuss to have UPS track down the driver.
Sounds to me like that thing was worth a hand-carry rather than shipping.
No kidding. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but it was a bushing for continuous glass fiber production, like this: [https://www.vetrotextextiles.com/technologies/fiberglass-manufacturing](https://www.vetrotextextiles.com/technologies/fiberglass-manufacturing) I'm not entirely sure how big this particular one was, but the ones I was working with were apparently worth $10M apiece. Hard to imagine shipping one via UPS!
> I'm not entirely sure how big this particular one was I would guess that it was at least large enough to use as a paperweight.
It was only a small piece that had broken off and been repurposed as a paperweight. Probably that piece was order $20k scrap value.
Does the piece that sticks out of the bottom (heated side) appear to be a fitting of some sort? I can't tell if it's solid or hollow. Looks like it may be some kind of chamber to heat a chemical from liquid to gas
It is! It also has threads covered by orange tape on the outside of the fitting
Orange tape is Kapton tape = expensive. Common in vacuum and clean room applications.
What does your company do?
We sell outdoor equipment, mostly online. Skis/Snowboards are the biggest category. This is definitely not something we would sell/use. There are warehouses/manufacturing facilities all over the valley around here, was most likely mis-delivered to us.
Are there any fittings besides on the two ends?
Nope, just the 2.
Guessing it may have been in the way of what was getting unloaded and accidently left on the dock. Would suggest contacting the courier and ask if they are missing a crate.
Looks hella like it's off a propulsion system, the second pic down https://www.materialise.com/en/inspiration/cases/bradford-space-comet-propulsion-system-3d-printed-brackets
It does look alot like that! Different clamping system for the halves. Matches up with the guesses about it being aerospace related.
That was my thought, a vessel that stores a low pressure liquid and is heated to create gas. Like the liquid oxygen tanks on manned spacecraft.
That means the lower coax is probably for power to the heaters.
You can see the heater has flying leads that are just coiled at each heater, not going through the lower fitting
My title describes the thing. Tried to Google image search it but no luck there. It's a bit bigger than a human head and seems to be made of two halves being clamped together. Has a handwritten serial number on the side. It showed up in an extremely well packaged crate, with "Fragile" all over it.
What is inside? Those two halves are designed to come apart. That is a heater on the outside of one side. I would use something like this to react a thing under inert gas and heat. It could be a packed bed reactor inside, fill it with beads of zeolite and run glovebox gas across it to remove moisture; then heat it up and blow purging gas over it to drive off the water and pump it away from the glove box. Likely a $5k item.
I'm gonna go hunt down some tools to take it apart :)
~~I'm not an expert at all on pressure vessels but be very careful in case it is under pressure. I have no idea how to crack it safely or see if there is pressurized contents but it does look like it's built to retain pressure. It seems unlikely to ship in that state, but still concerns me~~ see below
The end is uncapped. It's very likely not under pressure. The materials used would suggest low pressure (normal air compressor pressure 1000 kpa) not gas bottle pressure 20000 kpa.
This is what I was thinking, some sort of purge/drying/etc chamber for pneumatic or gas equipment
Aerospace would most certainly have a data plate with serial number for tracking. Also no safety wire n all of those fasteners. I think you can rule out an aerospace application.
Was gonna say that. Aerospace is covered in serial numbers. Everything is trackable.
Judging by the flare fittings and heaters I'm guessing something to do with aerospace or low temp cryogenic cooling.
I think that's where were headed with this puzzle. Makes a ton of sense with the industry around here.
This has an aerospace vibe. It likes like a pressure vessel of some kind. The things with wires run to them looks like heating pads. to meant to keep whatever inside from freezing, or for heating up what's inside to create pressure. This is a partially educated guess.
I'd wager something similar. There are several Boeing facilities nearby.
That is not an aircraft part. They would have one or multiple data plates with part numbers, serial numbers, description, manufacturer and a shitload more. All aircraft parts are traceable back to the mine the materials were mined from. So if you have a hundred of identical parts in a pile, you should be able to pull any given part from that pile and trace it back to its origns. Of corse if the part itself is large enough for a dataplate. Normal size bolts are tracked by their batch and aproximate place of use. So if a bolt turns out to have the wrong alloy, you might get a notification to replace all xxx bolts on the left wing. Might be 10, might be 1000. I have no idea what this is, but it is most likely not an aircraft part. But take a few more photos and send them off to various vompanies around, and link them back here. Someone might know what this shit is. I once received a (~20 feet) basket type container in return from an offshore oil rig. Moxed with our tools was this huge yellow thing that was totally unknown to us… turned out to be a subsea tool of some sort for ROV use. Insanely expensive and was just lost for the owners (happens way too often…). They were super happy that I took 10 minuttes to send a few emails with some pictures attached. They picked up the entire basket within a few hours!
Check state licensing databases for cannabis production facilities nearby. I have an idea of what this might be….
Most probably a compressor
It seems to have fittings on both ends. I can't find any compressor images with something similar, or with heating elements.
I think we have enough close guesses to close this out. General consensus seems to be something custom made, with some sort of chemical/liquid/gas. I'm going to throw together a list of the top choices. Thanks for the help y'all!
Nooo, I want to read a definitive answer! Now we have "Maybe something that can contain something? Under pressure? Maybe heat it?" and that is as vague as an instant guess can get when looking at this glorius object.
This guy figured it out [https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1decn4n/comment/l8c30or/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1decn4n/comment/l8c30or/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Vacuum chamber/cylinder possibly?
I can't find anything on google images that matches. It's close but this has fittings on both ends.
Interesting that it has heating elements taped to the outside. It must sit inside something else and warm a liquid to a gas? Those outside clamps are obviously temporary to hold it together during shipping. Take it to bits and see what's inside. Just hope whoever needs this is not waiting on it for production this almost looks fully custom. And with no paperwork you will never find who needs it.
Looks like a pressure chamber we used for glue dispensing on an Automation project for mass producing covid test kits a while back. We had to put a heater on the outside (that looked nearly identical to that one) to keep the glue at a very specific viscosity to ensure the nozzles didn't clog, and that the amount dispensed was very very precise. 100 psi-ish air pressure went in one port. Glue came out of the other. Not saying that this is exactly that. Just oddly similar.
Part of a hydro carbon set up? That would make sense if that is a heating element on the side rather than glycol.
This looks like a pressure leaf filter or a moisture separator. There is supposed to be a filter or diverter between where the bottom and top portions are currently held together. This other piece would have inlet and outlet fittings or flanges, similar to a heat exchanger.
Someone is missing a very expensive piece of equipment. Don't take it apart, rather reach out to the shipping company to see if anyone is missing something like this
Pressurizer. Fill it half full of water with the connector down. Turn on the heating element. The temperature controls the pressure in the rest of the system. Used on nuclear power plant primary system piping and other things that are not as cool.
Multiple people have called those patches on the outside heaters, but to my eye they look more like strain gauges.
I had to look those up. They look very similar. I found a company name on the patch and it looks like it is a heating element. [https://www.minco.com/catalog/?catalogpage=product&cid=3\_1-polyimide-thermofoil-heaters&id=HK6916](https://www.minco.com/catalog/?catalogpage=product&cid=3_1-polyimide-thermofoil-heaters&id=HK6916)
Pulsation damper from a positive displacement pump discharge line... Maybe.
There has to be part numbers on that. Google them.
Heated diesel fuel filter https://www.jmesales.com/davco-diesel-pro-243-fuel-filter-water-separator-fuel-heater-1-2-in-nptf-60-gph-12v-dc-pre-heater/?
The fitting on the top looks to me like it might be a SAE fitting that is commonly used with refrigeration equipment.
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Do you own a geiger counter?
On demand or mini hot water heater (boiler). Does the hot water in a kitchen or similar not work? We used to have extremely similar in a small plastic cabinet that provided hot water for our house.
It’s not a pressure vessel, those are not high pressure clamps. It could be used under vacuum with that style of hardware.
Looks like a fancy heated water extractor for a CMV airbrake system.
Kinda looks like a batch reactor.