Engineering Support for Columbus: a Hydraulic Model of the Air Loop

On the 11^th February 2008, the Columbus pressurized module has been successfully installed into the International Space Station. TAS-I (Thales Alenia Space - Italy) is responsible for the Off-Site Engineering Support to Columbus for ECLSS/TCS.

A dedicated test-campaign has been proposed by TAS-I and performed on board Columbus during the first months after its docking to the Space Station, in order to have a Hydraulic Model of the entire Columbus air-loop correlated with real on-board data. A specific tool has been realized for the calculation of the Fans speeds (at ISFA, CFA1 or CFA2 level) to be expected and commanded in case of critical event so that a comfortable and safe environment for both astronauts and payloads can be ensured.

The first part of this paper briefly presents the successful results of the employment of a tool previously realized by TAS-I for the calculation of cabin air volume flow rate from air loop telemetry data (primarily fans delta pressure and input current). The second part presents the description of the hydraulic model for the air-loop and its importance in the engineering support of Columbus all along next years.