The Columbus Vacuum and Venting System- Concept Selection

This paper gives an overview of the Vacuum and Venting Subsystem architecture of COLUMBUS Pressurised Modules, summarises the Subsystem's requirements and discusses the baseline design solutions at loop and component level.

The Vacuum and Venting Subsystem architecture mainly consists of:

• Module internal loops collecting waste gases evacuated from directly interfacing Payloads (P/Ls)
• Space Station Freedom (SSF) based waste gas bus, providing removal and disposal of docked element vacuum loop waste gases
• Dumping nozzles to exhaust the collected gases towards deep space without generation of dynamic actions
• Loop control and monitoring functions provided by on/off valves and pressure sensors interfacing with an intelligent control unit
• Heaters and temperature sensors for thermal control of dumping nozzles in order to limit heat leaks.