International Space Station Internal Thermal Control System Cold Plate/Fluid-Stability Test Setup and Preliminary Test Results

This paper describes the internal thermal control system (ITCS) cold plate/fluid-stability test setup and summarizes the test results obtained to date. The test investigates ITCS-coolant stability and cold-plate debonding over time (3 yr). The setup is consistent with flight materials, cleaning procedures, and loop-servicing procedures. The components include two flight cold plates, a qualification interface heat exchanger, qualification pump package assembly (PPA) gas trap and fluid filter, and a representative–length Teflon hose. A biofilm section of the test setup is included to evaluate long-term effects of microbial growth on representative ITCS materials. The flight-like test facility was developed at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) at the environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) ITCS test facility.