The Russian Equipment Control System (RECS) is a part of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), mounted on the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) and shall serve to control the Russian Docking System (RDS), the Russian Refueling System (RFS), as well as to enable power supply and ATV avionics control from the ISS Service Module (SM).
The RECS equipment are able to provide electrical and functional interfaces between ATV avionics and RDS in free flight, at docking / de-docking from ISS and with ISS Service Module and RFS in attached phase.
The RECS for ATV-ICC use is developed in the framework of a Contract between ALCATEL ALENIA SPACE - ITALIA and RSC-ENERGIA.
The RECS instrumentation has been redesigned including both components borrowed from other projects (Soyuz, Progress) and newly developed components, designed to satisfy the thermal requirements applicable to RECS operation within ATV project.
In particular, the capability of such redesigned RECS to properly perform in the ATV project thermal environment has been successfully demonstrated by dedicated verification activity. They consisted of a combination of thermal analyses at component and system level and a qualification test campaign.
Each RECS/RDS unit has been thermally modeled and the resulting thermal models have been introduced inside the OTMM (Overall Thermal Mathematical Model) to verify the adequacy of the design of the thermal control in terms of their survival in the worst expected environment and to properly address the qualification test campaign.