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Summary

Recently, Moore and the ECLSS team completed work on a Freon coolant loop flow problem in Discovery during Return to Flight processing. Freon coolant loop lines are located in the rear and midbody of each orbiter. The cooling stainless-steel lines provide a way to take heat away from the vehicles' avionics systems.

The ECLSS team inspected and tested the lines and found a restriction in one of them. They took Freon samples and X-rays of the line to determine the exact location of the blockage.

Moore's group also used sensors to monitor how temperatures responded during a five-hour period immediately following orbiter power up. Data collected during Discovery's flow tests were then compared with Atlantis' flow-test data and data predicted by the design engineers.

Eventually, more than 100 feet of Freon coolant loop lines, filters, flow-rate sensors, flow restrictors and some of the cold plates were replaced in an effort to eliminate the clog.

"It was a team effort involving our NASA, United Space Alliance and Boeing workers here, in Houston and in Huntington Beach, Calif., to develop the testing rationale to analyze and address all of the issues that caused the flow degradation," said Moore. "It's important to make sure that we're doing a safe and thorough job on all the hardware within these fluid systems."

Image: In the Orbiter Processing Facility, a technician gets ready to lower himself through a door into the ECLSS bay under the middeck floor. Image credit: NASA/KSC

Protective suits are often used to protect workers from the dangerous fumes of Freon.

Copyright status:

This image is public domain because it was first published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Source:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_cooling.html