International Spacestation

Assignment
An essential part of the planned international spacestation will be the ESA modul »Columbus«.
It was LTG´s task to dimension the air duct system as a vital unit of the life supporting system. Due to the lack of natural convection of the heated air under the conditions of weightlessness, the air flow in the ESA module was to be optimized in order to ensure maximum security for the astronauts.

Solution
The »Columbus«  module was rebuilt in a 1:1 scale model in our lab. Weightless air flows were simulated observing exactly isothermal air conditions. The air conditioning of the module had to guarantee a minimum air change in each point of the room in order to avoid the formation of CO2bubbles. The optimisation of air flow during testing finally ensured an appropriate oxygen supply in all module zones. - Scheduled launch in december 2007 -

Advantage
Maximum security for the astronauts through an optimum supply of oxygen in the space module.