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The Columbus Orbital Facility (COLUMBUS) is the main European contribution to the ISS. Its Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) subsystem consists of the Condensing Heat Exchanger and Filter Assembly (CHXFA), the Condensate Water Separator Assembly (CWSA) and the Cabin Temperature Control Unit (CTCU). The paper provides a description of the THC subsystem and its equipment focusing on the humidity removal function which has shown to be the major design challenge. Design solutions have been realised by optimising all equipment of the THC with respect to its system needs. Test results both on equipment and on THC subsystem level are presented demonstrating that the humidity removal performance is adequate to meet the system requirements in the wide operational range of COLUMBUS.

In modern Diesel engines at the best point a theoretical thermal efficiency up to 50% can be reached and, with supercharging, it is possible to obtain mean effective pressures comparable to those of Otto engines. In spite of this successful development, power density, partload behavoir, pollutant emissions and noise levels are still too high to fulfill future environmental demands. With so called hybrid engine concepts, a combination of procedures of Otto- and Diesel engines, so far only a marginal improvement of today's Otto- and Diesel engines could be reached.