Design Evolution of the Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL 2) Flight Experiment 961431
The Capillary Pumped Loop Flight Experiment (CAPL 2) employs a passive two-phase thermal control system that uses the latent heat of vaporization of ammonia to transfer heat over long distances. CAPL was designed as a prototype of the Earth Observing System (EOS) instrument thermal control systems. The purpose of the mission was to provide validation of the system performance in microgravity, prior to implementation on EOS. CAPL 1 was flown on STS-60 in February, 1994, with some unexpected results related to gravitational effects on two-phase systems. Start-up difficulties on CAPL 1 led to a redesign of the experiment (CAPL 2) and a reflight on STS-69 in September of 1995. The CAPL 2 flight was extremely successful and the new “starter pump” design is now baselined for the EOS application. This paper emphasizes the design history, the CAPL 2 design, and lessons learned from the CAPL program.
Citation: Butler, D., Ottenstein, L., and Ku, J., "Design Evolution of the Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL 2) Flight Experiment," SAE Technical Paper 961431, 1996, https://doi.org/10.4271/961431. Download Citation
Author(s):
Dan Butler, Laura Ottenstein, Jentung Ku
Affiliated:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pages: 15
Event:
International Conference On Environmental Systems
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Control systems
Technical review
Historical reference
Microgravity
Starters and starting
Pumps
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