A turbo engine for the MELFI cryo-freezer on the ISS [ Return towards  Space programs  ]

Air Liquide has been involved since the outset in the European Space Agency project, with EADS Astrium as project managers, to develop the cold producing turbo engine that forms the active part of the MELFI cryo-freezer. Since July 2006, the date it was commissioned on board the ISS, this cold producing system has been used intensively by the astronauts and the turbo engine, which has a rotation speed of up to 90,000 revolutions per minute, has already operated perfectly for nearly 10,000 hours.

Experts from Air Liquide’s Advanced Technologies Division took up the challenge to tailor equipment normally found in industrial facilities to the needs of manned flights. Given their success, and the reliability and performance of the system, NASA decided to extend MELFI’s operating lifetime in orbit by 5 years, even though this period was initially scheduled to last for 2 years.

Air Liquide is also likely to supply special equipment for the internal purification of the cryo-freezer. To remove even tiny traces of humidity, the astronauts will have to ensure every year that the system is vacuum-pumped and filled from nitrogen stored on board the station. Air Liquide will supply them with a system to purify this gas and perform all pumping and filling operations.

This turbo engine with a design based on a Brayton cycle is an amazing feat for the group’s experts in that it manages to pack into a tiny amount of space the equipment that is normally found in industrial facilities, while still providing the high levels of reliability and safety required on manned flights.
The success of this project marks a great step forward for Air Liquide which now joins the very select club of companies that have the capability to supply equipment that can operate continuously in orbit.

Turbo engine 150-200 K