Location
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Salon I
Start Date
1-5-2003 1:30 PM
End Date
1-5-2003 4:30 PM
Description
Discovery of leakage on several International Space Station U.S. LAB ammonia system quick disconnects (QDs) led to the need for a quick process to quantify total leakage without removing the QDs from the system. An innovative solution was proposed allowing quantitative leak rate measurement at ambient external pressure without QD removal. The method utilizes a helium mass spectrometer configured in the detector probe mode to determine helium leak rates inside a containment hood installed on the test showed the method was viable, accurate and repeatable for a wide range of leak rates. The accumulation method has been accepted by NASA and is currently being used by Boeing Huntsville, Boeing Kennedy Space Center and Boeing Johnson Space Center to test welds and valves and will be used by Alenia to test the Cupola. The method has been used in place of more expensive vacuum chamber testing which requires removing the test component from the system.
Paper Session II-C - Verification of International Space Station Component Leak Rates by Helium Accumulation Method
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Salon I
Discovery of leakage on several International Space Station U.S. LAB ammonia system quick disconnects (QDs) led to the need for a quick process to quantify total leakage without removing the QDs from the system. An innovative solution was proposed allowing quantitative leak rate measurement at ambient external pressure without QD removal. The method utilizes a helium mass spectrometer configured in the detector probe mode to determine helium leak rates inside a containment hood installed on the test showed the method was viable, accurate and repeatable for a wide range of leak rates. The accumulation method has been accepted by NASA and is currently being used by Boeing Huntsville, Boeing Kennedy Space Center and Boeing Johnson Space Center to test welds and valves and will be used by Alenia to test the Cupola. The method has been used in place of more expensive vacuum chamber testing which requires removing the test component from the system.
