Crew Quarters Lint Catcher
Project
Air flow sensors don’t read the correct air
velocity when covered with dust.
Ducting collects more dust than expected.
• There are 4 Crew Quarters
in Node 2 Bay 5. They are
a standard rack size (about
the size of a large
refrigerator) with a
segment that extends into
the isle way of the module
called the Bump Out. The
purpose of the Bump Out
is to give the crew more
internal space and to
house the air circulation
system.
The CQs are built such
that there are two left
Crew Quarters and two
right handed. This
shouldn’t matter for
anything you are
designing but it may
explain some of the
pictures you might see
as being opposite what
you expected. There
are lots of space
station tours that
include the Crew
Quarters on youtube.
Bump out being removed
• Air is pulled in through the front grill goes through
a fan and then blows out past the crew’s face
through a grill on the inside of the CQ.
• A second fan pulls air from the a grill by the
crew’s foot area and sends the air back into the
rest of the module.
• There is no added cooling or heating of the CQ air
but the crew members are able change the fan
speed to their liking.
• The problem is that the station gets more dusty
than we expected. Most of this dust comes from
the people themselves. This dust gets into the
ducting of the CQ and causes problems with the
air flow sensors.
• The ground support has had crew install a
mosquito net like material on both the outside
inlet grill and the inside inlet grill and it has done
a good job of cutting down on the dust in the
ducting but it was only intended as a temporary
fix. Now we would like to have something that is
a more permanent fix of the problem.
Outside
inlet grill
Inside inlet Grill is behind the T-shirt catcher. The T-shirt catcher stands off from
the grill about 1” and prevents something from clogging up the inlet grill. The Tshirt catcher is made of Teflon and does not capture dust.
This is the inside inlet grill with dust in the ducting
before the mosquito net material was installed.
Mosquito net material added to
the outside inlet grill and to the
inside inlet grill. Can you do
better?
We have tested the air flow using this
mosquito netting and it was able to
satisfy our needs. The material on orbit
appears to be more open but I don’t have
measurements of it.
Would it be better to have a disposable
lint catcher that could be vacuumed a few
times and then thrown away or to make a
permanent lint catcher with a fine
stainless steel mesh and grill that snaps to
the front of the inside and outside grills?
Or is there another idea that would be
better?
If you decide to make a grill, it is easier to
vacuum and clean the mesh material if
the grill that protects the mesh from a
foot or finger pushing through it is behind
the grill.