MERLIN (refrigerator)

Microgravity Experiment Research Locker/Incubator (MERLIN) was designed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) to operate as a hardmounted, single middeck locker equivalent within the ISS EXPRESS rack, the Space Shuttle, SpaceX Dragon, and Cygnus (spacecraft) . It is used to provide a temperature controlled environment for scientific experiments between -20 Ã‚°C and 48.5 Ã‚°C. MERLIN is also used to Support Crew Galley Operations.

Description

• MERLIN is cooled using Thermoelectric elements, and can be cooled to -20 Ã‚°C while using ISS water supply or -10 Ã‚°C while only being air cooled. Resistive heating elements are used to provide an incubation capacity up to 48.5 Ã‚°C.
• MERLIN contains temperature sensor connections inside the payload volume, for monitoring sample temperature, for up to 12 sensors.
• The internal sample volume is ~.

Additional Cold Stowage

MERLIN is one of multiple units available for storage on the ISS and/or transportation to and from the ISS.

• Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)
• +4 Ã‚°C to -80 Ã‚°C
• GLACIER (General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator)
• +4 Ã‚°C to –160 Ã‚°C
• Polar (Research Refrigerator for ISS)
• +4 Ã‚°C to -95 Ã‚°C

See also

• Scientific research on the ISS
• International Space Station
• SpaceX Dragon

References