MERLIN (refrigerator) explained

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 °C and 48.5 °C. MERLIN is also used to Support Crew Galley Operations.^[1]

Description

• MERLIN is cooled using Thermoelectric elements, and can be cooled to -20 °C while using ISS water supply or -10 °C while only being air cooled. Resistive heating elements are used to provide an incubation capacity up to 48.5 °C.
• MERLIN contains temperature sensor connections inside the payload volume, for monitoring sample temperature, for up to 12 sensors.
• The internal sample volume is ~0.65cuft.

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 °C to -80 °C
• GLACIER (General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator)
  • +4 °C to –160 °C
• Polar (Research Refrigerator for ISS)
  • +4 °C to -95 °C

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fact Sheet (Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN)). https://web.archive.org/web/20101125111534/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/MERLIN.html#overview. dead. 25 November 2010. NASA. 14 January 2015. 1.