DUSTFLOW - Particulate Contamination Flow Simulator
Particulate contamination may affect equipment reliability and performance. In the space industry particulate contamination is under very precise control.
Maintaining certain levels of cleanliness is associated with certain costs. Devices in orbit can no longer be cleaned - particles that settle on them and are not removed before launch will remain there and may reduce the performance of optical elements, cooling surfaces, and solar panels. Predicting particle contamination is possible by performing simulations that reflect the conditions during the payload production process, after placing them in the launcher and during the launch phase.
CIM-mes, together with ESA developed a dedicated software tool to simulate particulate contamination before and during the launch phase.
DUSTFLOW can also simulate particulate contamination in cleanrooms. Currently, the software is being extended to cover simulations of lunar dust contamination.
DUSTFLOW contains a Graphical User Interface for simulation setup and postprocessing running on MS Windows and Linux.
If you are interested in using DUSTFLOW, please contact us!
