Avionics box cold plate damage prevention

Over the years there have been several instances of damage to Space Shuttle Orbiter cold plates during removal and replacement of avionics boxes. Thus, a process improvement team was created to determine ways to prevent this kind of damage. From this effort there were many solutions including, protective covers, training, and improved operations instructions. The focus of this paper is to explain the cold plate damage problem and the corrective actions for preventing future damage to aerospace avionics cold plate designs.