Reveley, W. F. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1977

Improved waste water vapor compression distillation technology

The vapor compression distillation process is a method of recovering potable water from crewman urine in a manned spacecraft or space station. A description is presented of the research and development approach to the solution of the various problems encountered with previous vapor compression distillation units. The design solutions considered are incorporated in the preliminary design of a vapor compression distillation subsystem. The new design concepts are available for integration in the next generation of support systems and, particularly, the regenerative life support evaluation intended for project Spacelab.

Johnson, K. L.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Design and the parametric testing of the space station prototype integrated vapor compression distillation water recovery module

Potable water for the Space Station Prototype life support system is generated by the vapor compression technique of vacuum distillation. A description of a complete three-man modular vapor compression water renovation loop that was built and tested is presented; included are all of the pumps, tankage, chemical post-treatment, instrumentation, and controls necessary to make the loop representative of an automatic, self-monitoring, null gravity system. The design rationale is given and the evolved configuration is described. Presented next are the results of an extensive parametric test during which distilled water was generated from urine and urinal flush water with concentration of solids in the evaporating liquid increasing progressively to 60 percent. Water quality, quantity and production rate are shown together with measured energy consumption rate in terms of watt-hours per kilogram of distilled water produced.

Reveley, W. F.↗