180-day life test of solid electrolyte system for oxygen regeneration
Closed-loop solid electrolyte oxygen regeneration life support system, discussing 180-day life test
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Closed-loop solid electrolyte oxygen regeneration life support system, discussing 180-day life test
Particle impact ignition has been the primary cause of numerous fires in oxygen systems. This ignition phenomenon is known to occur where particles are present in high-velocity gas, and where impact occurs on a flammable material. The particle impact ignition behavior of many metals has been widely studied, but the particle impact ignition behavior of polymeric materials is relatively unknown. Particle impact ignition in polymeric materials is a concern as these materials are commonly used in component seat and seal applications, where high-velocity particle impacts can occur. This study evaluates several polymeric materials and compares the minimum temperature required for ignition (threshold temperature) of these materials: Kel-F 81 (CTFE), Teflon (PTFE), PEEK, Vespel SP-21, and Nylon 6/6. The materials were configured as targets in the White Sands Test Facility high-velocity particle impact test system. Gaseous oxygen was flowed at 4000 psi and sonic velocity, and the targets were impacted with 2000-micron aluminum 2017 particles. This paper discusses the results of these tests and ranks the materials according to their threshold temperatures at these conditions.
Two systems are currently being integrated into the F18 Hornet support aircraft at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). The first system is the Aircrew Personal Environmental Control System (APECS). The system is designed to increase aircrew performance by combating heat stress in the cockpit. The second system is the Extended Duration Oxygen System (EDOX). This system will provide additional redundancy and oxygen system duration to the F18 without extensive modification to the current system.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is providing three racks containing regenerative water recovery and oxygen generation systems (WRS and OGS) for flight on the International Space Station's (ISS) Node 3 element. The major assemblies included in these racks are the Water Processor Assembly (WPA), Urine Processor Assembly (UPA), Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA), and the Power Supply Module (PSM) supporting the OGA. The WPA and OGA are provided by Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International (HSSSI), while the UPA and PSM are being designed and manufactured in-house by MSFC. The assemblies are completing the manufacturing phase and are in various stages of ORU and system level testing, to be followed by integration into the flight racks. This paper gives a current status, along with technical challenges encountered and lessons learned.
Performance and life testing of rechargeable zinc-oxygen power system having inorganic separators
In order to ensure that there is a proper amount of oxygen necessary for sustaining test engine operation for hypersonic propulsion systems testing at the NASA Langley 8-foot high-temperature tunnel, a quickly responding real-time measurement system of test section oxygen concentration has been designed and tested at Langley. It is built around a zirconium oxide-based sensor which develops a voltage proportional to the oxygen partial pressure of the test gas. The voltage signal is used to control the amount of oxygen being injected into the combustor air. The physical operation of the oxygen sensor is described, as well as the sampling system used to extract the test gas from the tunnel test section. Results of laboratory tests conducted to verify sensor accuracy and response time performance are discussed, as well as the final configuration of the system to be installed in the tunnel.
The International Space Station (ISS) United States Orbital Segment (USOS) Oxygen Generation System (OGS) was originally intended to be installed in ISS Node 3. The OGS rack delivery was accelerated, and it was launched to ISS in July of 2006 and installed in the US Laboratory Module. Various modification kits were installed to provide its interfaces, and the OGS was first activated in July of 2007 for 15 hours, In October of 2007 it was again activated for 76 hours with varied production rates and day/night cycling. Operational time in each instance was limited by the quantity of feedwater in a Payload Water Reservoir (PWR) bag. Feedwater will be provided by PWR bag until the USOS Water Recovery System (WRS) is delivered to SS in fall of 2008. This paper will discuss operating experience and characteristics of the OGS, as well as operational issues and their resolution.
In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) seeks to make human space exploration feasible; by using available resources from a planet or the moon to produce consumables, parts, and structures that otherwise would be brought from Earth. Producing these in situ reduces the mass of such that must be launched and doing so allows more payload mass' for each mission. The production of oxygen from lunar regolith, for life support and propellant, is one of the tasks being studied under ISRU. NASA is currently funding three processes that have shown technical merit for the production of oxygen from regolith: Molten Salt Electrolysis, Hydrogen Reduction of Ilmenite, and Carbothermal Reduction. The ISRU program is currently developing system models of, the , abovementioned processes to: (1) help NASA in the evaluation process to select the most cost-effective and efficient process for further prototype development, (2) identify key parameters, (3) optimize the oxygen production process, (4) provide estimates on energy and power requirements, mass and volume.of the system, oxygen production rate, mass of regolith required, mass of consumables, and other important parameters, and (5) integrate into the overall end-to-end ISRU system model, which could be integrated with mission architecture models. The oxygen production system model is divided into modules that represent unit operations (e.g., reactor, water electrolyzer, heat exchanger). Each module is modeled theoretically using Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and will be validated using experimental data from on-going laboratory work. This modularity (plug-n-play) feature of each unit operation allows the use of the same model on different oxygen production systems simulations resulting in comparable results. In this presentation, preliminary results for mass, power, volume will be presented along with brief description of the oxygen production system model.
A program to design, develop, fabricate and assemble a one-man, self-contained, solid electrolyte oxygen regeneration system (SX-1) incorporating solid electrolyte electrolyzer drums was completed. The SX-1 is a preprototype engineering model designed to produce 0.952 kg (2.1 lb)/day of breathable oxygen (O2) from the electrolysis of metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor. The CO2 supply rate was established based on the metabolic CO2 generation rate for one man of 0.998 kg (2.2 lb)/day. The water supply rate (0.254 kg (0.56 lb)/day) was designed to be sufficient to make up the difference between the 0.952 kg (2.1 lb)/day O2 generation specification and the O2 available through CO2 electrolysis, 0.726 kg (1.6 lb)/day. The SX-1 was successfully designed, fabricated and assembled. Design verification tests (DVT) or the CO Disproportionators, H2 separators, control instrumentation, monitor instrumentation, water feed mechanism were successfully completed. The erratic occurrence of electrolyzer drum leakage prevented the completion of the CO2 electrolyzer module and water electrolyzer module DVT's and also prevented the performance of SX-1 integrated testing. Further development work is required to improve the solid electrolyte cell high temperature seals.
The International Space Station (ISS) Program requires that there always be a 45 calendar day contingency supply of breathing oxygen. In the early assembly stages, there is only one flight system, the Russian Solid Fuel Oxygen Generator (SFOG), that can meet that requirement. To better ensure the contingency oxygen supply, the Crew and Thermal Systems Division was directed to develop a flight hardware system that can meet all contingency oxygen requirements for ISS. Such a system, called the Backup Oxygen Candle System (BOCS), has been built and tested. The BOCS consists of 33 chlorate candles, a thermal containment apparatus, support equipment and packaging. The thermal containment apparatus utilizes the O2 produced by the candle as the motive stream in an ejector to passively cool the candle during operation.
The In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) project has been developing technologies to produce oxygen from lunar regolith to provide consumables to a lunar outpost. The processes developed reduce metal oxides in the regolith to produce water, which is then electrolyzed to produce oxygen. Hydrochloic and hydrofluoric acids are byproducts of the reduction processes, as halide minerals are also reduced at oxide reduction conditions. Because of the stringent water quality requirements for electrolysis, there is a need for a contaminant removal process. The Contaminant Removal from Oxygen Production Systems (CROPS) team has been developing a separation process to remove these contaminants in the gas and liquid phase that eliminates the need for consumables. CROPS has been using Nafion, a highly water selective polymeric proton exchange membrane, to recover pure water from the contaminated solution. Membrane thickness, product stream flow rate, and acid solution temperature and concentration were varied with the goal of maximizing water permeation and acid rejection. The results show that water permeation increases with increasing solution temperature and product stream flow rate, while acid rejection increases with decreasing solution temperature and concentration. Thinner membranes allowed for higher water flux and acid rejection than thicker ones. These results were used in the development of the hardware built for the most recent Mars ISRU demonstration project.
Engineering results of 60-day manned test of regenerative life support system with oxygen and water recovery in spacecraft cabin simulator
Complicated system monitored for equipment failures. Report summarizes structure, capabilities, and development history of Liquid-Oxygen Expert System (LES). Designed to detect immediately signs of trouble among measurements fed into current Launch Processing System (LPS). LES contains three elements: knowledge base, constraint mechanism, and diagnoser. Output of LES in form of written reports.
Understanding and preventing fire hazards is necessary when designing, maintaining, and operating oxygen systems. Ignition risks can be minimized by controlling heat sources and using materials that will not ignite or will not support burning in the end-use environment. Because certain materials are more susceptible to ignition in oxygen-enriched environments, a compatibility assessment should be performed before the component is introduced into an oxygen system. This document provides an overview of oxygen fire hazards and procedures that are consistent with the latest versions of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards G63 (1999) and G94 (2005) to address fire hazards associated with oxygen systems. This document supersedes the previous edition, NASA Technical Memorandum 104823, Guide for Oxygen Hazards Analyses on Components and Systems (1996). The step-by-step oxygen compatibility assessment method described herein (see Section 4) enables oxygen-system designers, system engineers, and facility managers to determine areas of concern with respect to oxygen compatibility and, ultimately, prevent damage to a system or injury to personnel.
Aerospace medicine and man machine test results from 60 day test of regenerative life support system with oxygen and water recovery
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An improved electrochemical process was investigated for the recovery of oxygen from the atmospheres of manned space capsules. The objective of the proposed system is to recover the oxygen from CO2 with high efficiency and to recover the additional amount of oxygen from water that is required to provide a total oxygen makeup stream of about 2.0 lb/man-day. The carbon from the CO2 must be converted into a readily disposable or usable form. The results are given of initial experiments with a porous stainless steel cathode in a LiCl-KCl electrolyte with small additions of oxide, carbonate, and hydroxide.
NASA is currently engaged in an activity to facilitate effective operations on the International Space Station (ISS) after the Space Shuttle retires. Currently, the Space Shuttle delivers crew and cargo to and from ISS. The Space Shuttle provides the only large scale method of hardware return from ISS to the ground. Hardware that needs to be periodically repaired, refurbished, or recalibrated must come back from ISS on the Shuttle. One example of NASA flight hardware that is used on ISS and refurbished on the ground is the Compound Specific Analyzer for Oxygen (CSA-O2). The CSA-O2 is an electrochemical sensor that is used on orbit for about 12 months (depending on Shuttle launch schedules), then returned to the ground for sensor replacement. The shuttle is scheduled to retire in 2010, and the ISS is scheduled to operate until 2016. NASA needs a hand held sensor that measures oxygen in the ISS environment and has a 5-10 year service life. After conducting a survey of oxygen sensor systems, NASA selected a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectrometer (TDLAS) as the method of measurement that best addresses the needs for ISS. These systems are compact, meet ISS accuracy requirements, and because they use spectroscopic techniques, the sensors are not consumed or altered after making a measurement. TDLAS systems have service life ratings of 5-10 years, based on the lifetime of the laser. NASA is engaged in modifying a commercially available sensor, the Vaisala OMT 355, for the ISS application. The Vaisala OMT 355 requires three significant modifications to meet ISS needs. The commercial sensor uses a wall mount power supply, and the ISS sensor needs to use a rechargeable battery as its source of power. The commercial sensor has a pressure correction setpoint: the sensor can be adjusted to operate at reduced pressure conditions, but the sensor does not self correct dynamically and automatically. The ISS sensor needs to operate in the airlock, and make accurate measurements in an environment that can change from 14.7 psia to 10.2 psia in 15 minutes. The commercial sensor needs to be repackaged into a configuration that is more compact, and better suited for ISS airlock operations. NASA has recently completed a prototype of the reconfigured system. The unit has been repackaged in a way that the optical path of the spectrometer is unchanged, but the electronics has been integrated into a case measuring 10.7 X 7.2 X 3.0 inches. Two flight qualified rechargeable batteries have been integrated into system. The batteries can power the sensor for 10 hours on a single charge. A pressure sensor has been added to the system. The modified unit automatically compensates for changes in pressure, and meets 0.2% accuracy requirements for oxygen measurements in an environment with 18 to 32% oxygen across a pressure range of 10.0 to 15.0 psia.