Application of Vacuum Swing Adsorption for Carbon Dioxide and Water Vapor Removal from Manned Spacecraft Atmospheres

The design and testing of a vacuum-swing adsorption process to remove metabolic 'water and carbon dioxide gases from NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle atmosphere is presented. For the Orion spacecraft, the sorbent-based atmosphere revitalization (SBAR) system must remove all metabolic water, a technology approach 1Lhathas not been used in previous spacecraft life support systems. Design and testing of a prototype SBAR in sub-scale and full-scale configurations is discussed. Experimental and analytical investigations of dual-ended and single-ended vacuum desorption are presented. An experimental investigation of thermal linking between adsorbing and desorbing columns is also presented.