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A Cabin Air Separator for EVA OxygenPresently, the Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs) conducted from the Quest Joint Airlock on the International Space Station use high pressure, high purity oxygen that is delivered to the Space Station by the Space Shuttle. When the Space Shuttle retires, a new method of delivering high pressure, high purity oxygen to the High Pressure Gas Tanks (HPGTs) is needed. One method is to use a cabin air separator to sweep oxygen from the cabin air, generate a low pressure/high purity oxygen stream, and compress the oxygen with a multistage mechanical compressor. A main advantage to this type of system is that the existing low pressure oxygen supply infrastructure can be used as the source of cabin oxygen. ISS has two water electrolysis systems that deliver low pressure oxygen to the cabin, as well as chlorate candles and compressed gas tanks on cargo vehicles. Each of these systems can feed low pressure oxygen into the cabin, and any low pressure oxygen source can be used as an on-board source of oxygen. Three different oxygen separator systems were evaluated, and a two stage Pressure Swing Adsorption system was selected for reasons of technical maturity. Two different compressor designs were subjected to long term testing, and the compressor with better life performance and more favorable oxygen safety characteristics was selected. These technologies have been used as the basis of a design for a flight system located in Equipment Lock, and taken to Preliminary Design Review level of maturity. This paper describes the Cabin Air Separator for EVA Oxygen (CASEO) concept, describes the separator and compressor technology trades, highlights key technology risks, and describes the flight hardware concept as presented at Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
Document ID
20110010970
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Graf, John C.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2011
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-23420
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: Portland, OR
Country: United States
Start Date: July 17, 2011
End Date: July 21, 2011
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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