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Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) for Circular Habitat VolumesA Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) has been developed to service a circular floor area in variable gravity. On planetary surfaces, pressurized human habitable volumes will require a means to carry heavy equipment between various locations within the volume of the habitat, regardless of the partial gravity (Earth, moon, Mars, etc). On the NASA Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU), a vertical cylindrical volume, it was determined that a variety of heavy items would need to be carried back and forth from deployed locations to the General Maintenance Work Station (GMWS) when in need of repair, and other equipment may need to be carried inside for repairs, such as rover parts and other external equipment. The vertical cylindrical volume of the HDU lent itself to a circular overhead track and hoist system that allows lifting of heavy objects from anywhere in the habitat to any other point in the habitat interior. In addition, the system is able to hand off lifted items to other material handling systems through the side hatches, such as through an airlock. This paper describes the RIMS system which is scalable for application in a variety of circular habitat volumes.
Document ID
20130009103
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Howe, A. Scott
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Haselschwardt, Sally
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
July 16, 2012
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA International Conference on Environmental Systems 2012
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: July 15, 2012
End Date: July 19, 2012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
deep space habitats
material handling

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