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Design Rules for Life Support SystemsThis paper considers some of the common assumptions and engineering rules of thumb used in life support system design. One general design rule is that the longer the mission, the more the life support system should use recycling and regenerable technologies. A more specific rule is that, if the system grows more than half the food, the food plants will supply all the oxygen needed for the crew life support. There are many such design rules that help in planning the analysis of life support systems and in checking results. These rules are typically if-then statements describing the results of steady-state, "back of the envelope," mass flow calculations. They are useful in identifying plausible candidate life support system designs and in rough allocations between resupply and resource recovery. Life support system designers should always review the design rules and make quick steady state calculations before doing detailed design and dynamic simulation. This paper develops the basis for the different assumptions and design rules and discusses how they should be used. We start top-down, with the highest level requirement to sustain human beings in a closed environment off Earth. We consider the crew needs for air, water, and food. We then discuss atmosphere leakage and recycling losses. The needs to support the crew and to make up losses define the fundamental life support system requirements. We consider the trade-offs between resupplying and recycling oxygen, water, and food. The specific choices between resupply and recycling are determined by mission duration, presence of in-situ resources, etc., and are defining parameters of life support system design.
Document ID
20040012725
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Jones, Harry
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2002
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Report/Patent Number
SAE-2003-01-2356
Meeting Information
Meeting: 33rd International Conference on Environmental Systems: Advanced Life Support and Systems Analysis I
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Country: Canada
Start Date: July 7, 2003
End Date: July 10, 2003
Sponsors: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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