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Practical Considerations of Waste Heat Reuse for a Mars Mission Advanced Life Support SystemEnergy conservation is a key issue in design optimization of Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS) for long-term space missions. By considering designs for conservation at the system level, energy saving opportunities arise that would otherwise go unnoticed. This paper builds on a steady-state investigation of system-level waste heat reuse in an ALSS with a low degree of crop growth for a Mars mission. In past studies, such a system has been defined in terms of technology types, hot and cold stream identification and stream energy content. The maximum steady-state potential for power and cooling savings within the system was computed via the Pinch Method. In this paper, several practical issues are considered for achieving a pragmatic estimate of total system savings in terms of equivalent system mass (ESM), rather than savings solely in terms of power and cooling. In this paper, more realistic ESM savings are computed by considering heat transfer inefficiencies during material transfer. An estimate of the steady-state mass, volume and crewtime requirements associated with heat exchange equipment is made by considering heat exchange equipment material type and configuration, stream flow characteristics and associated energy losses during the heat exchange process. Also, previously estimated power and cooling savings are adjusted to reflect the impact of such energy losses. This paper goes one step further than the traditional Pinch Method of considering waste heat reuse in heat exchangers to include ESM savings that occur with direct reuse of a stream. For example, rather than exchanging heat between crop growth lamp cooling air and air going to a clothes dryer, air used to cool crop lamps might be reused directly for clothes drying purposes. When thermodynamically feasible, such an approach may increase ESM savings by minimizing the mass, volume and crewtime requirements associated with stream routing equipment.
Document ID
20010106392
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Levri, Julie
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Finn, Cory
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Luna, Bernadette
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: Orlando, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: July 9, 2001
End Date: July 12, 2001
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 131-20-10
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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