Helmet Exhalation Capture System (HECS) Sizing Evaluation for an Advanced Space Suit Portable Life Support System 2008-01-2117
As part of NASA's initiative to develop an advanced portable life support system (PLSS), a baseline schematic has been chosen that includes gaseous oxygen in a closed circuit ventilation configuration. Supply oxygen enters the suit at the back of the helmet, passes over the astronaut's body, and is extracted at the astronaut's wrists and ankles through the liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG). The extracted gases are then treated using a rapid cycling amine (RCA) system for carbon dioxide and water removal and activated carbon for trace gas removal before being mixed with makeup oxygen and reintroduced into the helmet. Thermal control is provided by a suit water membrane evaporator (SWME).
As an extension of the original schematic development, NASA evaluated several Helmet Exhalation Capture System (HECS) configurations as alternatives to the baseline. The HECS configurations incorporate the use of full contact masks or non-contact masks to reduce flow requirements within the PLSS ventilation subsystem. The primary scope of this study was to compare the alternatives based on mass and volume considerations; however other design issues were also briefly investigated. This paper summarizes the results of this sizing analysis task.
Citation: Paul, H., Waguespack, G., Conger, B., and Paul, T., "Helmet Exhalation Capture System (HECS) Sizing Evaluation for an Advanced Space Suit Portable Life Support System," SAE Technical Paper 2008-01-2117, 2008, https://doi.org/10.4271/2008-01-2117. Download Citation
Author(s):
Heather L. Paul, Glenn Waguespack, Bruce Conger, Thomas H. Paul
Affiliated:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Johnson Space Center, GeoControl Systems, Inc., Hamilton Sundstrand, Jacobs Technology
Pages: 17
Event:
International Conference On Environmental Systems
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Life support systems
Carbon dioxide
Helmets
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