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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts, Evan A. Thomas
Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts, Evan A. Thomas
Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
Sustainable spacecraft life support concepts may allow the development of more reliable technologies for long-duration space missions. Currently, life support technologies at different levels of development are not well evaluated against each other, and evaluation methods do not account for long-term reliability and sustainability of the hardware. This paper presents point-of-departure Sustainable System Mass (SSM) evaluation criteria for life support systems that may allow more robust technology development, testing, and comparison. An example sustainable water recovery system concept is presented.
Development Of A Contingency Capillary Wastewater Management Device, Evan A. Thomas
Development Of A Contingency Capillary Wastewater Management Device, Evan A. Thomas
Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The personal body-attached liquid liquidator (PBALL) is conceived as a passive, capillary-driven, contingency wastewater disposal device. In this contingency scenario, the airflow system on the NASA crew exploration vehicle is assumed to have failed, leaving only passive hardware and vacuum vent to dispose of wastewater. To meet these needs, the PBALL was conceived to rely on capillary action and urine wetting conditions from 0° < θadv ∼ 90°, be adaptable for both male and female use, collect and retain up to 1 L of urine, minimize splash-back, and allow continuous draining of the wastewater to vacuum while minimizing cabin air loss. A subscale PBALL test article, which was tested on NASA's reduced-gravity aircraft in April 2010, successfully demonstrated key components of this design.