Preprototype nitrogen supply subsystem development

A nitrogen supply subsystem based on the dissociation of hydrazine into a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen is developed. The latter is separated to provide makeup nitrogen to control the composition of spacecraft atmospheres. Specific hardware developments resulted in the design and fabrication of a nominal 3.6 kg/d nitrogen generation module. The design integrates a hydrazine catalytic dissociator, three ammonia dissociation stages and four hydrogen separation stages into a 33 kg, 14 cu dm module. A technique was devised to alternate the ammonia dissociation and hydrogen separation stages to give high nitrogen purity in the end product stream. Tests show the product stream to contain less than 0.5 percent hydrogen and 10 parts per million ammonia. The design and development of a test stand for the nitrogen generation module and a series of tests which verified its operation and performance capability are described

Performance characterization of a Bosch CO sub 2 reduction subsystem

The performance of Bosch hardware at the subsystem level (up to five-person capacity) in terms of five operating parameters was investigated. The five parameters were: (1) reactor temperature, (2) recycle loop mass flow rate, (3) recycle loop gas composition (percent hydrogen), (4) recycle loop dew point and (5) catalyst density. Experiments were designed and conducted in which the five operating parameters were varied and Bosch performance recorded. A total of 12 carbon collection cartridges provided over approximately 250 hours of operating time. Generally, one cartridge was used for each parameter that was varied. The Bosch hardware was found to perform reliably and reproducibly. No startup, reaction initiation or carbon containment problems were observed. Optimum performance points/ranges were identified for the five parameters investigated. The performance curves agreed with theoretical projections

The development of an electrochemical technique for in situ calibrating of combustible gas detectors

A program to determine the feasibility of performing in situ calibration of combustible gas detectors was successfully completed. Several possible techniques for performing the in situ calibration were proposed. The approach that showed the most promise involved the use of a miniature water vapor electrolysis cell for the generation of hydrogen within the flame arrestor of a combustible gas detector to be used for the purpose of calibrating the combustible gas detectors. A preliminary breadboard of the in situ calibration hardware was designed, fabricated and assembled. The breadboard equipment consisted of a commercially available combustible gas detector, modified to incorporate a water vapor electrolysis cell, and the instrumentation required for controlling the water vapor electrolysis and controlling and calibrating the combustible gas detector. The results showed that operation of the water vapor electrolysis at a given current density for a specific time period resulted in the attainment of a hydrogen concentration plateau within the flame arrestor of the combustible gas detector

Preprototype nitrogen supply subsystem development

The design and development of a test stand for the Nitrogen Generation Module (NGM) and a series of tests which verified its operation and performance capability are described. Over 900 hours of parametric testing were achieved. The results from this testing were then used to design an advanced NGM and a self contained, preprototype Nitrogen Supply Subsystem. The NGM consists of three major components: nitrogen generation module, pressure controller and hydrazine storage tank and ancillary components. The most important improvement is the elimination of all sealing surfaces, achieved with a total welded or brazed construction. Additionally, performance was improved by increasing hydrogen separating capability by 20% with no increase in overall packaging size

Prototype Bosch CO2 reduction subsystem for the RLSE experiment

Requirements for the Bosch carbon dioxide reduction subsystem were established in a study of regenerative life support evaluation experiments. A detailed design is presented including a schematic, components list and characteristics, requirements summaries, and complete definition of life systems' advanced control/monitor instrumentation applied to the Bosch subsystem. Design information needed to proceed with the final design and fabrication of a preprototype system is presented