Experimental feasibility study of water-filled capillary-pumped heat-transfer loops
Water-filled capillary pumped heat transfer loops for removal of waste heat from spacecraft power devices
HEAT TRANSFER↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Effects of space flight and mixing on bacterial growth in low volume cultures
Previous investigations have shown that liquid suspension bacterial cultures grow to higher cell concentrations in spaceflight than on Earth. None of these studies included ground-control experiments designed to evaluate the fluid effects potentially responsible for the reported increases. Therefore, the emphasis of this research was to both confirm differences in final cell concentration between 1g and microgravity cultures, and to examine the effects of mixing as a partial explanation for this difference. Flight experiments were performed in the Fluid Processing Apparatus (FPA), aboard Space Shuttle Missions STS-63 and STS-69, with simultaneous 1g static and agitated controls. Additional static 1g, agitated, and clino-rotated controls were performed in 9-ml culture tubes. This research revealed that both E. coli and B. subtilis samples cultured in space flight grew to higher final cell densities (120-345% increase) than simultaneous static 1g controls. The final cell concentration of E. coli cells cultured under agitation was 43% higher than in static 1g cultures and was 102% higher with clino-rotation. However, for B. subtilis cultures grown while being agitated on a shaker or clino-rotated, the final cell concentrations were nearly identical to those of the simultaneous static 1g controls. Therefore, these data suggest that the unique fluid quiescence in the microgravity environment (lack of sedimentation, creating unique transfer of nutrients and waste products), was responsible for the enhanced bacterial proliferation reported in this and other studies.
STS-63 Shuttle Project↗
Strategic Research to Enable NASA's Exploration Missions Conference and Workshop: Presentations
Topic presentations are included on the following: biosensors to monitor the health of astronauts, microgravity effects on flammability, fire prevention and suppression, life support topics, waste management topics, heat transfer; gas flow and liquids flow, and combustion studies.
Nahra, Henry↗
Regenerative fuel cell study for satellites in GEO orbit
Summarized are the results of a 12-month study to identify high performance regenerative hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell concepts for geosynchronous satellite application. Emphasis was placed on concepts with the potential for high energy density (W-hr/lb) and passive means for water and heat management to maximize system reliability. Both polymer membrane and alkaline electrolyte fuel cells were considered, with emphasis on the alkaline cell because of its high performance, advanced state of development, and proven ability to operate in a launch and space environment. Three alkaline system concepts were studied. The first, the integrated design, utilized a configuration in which the fuel cell and electrolysis cells are alternately stacked inside a pressure vessel. Product water is transferred by diffusion during electrolysis and waste heat is conducted through the pressure wall, thus using completely passive means for transfer and control. The second alkaline system, the dedicated design, uses a separate fuel cell and electrolysis stack so that each unit can be optimized in size and weight based on its orbital operating period. The third design was a dual function stack configuration, in which each cell can operate in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode, thus eliminating the need for two separate stacks and associated equipment. Results indicate that using near term technology energy densities between 46 and 52 W-hr/lb can be achieved at efficiencies of 55 percent. System densities of 115 W-hr/lb are contemplated.
Levy, Alexander↗
U.S. program assessing nuclear waste disposal in space - A 1981 status report
Concepts, current studies, and technology and equipment requirements for using the STS for space disposal of selected nuclear wastes as a complement to geological storage are reviewed. An orbital transfer vehicle carried by the Shuttle would kick the waste cannister into a 0.85 AU heliocentric orbit. One flight per week is regarded as sufficient to dispose of all high level wastes chemically separated from reactor fuel rods from 200 GWe nuclear power capacity. Studies are proceeding for candidate wastes, the STS system suited to each waste, and the risk/benefits of a space disposal system. Risk assessments are being extended to total waste disposal risks for various disposal programs with and without a space segment, and including side waste streams produced as a result of separating substances for launch.
Rice, E. E.↗
An On-Line Technology Information System (OTIS) for Advanced Life Support
An On-line Technology Information System (OTIS) is currently being developed for the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program. This paper describes the preliminary development of OTIS, which is a system designed to provide centralized collection and organization of technology information. The lack of thorough, reliable and easily understood technology information is a major obstacle in effective assessment of technology development progress, trade studies, metric calculations, and technology selection for integrated testing. OTIS will provide a formalized, well-organized protocol to communicate thorough, accurate, current and relevant technology information between the hands-on technology developer and the ALS Community. The need for this type of information transfer system within the Solid Waste Management (SWM) element was recently identified and addressed. A SWM Technology Information Form (TIF) was developed specifically for collecting detailed technology information in the area of SWM. In the TIF, information is requested from SWM technology developers, based upon the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). Basic information is requested for low-TRL technologies, and more detailed information is requested as the TRL of the technology increases. A comparable form is also being developed for the wastewater processing element. In the future, similar forms will also be developed for the ALS elements of air revitalization, food processing, biomass production and thermal control. These ALS element-specific forms will be implemented in OTIS via a web-accessible interface,with the data stored in an object-oriented relational database (created in MySQLTM) located on a secure server at NASA Ames Research Center. With OTIS, ALS element leads and managers will be able to carry out informed research and development investment, thereby promoting technology through the TRL scale. OTIS will also allow analysts to make accurate evaluations of technology options. Additionally, the range and specificity of information solicited will help educate technology developers of programmatic needs.
Levri, Julie A.↗
Long term organ culture of human prostate tissue in a NASA-designed rotating wall bioreactor
PURPOSE: To maintain ex vivo integral prostatic tissue including intact stromal and ductal elements using the NASA-designed Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV) which maintains colocalized cells in an environment that promotes both three-dimensional cellular interactions together with the uniform mass transfer of nutrients and metabolic wastes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Samples of normal prostate were obtained as a byproduct of transurethral prostatectomy or needle biopsy. Prostatic tissue dissected into small 1 x 1 mm. blocks was cultured in the Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV) Bioreactor for various time periods and analyzed using histological, immunochemical, and total cell RNA assays. RESULTS: We report the long term maintenance of benign explanted human prostate tissue grown in simple culture medium, under the simulated microgravity conditions afforded by the RWV bioreactor. Mesenchymal stromal elements including blood vessels and architecturally preserved tubuloglandular acini were maintained for a minimum of 28 days. Cytokeratins, vimentin and TGF-beta2 receptor and ligand were preserved through the entire culture period as revealed by immunocytochemistry. Prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) was continuously expressed during the culture period, although somewhat decreased. Prostatic specific antigen (PSA) and its transcript were down regulated over time of culture. Prostatic carcinoma cells from the TSU cell line were able to invade RWV-cultured benign prostate tissue explants. CONCLUSIONS: The RWV bioreactor represents an additional new technology for culturing prostate tissue for further investigations concerning the basic physiology and pathobiology of this clinically important tissue.
Prostate/chemistry/cytology↗
Analysis of space systems for the space disposal of nuclear waste follow-on study. Volume 2: Technical report
The space option for disposal of certain high-level nuclear wastes in space as a complement to mined geological repositories is studied. A brief overview of the study background, scope, objective, guidelines and assumptions, and contents is presented. The determination of the effects of variations in the waste mix on the space systems concept to allow determination of the space systems effect on total system risk benefits when used as a complement to the DOE reference mined geological repository is studied. The waste payload system, launch site, launch system, and orbit transfer system are all addressed. Rescue mission requirements are studied. The characteristics of waste forms suitable for space disposal are identified. Trajectories and performance requirements are discussed.
Source record↗
Modeling of Heat and Mass Transfer in a TEC-Driven Lyophilizer
Dewatering of wet waste during space exploration missions is important for crew safety as it stabilizes the waste. It may also be used to recover water and serve as a preconditioning step for waste compaction. A thermoelectric cooler (TEC)-driven lyophilizer is under development at NASA Ames Research Center for this purpose. It has three major components: (i) an evaporator section where water vapor sublimes from the frozen waste, (ii) a condenser section where this water vapor deposits as ice, and (iii) a TEC section which serves as a heat pump to transfer heat from the condenser to the evaporator. This paper analyses the heat and mass transfer processes in the lyophilizer in an effort to understand the ice formation behavior in the condenser. The analysis is supported by experimental observations of ice formation patterns in two different condenser units.
Yuan, Zeng-Guang↗
Advanced Life Systems for Extreme Environments: An Arctic Application
The problems of obtaining adequate pure drinking water and disposing of liquid and solid waste in the U.S. Arctic, a region where virtually all water is frozen solid for much of the year, has led to unsanitary solutions (U.S. Arctic Research Commission). These solutions are also damaging to the environment. Sanitation and a safe water supply are particularly problems in rural villages. About one-fourth of Alaska's 86.000 Native residents live in these communities. They are without running water and use plastic buckets for toilets. The outbreak of diseases is believed to be partially attributable to exposure to human waste. Villages with the most frequent outbreaks of disease are those in which running water is difficult to obtain (Office of Technology Assessment, 1994). Waste is emptied into open lagoons, rivers, or onto the sea coast. It does not degrade rapidly and in addition to affecting human health, can be harmful to the fragile ecology of the Arctic and the indigenous wildlife and fish populations. Advanced Life Systems for Extreme Environments (ALSEE) provides a solution to sanitation and safe water problems. The system uses an advanced integrated technology developed for Antarctic and space applications. ALSEE uses the systems approach to address more than waste and water problems. By incorporating hydroponic horticulture and aquaculture into the waste treatment system, ALSEE addresses the quality and quantity of fresh foods available to Arctic residents. A temperate climate is required for year-round plant growth. ALSEE facilities can be designed to include a climate controlled area within the structure. This type of environment is a change from the long periods of darkness and cold found in the Arctic and can help alleviate stress so often associated with these extremes. While the overall concept of ALSEE projects is advanced, system facilities can be operated by village residents with appropriate training. ALSEE provides continuing training and education as a part of the project. Not only is this desirable but necessary. There is ample evidence in "gravoyard" throughout rural Alaska of technologies which failed not because they were not applic4tble, but because they were not integrated and could not be operated or repaired by village residents. Waste streams in villages will vary depending on the human diet and the non-food waste stream. ALSEE units can be adapted to different village situations once the content of the waste stream is known. Units located in population hubs can serve as research, education. and demonstration centers. Appropriate modifications can be determined at these centers to transfer technology to more remote locations where waste stream conditions may differ.
Lewis, Carol E.↗
Technology development of the Space Transportation System mission and terrestrial applications of satellite technology
The Space Transportation System (STS) is discussed, including the launch processing system, the thermal protection subsystem, meteorological research, sound supression water system, rotating service structure, improved hypergol or removal systems, fiber optics research, precision positioning, remote controlled solid rocket booster nozzle plugs, ground operations for Centaur orbital transfer vehicle, parachute drying, STS hazardous waste disposal and recycle, toxic waste technology and control concepts, fast analytical densitometry study, shuttle inventory management system, operational intercommunications system improvement, and protective garment ensemble. Terrestrial applications are also covered, including LANDSAT applications to water resources, satellite freeze forecast system, application of ground penetrating radar to soil survey, turtle tracking, evaluating computer drawn ground cover maps, sparkless load pulsar, and coupling a microcomputer and computing integrator with a gas chromatograph.
Source record↗
Catalog of selected heavy duty transport energy management models
A catalog of energy management models for heavy duty transport systems powered by diesel engines is presented. The catalog results from a literature survey, supplemented by telephone interviews and mailed questionnaires to discover the major computer models currently used in the transportation industry in the following categories: heavy duty transport systems, which consist of highway (vehicle simulation), marine (ship simulation), rail (locomotive simulation), and pipeline (pumping station simulation); and heavy duty diesel engines, which involve models that match the intake/exhaust system to the engine, fuel efficiency, emissions, combustion chamber shape, fuel injection system, heat transfer, intake/exhaust system, operating performance, and waste heat utilization devices, i.e., turbocharger, bottoming cycle.
Colello, R. G.↗
NASA Advanced Explorations Systems: Concepts for Logistics to Living
The NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Logistics Reduction and Repurposing (LRR) project strives to enable a largely mission-independent cradle-to-grave-to-cradle approach to minimize logistics contributions to total mission architecture mass. The goals are to engineer logistics materials, common crew consumables, and container configurations to meet the following five basic goals: 1. Minimize intrinsic logistics mass and improve ground logistics flexibility. 2. Allow logistics components to be directly repurposed for on-orbit non-logistics functions (e.g., crew cabin outfitting) thereby indirectly reducing mass/volume. 3. Compact and process logistics that have not been directly repurposed to generate useful on-orbit components and/or compounds (e.g., radiation shielding, propellant, other usable chemical constituents). 4. Enable long-term stable storage and disposal of logistics end products that cannot be reused or repurposed (e.g., compaction for volume reduction, odor control, and maintenance of crew cabin hygienic conditions). 5. Allow vehicles in different mission phases to share logistics resources. This paper addresses the work being done to meet the second goal, the direct repurposing of logistics components to meet other on-orbit needs, through a strategy termed Logistics to Living (L2L). L2L has several areas but can be defined as repurposing or converting logistical items (bags, containers, foam, components, etc.) into useful crew items or life support augmentation on-orbit after they have provided their primary logistics function. The intent is that by repurposing items, dedicated crew items do not have to be launched and overall launch mass is decreased. For non-LEO missions, the vehicle interior volume will be relatively fixed so L2L will enable this volume to be used more effectively through reuse and rearrangement of logistical components. Past work in the area of L2L has already conceptually developed several potential technologies [Howe, Howard 2010]. Several of the L2L concepts that have shown the most potential in the past are based on NASA cargo transfer bags (CTBs) or their equivalents which are currently used to transfer cargo to and from the ISS. A high percentage of all logistics supplies are packaging mass and for a 6-month mission a crew of four might need over 100 CTBs. These CTBs are used for on-orbit transfer and storage but eventually becomes waste after use since down mass is very limited. The work being done in L2L also considering innovative interior habitat construction that integrate the CTBs into the walls of future habitats. The direct integration could provide multiple functions: launch packaging, stowage, radiation protection, water processing, life support augmentation, as well as structure. Reuse of these CTBs would reduce the amount of waste generated and also significantly reduce future up mass requirements for exploration missions. Also discussed here is the L2L water wall , an innovative reuse of an unfolded CTB as a passive water treatment system utilizing forward osmosis. The bags have been modified to have an inner membrane liner that allows them to purify wastewater. They may also provide a structural water-wall element that can be used to provide radiation protection and as a structural divider. Integration of the components into vehicle/habitat architecture and consideration of operations concepts and human factors will be discussed. In the future these bags could be designed to treat wastewater, concentrated brines, and solid wastes, and to dewater solid wastes and produce a bio-stabilized construction element. This paper will describe the follow-on work done in design, fabrication and demonstrations of various L2L concepts, including advanced CTBs for reuse/repurposing, internal outfitting studies and the CTB-based forward osmosis water wall.
Shull, Sarah A.↗
Conceptual design of a biological specimen holding facility
An all-important first step in the development of the Spacelab Life Science Laboratory is the design of the Biological Specimen Holding Facility (BSHF) which will provide accommodation for living specimens for life science research in orbit. As a useful tool in the understanding of physiological and biomedical changes produced in the weightless environment, the BSHF will enable biomedical researchers to conduct in-orbit investigations utilizing techniques that may be impossible to perform on human subjects. The results of a comprehensive study for defining the BSHF, description of its experiment support capabilities, and the planning required for its development are presented. Conceptual designs of the facility, its subsystems and interfaces with the Orbiter and Spacelab are included. Environmental control, life support and data management systems are provided. Interface and support equipment required for specimen transfer, surgical research, and food, water and waste storage is defined. New and optimized concepts are presented for waste collection, feces and urine separation and sampling, environmental control, feeding and watering, lighting, data management and other support subsystems.
Jackson, J. K.↗
Heat-Pipe Array for Large-Area Cooling
High rates of heat transfer anticipated. Prototype evaporative cold plate gathers waste heat from equipment mounted on it. Plate made by welding together flanges of several sections of heat pipe. Since plate separates liquid and vapor phases at inlet and outlet ports, eliminates complexities and uncertainties of two-phase flow in zero gravity. On earth, inlet valve enables plate to operate at relatively-large height differences with other plates in same system.
Edelstein, F.↗
Generic propellant transfer unit: A project update
Currently, most satellite programs use dedicated hypergolic propellant ground servicing equipment. These 'carts' are typically program specific (non-interchangeable), costly, and non-Department of Transportation (DOT) compliant. They require safety waivers when used on government property and must be emptied before off-site transport. The emptying process usually generates large amounts of Hazardous Wastes. Fuel carts are usually loaded from multiple 208-liter (55 gallon) drums and oxidizer carts from 909-kg (2000 lb) cylinders. This further increases operating costs due to additional container samples and cart-filling transfers. NASA, Kennedy Space Center has developed reusable, generic, DOT compliant propellant delivery containers as possible replacements for the propellant-tank portion of servicing carts. Our ultimate goal is to reduce operating expenses by minimizing propellant transfers, samples, and waste generation through use of bulk propellant operations, minimizing drum or cylinder operations. This has the added benefit of increasing operating safety by decreasing overall propellant operations.
Davis, C. L.↗
Incorporation of Condensation Heat Transfer in a Flow Network Code
Pure water is distilled from waste water in the International Space Station. The distillation assembly consists of an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser. Vapor is periodically purged from the condenser to avoid vapor accumulation. Purged vapor is condensed in a tube by coolant water prior to entering the purge pump. The paper presents a condensation model of purged vapor in a tube. This model is based on the Finite Volume Method. In the Finite Volume Method, the flow domain is discretized into multiple control volumes and a simultaneous analysis is performed.
Anthony, Miranda↗
Evaluation of advanced component concepts for an integrated environmental control/life support, resistojet control system
Flow restricting devices were studied for their suitability as liquid water propellant flow limiters for the biowaste resistojet. Flow limiting during the start-up transient is required to prevent thrustor instabilities and icing which could result in heater failure in the electrical resistance heated thrustor (resistojet). The study was directed toward simple devices which would function passively (i.e., without power except from the propellant flow itself), and would offer high reliability and simplicity. In addition to the flow limiting devices, a thermal pumping system was studied to determine whether CO2, desorbed from molecular sieves could be pumped thermally in a space station application. The thermal pump is considered a possible replacement for mechanical pumps. It involves a cyclic, constant volume cryopumping system which employs space radiators to achieve the cryotemperatures. The frozen CO2 would be vaporized periodically, using a waste heat loop, to attain sufficient pressure to transfer a large portion of the trapped CO2 to storage tanks.
Halbach, C. R.↗