Browsing by Author "Limero, Thomas F."
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Item Monitoring of the Atmosphere on the International Space Station with the Air Quality Monitor(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Wallace, William T.; Limero, Thomas F.; Loh, Leslie J.; Mudgett, Paul D.; Gazda, Daniel B.During the early years of human spaceflight, short duration missions allowed for monitoring of the spacecraft environment to be performed via archival sampling, in which samples were returned to Earth for analysis. With the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and the accompanying extended mission durations, the need for enhanced, real-time monitors became apparent. The Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA) operated on ISS for 7 years, where it assessed trace volatile organic compounds in the cabin air. The large and fixed-position VOA was eventually replaced with the smaller Air Quality Monitor (AQM). Since March 2013, the atmosphere of the U.S. Operating Segment (USOS) has been monitored in near real-time by a pair of AQMs. These devices consist of a gas chromatograph (GC) coupled with a differential mobility spectrometer (DMS) and currently target detection list of 22 compounds. These targets are of importance to both crew health and the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) on ISS. Data is collected autonomously every 73 hours, though the units can be controlled remotely from mission control to collect data more frequently during contingency or troubleshooting operations. Due to a nominal three-year lifetime on-orbit, the initial units were replaced in February 2016. This paper will focus on the preparation and use of the AQMs over the past several years. A description of the technical aspects of the AQM will be followed by lessons learned from the deployment and operation of the first set of AQMs. These lessons were used to improve the already-excellent performance of the instruments prior to deployment of the replacement units. Data trending over the past several years of operation on ISS will also be discussed, including data obtained during a survey of the USOS modules. Finally, a description of AQM use for contingency and investigative studies will be presented.Item Search for a Real-Time Measurement of Dimethylsilanediol in the International Space Station Atmosphere using the Air Quality Monitor(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Wallace, William T.; Limero, Thomas F.; Gazda, Daniel B.; Macatangay, Ariel V.The discovery of dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) as a recurring contaminant in the U.S. segment of the International Space Station (ISS) water supply has exhibited the need to accurately determine the levels of this compound in-flight. Currently, the only real-time water quality monitoring systems on the ISS are the total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) and the colorimetric water quality monitoring kit (CWQMK). These systems both provide important water quality data, but neither can provide compound-specific information for organic contaminants, requiring the use of archival analysis to determine if elevated total organic carbon (TOC) levels are due to a relatively benign compound like DMSD or to other, more toxic compounds. One potential method for indirect monitoring on board the ISS could be the use of the Air Quality Monitor (AQM) to determine if DMSD is present in the atmosphere. However, introducing DMSD samples into the AQM for a determination of analytical parameters has previously proven challenging. Recently, a prototype inlet based on electrothermal vaporization (ETV) was coupled with a ground-based AQM to evaluate its potential for in-flight water quality monitoring. This inlet has allowed us to remove volatile organics from a water matrix and analyze them using the AQM. Based on the parameters determined in this ground-based testing, we have discovered that it may be possible to monitor DMSD in the atmosphere of the ISS with the AQM. This paper will discuss the use of this novel sample inlet to analyze DMSD as well as the methods used to find DMSD in the ISS atmosphere. Additionally, a comparison of atmospheric DMSD data with in-flight TOC data will be presented to determine if changes in atmospheric concentration can be correlated with the periodic TOC increases.