Browsing by Author "McMillin, Summer"
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Item Continued Development of the Rapid Cycle Amine System for Advanced Extravehicular Activity Systems(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Papale, William; Chullen, Cinda; Campbell, Colin; Conger, Bruce; McMillin, SummerDevelopment activities related to the Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) Carbon Dioxide and Humidity control system have progressed to the point of integrating the RCA into an advanced Portable Life Support System (PLSS) 2.0 to evaluate the interaction of the RCA among other PLSS components in a ground test environment. The RCA 2.0 assembly (integrated into PLSS 2.0) consists of a valve assembly with commercial actuator motor, a sorbent canister, and a field-programmable gate array-based process node controller. Continued design and development activities for RCA 3.0 have been aimed at optimizing the canister size and incorporating greater fidelity in the valve actuator motor and valve position feedback design. Further, the RCA process node controller is envisioned to incorporate a higher degree of functionality to support a distributed PLSS control architecture. This paper will describe the progression of technology readiness levels of RCA 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, along with a review of the design and manufacturing successes and challenges for 2.0 and 3.0 units. The anticipated interfaces and interactions with the PLSS 2.0/2.5/3.0 assemblies will also be discussed.Item Utilizing a Suited Manikin Test Apparatus and Space Suit Ventilation Loop to Evaluate Carbon Dioxide Washout(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Chullen, Cinda; Conger, Bruce; Korona, Adam; Kanne, Bryan; McMillin, Summer; Paul, Thomas; Norcross, Jason; Alonso, Jesus Delgado; Swickrath, MikeNASA is pursuing technology development of an Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit which is an integrated assembly made up of primarily a pressure garment system and a portable life support subsystem (PLSS). The PLSS is further composed of an oxygen loop, a ventilation loop, and a thermal loop. One of the key functions of the ventilation loop is to remove and control the carbon dioxide (CO2) delivered to the crew member. CO2 washout is the mechanism by which CO2 levels are controlled within the space suit helmet to limit the concentration of CO2 inhaled by the crew member. CO2 washout performance is a critical parameter needed to ensure proper and robust designs that are insensitive to human variabilities in a space suit. A suited manikin test apparatus (SMTA) was developed to augment testing of the PLSS ventilation loop to provide a lower cost and more controlled alternative to human testing while providing a one to one match with the suit and manikin geometry used in CO2 washout analytical models. The dynamics of the breathing gas helmet ventilation and astronaut breathing are also captured. The CO2 removal function is performed by the regenerative Rapid Cycle Amine within the PLSS ventilation loop, and its performance is evaluated within the integrated SMTA and Ventilation Test Loop system. This paper will provide a detailed description of the schematics, test configurations, and hardware components of this integrated system. Results and analysis of testing performed with this integrated system will be presented within this paper.