Browsing by Author "Noell, Aaron"
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Item Development of the Miniature Total Organic Carbon Analyzer(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Morrison, Chad; Smith, Melanie; Neidholdt, Evan; Koehler, Zachary; Beechar, Anant; Christensen, Lance; Noell, AaronMonitoring the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in spacecraft potable water will be of major importance in long-duration human space exploration. In-flight analysis of potable water produced from a regenerative water processor provides immediate feedback on the quality of reclaimed water for crew health as well as water processing system health monitoring. This paper updates the progress in development of the next generation Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) designed for the unique requirements of an exploration-class mission. The current objective is to design, build, certify, deliver, and operate a TOCA technology demonstration on the International Space Station (ISS). The next generation analyzer system technology was previously developed and selected among a feasibility study of other options. The new system provides primary advantages of reduced mass and volume through reduced system complexity and reduced need for consumables; therefore, the flight project is named MiniTOCA. The project has recently completed design of the tech demo instrument and assembled and tested a flight-like engineering development unit. The engineering unit has undergone performance testing and environmental testing which provides confidence for the project to move forward with flight unit production and certification activities. Test results are summarized in this paper. The flight unit is targeted for delivery to ISS in late 2025.Item Developmental Hardware Testing Results and Forward Plans for the Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor (SWIM) Inorganic Water Module (IWM)(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Noell, Aaron; Oborny, Nathan; Jaramillo, Elizabeth; Ferreira Santos, Mauro; Kok, Miranda; Drevinskas, Tomas; Berg, Andrew; Metz, Brandon; Mello, Tess; Mora, Maria; Willis, PeterThe Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor (SWIM) seeks to provide enhanced analytical capability that enables NASA to send astronauts on long duration missions to the Moon and Mars without the possibility of returned water samples. The SWIM architecture consists of an Organic Water Module (OWM) and an Inorganic Water Module (IWM), that are independent analytical units but envisioned for complementary use. This paper describes the build and test of developmental hardware for the IWM portion of SWIM. IWM itself has two broad approaches for monitoring potential inorganic contaminants. The first is to develop a portable laboratory style capability that can search for a wide array of potential contaminants in samples, similar to what happens when bag samples are returned to the ground from the ISS. The second approach is to more narrowly focus on potentially high value indicators for continuous or near-continuous real time monitoring. The portable laboratory style capability fundamentally requires a separation science approach in order to specifically separate and detect a wide variety of compounds. IWM developmental hardware is based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) for species separation and capacitively coupled contactless conductivity (C4D) for detection. The CE-C4D hardware was used to broadly separate both common anions (chloride, sulfate, iodide etc.) and cations (sodium, potassium, ammonium, metals, etc.) with the same hardware and reagents. The real-time monitoring capability is based on microfluidic arrays of electrochemical sensors. Specifically, ion selective electrodes (ISEs) and conductivity sensors that can be mated into small volume (microliters) channels for fast measurements. The ISEs can have selectivity for potentially useful general indicators such as pH, sodium and ammonium as well as indicators that might be specific to ion bed breakthrough products like acetate and carbonate. Both capabilities are being matured towards technology demonstration missions and the developmental approach will be outlined.Item Photocatalytic Oxidation Using TiO2 and UV for Total Organic Carbon Analysis of Water(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Gonzalez, Marianne; Lopez, Valeria; Kidd, Richard; Homer, Margie; Noell, Aaron; Morrison, Chad; Jewell, April; Firdosy, Samad; Darrach, Murray; Callahan, Mike; Christensen, Lance; Winiberg, FredWater quality monitoring is vital for long-duration human missions. In particular, monitoring potable water Total Organic Carbon (TOC) is an important metric to understand water quality. The International Space Station (ISS) currently has this capability with its Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) that performs off-line analysis. Currently an effort is underway to develop a Miniature Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (mini-TOCA), which aims to decrease the mass, volume, and power specifications to enable long-duration human exploration without sacrificing analytical capability. The main steps of TOC analysis are oxidation of the water sample and the detection of carbon dioxide. One novel oxidation method for use in a TOCA instrument is photocatalytic oxidation using a titanium dioxide (TiO¬2) coating combined with UV LEDs emitting at the TiO2 bandgap (365 nm). Several reactor prototype configurations using this method were procured and tested. The considered design parameters included various surface geometries of the fluidic channels, catalyst application methods, and UV duration and intensity. The application of catalytic TiO2 was attempted using a commercial coating, and atomic layer deposition (ALD) on machined steel and 3D printed titanium. Direct formation of the catalytic later was also tried with titanium substrate via heat treating. The extent of oxidation for different reactor configurations and coatings was determined by changes in direct conductivity measurements of water samples containing trace organic compounds. The ALD catalyst coating was most effective for oxidizing sample. The amount of UV output was also varied to understand the time required for full oxidation. Further work is planned to introduce more types of samples, perform lifetime testing, and integrate the reactor with a tunable laser spectrometer.Item Progress on the Organic and Inorganic Modules of the Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor, a Next Generation Complete Water Analysis System for Crewed Vehicles(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Pensinger, Stuart; Callahan, Michael; Neidholdt, Evan; Noell, Aaron; Oborny, Nathan; Bae, Byunghoon; Lopez, Valeria; Hancock, Bruce; Gonzalez, Marianne; Homer, Margie; Madzunkov, Stojan; Darrach, Murray; Kidd, RichardThe Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS) is an instrument on the Dragonfly mission operating on the surface of the Titan, the Saturn’s largest moon. Titan's atmosphere is nitrogen rich and has surface atmospheric pressure of 147 kPa and temperature of 94 K. Since electronics cannot survive at these extreme temperatures, significant thermal isolation is needed between the electronics and the Titan atmosphere to maintain the components above their survival temperatures. However, the main electronic box (MEB) for the DraMS instrument dissipates significant amount of heat over small volume and a conventional conductive cooling approach cannot be used without significant mass additions. Instead, a fan cooled approach was chosen. Conditioned room-temperature air, supplied by the Dragonfly lander, will flow directly over the MEB’s boards during DraMS operational scenarios. A cooling air manifold is designed with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to effectively distribute the flow over the actively cooled boards. Since the fan will operate at denser-than-Earth pressures on Titan but Earth-like pressures during ground testing, a thermal test was performed to verify the fan’s thermal performance (at varying levels of pressure) and compared against CFD predictions. This test was performed with a 3-D printed mockup of the MEB with heated metallic plates to simulate the circuit boards. This paper will discuss the analytical CFD work and the thermal tests performed to aid the development of the DraMS thermal/mechanical MEB design.Item Selection of a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer System for Exploration Missions(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Morrison, Chad; To, Jonathan; Noell, Aaron; Callahan, MichaelMonitoring the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in spacecraft potable water will be of major importance in long-duration human space exploration. In-flight analysis of potable water produced from a regenerative water processor provides immediate feedback on the quality of reclaimed water for crew health as well as water processing system health monitoring. While the International Space Station (ISS) successfully employs a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) to complete these tasks, the device is too large for long-duration missions, especially when accounting for resupply needs. In addition, the water processing system does not directly integrate the current TOCA system to provide automated in-line water analysis. This paper reports on recent effort to develop the next generation TOCA designed for the unique requirements of an exploration-class mission. Following previous technology surveys and feasibility assessment, a number of breadboard systems were developed and tested for proof-of-concept and performance assessment at a system level. Each system was evaluated for feasibility against performance requirements. A trade study assessed the remaining candidates to find the most desirable system. This paper highlights the system architecture and performance of the top candidates. The selected system will continue maturation to a ground prototype followed by plans for technology demonstration on the ISS.Item The Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor, a Framework for the Next Generation Complete Water Analysis System for Crewed Vehicles Beyond the ISS(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Kidd, Richard; Homer, Margie; Noell, Aaron; Simcic, Jurij; Bae, Byunghoon; Gonzalez, Marianne; Lopez, Valeria; Darrach, Murray; Pensinger, Stuart; Callahan, Mike; Neidholdt, Evan; Gilbert, NikkiOn-orbit analysis of the total organic carbon (TOC) content of recycled water, as provided by the ISS TOCA, has been an indispensable tool for monitoring the performance of the WRS and for ensuring that water is fit for crew consumption. While TOC has been, and will continue to be an important metric for spacecraft water quality, it provides only limited insight into the total picture. As a measurement, TOC only provides a single �lump sum� quantity of all organic chemicals present in a water sample. Nor does the TOC measurement begin to address inorganic constituents, such as metals resulting from corrosion nor an intentionally-dosed biocide. For exploration missions beyond LEO, the return of water samples to Earth for analysis will be logistically challenging or impossible. The Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor (SWIM) is a joint collaboration to develop an instrument platform that will perform in-flight measurements and deliver a more complete picture of water quality to decision makers. Eventually, missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond will be equipped with analytical capabilities equaling those found in terrestrial labs. Based on what we know about current and future spacecraft environments, SWIM will seek to provide enhanced analytical capability that enables NASA to confidently send astronauts on distant missions without the possibility of returned water samples. This paper discusses the challenges presented by exploration requirements and the research and development progress toward the goal of a total water analysis system. For organic analysis, one of the analysis technologies that the SWIM team have been developing is a liquid-injection gas chromatograph mass spectrometer system; these systems are the workhorses of analytical chemistry laboratories world-wide. For inorganic analysis, the team is exploring a number of technologies ranging from traditional liquid chromatography technologies (e.g. ion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis) to flight-heritage technology such as ion-specific electrodes.