Browsing by Author "Sargusingh, Miriam J."

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Advances in Spacecraft Brine Water Recovery: Development of a Radial Vaned Capillary Drying Tray
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Callahan, Michael R.; Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Pickering, Karen D.; Weislogel, Mark M.
Technology improvements in the recovery of water from brine are critical to establishing closed-loop water recovery systems, enabling long—duration missions, and achieving a sustained human presence in space. A genre of ‘in-place drying’ brine water recovery concepts, collectively referred to herein as Brine Residual In-Containment, are under development. These brine water recovery concepts aim to increase the overall robustness and reliability of the brine recovery process by performing drying inside the container used for final disposal of the solid residual waste. Implementation of in-place drying techniques have been demonstrated for applications where gravity is present and phase separation occurs naturally by buoyancy—induced effects. In this work, a microgravity—compatible analogue of the gravity-driven phase separation process is considered by exploiting capillarity in the form of surface wetting, surface tension, and container geometry. The proposed design consists of a series of planar radial vanes aligned about a central slotted core. Preliminary testing of the fundamental geometry in a reduced gravity environment has shown the device to spontaneously fill and saturate rapidly, thereby creating a free surface from which evaporation and phase separation can occur similar to a terrestrial-like ‘cylindrical pool’ of fluid. Mathematical modeling and analysis of the design suggest predictable rates of filling and stability of fluid containment as a function of relevant system dimensions; e.g., number of vanes, vane length, width, and thickness. A description of the proposed capillary design solution is presented along with preliminary results from testing, modeling, and analysis of the system.
Cascade Distillation System Design for Safety and Mission Assurance
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Callahan, Michael R.; Okon, Shira
Per the NASA Human Health, Life Support and Habitation System Technology Area 06 report “crewed missions venturing beyond Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) will require technologies with improved reliability, reduced mass, self-sufficiency, and minimal logistical needs as an emergency or quick-return option will not be feasible”.1 To meet this need, the development team of the second generation Cascade Distillation System (CDS 2.0) chose a development approach that explicitly incorporates considerations of safety, mission assurance, and autonomy. The CDS 2.0 preliminary design focused on establishing a functional baseline that meets the CDS core capabilities and performance. Now in the critical design phase, focus is being placed on incorporating features through a deliberative process of establishing the system’s failure modes and effects, identifying mitigation strategies, and evaluating the merit of the proposed actions through analysis and test. This paper details the results of this effort on the CDS 2.0 design.
Cascade Distillation System – A water recovery system for deep space missions
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Patel, Vipul; Au, Henry; Shull, Sarah; Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Callahan, Michael
Honeywell Aerospace has developed a distillation technology to process wastewater streams in microgravity environments for recovering potable water. The wastewater processing Cascade Distillation System (CDS) utilizes an innovative and proven multi-stage thermodynamic process to produce purified water. The Cascade Distiller (CD) is the core component of the CDS technology. The CD is a Centrifugal Vacuum Distiller (CVD) that processes wastewater as a feed source and purifies it to near potable water. Some volatile substances escape to the purified water. With minimum post processing, the water can be restored as potable for human consumption. The CD was tested at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) with a greater than 90% recovery rate during a technology comparison test. The results were compared with two other technologies. All three systems were challenged with two pretreated test solutions, each intended to represent a feasible wastewater generated in a deep space environment. An expert panel assembled by NASA down-selected the CDS as one of the technologies for further development. NASA internally developed the Vapor Compression Distiller (VCD) technology, which has reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9. The VCD has paved the way for future development of wastewater recovery technologies by identifying critical requirements. However, the VCD has limited distillation capacity when compared to the CD. Currently, Honeywell Aerospace has an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with NASA for further development of the CD.
Development of an Exploration-Class Cascade Distillation Subsystem: Performance Testing of the Generation 1.0 Prototype
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Callahan, Michael R.
The ability to recover and purify water is crucial for realizing long-term human space missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Honeywell co-developed a five-stage vacuum rotary distillation water recovery system referred to as the Cascade Distillation Subsystem (CDS). Over the past three years, NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Water Recovery Project (WRP) has been working toward the development of a flight-forward CDS design. In 2012 the original CDS prototype underwent a series of incremental upgrades and tests intended to both demonstrate the feasibility of potential on- orbit testing and to collect operational and performance data to be used to inform a second generation design. The latest testing of the CDS Generation 1.0 prototype was conducted May 29 through July 2, 2014. Initial system performance was benchmarked by processing deionized water and sodium chloride solutions. Following, the system was challenged with analogue urine waste stream solutions stabilized with an Oxone-based and the International Space Station baseline and alternative pretreatment solutions. During testing, the system processed more than 160 kg of wastewater with targeted water recoveries between 75 and 85% depending on the specific waste stream tested. For all wastewater streams, contaminant removals from wastewater feed to product water distillate, were estimated at greater than 99%. The average specific energy of the system was less than 120 W-hr/kg. The following paper provides detailed information and data on the performance of the CDS as challenged per the WRP test objectives.
Environmental Control and Life Support System Reliability for Long-Duration Missions Beyond Lower Earth Orbit
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Nelson, Jason R.
NASA has highlighted reliability as critical to future human space exploration, particularly in the area of environmental controls and life support systems. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) projects have been encouraged to pursue higher reliability components and systems as part of technology development plans. However, no consensus has been reached on what is meant by improving on reliability, or on how to assess reliability within the AES projects. This became apparent when trying to assess reliability as one of several figures of merit for a regenerable water architecture trade study. In the spring of 2013, the AES Water Recovery Project hosted a series of events at Johnson Space Center with the intended goal of establishing a common language and understanding of NASA’s reliability goals, and equipping the projects with acceptable means of assessing the respective systems. This campaign included an educational series in which experts from across the agency and academia provided information on terminology, tools, and techniques associated with evaluating and designing for system reliability. The campaign culminated in a workshop that included members of the Environmental Control and Life Support System and AES communities. The goal of this workshop was to develop a consensus on what reliability means to AES and identify methods for assessing low- to mid-technology readiness level technologies for reliability. This paper details the results of that workshop.