Browsing by Author "Swickrath, Mike"
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Item Swing Bed Scrubber Design and Test Integration Results for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the Ventilation Test Loop 2.0(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Chullen, Cinda; Conger, Bruce; Mcmillin, Summer; Swickrath, Mike; Kanne, Bryan; Fricker, John; Arai, TatsuyaNASA is developing an advanced portable life support system (PLSS) to meet the needs of a new NASA advanced space suit. The PLSS provides the necessary oxygen, ventilation, and thermal protection for an astronaut performing a spacewalk. The PLSS ventilation subsystem is responsible for providing adequate carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor removal. To experimentally validate the performance of CO2 removal and advanced CO2 sensing systems, NASA Johnson Space Center developed the Ventilation Test Loop 2.0 (VTL2) and tested the Oceaneering Swing Bed Scrubber (SBS) that was fabricated and delivered under the Constellation program in 2015. The SBS was designed to continuously remove CO2 and water vapor from a space suit ventilation loop with a pair of thermally integrated amine beds that alternately adsorb and desorb water vapor and CO2. The SBS hardware was recently resurrected and reassembled to support a full battery of performance testing in the VTL2. This paper describes the design and development of the SBS and the VTL2 along with the performance test results of the SBS.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.