Browsing by Author "Trieu, Serena"
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Item Development of an Adsorption System for the Trash Compaction Processing System designed for operation in the International Space Station Express Rack(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Pace, Gregory; Lee, Jeff; Parodi, Jurek; Richardson, Justine; Trieu, Serena; Young, Janine; Martin, KevinA water recovery system that utilizes adsorption to work with the Trash Compaction Processing System, formerly known as the Heat Melt Compactor, is being designed at NASA Ames Research Center as an option to current state of the art micro-gravity water management systems and contaminant control systems used in space. The adsorption system will be used in conjunction with the International Space Station Vacuum Exhaust system to avoid both the complexities of gas liquid phase separation in micro-gravity and venting of Trash Compaction Processing System effluents to the spacecraft cabin. The adsorption system will allow the water and gaseous effluents generated during the Trash Compaction System operation to be removed in a matter that meets the Vacuum Exhaust System venting rate requirements. The Trash Compaction Processing System is planned to fly as a Technology Demonstration on the International Space Station in the space station EXPRESS Rack facility. This paper describes the trade space that the adsorption system must operate in using the EXPRESS Rack facilities resources including the use of the Space Station Vacuum Exhaust System. Also described in this paper are design solutions to allow the adsorption system to function within the Express Rack and Vacuum Exhaust System Parameters.Item Gas Effluent Analysis of the Heat Melt Compactor(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Young, Janine; Trieu, Serena; Parodi, Jurek; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Lee, Jeffrey; Martin, Kevin; Pace, GregoryThe Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) reduces volume, heat sterilizes, stabilizes, and manages gas and water effluent of the International Space Station (ISS) trash. Processing the trash at high temperatures produces volatile gas compounds that need to be treated before venting to cabin and/or the Vacuum Exhaust System (VES) in the ISS. The release of gases may not meet the Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations (SMAC) requirement, if vented directly into cabin, and/or gases are incompatible for venting to the VES. In order to assess the HMC gas release and venting parameters, effluent gas analysis is conducted to determine contaminant load. This paper will analyze different collection and analytical methods of the effluent gas, and report corresponding data, such that these results can be used for process design and effluent management.Item Membrane Distillation Driven by Embedded Thermoelectric Heat Pump(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Lee, Jeffrey; Delzeit, Lance; Parodi, Jurek; Pace, Gregory; Trieu, SerenaMembrane distillation is a method that recovers clean water from dirty water by way of the vapor pressure difference of water across a membrane. External systems typically provide the heat necessary to maintain the vapor pressure difference by warming the feed stream and cooling the permeate stream. These external systems can be of significant mass and can have large thermal losses that are not desirable for space missions. To address the issue, we propose embedding thermoelectric Peltier devices at the membrane surface. The thermoelectrics, acting as heat pumps, provide heating of the warm feed while at the same time cooling of the cold permeate at the membrane surface, thereby eliminating the need for external heating and cooling systems. This paper describes our research and findings for this new method of membrane distillation.Item Performances of the Heat Melt Compactor System in Various Operational Scenarios(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Parodi, Jurek; Trieu, Serena; Young, Janine; Pace, Greg; Martin, Kevin; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Lee, JeffreyThe Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) system has been developed to manage the waste generated on board spacecraft during long-duration missions. The quantity and composition of spacecraft trash depends upon the mission and can have a very high daily variability. This requires a flexible system able to manage extreme waste scenarios. Most missions will generate on average about one kilograms of trash per astronaut per day, derived mainly from the spacecraft logistics supplies and consisting of clothing, food & beverage residues, packaging, paper, plastic, hygiene wipes, and many other personal or scientific items used and discarded by the crew. Uncontained and unprocessed waste is a health hazard and a habitat storage problem. However, trash also contains valuable resources such as water. HMC is designed to provide volume reduction, microbial safening and stabilization, water recovery, and radiation shielding material. The final byproduct generated by HMC is a sterilized tile with the consistency of hard plastic that can be safely handled, easily stored, and used for radiation protection. This paper provides the summary of an extensive campaign of testing performed using the HMC system to simulate different nominal and extreme operational scenarios and to generate the data necessary to finalize requirements for proto-flight hardware to be deployed to an International Space Station (ISS) EXPRESS Rack.Item Reduction of Equivalent System Mass of a Trash Compaction Processing System with an Emphasis on Improved Thermal Efficiency(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Pace, Gregory; Sepka, Steve; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Martin, Kevin; Young, Janine; Trieu, SerenaA spacecraft life support system has been under development at NASA called the Trash Compaction Processing System that manages trash generated on human spaceflight missions. The trash composite typically includes components such as plastic pouches that contain wet food and drinks, used cotton clothing such as underwear and T-shirts, exercise clothing, used washcloths, expended deodorant containers, adhesive tapes, plastic bubble wrap, and other sundry items. The system uses compaction in combination with heat to turn the waste composite into a sturdy and well-defined shape, typically called a tile, which maintains structural integrity and makes the most efficient use of storage space. In addition to reducing the volume of the trash, the Trash Compaction Processing System removes water from the trash. The heating and removal of water from the trash renders it safe against microbial activity. This paper primarily focuses on work aimed at reducing the Equivalent System Mass of a Trash Compaction Processing System via a focus on improving the system�s thermal efficiency.Item A Review of Existing Policies Affecting the Jettison of Waste in Low Earth Orbit and Deep Space(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Parodi, Jurek; Ewert, Michael; Trieu, Serena; Young, Janine; Pace, Greg; Martin, Kevin; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Lee, Jeffrey; Sepka, StevenThe management of waste generated onboard spacecraft during future long-duration deep-space missions will require different solutions from those currently implemented on the International Space Station which consist exclusively of collecting, storing, and returning the waste to Earth. Alternative options for managing spacecraft waste are to process it for recycling and recovery of resources, and to jettison it overboard in a solid form (such as a comapcted tile) or in agaseous form after torifaction. The waste generated during a deep-space mission is derived mainly from spacecraft logistics supplies, food and beverage residues, personal or scientific items used by the crew, human metabolic waste, and unused spare components. Uncontained and unprocessed trash is a potential health hazard and a habitat volume liability, which makes onboard long-term storage an inefficient and non-optimal option. However, the jettison of solid, processed waste appears to be an effective solution for crewed deep-space missions, leading not only to volume reduction and habitat safening, but also to considerable mass savings in the spacecraft�s propulsion system. However, the disposal of trash overboard also creates a navigation hazard for spacecraft and the potential risk of contamination of planetary bodies, interfering with the search for life. This paper investigates the requirements covered by existing policies that could affect the jettison concept of operations (ConOps) and system design.Item Source Contaminant Control System Design, Operation, and Testing for the Trash Compaction and Processing System(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Young, Janine; Pace, Gregory; Trieu, Serena; Martin, Kevin; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Sepka, Steve; Parodi, JurekThe Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) aims to reduce volume, biologically safen, physically stabilize, manage effluents, and recover resources from astronaut trash in the International Space Station (ISS). This process involves heating the trash to high temperatures, which in turn releases gaseous contaminants. Effluent management scenarios involve releasing these gases back to the ISS cabin after processing and/or directly venting these gases out to space via the Vacuum Exhaust System (VES). Concerns for recovering the gases back to cabin are crew health, safety, and spacecraft environmental impact. The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) serves as a test system that supports TCPS development by conducting risk reduction activities associated with an ISS flight demonstration. Previous gas effluent studies were conducted on the HMC. The results consisted of contaminants from the trash exhaust to exceed Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations (SMAC), which are selected airborne contaminants that can elicit toxicity symptoms to crewmembers via exposure. The Source Contaminant Control System (SCCS) aims to reduce that risk by converting the contaminants into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) vapor. The SCCS is composed of a carbon adsorbent bed, to avoid catalyst poisoning, and a catalytic oxidizer (CatOx), which promotes oxidation of the contaminants to CO2 and H2O. In turn, the gases coming out of the SCCS should be compatible to the ISS cabin and systems such as the Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS). Preparation for SCCS testing alongside the HMC Gen 3 are currently underway at ARC. The main objectives are to evaluate CatOx efficiency by CO2 conversion and characterize effectiveness of removal by comparing contaminant results before and after CatOx. This paper will report on the SCCS design, operation, and testing with results.Item Space Mission Trash Processing Operational and Technical Limits(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Lee, Jeffrey; Martin, Kevin; Feller, Jeffrey; Pace, Gregory; Parodi, Jurek; Trieu, Serena; Kashani, Ali; Helvensteijn, BenTrash management is a critical logistic and life support function for future long duration missions. The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) has been developed to examine the operational processes and technical limits for space mission trash processing and a new effort for developing and validating concepts for Trash Compaction and Processing Systems (TCPS) is currently underway. The HMC and TCPS examine four important functions when processing trash: trash volume reduction, trash biological safening, trash stabilization and effluent management of water and volatile organics. The requirements for space mission trash processing are non-trivial given the constraints of a confined crew cabin with stringent air quality standards, liquid/vapor phase separation under micro-gravity, biological growth in discarded foodstuff, and power and cooling limits. This paper describes the general requirements of a TCPS, touches upon Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for modeling a TCPS, and notes lessons learned with the HMC.Item Technical Risks Associated with Heat Melt Compaction Systems(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Lee, Jeffrey; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Martin, Kevin; Young, Janine; Pace, Gregory; Parodi, Jurek; Trieu, Serena; Helvensteijn, Ben; Ewert, MichaelThe processing of trash and waste is a welcome and valuable addition to humans living and working in space. Besides the obvious desire to have a pleasant and productive habitation environment, trash management has many practical benefits for crew health, resource recovery, and volume reclamation through garbage compaction. The Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS), which is a NASA project to develop a trash processing system for long-duration spaceflight, is currently undergoing concept development with engineering prototype validation through two contracted efforts. The development efforts are being supported with activities associated with the NASA Generation 2 Heat Melt Compactor (HMC). The HMC is a facility that compacts trash, recovers water, heats the trash to eliminate biological activity, and manages gas and vapor effluents. The resulting residual processed trash is a compact tile that is free of biological growth and that can be used for augmenting radiation shields. The work being conducted with the HMC focuses on high risk technical areas with respect to operations, sub-system performance, and ISS effluent management interface requirements. This paper gives an overview of the technical risks and the current use of the HMC as a facility for reducing risk.Item Testing of synthetic biological membranes for forward osmosis applications(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Parodi, Jurek; Flynn, Michael; Romero-Mangado, Jaione; Stefanson, Ofir; Mancinelli, Rocco; Trieu, Serena; Kawashima, BrianCommercially available Forward Osmosis membranes have been extensively tested for human space flight wastewater treatment. Despite the improvements achieved in the last decades, there is still a challenge to produce reliable membranes with anti-fouling properties, chemical resistance, and high flux and selectivity. Synthetic biological membranes that mimic the ones present in nature, which underwent millions of years of evolution, represent a potential solution for further development and progress in membrane technology. zNANO manufactures proprietary Biomimetic Forward Osmosis Membranes based on a polymeric support filter coated with surfactant multilayers. These membranes have been engineered to investigate how different manufacturing processes impact the performance and structure of the membrane. Initial results of the first generation prototype membranes tests reveal a high scatter in flux rates, due to the current testing apparatus set up. The testing apparatus has been upgraded to improve data collection, reduce errors, and to allow higher control of the testing process.Item The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstration and Risk Reduction Updates FY23-FY24(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Richardson, Tra-My; Sepka, Steve; Martin, Kevin; Borrego, Melissa; Ewert, Michael; McKinley, Melissa; Trieu, Serena; Pace, Gregory; Young, Janine; White, DouglasThe Next STEP Phase B Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station (ISS) to process common consumables spacecraft trash such as clothing and food packing to reduce the volume, recover the water, safen, and shaped the trash for storage, jettison, reuse (e.g. radiation shielding) and recycling. Sierra Space is developing the flight demonstration hardware and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to conduct risk reduction activities to vet operational scenarios ensure successful on-orbit tests. After the flight demonstration on ISS, the TCPS can be infused into NASA short- and long-term missions. This paper will discuss the rational for the updated requirement definitions outlined in the 2023 International Conference on Environmental System TCPS paper and the risk reduction activities. In addition, drawing from lesson learned in the development of the TCPS, a discussion of other compression technologies will be introduced.Item Thermoelectric Membrane Distillation System Engineering Design Improvement Concepts(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Parodi, Jurek; Lee, Jeffrey; Trieu, Serena; Pace, GregAll of the membrane distillation technologies that NASA has examined to date require external heating and cooling subsystems to drive the distillation and condensation processes. Since energy is added to the system to change liquid water into vapor, and energy is rejected from the system to convert vapor back into a liquid, a higher efficiency is achieved when the enthalpy of liquefaction is recaptured for use in supplementing the enthalpy of vaporization. The Thermoelectric Membrane Distillation (TMD) system embeds thermoelectric devices acting as heat pumps directly at the membrane surface into a self-contained device, thereby heating the rententate while simultaneously cooling the permeate. A flexible testing apparatus has been developed to quickly validate the TMD concept and to characterize different key performance parameters, which have been utilized to develop models for the design of engineering prototypes. This paper describes the validation of our proof-of-concept work, the design improvements implemented to improve performances, and the degradation of performances observed during long-duration testing.Item The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstrations Science Objectives and Requirement Definitions(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Lee, Jeffrey; Sepka, Steve; Martin, Kevin; Ewert, Michael; McKinley, Melissa; Trieu, Serena; Pace, Gregory; Young, Janine; White, DouglasThroughout the Next STEP Phase A and Phase B, the Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station in 2025. For Phase A, two contractors built the proof-of-concept hardware. One contractor was chosen to build the TD hardware for Phase B. Both Phase A lesson learned and risk reduction activities at Ames Research Center were used to write the TD science objectives, scope, and requirements. The work at ARC aims to retire technical risks and provide design data to TCPS developers and the ISS system integrators. This paper will summarize the lessons learned from the proof-of-concept hardware and the risk reduction activities and how these lessons learned form the TD requirement matrix.Item Updated Analysis of the Trash Compaction and Processing System: Water Collected from Trash, Evaluation of the Source Contaminant Control System, and Zotek® F30 Foam Processing(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Young, Janine; Trieu, Serena; Pace, Gregory; Sepka, Steve; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Martin, KevinThe Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) aims to reduce volume, biologically safen, physically stabilize, manage effluents, and recover resources from astronaut trash in the International Space Station (ISS). At NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), there are two test systems: the Heat Melt Compactor (HMC), which compacts the trash into a tile with temperature and pressure, and the Source Contaminant Control System (SCCS), which is the gas management subsystem aimed to reduce contaminants by converting them into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) vapor. Both the HMC and SCCS serve as test systems that support TCPS development by conducting risk reduction activities associated with an ISS technology demonstration. In this paper, the risk reduction activities discussed are the testing of different trash models for operational scenarios in the HMC, investigating the water extracted from those trash models, and managing the gaseous effluents from the trash via contaminant conversion through the SCCS. The HMC has undergone several tests of different trash models and cases in which a containment bag is used or not. For the first topic, this paper will analyze the water collected and recovered from these tests and analyze the effect of specific trash containment bags. For the second topic, this paper will individually evaluate the carbon bed and catalytic oxidizer (CatOx) to understand what components the carbon bed removes and what contaminants are converted in the CatOx. For the third and final topic, this paper will discuss Zotek� F30 foam processing in the HMC unit and testing verification in correlation to defined TCPS requirements. A foam model was added to reduce the volume of foam that take up space in the ISS. Overall, this paper is a compilation and an updated analysis of tests conducted in the lab-scale TCPS at ARC within the past year.Item Updated Effluent Analysis of the Heat Melt Compactor: Water Quality and Dewpoint Simulation of Gas Effluent(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Young, Janine; Parodi, Jurek; Trieu, Serena; Richardson, Tra-My Justine; Sepka, Steven; Lee, Jeffrey; Martin, Kevin; Pace, Gregory; Nadeau, Mary LouThe Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) processes astronaut trash through volume reduction, biological safening, trash stabilization, effluent management, and resource recovery. TCPS development for the International Space Station (ISS) and risk reduction activities are supported by testing the Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). Processing trash extracts water vapor that can be recovered and releases volatile gases that must be managed. Part of the effluent is condensed and collected for analysis. The evaluation of the liquid effluent includes total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations, which provide a general indication of overall water quality, other defining characteristics such as pH and conductivity, and identified chemical components. On the other hand, the gas effluent may be recovered through a contaminant control system and vented to ISS cabin or vented overboard into space through the ISS Vacuum Exhaust System (VES). In the latter venting scenario, a constraint is the dewpoint of the gases disposed into the VES must be less than 15.5 oC. With simulations using Aspen Plus� and the HMC gas effluent results, flash calculations were conducted in the modeling study to calculate feed temperature and dewpoint at fixed pressures. Saturated vapor curves were also produced and provide a preliminary result on optimal feed conditions that satisfy the dewpoint and vapor-phase only requirements upon venting to VES. This paper serves as an update on the ongoing liquid and gas effluent analysis of the HMC/TCPS.