Browsing by Author "Viestenz, Kyle"
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Item Capillary Structures for Exploration Life Support ISS Experiment Kit(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Sargusingh, Miriam; Weislogel, Mark; Viestenz, Kyle; Jenson, RyanThis paper describes the Capillary Structures for Exploration Life Support (CSELS) ISS payload being developed to study the use of structures of specific shapes to manage fluid and gas mixtures in microgravity. The payload focuses on evaluating capillary structures relevant to evolve water recycling and carbon dioxide removal technologies, benefiting future efforts to design lightweight, more reliable life support systems for future space missions. The water recovery system being evaluated is the Capillary Brine Residual in Containment (CapiBRIC); specifically, the evaporator element. The payload will include both science and technology demonstration experiments intended to show important aspects of the Capillary Evaporator in microgravity. The effect of pore shape, connectivity, depth, and contact line length on stability and drying performance will be evaluated as a pure science experiment while the technology demonstration will show infill, drying, and fluid stability using a non-toxic ersatz that mimics the characteristics of the ISS wastewater brine that most impact fluid flow and containment. The carbon dioxide removal system evaluated in this experiment is the Capillary Liquid CO2 Sorbent System, designed to remove CO2 from air using a liquid sorbent, and to regenerate the sorbent. The science component of the Capillary Sorbent experiment evaluates distribution of flow to and across open-air channels. The technology demonstration component includes demonstration of flow of a non-toxic sorbent ersatz, and demonstration of flow through proof of concept prototype.Item Development of a Foam Based Capillary Driven Brine Residual in Containment (BRIC) Processor(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Pensinger, Stuart; Weislogel, Mark; Viestenz, Kyle; Campbell, Melissa; Callahan, MichaelOne of the goals for the AES Life Support System (LSS) project is to achieve 98% water loop closure for long duration human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. Critical to this goal is development of a brine water recovery system that can extract the remaining 10 to 25% of the water left behind from primary urine and wastewater processing. For the last several years, NASA Johnson Space Center has been developing and evolving Brine Residual in Containment (BRIC) systems that are specifically designed to handle the corrosive and toxic residual chemicals added to stabilize the urine and protect hardware from fouling during collection and water recovery process. Since last reported at the 2016 International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), capillary-based BRIC concepts have continued to be evolved. The capillary-based BRIC (CapiBRIC) designs focus on the use of capillary forces in microgravity to manage fluid movement and phase separation within the BRIC device. This paper addresses the continued collaboration between the NASA Johnson Space Center and IRPI Inc. to evolve the CapiBRIC design from a radial veined capillary structure device (ICES 2016), to a thin film woven cell design and finally to a foam based CapiBRIC brine drying system. Design, testing, and manufacturing challenges as the system evolved will be discussed as part of the design evolution.