Assessment of the Impacts of ACLS on the ISS Life Support System using Dynamic Simulations in V-HAB
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Abstract
The Advanced Closed Loop System (ACLS) is currently under development by
Airbus Defense and Space and is slated for launch to the International Space
Station (ISS) in 2017. The addition of new hardware into an already complex
system such as the ISS life support system (LSS) always poses operational
risks. It is therefore important to understand the impacts ACLS will have on
the existing systems to ensure smooth operations for the ISS. This analysis
can be done by using dynamic computer simulations and one possible tool
for such a simulation is Virtual Habitat (V-HAB). Based on MATLAB ® ,
V-HAB has been under development at the Institute of Astronautics of the
Technical University of Munich (TUM) since 2004 and in the past has been
successfully used to simulate the ISS life support systems.
The existing V-HAB ISS simulation model treated the interior volume of the
space station as one large, ideally-stirred container. This model was improved
to allow the calculation of the atmospheric composition inside individual
modules of the ISS by splitting it into twelve distinct volumes. The virtual volumes are connected by a simulation of the inter-module ventilation flows.
This allows for a combined simulation of the LSS hardware and the
atmospheric composition aboard the ISS.
A dynamic model of ACLS is added to the ISS Simulation and different
operating modes for both ACLS and the existing ISS life support systems are
studied to determine the impacts of ACLS on the rest of the system.
The results suggest that the US, Russian and ACLS CO2 systems can operate
at the same time without impeding each other. Furthermore, based on the
results of this analysis, the US and ACLS Sabatier systems can be operated in
parallel as well to achieve a very low CO2 concentration in the cabin
atmosphere.
Description
United States
Technische Universität München
NASA Johnson Space Center
300
ICES300: ECLSS Modeling and Test Correlations
Vienna, Austria
Daniel Pütz, Technical University Munich, Germany
Claas Olthoff, Technical University Munich, Germany
Michael K. Ewert, NASA Johnson Space Center, USA
Molly S. Anderson, NASA Johnson Space Center, USA
The 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Vienna, Austria, USA on 10 July 2016 through 14 July 2016.