Analysis of the Impacts the Humidity Released by ACLS has on Other Systems and Crew Time Using V-HAB

Date

2017-07-16

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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. These risks can be mitigated through simulations prior to the installation of new hardware as possible issues can be identified before anything actually happens. In this paper the Matlab® based dynamic simulation tool Virtual Habitat (V HAB) will be used to analyze the impacts of ACLS on other LSS and also crew time. V HAB has been under development at the Institute of Astronautics of the Technical University Munich (TUM) since 2004 and in the past, has been successfully used to simulate the ISS life support systems. The amount of humidity that ACLS will release into the ISS atmosphere raises concerns on the impacts this will have on other systems and the required crew time. In a previous analysis, presented last year at ICES, ACLS was modeled together with the Air Revitalization System (ARS) of the ISS and a representation of the inter modular ventilation (IMV). Since the humidity is reprocessed by the water management systems of the space station it is necessary to include these systems in the simulation. Together with a new updated representation of the IMV this allows the prediction of where how much water will end up on the station. Additionally, the required crew time to empty water containers can be predicted as well. In order to get a better representation of the impact the humidity has on the carbon dioxide removal systems a new linear driving force model is used to include competitive absorption of water and carbon dioxide.

Description

Daniel Pütz, Technical University Munich, Germany
ICES300: ECLSS Modeling and Test Correlations
The 47th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in South Carolina, USA on 16 July 2017 through 20 July 2017.

Keywords

V-HAB, ACLS, Dynamic Simulation, Life Support Systems

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