Development of a Plastic Melt Waste Compactor for Human Space Exploration Missions - A Progress Report

Pace, Gregory; Martin, Lockheed; Fisher, John W.; Delzeit, Lance; Alba, Richard; Polonsky, A. P.

doi:10.2514/6.2010-6010

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…For the Generation 1 HMC unit, Pace [4] provided a water recovery versus time plot of testing performed in 1-g, in both horizontal and vertical orientations. In both cases, it is thought that water pooled near the bottom of the trash, lessening the effectiveness of the wall to provide heat to the water.…”

Section: Microgravity Analysis For Use In Thermal Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the case of the HMC, the formula ( 3) is modified in Equation ( 5) to account for the different weight ratio (different densities) of the latent heat of water to the specific heat of the trash plus water. Per Pace [4], there exists 30% water by weight.…”

Section: √ (4)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 1 shows the nodal layout. Per the paper from Pace [4], 150 gm of water was contained within the 500 gm of trash, and available to be recovered. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics For most materials changing phase, the temperature of the material ideally remains constant during the phase change process.…”

Section: Thermal Desktop Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Thermal Desktop approach was compared to an exact analytical solution presented in Equations 4 and 5. The temperature and process pressures provided by Pace [4] were used, but were standardized to 60 °C as the water boiling point (which corresponds to a system pressure of 20 kPa) and 120 °C as the hot "wall" (piston and end cap) temperature.…”

Section: Thermal Desktop Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The thickness of the tile after final compaction is less than that during the water recovery portion of the process. Pace [4] provided a tile thickness versus time profile for the compaction process. This is shown in Figure 4 as the "piston displacement."…”

Section: Conductivity Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaporative Heat Transfer Mechanisms within a Heat Melt Compactor

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Section: Microgravity Analysis For Use In Thermal Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: √ (4)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thermal Desktop Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thermal Desktop Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conductivity Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaporative Heat Transfer Mechanisms within a Heat Melt Compactor

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Brine Evaporation Bag Design Concept and Initial Test Results

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An Assessment Of The Water Extraction Capabilities Of the Heat Melt Compactor

Alba

Harris

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et al. 2013

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The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC), a waste management technology developed at the NASA Ames Research Center, was designed to process waste generated aboard spacecraft. The device compacts, encapsulates and sterilizes the waste in preparation for onboard storage. In addition, the unit removes and recovers water, which is ultimately recycled 1 , rendering the encapsulated waste inhospitable to microbial contaminants. Initial studies indicate that the HMC is capable of removing and capturing 90 to 98% of the water contained in the process waste sample. 2 The nineteen experiments conducted at ARC described in this paper attempt to refine, quantify and define the limitations of the Heat Melt Compactor's dewatering and water collection capabilities. The amount of water in the initial waste sample was measured and found to be 19.04% by weight for batches made at ARC and 20.45% for those made at KSC. This was less than the percentage predicted from the standard waste model. The amount of water recovered and collected varied from 12.9 to 98.4% of initial water contained in the waste. For the six tiles tested, the amount of water remaining in the tiles after processing ranged from 6.97 to 37.67%. The water activity for five of these tiles averaged 0.472; all of these issues play a significant role in the survival and propagation of microorganisms. Water activity values below 0.6 inhibit microbial growth. Significant correlation was found to exist between Percent Water Recovery, Percent Expected Water Encapsulated in Tile and Water Activity, the latter two of which are inversely proportional to water recovered. Percent Water Recovery, since it is easily computed, can be used to predict the other two values.

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Development of a Plastic Melt Waste Compactor for Human Space Exploration Missions - A Progress Report

Cited by 7 publications

References 2 publications

Evaporative Heat Transfer Mechanisms within a Heat Melt Compactor

Evaporative Heat Transfer Mechanisms within a Heat Melt Compactor

Brine Evaporation Bag Design Concept and Initial Test Results

An Assessment Of The Water Extraction Capabilities Of the Heat Melt Compactor

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