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Energy Efficient Microlith-Based Catalytic Reactor and Recuperator for Air Quality Control ApplicationsPrecision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have been developing, characterizing, and optimizing high temperature catalytic oxidizers (HTCO) based on PCI’s patented Microlith technology to meet the requirements of future extended human spaceflight explorations. Previous efforts focused on integrating PCI’s HTCO unit with a compact, simple recuperative heat exchanger to reduce the overall system size and weight. Significant improvement was demonstrated over traditional approaches of integrating the HTCO with an external recuperative heat exchanger. While the critical target performance metrics were achieved, the thermal effectiveness of PCI’s recuperator remained a potential area of improvement to further reduce the energy requirements of the integrated system. Using the same material combinations and an improved recuperator design, the redesigned prototype has experimentally demonstrated 20 – 30% reduction (flow dependent) in steady state power consumption compared to the earlier prototype without compromising the destruction efficiency of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Moreover, design modifications and improvements allow our redesigned prototype to be more easily manufactured compared to traditional brazed plate-fin recuperator designs. The redesigned prototype was delivered to MSFC for validation testing. Here, we report and discuss the performance of the improved prototype HTCO unit with a high efficiency recuperative heat exchanger based on testing at PCI and MSFC. The device is expected to provide a reliable and robust means of disposing of trace levels of methane and VOCs by oxidizing them into carbon dioxide and water in order to maintain clean air in enclosed spaces, such as crewed spacecraft cabins.
Document ID
20170008927
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Vilekar, Saurabh A. (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Hawley, Kyle (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Junaedi, Christian (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Crowder, Bruce (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Prada, Julian (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Mastanduno, Richard (Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT, United States)
Perry, Jay L. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Kayatin, Matthew J. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
September 22, 2017
Publication Date
July 16, 2017
Subject Category
Inorganic, Organic And Physical Chemistry
Space Transportation And Safety
Fluid Mechanics And Thermodynamics
Report/Patent Number
M17-6236
ICES-2017-216
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) 2017
Location: Charleston, SC
Country: United States
Start Date: July 16, 2017
End Date: July 20, 2017
Sponsors: UTC Aerospace Systems
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNM14AA05C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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