CO2 Scrubber Bracket - PowerPoint Presentation

CO2 Scrubber Bracket The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly is the system that removes carbon dioxide from the Space Station atmosphere. Usually it works well and keeps the poisonous CO2 from building up in the station. However, sometimes it doesn’t run at its top efficiency and the CO2 levels get higher than normal. Over short periods of time this is not a problem but sometimes it takes a while for the crew to make the repairs or for parts to get to the station. The program would like to have a contingency method of scrubbing CO2 from the local air of the CQ to help crew rest better if the CDRA is working poorly. Design a bracket that will hold six zeolite packets in front of the CQ grill that will allow removal of CO2 from the air flow but not inhibit the flow.Design a bracket that will hold the temporary CO2 scrubbers in the Crew Quarters

There are 4 Crew Quarters in Node 2 Bay 5. They are a standard rack size (about the size of a large refrigerator) with a segment that extends into the isle way of the module called the Bump Out. The purpose of the Bump Out is to give the crew more internal space and to house the air circulation system.

The CQs are built such that there are two left Crew Quarters and two right handed. This shouldn’t matter for anything you are designing but it may explain some of the pictures you might see as being opposite what you expected. There are lots of space station tours that include the Crew Quarters on youtube.

Bump out being removed Exhaust grill from the inside foot area of the CQ

Air is pulled in through the front grill goes through a fan and then blows out past the crew’s face through a grill on the inside of the CQ. A second fan pulls air from the a grill by the crew’s foot area and sends the air back into the rest of the module. There is no added cooling or heating of the CQ air but the crew members are able change the fan speed to their liking.The problem is that the station gets more dusty than we expected. Most of this dust comes from the people themselves. This dust gets into the ducting of the CQ and causes problems with the air flow sensors. The ground support has had crew install a mosquito net like material on both the outside inlet grill and the inside inlet grill and it has done a good job of cutting down on the dust in the ducting but it was only intended as a temporary fix. Now we would like to have something that is a more permanent fix of the problem. Outside inlet grill

CO2 scrubber packets The packets will be 3”x3”x ¾” and filled with zeolite pellets that will be able to float around inside the packet as the air flow blows past and through the anodized aluminum and stainless steel packet. Zeolite is a mineral that is able to absorb CO2, it also absorbs water from the air. Once these packets have absorbed as much as they can, they need to be removed from your bracket and placed in a food warmer that can bake out the water and CO2 so the repaired CDRA system can remove the CO2. Once the packets have been baked out, they can be placed in plastic bags until they need to be used again. 3” 3” ¾”

Outlet grill This is the outlet grill on the inside of the CQ where the air coming in the CQ from the module would blow across the crew member’s face. This is the best place to install a bracket to hold the zeolite packets for removing the CO2. On the left is the fluorescent light the crew can dim as desired. There is also the steel semi circle that usually holds a cloth that can be used as a light shade (currently not visible). The grill itself has vertical vanes that can be rotated left or right and has two control knobs visible below the grill. The fan speed; hi, medium and low, is also visible in the center. There is no vertical control for the air flow as the engineering team didn’t want to adjust it down and then have CO2 build up around the crew’s head. The acoustic blankets around the grill are velcroed in place but may be able to be adjusted if needed. Vane controls Fan speed control

Looking aft This picture is for awareness of the space available. The light is fully visible in the center and the grill is visible in the upper right corner. The light shade is visible folded up in the baggie under the light. The small white boxes are emergency speakers and the switches on the left are for testing the emergency lights and audio. The left curved wall faces the outside of the station and the right wall has the doors for entering and exiting the CQ.Try to keep the profile of the bracket as small as possible to minimize the protrusion into the crew’s face. It would also be helpful if your bracket is easy to install and remove. Use the drawing also available on the in the same part of the HUNCH web site.

Looking up from floor This is a photo taken from the floor of the CQ looking up to the ceiling. The sleeping bag is on the left and the air outlet grill is at the top of the photo. The white wall at the bottom of the photo is curved and faces toward the outside wall of the station. When a crew member moves into this CQ for their stay, many of their personal belongings and photos will be placed on the curved wall.