Центробежные Дистилляторы В Системах Жизнеобеспечения Пилотируемых Космических Объектов

Abstract

The subject of the article is studying water regeneration systems in space flight conditions. The aim is to select the most appropriate method for providing astronauts with drinking water, especially in conditions of deep space missions. The tasks to be solved are: analysis of known technologies for wastewater treatment and liquid products of astronauts’ life, comparison of basic parameters of systems: productivity, specific energy consumption, etc. The main method of research is experimental, which help to obtain real performance indicators of the centrifugal vacuum distiller with a thermoelectric heat pump. The following results were obtained. Based on the analysis of known developments, it has been determined that centrifugal vacuum distillation is the most promising technology for the regeneration of water from the liquid waste in life support systems in space flight. The key factor in the choice of the best technology for pilot-controlled space missions is the maximum reliability of the system with minimal mass, dimensions, and low power consumption. The centrifugal vacuum distillers with three and five stages and several variants of energy recovery schemes based on the thermoelectric heat pump have been analyzed. The results of tests of a centrifugal vacuum distiller on urine and sewage mixtures are demonstrated. The advantages of the developed distiller in comparison with the analogue installed at the International Space Station are shown. Conclusions. The comparison of the technological schemes of the VCD (USA) and the centrifugal vacuum distiller (Ukraine), as well as the distillation units itself, demonstrates a lot of advantages of the water regeneration system based on the centrifugal vacuum distiller with the thermoelectric heat pump (THP): the absence of external pumps, the absence of a mechanical compressor, the lower influence of physical and chemical properties and temperature depression on the efficiency of the THP in comparison with the mechanical compressor, is more simple, and therefore more reliable, the design of the distillation unit. This allows us to conclude that this system is promising (especially after its modernization) for deep space missions with astronauts on board