Integrated Thermal Simulation of the Space Evaporator Absorber Radiator using TherMoS and V-SUIT

The Space Evaporator Absorber Radiator (SEAR) developed by Creare LLC, UTC Aerospace Systems and NASA is a novel technology for thermal control of spacesuits. It greatly reduces the amount of water lost through evaporative cooling by absorbing it into a lithium chloride bed. This process generates heat that needs to be radiated away from the spacesuit in order to maintain acceptable absorption rates. In contrast to the operation of current spacesuits, this creates a dependency between the spacesuit cooling system and the thermal environment in which the suit operates. In order to assess this dependency and the effect the thermal environment would have on this system, two dynamic simulation tools have been developed at the Technical University of Munich in the past years: The Thermal Moon Simulator (TherMoS) and the dynamic portable life support system (PLSS) simulation Virtual Space Suit (V-SUIT). Both tools are MATLABcircledR-based and spin-offs from the Virtual Habitat (V-HAB) project. V-SUIT can dynamically simulate space suit portable life support systems and their interaction with a detailed and dynamic human model. TherMoS provides information about the heat transfer between the space suit and its environment. To achieve this, a detailed thermal model of the lunar surface is created including three-dimensional features like craters and boulders. This paper describes the modeling of SEAR in V-SUIT and TherMoS and the validation of the model. The model is then incorporated into a spacesuit model and integrated thermal simulations of several static and dynamic scenarios with different thermal environments are performed. Results show the interrelations between SEAR performance and the dynamic thermal environment and provide insight into the possible operation of a SEAR-equipped spacesuit on the lunar surface.     «

The Space Evaporator Absorber Radiator (SEAR) developed by Creare LLC, UTC Aerospace Systems and NASA is a novel technology for thermal control of spacesuits. It greatly reduces the amount of water lost through evaporative cooling by absorbing it into a lithium chloride bed. This process generates heat that needs to be radiated away from the spacesuit in order to maintain acceptable absorption rates. In contrast to the operation of current spacesuits, this creates a dependency between the spaces...     »