ZERO GRAVITY PHASE SEPARATION VIA ULTRASONIC COALESCENCE

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES FOR INHABITED AND SPACE SUIT ENVIRONMENTS WILL REQUIRE INNOVATIONS IN BOTH ENVIRONMENTAL AND LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR A COMPACT, RELIABLE, LOW POWER TECHNIQUE TO SEPARATE GAS (E.G., AIR) FROM A WATER TRANSPORTLOOP IN A ZERO OR LOW GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT, FOR EXAMPLE, TO PREVENT WATER PUMP CAVITATION. WE ARE CURRENTLY INVESTIGATING THE USE OF ULTRASONIC COALESCENCE TO AGGLOMERATE AIRBORNE DUST PARTICLES TO A SIZE LARGE ENOUGH TO BE EASILY SEPARATED IN SIMPLE, INERTIAL SEPARATORS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING AN ULTRASONIC STANDING WAVE FIELD TO CAUSE COALESCENCE OF GAS PARTICLES IN A BULK FLUID SUCH AS WATER PRIOR TO SEPARATION IN INERTIAL SEPARATORS SUCH AS HYDROCLONES. PHASE I WILL EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH THROUGH PARAMETRIC STUDIES FORMULATED TO PROVIDE PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS ON THE COMBINED SYSTEM.