NASA SBIR 2018-II Solicitation

Proposal Summary


PROPOSAL NUMBER:
 18-2- H4.01-6512
PHASE 1 CONTRACT NUMBER:
 80NSSC18P1963
SUBTOPIC TITLE:
 Advanced Space Suit Portable Life Support System (PLSS)
PROPOSAL TITLE:
 Low Pressure Drop Oxygen Flow Meter for the PLSS
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Space Lab Technologies, LLC
5455 Spine Road, Suite ME
Boulder, CO 80301
(720) 745-9321

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Adam Escobar
adam@spacelabtech.com
5455 Spine Rd, Ste ME
Boulder, CO 80301 - 3312
(720) 309-8475

BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Christine Escobar
chris@spacelabtech.com
5455 Spine Rd, Ste ME
Boulder, CO 80301 - 3312
(720) 309-8475

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :
Begin: 4
End: 6
Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)

The portable life support system (PLSS) of the advanced extravehicular mobility unit (AEMU) provides the necessary environment for a crew member to operate within the space suit.  Within the PLSS, the oxygen ventilation loop provides carbon dioxide washout, gas temperature control, humidity control, and trace contaminant removal.  Historically, there have been issues with the measurement of air flow for the oxygen ventilation loop.  With the Apollo EMU, there were humidity issues with the implemented flow meter.  For the Space Shuttle/ISS EMU, the flow sensor was a flapper/microswitch combination that only measured a discrete threshold for flow.  The proposed innovation allows for continuous air flow measurement from 1 to 8 acfm with static pressures of 3.5 to 25 psia in the pure oxygen environment.  This new method meets the low pressure drop requirement and allows operation beyond low earth orbit (LEO) with radiation hardened electronics.  An engineering demonstration unit (EDU) will be developed during Phase II.

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
  • PLSS Ventilation Loop O2 Flowmeter
  • ECLSS O2 Flowmeter
  • GOX Flowmeter for Thrusters
  • Crop Production Systems for Crew Food
  • Space Science & Biological Investigations
  • Harsh Environment Flowmeter
  • Harsh Environment Differential Pressure Transducer
Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
  • Commercial Space ECLSS
  • Commercial Spacesuits
  • Commercial GOX Flowmeter for Thrusters
  • Industrial Gas Processing Plants
  • Aircraft & Submersibles
Duration: 24

Form Generated on 05/13/2019 13:32:00