Hollow-Fiber Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator

The hollow-fiber spacesuit water membrane evaporator (HoFi SWME) is being developed to perform the thermal control function for advanced spacesuits and spacecraft to take advantage of recent advances in micropore membrane technology in providing a robust, heat-rejection device that is less sensitive to contamination than is the sublimator. After recent contamination tests, a commercial-off- the-shelf (COTS) micro porous hollow-fiber membrane was selected for prototype development as the most suitable candidate among commercial hollow-fiber evaporator alternatives. An innovative design that grouped the fiber layers into stacks, which were separated by small spaces and packaged into a cylindrical shape, was developed into a full-scale prototype for the spacesuit application.