Relatively Simple Atmospheric-CO2 Controller

An apparatus has been developed as a means of controlling the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in air in a closed or semiclosed environmental system. The apparatus takes CO2 from the air in a source chamber and supplies the CO2, at a regulated partial pressure, to the air in a sink chamber. In the original intended application, the chambers would be located aboard a spacecraft: the source chamber would be inhabited by crewmembers, and the sink chamber would be a plant-growth chamber. Apparatuses like this one could also be used to control pCO2 in research plant-growth chambers on Earth.