Intelligent Control of Product Gas Transfer for Air Revitalization

During the Phase III test of the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project, wheat was used to supplement air revitalization for a crew habitat. Carbon dioxide from the crew was transferred to a plant growth chamber containing wheat. Oxygen from the wheat was stored for crew respiration and waste incineration. The Three Tier (3T) control architecture was used to automate the transfer of gases between the plant and crew chambers. 3T automatically managed limited resources (oxygen) and selected among alternative control strategies. It easily integrated with heterogeneous data systems. Using 3T significantly reduced test engineer workload. This paper describes using 3T for air revitalization.