Application of EcosimPro to Bio-regenerative Life Support Components

EcosimPro‘s capability to solve a problem domain that can be represented by Differential-Algebraic Equations (DAE) and discrete events, make it particularly attractive to model bio-regenerative life support systems. Components of the envisaged MELiSSA bio-regenerative life support system are driven by the adaptation of the biomass to changing environmental conditions, which could be of continuous nature, such as depletion or replenishment of nutrition, and discrete events, such as step changes in light fluxes and control interactions. The authors first present simulation results for a closed and an open loop bio-regenerative system. The simulations include the establishment of a quasi-steady state, reaction to step changes including a mass balance check, and the simulation of a controlled bioreactor. The results demonstrate the capability of this tool to model components of a bio-regenerative life support system, as well as an entire bio-regenerative life support system in the future. In addition, the EcosimPro simulation results were compared to results obtained with Matlab/Simulink. First results indicate a better handling of step changes by the EcosimPro software.

Keywords: EcosimPro, MELiSSA project, bio-regenerative life support, life support system modeling