CO2 Compressor Requirements for Integration of Space Station Carbon Dioxide Removal and Carbon Dioxide Reduction Assemblies

This paper describes the analysis on integration requirements, CO₂ compressor in particular, for integration of Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) and CO₂ Reduction Assembly (CRA) as a part of the Node 3 project previously conducted at JSC/NASA. A system analysis on the volume and operation pressure range of the CO₂ accumulator was conducted. The hardware and operational configurations of the CO₂ compressor were developed. The performance and interface requirements of the compressor were specified. An existing Four-Bed Molecular Sieve CO₂ removal computer model was modified into a CDRA model and used in analyzing the requirements of the CDRA CO₂ compressor. This CDRA model was also used in analyzing CDRA operation parameters that dictate CO₂ pump sizing. Strategy for the pump activation was also analyzed.