Performance of a Membrane-Based Condensate-Recovery Heat Exchanger

961356

07/01/1996

Event
International Conference On Environmental Systems
Authors Abstract
Content
The control of temperature and humidity in spacecraft cabins is a vital component of environmental-control and life-support systems. Separating the two phases (i.e., water and air) that result from cooling air for humidity control represents a major technical challenge in the microgravity environment of space.
With NASA funding, Bend Research has developed a membrane-based condensate-recovery heat exchanger (CRX) to address this challenge. The CRX offers substantial advantages in simplicity, reliability, mass, and volume over competing technologies. The high heat transfer and mass transfer in this device promise to provide superior humidity control without the need for complex mechanical separators. Moreover, these high transfer rates are achieved with minimal pressure drop, reducing power requirements.
In this paper, we review previous work to develop a mathematical model of the CRX and compare the performance of CRX modules during testing with the performance predicted by the model, as well as with the performance of conventional temperature- and humidity-control devices.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/961356
Pages
12
Citation
Newbold, D., McCray, S., Millard, D., and Ray, R., "Performance of a Membrane-Based Condensate-Recovery Heat Exchanger," SAE Technical Paper 961356, 1996, https://doi.org/10.4271/961356.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Jul 1, 1996
Product Code
961356
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English