Life Support and Protective Systems Design

DURATION: THREE DAYS
COURSE NO.: 1070

Some form of life support is necessary to enable humans to live in environmental conditions outside a narrow range of temperatures, pressures and other ambient environmental parameters. The most obvious forms of environmental protection are items such as wearing warm clothing when outdoors in a cold environment. The simplest environmental control systems are common air conditioning and heating equipment, which provide a comfortable thermal environment for human occupants. As humans venture into other more hostile environments, such as high altitude or deep diving underwater, the environmental control and protection requirements become more complex and difficult to meet. Humans currently live and work routinely in environments ranging from hyperbaric diving chambers pressurized to 30 atm to the Space Shuttle and space stations operating in low Earth orbit. Future space exploration missions will send humans far from Earth for months or years at a time with no possibility of routine resupply. The design and development of life support and protective equipment is highly multi-disciplinary since it requires an understanding of the human as an integral part of an artificial system as well as a background in the engineering disciplines necessary for hardware design and analysis. This course will provide the necessary introduction to human physiology and mathematical modeling of human responses to environmental stress in order to enable engineers to understand the human system which they are trying to protect. Environmental factors which are important in the design of a life support system will be introduced and related to the human requirements. Engineering topics critical to life support system design, such as heat and mass transfer and chemical processes used to accomplish various necessary functions, will be discussed. The course will conclude with a survey of the state of the art of human life support systems and an outline of current research and development topics.

COURSE MATERIALS:
Include extensive notes and reference materials.

The design of life support systems is a uniquely multi-disciplinary field that is not taught in any university. This course should be attended by technical professionals with an interest or need to improve their skills in life support system design and development, by users of such systems and by those responsible for specifying or operating human life support systems.

Critical aspects of human environmental physiology that are the basis for establishing life support and protective system requirements. Mathematical models of the human as an integral element of a system. Core relevant elements of mechanical and chemical engineering which lead to specific engineering aspects of life support system design. Examples of currently used systems.

1. Basic Human Requirements.
   

   Pressure, temperature, metabolism, heat and mass balance, human factors.

2. Environmental Parameters.
   

   Gas composition, thermal environment, radiation and other hazards.

3. Engineering Aspects of Life Support Systems Design.
   

   Heat and mass transfer, chemical processes.

4. Mathematical Modeling of Human Responses.
   

   Respiration, thermal, water balance.

5. Life Support Subsystems and Components.
   

   Thermal control, atmosphere control, waste and water management.

6. Examples of Life Support Systems.
   

   Space, underwater, aircraft.

7. Examples of Protective Equipment.
   

   Space suits, underwater, HAZMAT.

8. Exercises in System Design.
   

   Arctic, underwater, lunar base, Mars base, space suits.