Experimental Comparison of Novel Vapor Chambers for Heating and Cooling of Advanced Sorption Systems

On the International Space Station, both the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) and the 4-bed CO2Scrubber (4BCO2) are vital Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) component that uses zeolite to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from habitat air. This CO2 is typically ejected from the spacecraft, but technology developments such as the Sabatier reactor have found an onboard use for this waste CO2. Multiple novel vapor chambers have been designed to aid in this temperature-controlled operation to provide both the uniform heating of the zeolite bed for desorption and to rapidly cool the zeolite bed to prepare for the adsorption stage. A brief background of the design efforts will be discussed, and an in-depth experimental comparison of the designs will be provided. The thermal performance and fabrication of the designs will be explored, as well as the capture capacity of each zeolite bed with differing thermal systems.