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andyleap edited this page Aug 2, 2016 · 5 revisions

Air Composition

The air in a station or a ship needs to be carefully regulated to maintain a healthy balance of gasses and temperatures. Humans work best at (X units) of oxygen, and usually you'll want a diluent, like nitrogen, to reduce risk of fires. Waste products, like carbon dioxide, will need to be removed, and either reprocessed or disposed of.

Oxygen

Oxygen needs to be kept within a safe range. Too much and you will suffer from oxygen toxicity, too little, hypoxia. Oxygen can be made via hydrolysis of water, or via the Bosch reaction from CO2.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is the primary waste gas of humans. Too much will case carbon dioxide poisoning. Carbon dioxide can be removed via high pressure liquefaction, or via pressure swing adsorption. It can be converted into elemental carbon and oxygen via the Bosch process.

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is the primary diluent of choice, and used to reduce the risk of fire. Nitrogen is not normally consumed or produced, but may need occasional replenishment due to leaks and ruptures of the hull.

Air Monitoring

Pressure

A simple pressure gauge can be used to monitor the air pressure of a station or ship, and it is trivial to connect one to an HIC card to allow a DCPU to monitor air pressure.

Composition

While it is important to monitor pressure, it's not enough in most cases. Without knowing the levels of the various gasses, you risk inadvertently poisoning or suffocating yourself. Air composition can be measured with a standard gas chromatograph.

Gas Management

Pumping and Control

Gasses can be pulled from or pushed to the interior of a vessel via air vents. Proper pressure differentials to maintain flow can be provided by the use of pumps, and an array of valves can be used to control the flow of gasses. When allowing gasses to flow from a high pressure to a low pressure, a pump is not needed, but a valve is recommended.

Separation

Gasses can be combined relatively simply, but the separation is much more complicated. The standard system involves the liquefaction of the desired gas, and then separation of the liquid. The conditions of liquefying vary for each gas.

CO2

Carbon dioxide can be liquefied without the need of low temperatures by the relatively simple expedient of compressing the gas mixture to a sufficiently high pressure. The pressure required varies depending on temperature, but one point is at about 3379810 pascals and 0 degrees celsius.

Oxygen & Nitrogen

Oxygen and Nitrogen can be separated by cryogenic liquefaction. Nitrogen will liquefy at 63.18 degrees kelvin, and Oxygen at 54.36 degrees kelvin.

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