Pressure Controlled Heat Pipe Solar Receiver for Regolith Oxygen Production with Multiple Reactors

摘要

Oxygen from lunar regolith can be extracted to provide breathable oxygen for consumption by astronauts during long term stays on the Moon. The regolith is heated using concentrated solar energy to 1050°C, and then hydrogen is introduced that reacts with the regolith, extracting oxygen in the form of water vapor. After several hours, the regolith is dumped, and fresh regolith is added. To minimize mass, it is desirable to supply thermal energy to multiple reactors with a single concentrator. This paper discusses a system that uses Pressure Controlled Heat Pipes (PCHPs) to transfer heat to the multiple reactors from a single heat source. A PCHP permits active control over heat pipe operation by varying the gas quantity or the volume of the gas reservoir. The design and control scheme for the regolith processing system using PCHPs are complex. For this reason, four separate devices are being fabricated and tested and are reported in this paper: low-temperature, single-sided water/ Monel system, low-temperature, double-sided water/ Monel system, high-temperature, single-sided alkali metal/Haynes 230 system and a high-temperature, double-sided alkali metal/Haynes 230 system.