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Onboard oxygen generation systems
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|November 1, 1981
Summary
Onboard oxygen generation systems (OBOGS) have advanced significantly, with high-purity fluomine systems meeting military standards. Future OBOGS development requires balancing aircrew needs with engineering feasibility.
Area of Science:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Materials Science
Background:
- Development of onboard oxygen generation systems (OBOGS) has evolved since the 1970s.
- Second-generation OBOGS concepts are now production-qualified, with ongoing evaluation of alternatives.
- Previous OBOGS technologies have undergone extensive ground and flight testing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the historical development of OBOGS.
- To assess the current state-of-the-art in OBOGS technology.
- To compare the capabilities and characteristics of different OBOGS concepts.
Main Methods:
- Review of high-purity fluomine systems developed for flight demonstration and production.
- Description of enriched air molecular sieve systems for laboratory and flight applications.
- Analysis of a permeable membrane-based aircraft oxygen enrichment concept.
Main Results:
- High-purity fluomine systems demonstrate greater compliance with current military oxygen standards.
- Enriched air systems offer advantages in reduced interface complexity.
- Various OBOGS concepts exhibit distinct capabilities and characteristics.
Conclusions:
- Future OBOGS development necessitates coordinated specification and hardware advancement.
- Optimizing OBOGS requires balancing physiological requirements with engineering feasibility.
- The goal is to develop systems that best meet aircrew metabolic oxygen demands.