The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 21, 1992
Filed:
Oct. 15, 1990
Amulya L Athayde, Mountain View, CA (US);
Johannes G Wijmans, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Richard W Baker, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Membrane Technology & Research, Inc., Menlo Park, CA (US);
Abstract
A life-support system including a shelter, combined with equipment for sustaining a breathable atmosphere within the shelter. The breathable atmosphere is sustained by providing a supply of fresh air to the shelter, and removing carbon dioxide from the shelter. To provide the air supply, air containing a toxic agent is fed to a membrane separation unit. The membrane unit has a high selectivity to the permeation of oxygen over toxic agent and produces an oxygen-enriched permeate stream, while rejecting almost all of the toxic agent. The oxygen-enriched air is then passed through a unit containing a sorbent, such as activated carbon, to remove any remaining traces of toxic material before being fed to the shelter. The carbon dioxide content of the shelter air is kept below 1% either by sweeping the carbon dioxide away by maintaining a relatively high flow of air into and out of the shelter, or by withdrawing air from the shelter, treating it in a separate unit of equipment to remove carbon dioxide, and then returning the treated air to the shelter.