The Challenge:
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) recently came to Air Innovations® to design and manufacture a mobile thermostatting unit (MTU) [also known as a portable environmental control system]. This MTU would need to condition 100% of the air for the payload and would be exposed to ambient conditions of -15° to 33°C (5°-91°F) while maintaining temperature control of 8° to 32°C ±1°C (46°-90°F ±2°F). The dewpoint of delivered air would need to be held to 6.5°C or less, despite the ambient inlet air having dewpoints as high as 25°C. This environmental control unit would also require the supply air to be delivered at a range of airflows and at a very high static pressure.
The Solution:
The portable environmental control system (PECS) maintains the payload of rockets from transport to pre-launch to final countdown and is designed to control temperature to 8°-32°C to within ±1°C (46°-90°F ±2°F) using entirely once-thru air. This system achieves the airflow requirements with an output capacity of 1,000-1,500 CFM and a static pressure of 20” WC. Dewpoint levels of the inlet air are held to 6.5°C or less. One of the biggest features of this unit is the inclusion of high-level programming. An auto-tuned PID loop controller provides automatic temperature variance correction which can be manually set by a user. Ethernet connectivity is provided to create a connection between all controls and the user.
The Result:
- A mobile thermostatting unit that maintains the payload of rockets from transport to pre-launch to final countdown
- Temperature control between 8°-32°C to within ±1°C
- Dewpoint control of the inlet air to 6.5°C or less
- Airflow capacity of 1,000-1,500 CFM using once-thru air
- 20” WC of static pressure
- Variable speed scroll compressors
- 30kW electric re-heater
- HEPA filtration to meet ISO class 7
- Rain hood & deflectors and salt-environment protective coatings
If you are interested in seeing more case studies for the aerospace industry, view the items below. If you would like to see case studies for other industries, view our general case studies page. We also have whitepapers available covering the aerospace industry, the semiconductor industry, and our Micro Environments product line. These whitepapers can be found here.