A modular, multi-crew life support system and a method of assembling the system involve a fan to draw in ambient air. The system includes one or more assemblies that produce conditioned air from the ambient air, and a housing to support an oxygen source. The system also includes a port configured as an inlet from the oxygen source to augment the conditioned air, and a duct to disperse a result of augmenting the conditioned air as output air to support two or more occupants of an enclosure.

An exemplary single bed reversing blower adsorption based air separation unit is configured to follow the O.sub.2 load placed thereon by adjusting flow rates therethrough and power consumption. At least one and preferably multiple pressure sensors sense O.sub.2 pressure within an O.sub.2 storage region downstream of an adsorber vessel. These sensed pressures are utilized to generate control signals controlling flow rates at locations upstream of the compressor, such as at a reversible blower and an output compressor. Control loops for the blower and the compressor are independent of each other and have different time constants. Effective following of the O.sub.2 load is thus achieved without driving the air separation unit into operational conditions outside of design and also maintaining optimal power consumption for the O.sub.2 produced, such that efficiency is maintained over a large turndown ratio.

Entrained metal hydride particle are removed from a flow of hydrogen from a Mg-based hydride storage unit using not only a particle filter but improvements for reducing or eliminating drastic changes in flow. In addition to or alternative to removal of entrained metal hydride particles, methane produced by reaction of hydrogen with steel in a metal hydride system preferably operated above 350 C. is removed downstream of the Mg-based hydride storage unit using an adsorption cartridge, preferably containing activated carbon.

The invention relates to a method and control system to control the speed of a centrifugal compressor operating within a vacuum pressure swing adsorption process to avoid an operation at which surge can occur and directly driven by an electric motor that is in turn controlled by a variable frequency drive. The claimed method determines the optimal speed for operation of the compressor along a peak efficiency operating line of a compressor map thereof. Speed of the compressor is adjusted by a feed back speed multiplier when the flow or other parameter referable to flow through the compressor is below a minimum and a feed forward multiplier during evacuation and evacuation with purge steps that multiplies the feed back multiplier to increase speed of the compressor and thereby avoid surge.

The air separation unit includes a single adsorption bed downstream of a reversing blower and configured to operate on the principle of vacuum swing adsorption. An optimal ambient air pressure to vacuum pressure ratio within an adsorber vessel downstream of the reversible blower is identified. When the air separation unit is operated at ambient conditions where ambient air pressure is different, such as at higher altitude (or lower altitude) a pressure ratio across the blower when drawing a vacuum on the adsorption bed is maintained for optimal blower power to oxygen production performance. Time for recovery of the adsorption bed can also be modified due to the lower absolute pressure achieved within the adsorption bed when the pressure ratio across the blower is maintained. An ASU is thus provided which is optimized for performance at various different altitudes without requiring modification of equipment within the ASU.

A multi-unit system combines multiple single bed reversing blower vacuum swing adsorption air separation units together. The units feed a common O.sub.2 supply such as a system buffer tank. Demand is monitored and a number of individual units are brought online sufficient to meet demand. If demand exceeds supply, a further unit is brought online. If demand drops below supply by an amount greater than output of a single unit, then a longest operating unit is taken offline. The multi-unit system thus meets demand through utilization of multiple separate units in a highly redundant and highly reliable and scalable fashion.

A carbon capture system can include a plurality of CO.sub.2 thermal swing adsorption (TSA) beds. The plurality of CO.sub.2 TSA beds can include at least a first TSA bed, a second TSA bed, and a third TSA bed configured to capture CO.sub.2 within a capture temperature range and to regenerate the captured CO.sub.2 at a regeneration temperature range above the capture temperature range. The carbon capture system can include a plurality of valves and associated flow paths configured to allow switching operational modes of each of the first, second, and third TSA beds.

An oxygen production system (100) may include a main control module (120) and a molecular sieve module (140). The molecular sieve module (140) may include a molecular sieve configured to separate oxygen from air and a molecular sieve information unit. The molecular sieve information unit may be configured to store information of the molecular sieve. The main control module (120) may be configured to read, write and/or update the information of the molecular sieve stored in the molecular sieve information unit. The oxygen production system (100) may occupy small space, have good performance and a high oxygen production efficiency, and enable a user to obtain a more user-friendly experience.

Apparatuses and methods for providing carbon dioxide direct air capture (DAC) systems to improve energy efficiency, operability, and economic performance of DAC technologies based on several types of approaches including temperature swing adsorption (TSA), pressure swing adsorption (PSA), and moisture swing adsorption (MSA) are disclosed. In particular, DAC apparatuses including a first water extraction unit, a process unit comprising a second water extraction unit, a carbon dioxide capture unit, and a water release unit are disclosed. The present disclosure also provides a logic control system for a preconditioner for the proposed DAC apparatus, including a controller, and one or more control elements in communication with the fluid streams, where the controller is configured to adjust temperature, water content, or combination thereof of the second fluid stream, third fluid stream, or both to pre-determined ranges based on the cost to capture carbon dioxide on a net removal basis.

A pressure swing absorption apparatus, including: at least four beds that each include an absorbent material, wherein the at least four beds are configured to rotate and are grouped such that members of one group only have fluid interconnections with members of another group; and a control system that controls a flow rate of a fluid communication between at least two of the beds by adjusting a phase angle difference between the at least two of the beds.