Hydrogen-Based Energy Conservation System

The proposed Research and Development (R&D) efforts will involve optimization of the modular design and development of an advanced controls and data acquisition (DAQ) system that will enable the necessary performance enhancements (flow changes/spikes, inlet gas concentration changes) for NASA and non-NASA applications. Critical to the DAQ will be development of H2 sensor technology development tailored to the NASA applications for measuring H2 concentration in H2/He gas streams. The advanced control system will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) as AI is gaining acceptance in NASA and commercial process control applications. Modular design optimization. Starting with the modular baseline design established in HECS Phase II-E, the modular design will be optimized to incorporate shared subsystems (water, purifiers, other) that can integrate with more than one stack. Impacts on cost, cell stack configuration, system reliability, maintenance, and performance will drive the optimization. Advanced control system for optimized modular design. For the present modular configuration, each module has its own replicated control system. A major benefit for this system configuration is that the modules are near plug-n-play. But there is presently no provision to react to high transients in inlet gas flow rates or composition. Rapid changes to inlet gas flow conditions are not presently detectable and hence are a source of risk to stable performance and reliability. An advanced controls architecture to coordinate performance across all modules (not necessarily equivalent throughput for each module) for reliable operation will be devised and tested. Some basic control elements that utilize artificial intelligence will be incorporated. The work breakdown structure will include 5 tasks over a 9-month period of performance.

Recovery of gaseous helium (He) from H2/He gas streams for use in launch operations. Gaseous He is used to purge liquid hydrogen rocket fuel lines and a single launch may require about 106 std. ft3 of He. SKYRE’s H2RENEW can separate the hydrogen from a He/H2 mixture recovering high purity helium, thereby reducing NASA’s helium usage. NASA sites include Stennis Space Center (SSC), KSC, and MSFC. Other uses include separation of hydrogen for life support in manned space environments and resource utilization in Lunar or Mars bases.

Hydrogen is critical to Metal Heat Treating and Semiconductor Manufacturing. Skyre’s H2RENEW separates, compresses, and recycles unused H2 from these processes. Skyre has integrated an H2RENEW at a US semiconductor factory and at metal heat treating plants to obtain customer inputs for product commercialization. H2RENEW for these large global markets have synergies with NASA applications.

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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