The use of supercritical cryogenic storage of air will permit the economical supply of air for personnel engaged activities which require isolation from the environment. The supercritical storage allows delivery of the air in any attitude and prevents oxygen enrichment either in storage or in use. Because the air storage is at cryogenic temperature (- 180 degrees C), there is cooling available for the user as the air is used. This combination of the breathing air supply and body cooling is unique in this development process. A breathing system is under development on a Phase 11 SBIR from NASA/Kennedy, so here we will develop the potential of the SuperCritical Air Mobility Pack (SCAMP) for use in an isolation suit. The air must be warmed from the cryogenic storage to a breathable temperature which provides considerable cooling for the user. The tanks are smaller and lighter for a given use time which will make longer life systems possible. Phase I will be devoted to the determination of the particular aspects of use of the SCAMP in a closed Haz-Mat suit and to the interface of cooling to the suit. Phase II would be directed to the prototype development of a breathing/cooling system and its integration into the isolation suit. Phase III would be the qualification testing of the units.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: The SCAMP combined with body cooling will have many applications in the fields of hazardous material handling, fire/rescue, and chemical warfare applications. This unit will have uses anywhere in civilian/military applications where the person is either completely or partially isolated from the atmosphere.National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
