Solid and liquid waste drying bag
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
InventorsEric Litwiller, John A. Hogan, John W. Fisher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and system for processing waste from human activities, including solids, liquids and vapors. A fluid-impermeable bag, lined with a liquid-impermeable but vapor-permeable membrane, defining an inner bag, is provided. A vacuum force is provided to extract vapors so that the waste is moved toward a selected region in the inner bag, extracted vapors, including the waste vapors and vaporized portions of the waste liquids are transported across the membrane, and most or all of the solids remain within the liner. Extracted vapors are filtered, and sanitized components thereof are isolated and optionally stored. The solids remaining within the liner are optionally dried and isolated for ultimate disposal.
Claims6
A method for processing waste from human activities, the method comprising:
- providing a soft sided bag, having an outer layer that is liquid-impermeable and vapor-impermeable and having an inner membrane layer, defining an inner bag, that is liquid-permeable and vapor-permeable, where the outer layer and the inner layer have a common opening on at least one edge of the bag to receive waste material that includes waste vapors and at least one of waste liquids and waste solids;
- providing a vacuum source, having an associated vacuum pressure in a range of about 1-400 Torr;
- providing a port in the outer layer and providing a connection of the vacuum source to the port, to exert a vacuum force on material contained in the inner bag and to exert the vacuum force on material contained between the inner layer and the outer layer;
- allowing the vacuum force to move at least a portion of at least one of the waste liquids and waste solids toward a selected region in the inner bag;
- allowing the vacuum force to transport at least a portion of the waste vapors across the membrane layer and through the connection to the vacuum source;
- allowing at least a portion of the waste liquids, if present, to vaporize and to become vaporized waste liquids within the inner bag;
- and
- allowing the vacuum force to transport at least a portion of the vaporized waste liquids, if present, across the membrane layer and through the connection to the vacuum source.
A system for processing waste from human activities, the system comprising:
- a soft sided bag, having an outer layer that is liquid-impermeable and vapor-impermeable and having an inner membrane layer, defining an inner bag, that is liquid-permeable and vapor-permeable, where the outer layer and the inner layer have a common opening on at least one edge of the bag to receive waste material that includes waste vapors and at least one of waste liquids and waste solids;
- a vacuum source, having an associated vacuum pressure in a range of about 1-400 Torr;
- a port formed in the outer layer;
- a connection of the vacuum source to the port, to exert a vacuum force on material contained in the inner bag and to exert the vacuum force on material contained between the inner layer and the outer layer, wherein:
- the vacuum force moves at least a portion of at least one of the waste liquids and waste solids toward a selected region in the inner bag;
- the vacuum force transports at least a portion of the waste vapors across the membrane layer and through the connection to the vacuum source;
- at least a portion of the waste liquids, if present, is allowed to vaporize and to become vaporized waste liquids within the inner bag;
- and
- the vacuum force transports at least a portion of the vaporized waste liquids, if present, across the membrane layer and through the connection to the vacuum source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.