The Large Diameter Centrifuge, LDC, for Life and Physical Sciences and Technology
Abstract
Recently a new centrifuge has been developed to serve the life and physical science community in conducting hypergravity experiments in a very versatile environment. The Large Diameter Centrifuge, LDC, has a maximum diameter of 8 meters. On its four arms a total of 6 free swinging gondola can be accommodated. Each gondola has a capacity of an 80 kg. payload that can be exposed to 20g. Each gondola is equipped with a series of utilities for the payloads. It provides a 220V power line, data communication for both monitor and commanding based on RS-232 serial connection, Ethernet or USB protocols. Each gondola has a video connection and sensors for temperature and acceleration. Different gasses can be supplied to each gondola. The gondola can house various instruments such as furnaces or modules for combustion sciences, fluid or plasma physics studies. The facility is also outfitted for long duration animal studies for basic research and in preparation for long duration space flight / microgravity experiments. Therefore each gondola is provided with potable water and air lines and is draft and light tight. In addition, a central, on-axes, gondola is foreseen to serve as rotation control for the hypergravity animals. The facility is fully programmable. Both, rotation profiles as well as experiment monitoring and commanding is performed via standard Windows-based LabView protocols.
- Publication:
-
Life in Space for Life on Earth
- Pub Date:
- June 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008ESASP.663E..92V