Plasma Sterilization and Safety for Space Industry
1. ENGR 4390 Intro to Plasma Engineering
Shawn Robinson
10/30/13
2. Forth state of Matter
Gas Breakdown
Ions
Electrons
Reactive Species
Neutral Atoms
3. Thermal Vs. Non-Thermal
AC/DC
Pressure Conditions
Neutral Atom Used
Plasma Jet
Configuration(above)
Corona Discharge (left)
4. Microbes in High Orbit
4.9 x 10(4) cells/ml
No Human resistance
Need to reduce colony
Closely related to
pathogenic species
Live cells(green)
damaged cells
(orange) brought
back from high
altitude
5. Plasma deposited silicon oxide films are found to
increase the permeation barrier of packaging
materials.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is an important
polymer for packaging applications and is
established for various kinds of packaging
solutions like bottles, containers, or foils
6. CCP, Microwave power is applied pulsed
within 1 ms ≤ ton ≤ 24 ms
volume of up to 6 L
Plasma consisting of hydrogen, nitrogen, and
oxygen
7. SiOx layer
Repeated use for sterilization
Deposit layers or kill cells
8. Shuttles entering and leaving the atmosphere
can collect these microbes
To reduce the chances of contamination
protective coating can be applied
Plasma sheet coatings
9. The thermal spray is atmospheric microwave
plasma that operates at 2.46 GHz
Argon and Nitrogen (primary gas)
Hydrogen and Helium (secondary gas)
10. Deposit layers without damaging parts
Deposition rates are very high in comparison
to alternative coating technologies
tungsten (melting point 3400°C) is
sprayed onto aluminum (melting
point 660°C) without melting the
aluminum
11. Plasma has very many applications in space
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