ISRO gets Indian patent for LCHG human spacesuit
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Bengaluru, June 24: In a major development, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has got an Indian patent for its liquid cooling and heating garment (LCHG) human spacesuit. It is made up of biocompatible fabrics to provide a comfortable body temperature and removal of sweat in space.
The patent was granted on June 19 which is valid for 20 years from the date of application, that is, February 8, 2016. While ISRO is the patentee or patent owner, the four inventors are Srirangam Siripothu, Reshmi Balachandran, Saraswathi Kesava Pillai Manu, and Gurumurthy Chandrasekaran.
What is LCHG?
According to ISRO, the garment has superior heat transfer efficiency and can be conveniently used for maintaining the body temperature of the wearer at levels suitable for the physiological performance required. It means that the close-fitting long garment is used to remove body heat from the wearer in environments where evaporative cooling from sweating and open-air convection cooling does not work, or the wearer has a biological problem that hinders self-regulation of body temperature.
Features:
- The close-fitting, single-piece garment covers the body, torso, and limbs from neck to toe
- It weighs between 1,000 to 3,000 g and has a front-entry zipper to be worn inside over which the flight or the spacesuit is to be worn.
- It is provided with an outer layer made of polymeric fabric net and an inner layer of polymeric fabric tricoting, which comes in contact with the skin of the wearer.
- Both the layers are separated by several tubes configured to circulate a heat transfer fluid across the body through at least one inlet and at least one outlet connected to a valve for controlling the supply of the heat transfer fluid to and from the reservoir.
- It is used in space, military applications, fire fighting, and also for personal cooling and heating purposes for protection from hot and cold environments of industrial areas or in extreme temperature and humidity conditions that may exist in work environments.
- It has a system for circulating temperature controlling fluid into and out of the garments, for instance, through tubes inside the garment.
Meanwhile, ISRO is working on an ambitious project 'Gaganyaan' to send three air force pilots into space for a week as four Indian Air Force pilots are undergoing astronaut training in Russia.