Re: Really large airlocks
- From: "Jeff Findley" <jeff.findley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:44:29 -0400
<wbogen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1153145846.963473.130190@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Some airlocks in lunar or O'Neill colonies will need to be huge, with
doors 10m or so across, to allow small ships, surface vehicles, large
cargo items to enter. I doubt these will look like the metal hatches
we're used to seeing.
Why not? What's wrong with that sort of design?
What possible designs are there?
I would suggest a flexible, kevlar-reinforced fabric door rolling down
like some current warehouse doors (which can close in seconds). The
edges would be riding in tracks/grooves and, once in closed position,
all four edges would be clamped and sealed. Reliability needs would
suggest more than one such door/membrane at each opening in case one
leaks or is ruptured. The greatest problem on Luna will probably be
the abrasive dust settling in the tracks.
The sealing mechanism here sounds more complex than a seal on an inwardly
opening conventional airlock door. The advantage of opening inward is that
the air pressure in the base puts a lot of pressure on the seal. Your
proposed design doesn't seem to do that, at least not that I can see.
Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)
.
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