Quiet Fan Technology for Deep Space Missions, Year 1

To prove this technology for future exploration, a unique fan/blade combination will be co-developed for use in the ISS crew quarters. Although RotoSub's current state-of-the-art technology is successful in reducing the overall radiated noise by 10 dB or more, its capability is limited to reducing narrow-band tones using feedback control via a single modulation loop. Technical advancements to this state-of-the-art technology led by NASA will target improvements in fan blade movement by introducing a second modulation loop, and exploring the use of stiff/lightweight fan blade materials. Two crew quarter fans will be developed, and this technology will be used to investigate beat-frequency issues as well as overall noise reduction. Measurements within a Crew Quarter mockup and fan sound power testing will be used to quantify the decrease in acoustic emissions. Proving this technology in a space analog will be the first step in future flight hardware integration. Future studies could focus on demonstrating this technology in one of the ISS crew quarter's to further advance this technology for integration into the flight hardware that we will use to send humans to Mars and deep space.