Patent Publication Number: US-2006005474-A1

Title: Emergency safe haven

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to an emergency safe haven for use in terrestrial and space environments.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Dangerous environmental conditions can arise from a variety of sources. Perhaps the most familiar are situations involving military conflict where chemical agents, smoke, radioactive particles, and biological pathogens are deliberately released into the atmosphere to injure people.  
      In response to this threat, a number of countermeasures have been developed to protect people from expose to these dangerous conditions. Most notably, there are contamination resistant suits that can be worn, which allows a person a level of mobility combined with a degree of safety from expose to dangerous elements.  
      While these suits have proven to be invaluable, the suits do have some drawbacks. A person needs time put on an environmental protective suit. Depending on the type of suit, dressing can take a substantial amount of time. Should a person be in a battlefield environment, there might not be enough time before being lethal exposure. Also, a self-contained suit has a limited supply of oxygen and no way to allow a person to eat or drink. This severely restricts the applicability to the suit to a short-term application. Furthermore, in many situations, mobility is not an issue and using a suit is more restrictive than necessary.  
      Military situations are not the only way the release of an airborne contaminant can threaten human life. The release could be accidental. This can happen, for example, in laboratory settings and transportation accidents resulting from train/truck wrecks containing hazardous materials. In these situations, there is usually not enough time for a person to use a protective suit.  
      While these situations focus on the terrestrial release of contaminants, life-threatening situations can occur beyond Earth.  
      Manned spacecraft are designed to provide a variety of life support features that are not endemic to extra-terrestrial environments known to date. These features include providing, among other things, a source of oxygen, water, food and environmental controls, e.g. temperature and pressure.  
      These artificial environments can support human life, but there are risks associated with a spacecraft in an extra-terrestrial environment. For example, a spacecraft&#39;s hull can be breached in a number of ways. Bombardment by space debris traveling at high velocities, normal wear from exposure to high levels of radiation, and accidents occurring from within the spacecraft are but a few such examples.  
      When the integrity of a spacecraft&#39;s hull is compromised, air can escape from the craft. This loss of air creates a potentially life threatening situation for the crew. One way to address this problem is for the crew to fix the leak. However, there could be situations where the leak is not easily located or repaired. In such circumstances, the crew could put on a space suit.  
      The downside to this procedure is that it typically takes a long time to get suited up and conventional space suits have a limited air supply and a crewmember cannot eat from within a space suit. Furthermore, if the emergency requires each crewmember to use a suit, there may not be enough room for everyone in a suit to move around or even wear a suit in the confines of a spacecraft.  
      If the rate of air loss is too great, or a repair is not practical, then the crew needs an alternative to a space suit.  
      Whether on Earth or extra-terrestrially, there arise times of emergency where every second counts and a person must resort to a habitable environment. In those times of emergency, what is needed is a safe haven that is rapidly deployable, can accommodate a number of people, and provides an air supply for more than a short period of time.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An emergency safe haven is claimed. The emergency safe haven has a crew compartment and an anteroom connected to one another, each having a closure and each having a compacted shape and an expanded shape. When the crew compartment and anteroom is in an expanded shape, a crewmember can enter the anteroom through the anteroom closure and move into the crew compartment through the crew compartment closure. An air supply provides a breathable atmosphere for the inhabitants of the crew compartment and the anteroom. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional side view of the emergency safe have in a compacted shape;  
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional side view of the emergency safe haven in an expanded shape;  
       FIG. 3  is cross-sectional view of the outer shell and the inner shell;  
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a closure;  
       FIG. 5  is a frontal view of a closure; and  
       FIG. 6  is a frontal view of a closure. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The present invention may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.  
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of an emergency safe haven  10  in a compacted shape. There is an anteroom  12  having an interior volume  14  and a crew compartment  16  that also has an interior volume  16 . Also present is a pressurized gas reservoir  20 , an air supply  22 , a food source  24 , and a water source  26 .  
      Turning to  FIG. 2 , the emergency safe haven  10  is in an expanded shape. A gas reservoir valve  21  is connected between the pressurized gas reservoir  20  and to the internal volumes  14  and  16 . Upon activation of the gas reservoir valve  21 , gas is released from the pressurized gas reservoir  20  into the internal volumes  14  and  16 . Activation of the valve  21  may be done by any number of well-known means including an electrical switch or a manual lever.  
      In one embodiment, the valve  21  only allows gas to enter the volumes  14  and  16  if the pressure in either volume falls below a specified amount. In conjunction with this embodiment, a one-way valve  23  allows gas to enter into the anteroom volume  14  from the crew compartment volume  16 . Thus, when a crewmember enters the anteroom, the pressure in the anteroom would drop and activate the valve  23  that in turn reduces the pressure in the crew compartment and then the valve  21  would allow gas to enter the crew compartment to replenish the escaped gas. This is the preferred embodiment.  
      In another embodiment, the valve  21  would be connected to the crew compartment and also linked to the anteroom by a tube  25 . Gas would be allowed to flow from the pressurized gas reservoir  20  to either the crew compartment or the anteroom to compensate for a drop in pressure.  
      With the gas valve  21  activated, the anteroom  12  and the crew compartment  16  inflate to the expanded state. During the inflation, the anteroom closure  30  and the crew compartment closure  32  are in the closed position.  FIG. 2  identifies the closures  30  and  32  as being open only to identify the location of the closures relative to the safe haven  10 .  
      The air supply  22  can take a number of forms. In one embodiment, the air supply  22  can be a system that re-circulates and purifies the air within the safe haven. In the preferred embodiment, the air supply  22  can be a compressed air source. The air within the safe haven would be expelled out of the safe haven as the Oxygen was depleted and more air would be provided by the compressed air source. In another embodiment, air external to the safe haven could be filtered and provided to the occupants and the depleted air would then be vented from the safe haven. Air flowing to and from the safe have would be moved through a valve  28 .  
       FIG. 3  identifies the fabric outer shell  34  and the air barrier inner shell  36  that is used to house the crew compartment and the anteroom. The air barrier inner shell  36  provides a substantially airtight barrier. The fabric outer shell  34  transfers the pressure load on the air barrier  36  and provides a measure of protection against external damage to the air barrier. The material of the outer shell  34  can be chosen to provide a level of protection against corrosive chemicals. The material for the outer shell  34  can also be chosen to reduce contamination to the occupants of the safe haven by radioactive substances.  
      In an extraterrestrial environment, the fabric outer shell can be a high performance fiber such as Vectran®, which is the preferred embodiment. The air barrier inner shell  36  is made of a low permeability material. In the preferred embodiment, for an extraterrestrial application, Cepac® HD-200 is the preferred material.  
      Depending upon the application, for example on Earth, a thicker and more rugged flooring material may be used to protect the inner shell  36 . In this environment the preferred coating material would be a layer of polyurethane.  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , the anteroom closure  38  is displayed in an open position. The closure  38  can be secured in place by the use of attachment means such as a zipper, snaps, slide fasteners, Velcro®, or a semi-adhesive material. In the preferred embodiment, a zipper is used around the closure&#39;s periphery  40 .  
      Once closed, the anteroom closure  38  covers the access port in a substantially airtight manner by a variety of means that prevent contamination from entering the anteroom through any openings on the closure&#39;s periphery  40 . In one embodiment, a flap  42  can be released to cover the closure and the periphery  40 . In  FIG. 5 , the closure is shown in the closed position. The flap  42  covers the closure  38 . The edge of the flap  42  has an adhesive strip that secures the flap to the inside surface of the anteroom  46 . This adhesion provides a substantially airtight barrier between the flap  42  and the surface of the anteroom  46  thereby reducing the chance of contaminants entering the anteroom from the closure periphery.  
      In  FIG. 6 , an alternate method for providing a substantially airtight barrier is presented. A strip  48  is attached to the anteroom surface  46  such that a portion of the strip overlaps the periphery of the closure  40 . The overlapping portion of the strip has an adhesive surface that faces the anteroom surface  46 . When the closure is in the closed position, the adhesive surface of the strip is placed into contact with the anteroom surface  46 . This provides a substantially airtight barrier. Such an arrangement is the preferred embodiment.  
      The adhesive is not so strong as to be a permanent adhesive. Rather, it is strong enough to secure the flap or strip to the surface of the anteroom and yet can be removed and reapplied without significant loss of adhesive power.  
      The closure for the crew compartment operates in the same fashion as explained for the anteroom.  
      Inflation can be accomplished by electrical or mechanical activation of the valve  21  of  FIG. 2 . Once inflated, a crewmember can gain access to the anteroom volume  14  of  FIG. 2  by opening the anteroom closure  30  and moving into the volume  14 . The closure  30  is closed and made substantially airtight by the means identified in  FIGS. 5 and 6  as discussed above. The crewmember can open the crew compartment closure  32  and move into the crew compartment volume  16 . Then crew compartment closure  32  is then closed and made substantially airtight in the same way as for the anteroom closure. Once inside of the crew compartment volume  16 , the occupant can activate the air supply by now means including electrical or mechanical activation.  
      A novel emergency safe haven has thus been described. It is important to note that many configurations can be constructed from the ideas presented. Thus, nothing in the specification should be construed to limit the scope of the claims.