Hello you all!

 

Water saving basins are long known and used for water transport. Explanations at Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_(water_transport)#Water_saving_basins

where I pinch RokerHRO's illustrations:

 

Descending operation

 

Ascending operation

 

The equivalent for airlocks, with several air tanks at varied pressures, is possible and sometimes useful, to save energy and accelerate the airlock operation while limiting the peak pumping power.

 

Is it already used? Highly possible. I didn't check that for long.

 

Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy

Looking at this concept, I am reminded of how Titan's atmosphere contains more than enough Hydrogen Cyanide in concentration to kill a person. You do not want this stuff on your suit, so this might be an excellent way to clean off spacesuits using a fluid that reacts Cyanide into harmless agents. I'm not sure water will do that, but maybe something resembling a dense fluid ('gel') or a series of different fluids?

Tanks are heavy.

Tanks are heavy.

So. . .?

Tanks are heavy but you could use inflatable reservoirs.

 

once when I was younger I thought that on say a moon base a U bend of water could provide a efficient an quicker airlock until I realized that as air pressure decreases so does the boiling point of water until it goes directly from ice to vapor. On somewhere like Titan it would freeze.

Tanks are heavy but you could use inflatable reservoirs.

 

once when I was younger I thought that on say a moon base a U bend of water could provide a efficient an quicker airlock until I realized that as air pressure decreases so does the boiling point of water until it goes directly from ice to vapor. On somewhere like Titan it would freeze.

I get the idea of a 'U-bend' airlock. Wouldn't it work if the astronaut enters it when it is full of fluid, then pumps out the fluid replacing it with either the outside atmosphere (Mars or Titan) or vacuum (Moon or Mercury)? The concept presented here seems aimed at reducing the 'pump-down' time by eliminating the need to pump out air, which is a power-hungry way to go. Fluids are better because they don't need to be pumped. Just open a floor drain to a tank positioned lower than the air lock and it runs out via gravity.

Tanks are heavy but you could use inflatable reservoirs.

 

once when I was younger I thought that on say a moon base a U bend of water could provide a efficient an quicker airlock until I realized that as air pressure decreases so does the boiling point of water until it goes directly from ice to vapor. On somewhere like Titan it would freeze.

 

 

To be fair, on Titan you would have to use a fluid that didn't freeze, just because water wouldn't work doesn't leave you with no options. At the temps of Titan there are other working fluids I am sure...