Talk:Suitport

Info

 * A Japanese patent published on January 22nd, 1979 with a patent application #: 54-8297 used a suitport in conjunction with a radiation suit. I haven't been able to find this patent, I've only found a reference to it in Cohen's.


 * Hubert C. Vykukal filed a patent for an "Weightlessness simulation system" invention that used a suitport in October 1986. http://www.google.com/patents/US4678438


 * Earliest mention of the word "suitport" I could find was in April 1987.http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19870014631_1987014631.pdf


 * Marc M. Cohen filled a patent for a "Suitport extra-vehicular access facility" in October 1987. This seems to be the first patent to suggest to use a suitport with a spacesuit. http://www.google.com/patents/US4842224

--Craigboy (talk) 14:12, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48PVtI3lJGE&feature=plcp

Z-1 prototype spacesuit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d__xlXqYFZc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH93FSS8ZOQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tDuwIu_b9g

Dust can enter a vehicle through the suitport.
The suit of the suit port, when in the hazardous environment, comes into contact with that environment. When the suit is then attached to the vehicle port there is an interstitial volume between the hatch that seals the suit and the hatch that seals the vehicle. The whole system includes "a system for purging the interstitial volume between the regions sealed by said first, second, third and fourth seals".(patent description) The source of gas and vacuum used for purging the interstitial volume might not remove some bits of the hazardous environment from the back of the suit before the hatch in the vehicle is opened prior to opening the hatch on the back of the suit. What the suitport would do would be to reduce dust transported from the suit into the vehicle, not eliminate it. Further, there is no explanation of what is done with the purge gas or where dust carried away by the purge gas ends up. This is a good example of a case in which a primary source is not as good as a secondary source for information in Wikipedia. The patent description is hard for most Wikipedians to understand and is presented by a source biased to give the impression of an effective device. - Fartherred (talk) 04:32, 28 July 2013 (UTC) commas added - Fartherred (talk) 02:26, 3 August 2013 (UTC) - word "to" added, pardon me - Fartherred (talk) 15:04, 18 October 2020 (UTC)


 * You're missing the point: in normal usage, the interstitial volume never comes in contact with vehicle internal volume: when the suitport is not used, the suitport's back seal and the vehicle hatch remain coupled, keeping whatever dust could settle on the backpack trapped in the interstitial volume. Only when maintenance work on the suit's backpack is needed, the seal between the backpack and hatch is dehermetized and dust might enter the vehicle. Sharpfang (talk) 12:40, 15 May 2017 (UTC)


 * No, is right.  The volume being discussed is not the one between the PLSS and the hatch cover, but rather a very small one between the various seals.
 * A suitport has four rings which seal to each other in various combinations. There is an "inner" pair which make up the suit and backpack, surrounded by an "outer" pair which make up the hatch.  Each pair consists of an "inboard" part which opens to allow someone to enter the suit, and an "outboard" part which is less movable.  Specifically, they are:
 * Outer outboard ring: Bulkhead hatch ring. Seals to suit ring (#4) when suit is docked.
 * Outer inboard ring: Hatch cover ring. Seals to preceding when the hatch is closed.
 * Inner inboard ring: Life support backpack ring. Seals to preceding when suit is docked.
 * Inner outboard ring: Suit ring. Seals to preceding when suit is closed.
 * These may, in a simple mental model, be thought of as arranged in a square, which comes apart either horizontally or vertically. There is a small +-shaped volume in the middle of that square which communicates between the outside and inside each time the suitport is cycled.  While the gaps can be made quite tight, they cannot be eliminated.
 * The patent is citing is about applying the suitport concept to hazmat cleanup, and some materials are much more hazardous than dust, so this small volume may be of concern. 92.119.17.10 (talk) 21:32, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay, if we're talking about the (minuscule) surfaces between the inboard and outboard rings, it's true even that little can cause serious problems in severely toxic environment or in presence of microbial contaminants. I'm looking mainly at space applications where this isn't such a problem - the small amounts of exposed dust will be entirely harmless, and my point stands, that bulk of it (on the back of the suit as mentioned by ) remains safely sealed in the volume between the hatch and the life support backpack. Sharpfang (talk) 22:16, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

This seems like an important subtlety to mention in the article, if it can be well sourced. Thanks for looking into it! — swpb T&#8201;•&#8201;go beyond&#8201;•&#8201;bad idea 19:12, 16 October 2020 (UTC)