Break

Polymer membranes have promise to reduce the cost of separating carbon dioxide after the burning hydrocarbon based fuels. Humidity often changes membrane properties due to a phenomenon called plasticization that often reduces the selectivity and performance of a membrane. In the Moon lab, we are interested in understanding how humidity impacts gas transport mechanisms in facilitated transport membranes. This requires equipment capable of measuring gas permeabilities of newly synthesized materials under controlled humidity conditions.

I am designing and constructing a custom, automated system to monitor the effect of humidity on the gas permeability of membranes synthesized in our lab. I am designing a hardware controller with a graphical user interface (GUI) with the goals of ease, safety of operation and automated data collection that requires minimal user input. Pre-scripted routines will allow for batch measurements of membrane gas permeability as a function of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. The real time data the system generates will be interpreted, displayed, and logged for further analysis. The operator of the system needs to be capable of both manually controlling pneumatic valves within the system and running pre-set procedures that control the valves. Additionally, valve operation needs to have software interlocks implemented to ensure the safety of the operator cannot be compromised. Finally, the GUI needs to be capable of displaying real time data and ensuring ease of access to any operator of the system.