TY - JOUR
T1 - Particle-size sorting system of lunar regolith using electrostatic traveling wave
AU - Adachi, M.
AU - Moroka, H.
AU - Kawamoto, Hiroyuki
AU - Wakabayashi, S.
AU - Hoshino, T.
PY - 2017/10/1
Y1 - 2017/10/1
N2 - A particle-size sorting system of lunar regolith using an electrostatic traveling wave is developed for In-Situ Resource Utilization on the Moon to extract indispensable resources from the regolith and realize long-term exploration. The regolith is sorted by utilizing a balance between the electrostatic and gravitational forces, which are determined depending on particle size, in vacuum conditions where the particles are not subjected to air drag. In this study, the effect of particle charge on the particle motion is confirmed by conducting model experiments and numerical calculations based on the distinct element method. In addition, it was experimentally demonstrated that particles less than approximately 20 μm in diameter were efficiently separated from the bulk of a lunar regolith simulant FJS-1 in a vacuum condition (∼1.5 × 10−2 Pa), and the performance of the size sorting system on the Moon was predicted by the numerical calculations. The system utilizes only the electrostatic force, and it does not require any gas, liquid, or mechanical moving parts.
AB - A particle-size sorting system of lunar regolith using an electrostatic traveling wave is developed for In-Situ Resource Utilization on the Moon to extract indispensable resources from the regolith and realize long-term exploration. The regolith is sorted by utilizing a balance between the electrostatic and gravitational forces, which are determined depending on particle size, in vacuum conditions where the particles are not subjected to air drag. In this study, the effect of particle charge on the particle motion is confirmed by conducting model experiments and numerical calculations based on the distinct element method. In addition, it was experimentally demonstrated that particles less than approximately 20 μm in diameter were efficiently separated from the bulk of a lunar regolith simulant FJS-1 in a vacuum condition (∼1.5 × 10−2 Pa), and the performance of the size sorting system on the Moon was predicted by the numerical calculations. The system utilizes only the electrostatic force, and it does not require any gas, liquid, or mechanical moving parts.
KW - Aerospace engineering
KW - In situ resource utilization
KW - Regolith
KW - Size sorting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85027493677&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.elstat.2017.08.002
DO - 10.1016/j.elstat.2017.08.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85027493677
VL - 89
SP - 69
EP - 76
JO - Journal of Electrostatics
JF - Journal of Electrostatics
SN - 0304-3886
ER -