Centrifuge with lying test person
With the Short-Arm Human Centrifuge (SAHC) in Cologne – provided by the ESA – artificial gravity will be created to afford fun-damental research in medicine and human physiology. The main focus is on the possibili-ty to extend e.g. bed-rest studies to test methods of artificial gravity based counter-measures for medical risks due to weight-lessness.
Max. radius at outer perimeter
2,8 m
Max. centrifugal acceleration (foot level, test subject height 185 cm)
4.5 g
Min. centrifugal acceleration (foot level, test subject height 185 cm)
0,07 g
Max. g-alteration rate (foot level, test subject height 185 cm)
0,325 g/s
Min. g-alteration rate (foot level, test subject height 185 cm)
0,054 g/s
Max. revolution of centrifuge rotor (software limit)
39 rpm
Min. revolution of centrifuge rotor
4.8 rpm
Number and type of nacelles
2 beds 2 seats
Max. overall payload
550 kg
The nacelles can easily be adjusted (without use of tools) to accommodate persons safely and comfortably of all sizes (between 10 percentile Japanese female and 90 per-centile Caucasian male). Test persons can sit (seat), lie down flat supine or in "su-pine seated" position (bed). The rotor is specially designed to transfer test persons from hospital beds and trolleys (for bed rest studies). After being loaded with the test persons, the nacelles can easily be positioned in differ-ent settings with integrated mechanisms (no tools) so that acceleration gradients can be personalised:
The nacelles have local "dark environments" to eliminate external visual stimuli (in order to avoid motion sickness). These (removable) dark environments provide also following features:
The control room provides easy control and monitoring of the centrifuge. It even allows the operator and scientists to run automated sequences and automatically combine centrifuge parameters with scientific results. Computers on the centrifuge can be remote controlled via Ethernet.
The centrifuge rotor standard provides medical health monitoring, including heart rate, 5-lead ECG, non invasive blood pressure, respiratory indices, O2 saturation, etc. It furthermore has all provisions for experiment specific (co-rotating) scientific equipment, such as 230V AC power (8 outlets) and Ethernet (6 outlets). It carries two ruggedized industry grade computers connected to an Ethernet infrastructure (2 Cat5 and 1 WiFi link between the control room and the centrifuge).
The complete system is safeguarded with a certified Class III safety system (5 hardwired Emergency Stops + Safety PLC, 100% redundant motor speed control, etc.)
All safety features, such as medical monitoring, standard operating safety procedures, surveillance cameras, emergency stop buttons, centrifuge room access door interlocks, etc. are an integral part of the installation.
Control station (Quelle: DLR/Markus Steur)