n.
- An airtight chamber, usually located between two regions of unequal pressure, in which air pressure can be regulated.
- A bubble or pocket of air or vapor, as in a pipe, that stops the normal flow of fluid through the conducting part.
| Dictionary: air lock |
| 5min Related Video: air lock |
| Architecture: air lock |
1. A space which is designed to isolate an air conditioned space from another space to which it is connected.
2. In a pump or piping system, the stoppage of flow resulting from the presence of trapped air.
3. An enclosure with control doors between two rooms that permits the ingress and egress from one room to another while permitting minimal air movement between rooms.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: air lock |
| Wine Lover's Companion: air lock; airlock |
A device made of glass or plastic and designed to prevent wine contamination and to release carbon dioxide gas during fermentation. The air lock fits into the top of the vessel containing the fermenting wine and is filled about halfway with water. As the carbon dioxide gas builds up during fermentation, it forces its way through the water barrier and out of the container. Outside air doesn't have enough pressure to force its way into the air lock so the wine is protected from outside contaminates.
| Wikipedia: Airlock |
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it. The lock consists of a small chamber with two airtight doors in series which do not open simultaneously.
An airlock may be used for passage between environments of different gases rather than different pressures, to minimize or prevent the gases from mixing.
An airlock may also be used underwater to allow passage between an air environment in a pressure vessel and a water environment outside, in which case the airlock can contain air or water. This is called a floodable airlock or an underwater airlock, and is used to prevent water from entering a submersible vessel or an underwater habitat.
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Before opening either door, the air pressure of the airlock—the space between the doors—is equalized with that of the environment beyond the next door to open. This is analogous to a waterway lock: a section of waterway with two watertight gates, in which the water level is varied to match the water level on either side.
A gradual pressure transition minimizes air temperature fluctuations (see Boyle's law), which helps reduce fogging and condensation, decreases stresses on air seals and allows safe verification of pressure suit and space suit operation.
Where a person who is not in a pressure suit moves between environments of greatly different pressures, an airlock changes the pressure slowly to help with internal air cavity equalization and to prevent decompression sickness. This is critical in scuba diving, and a diver may have to wait in an airlock for some hours in line with decompression tables.
Airlocks are used in
A four-door airlock (with, therefore, three interior chambers) was proposed by science fiction writer H. Beam Piper in his novel Uller Uprising. The fictional atmosphere inside the structure was human-breathable, while the outside atmosphere was highly toxic. Only one door of the airlock opened at a time, and the middle chamber of the three would always contain a vacuum to minimize traces of the exterior atmosphere reaching the habitat.
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more | |
![]() | Wine Lover's Companion. Wine Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Airlock". Read more |
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