The SCUBA diving industry relies on multi-stage reciprocating high-pressure compressors to produce our breathing gases. Because of what we do and where we do it, those compressors are often located in harsh conditions of tropical temperatures or inadequate ventilation that demand a lot from ...
The USDA Food Grade nature of some synthetic lubricant formulations is often mentioned in the marketing of those lubricants. How important is that to health and safety in breathing air applications? The answer is debatable, but the edibility of lubricants is probably not meaningful for ...
The red-and-white U.S. dive flag was invented in the early 1950's by Denzel James "Doc" Dockery. In 1953, he followed instructions published in Popular Science Magazine for building his own scuba device, and began experimenting with ways to make a living by working in the emerging sport. In ...
Using mineral oil based petroleum lubricants with Nitrox compressors has too much potential for carbon monoxide contamination due to their relatively low flash point temperatures in the 100°C range. So when the dive industry started compressing Nitrox, polyalphaolefins with higher flash ...
The June 2013 issue of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine contains an excellent article that analyzes the causes of recreational closed-circuit rebreather fatalities. It concludes that while rebreathers have an intrinsically higher risk of mechanical failure as a result of their complexity, this can ...
The choice of blaze orange, chartreuse (yellow-green) or pure white has been studied by human factors experts for other applications such as signage and transportation. While we are not aware of any studies for diving applications, those other studies and our own experience provide good ...
At Rebreather Forum 3 held in 2012, statistics were presented which suggest closed-circuit rebreather diving is five to ten times higher risk than open circuit scuba. Some of the statistical increase may be due to rebreathers enabling divers to attempt extreme dive profiles which are themselves ...
Using the metal grommets, either the DR or the DGX sleeve can easily be attached to the bottom or sides of any standard metal backplate using assembly screws or attached to the Transpac using medium quick links or the pear shaped quick links. We find that for this application, the plastic ...
Traditionally, the backup second stage regulator has been a lower-performance lower-cost unbalanced design because it was thought to be less likely to free flow and less prone to problems. However, experience has demonstrated concerns with using a lower performance regulator under conditions ...
Good work-of-breathing on bailout/deco regulators is very important to ensure proper gas exchange. A switch to a bailout bottle, especially if due to hypercapnia, is always a demanding situation. Low quality, improperly maintained or incorrectly tuned regulators can perform poorly regardless ...
