Camelion test dive

yves

About a week ago I started a cross-over ccr course for Pascal Eeckhout from a Revo to an Inspiration. We took the units to the Red Sea on an Emperor boat which is not all that special if it wasn’t that also Michal Hearn came along so we could go and test dive both guy’s new baby: the Camelion. (Naamloos document)
The reason for that location was also triggered by the fact that both Gentlemen asked me to give as much critic as possible on the unit, so Aaron Bruce, manager of Tekstream in Sharm seemed to me one of the better choices for joining in as he is nearly daily in the water on different rebreathers.
The Camelion was taken down for some deep air breathing to find out what the resistance was at depth, and to see what the humidity in the cell holder department would be by high work level. The first impression was that it's harder breathing then the original inspo, what is quite normal as the counter lungs where back mounted on this version. This higher resistance was also caused by the fact that the lungs where a bit to high mounted on the unit, coming right up above the shoulders, and by that giving also a slightly to much head up position in the water for my taste. Opening the cell holder after two +60 minutes dives showed a compartment with not one spark of water in it! There was nearly no color change to be seen in the separated dive sorb compartment. I know that is not a reliable technique to proof scrubber life time but it does give at least a first impression about what is happening inside the machine.
After over a week test diving everybody left with a Happy feeling about all, and most important useful information to improve the unit. I am quite sure Michel already redesigned his living room into a half work shop by now
We are looking forward to the next try out with the modified machine!
Some underwater photo’s will follow soon,
Greets
Yves Christiaens

Attached Images

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	camelion1.jpg (21.2 KB, 312 views)
	camelion2.jpg (19.1 KB, 331 views)
	camelion3.jpg (15.1 KB, 311 views)
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	camelion5.jpg (13.4 KB, 313 views)

Brad_Horn

G'Day Yves,

Interesting post - thanks for the pics of the unit being dived in the field.

Couple of questions if I may:
How deep do you consider deep air diving as quoted?
Do you have any close up pics of the counterlungs as fitted?
Obviously the electronics are a rebadged Deep Pursuit, was it fitted with the HUD and how sturdy (well sealed) was/is the electronics area where the cells plug in?
What are the modifications being done to improve the unit?

Looks very interesting.

Regards
Brad

yves

Hi Brad,
The unit was taken to -63m in a quarry having tmx bail out and a watch dog on tmx ccr next to it.The hard way to find out but breathing test machines are expensive....
In the Red Sea we did about 45' constant at aprox -42m
There was no HUD and the electronic area is waterproof sealed, completely separated.
Please don't ask me more detailed pictures about the inside yet as there are other manufactures REALY interested to see that.
The modification is to make an air passage wider, this was not possible on the test model as the machine was not available to do so at that moment.
Next test will be taking it to -100m on tmx what will be actually less stressing then the deep air stuff
This is about the best pic for now
Yves

Attached Images

close.jpg (780.0 KB, 3 views)

Brad_Horn

Hi Yves,

Thanks for the details and BMCL image.

Did Micheal give any indication of his likely production timeline / production price target?

Alex @ deeplife.co.uk, seems pretty interested to conduct tests on different rbs, he might be an option for testing!

regards
Brad

yves

Hi Brad, For the moment there is no price , will be when they are happy with the prototype
for testing: I'am sure Michael is reading thisgreets
greets
yves

Fenzy

Hi Brad,

Although our test dives in Sharm didn’t reveal any flaws, we did come up with some ideas that will definitely improve the work of breathing (which so far wasn’t that bad actually!). We already had a chat with the guys who machine the aluminum parts and we expect our new prototypes to be ready before summer. We can then start our next series of test dives and increase depth … Production timeline and prices are not yet set. If our next improvements work our the way we expect them to, then these proto’s will be on display at the Birmingham dive show (without restrictions ).
Production timeline will depend on future development and testing, while the production price will depend on the final model and machining costs. There’s nothing mysterious about it, we just want to let you know what’s coming up and when we have all the exact info it’ll be published on our website.

Grts,
Pascal & Mike

michael hearn

hi .
The shearwater hud can be fitted to the unit and a backup display if required, normally the hud would have been fitted but it didnt arrive to me in time.The electronic pod is sealed with double orings as is the rest of the unit. on doing a days diving and removing the pod there was no moisture present at all in the electronics chamber. All the moisture formed where we wanted it to around the scrubber where it was absorbed by the moisture pads.Breathing was not bad at all. but had already made changes to the design to improve this,as we are doing to the rear lungs,which also need some modifications.We did a cautious 5.25 hours on the scrubber which i was happy with for an untested scrubber. I was so happy to
dive it that Pascal,who has a 50% stake in Camelion didnt even get a chance to put it on his back , sorry mate.All in all we are very happy with the results and look forward to getting the new prototypes to test, and as pascal said we will keep you informed with any updates on our website.
cheers
pascal& mike

Philippe GERIN

Nice work guys. This looks very promising.
If I may suggest, keep in mine that a MANUAL version would be welcome.
Is that really 5 cells and provision for a 6th that I see in the pic? Damn, you don't trust Ai nor Teledyne, do you?
Best
Philippe

Fenzy

Hi Philippe,

As you can see on Yves' pictures, the electronics compartment can house up to 5 cells. The 6th passage is actually a 'valve' that keeps the electronics chamber ambient AND moist free. You really don't have to fit 5 cells from the start but since we had the means and the space, we installed 5 of them. If one day (and let's hope it won't take too long) a reliable CO2 sensor will be available, you can unplug the 5th cell and install the CO2 sensor without fiddling and moistfree! Our main goal was to develop a modular, adaptive and most of all field servicable unit.

This also implicates that you can start with a manual system and upgrade easily to an ECCR later on. By fitting an orifice where the solenoide is and by blocking the oxigen first stage you have a manual system. Fitting a solenoide and a computer later on won't take too much time and modifications. The electronics compartment is meant to allow 'plug and play'.

Grts,
Pascal & Mike

Fenzy

One more thing ...
To give you guys an impression of our Sharm test week I posted some pictures. It was nice diving, even as a rEvo equipped watchdog! Must say that I enjoyed the satisfactory look on Mike's face dive after dive. And eh Mike ... next time you'll watch my back!

Gtrs,
Pascal

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