Liquid Oxygen

Joe Botz

Anyone consider adapting a liquid oxygen system as used by people with COPD to underwater use?

RAL

In 1967 Maco was experimenting with cryogenic scuba using liquid air with some success. They had a 35lb unit that would supply 5 hours air at 33'.
They dove them down to 200' with no problems.......I wonder if the air was a bit on the chilly side.
Interesting idea but I guess the logistics was a bit of a show killer. As far as using liquid O2 for a rebreather...no need really IMHO. We carry more O2 than we need in some pretty small bottles.

Regards
RAL

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Explorer

One would think that the US Navy must have sometype of unit using liquid oxygen for a u/w breathing unit already.

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koputai

Siebe used to make one in the 70's. Aerolox I think it was called.
I had a poke and prod at one a few years back but the owner threw it out before I could make him an offer!
From my own playing around, the gas supply gained is just about cancelled out by the increased weight of the system.

Edit: Here's a link
Aerorlox

Cheers,
Jason M.

caveseeker7

We had a cryogenic-rebreather thread going.

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Cheers
Stefan



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which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

Joe Botz

I've seen some real small units being carried by many ill patients. As was pointed out,,we carry plenty to begin with.

Dave Sutton

Mako, then owned by Jordan Klein, marketed the rig built by Jim Woodberry, who was a cryo guy at NASA (this was all mid-coast Florida). Jim was the Diving Officer at Florida Institute of Technology when I took my degree in Underwater Technology in the late 70's and I had an oportunity to pick his brain about the rig. It worked well, was very efficient, and was pretty simple. I still have the Skin Diver Magazine article on it. Jordan Klein was the guy doing all of the special diving for movies like "Thunderball", etc. Pretty well known guy at the time, and he advanced many U/W technologies: DPV's, Lights, Cameras, etc. Mainly they built what they needed to do the film work, and then also sold the equipment. Just a hard working guy.

The Russians took this work, improved it, and built a limited run of the "Kryolang" cryogenic SCUBA. I have the only one that I know of in private hands and have been threatening to get it working for years. It's detailed here:

Cryo Pjotrr


Been toying with the idea of taking cryogenic gas diving for as many years as I've known about the Mako, thus my conversations with Woodberry. Dunno why. Just as a child of the 60's I remember the gas venting from the early Mercury and Gemini vehicles and somehow indelibly connected "LOX" to "High Adventure"..... Rocket Science.... all that. Early space flight and deep diving technology were intertwined then, Scott Carpenter on both Mercury and Sealab, etc. So the seed was planted.

We use gaseous oxygen converters in the T-38's for pilots 02, using LOX in a dewar converted to gas for the pilot. Seems low stress: The life support guys fill the converters in the AM, install them in the jets before dawn, and they last for 2-ish days. They are totally self contained units and are about 18 inches square. They never seem to need maintenance and never break. One day I'm gonna borrow one....

Isn't there some cryogenic way to scrub C02? Seems like with that and a pair of thermos bottles on your back you would have the ultimate rebreather.


Dave

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