Do-it-yourself simple breathing apparatus underwater. How to make scuba gear? Homemade scuba gear: manufacturing instructions

Exploring the depths of the sea, getting to know the incredible living creatures that live on the bottom of the oceans - all this until recently was unattainable for mankind. But since the invention of apparatuses and bathyscaphes, inaccessible depths have become accessible.

Story

Man has been interested in the underwater world since ancient times. In Mesopotamia, Greece and other coastal countries, divers were used for hunting and warfare. There was no talk of any costumes, people held their breath as best they could in order to stay under water longer. This went on for many centuries, until in 1747 a man appeared who invented the first suit for underwater walking. It was not possible to swim in it, it was very large and heavy. Such an underwater breathing apparatus was invented by A. Klingert, a German by birth. It consisted of an iron cap for the head, which included two tubes designed for inhalation and exhalation. A waterproof fabric was attached to the cap, which lay on the shoulders. After testing, this device for breathing under water did not justify itself. The man in the suit felt a strong pressure on his chest.

After Clingerton modified and improved his suit, refining it year after year. At first there was one that was worn on the head and body and attached to rubber pants. Later, a large cylinder filled with oxygen was added to it, which dived along with the diver. From it, through tubes, air entered the helmet of a man in a suit.

Diving suit

August Siebe took over the creation of diving equipment. It was he who coined the word "spacesuit". A metal helmet was connected to a waterproof suit, and air was supplied through tubes using a pump located on the ship from which the diver descended. There were also lead boots, for quick diving and additional weight, which gave the person stability on the seabed.

In subsequent years, the spacesuit was refined and modified, but the issue of air supply, not tied to land, remained relevant.

In 1878, Henry Fluss invents an underwater breathing apparatus with a closed oxygen supply system. In this case, a regulator is used, which was created and patented 12 years earlier by Benoit Rouquerol. Flux refines this invention and adds new cylinders to the suit that could withstand high pressure.

Invention of scuba gear

In 1943, Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau create an apparatus that is outwardly familiar to every diver and diver. This invention is still in use today. This is an aqualung - an apparatus for breathing under water.

Cousteau took as the basis for the air supply valve a mechanism and a device for launching combustible gas into a car engine. After the modernization and necessary improvements, the testing process began, which did not satisfy the inventor at the first stage. At various positions of the human body under water, the air flowed unevenly, and in some cases there was none at all.

After the experiments, Cousteau finalized the air supply regulator from the cylinders so that breathing was possible at any depth and at different positions of the human body in the water. This made it possible to dive to great depths and spend a long time under water.

Regulator

Regulators are divided by type into one- and two-stage. They allow you to reduce which comes from the cylinders through In two-stage regulators, the reducer lowers the pressure to 6 atm., This is the first stage. Further, the lung machine brings the air to the state of the environment, which facilitates inhalation and does not harm health.

Types of devices

Every year, underwater breathing apparatuses are modernized, and new ones are invented and developed for special operations. This is due to the fact that a person sinks deeper and deeper to the bottom of the ocean and wants to stay there longer and longer.

This underwater breathing apparatus is designed for divers who are involved in rescue work. It provides air for specialists during emergency and other work. The device is designed specifically for environments with low temperatures and high pollution. It is used during surgeries for this purpose, the corresponding components have been specially developed for this. The apparatus weighs no more than 22 kg.

This portable underwater breathing apparatus is designed for swimmers who dive to depths of up to 60 meters. AVM-5 weight with empty cylinders up to 22 kg. It is used both by ordinary divers, to study the seabed, and for various deep works.

This apparatus, like the two previous ones, provides the diver with breathing underwater during various rescue and emergency operations. The respiratory system is open, that is, exhalation occurs into the water. AVM-12 has a simple design and maintenance, it can work in a polluted environment and at low temperatures. Additional equipment is also provided.

Unique diver

Stig Severinsen has a unique ability: he has long developed and honed such a skill as Breathing underwater, he may not need it for 22 minutes. It was this record that the young man set, having been without air for this period of time.

Long training and knowledge in the field of biology allowed him to experiment with his body and achieve such results. His achievement is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Shortly before this, Stig Severinsen had already set the record for being underwater without air for 20 minutes and 10 seconds. But this was not enough for him, so he decided on a new breakthrough. This process was constantly monitored by his medical brother. And the experiment itself took place in a pool, the water temperature in which was 30 degrees.

Bathyscaphe

In 1930, American inventors created a bathysphere - a steel ball that descended from a ship to the depths on cables. Constantly making improvements, scientists have made sure that such a ball can fall more than 1000 meters. But he did not have the necessary maneuverability and independence. Therefore, work on the invention of underwater vehicles continued.

A bathyscaphe is an underwater breathing apparatus that can accommodate 1-2 people. Such a mini-ship was created by Auguste Picard, a Swiss scientist, to travel under water and explore the depths of the sea. The bathyscaphe consisted of a cockpit in the form of a ball and a large tank. With the help of specially equipped engines, the ship could move under water, and the presence of an air supply allowed it to be independent of surface vessels.

With the help of bathyscaphes, you can descend to depths that are not subject to ordinary divers, even with the most modern equipment. The immersion depth of a small submarine exceeds 10,000 meters. It was on the bathyscaphe that the deepest trench of the Earth, the Mariana, was studied.

Diving

In the modern world, diving to the depths has become a popular sport. Experienced divers use various methods to stay at the seabed for as long as possible: holding their breath, breathing underwater with the help of special devices, exploring the ocean world in a bathyscaphe.

For scuba diving, you need to go through a special school, where they will teach you how to handle the device, set all the necessary parameters on it, and correctly calculate the loads. In addition, diving to great depths should be slow, as should the ascent. This is due to the fact that the lower the immersion in water, the higher the pressure, and the body must have time to adapt. A sudden ascent to the surface can also lead to undesirable consequences.

For many, scuba diving can be simply an unbearable hobby: with all the necessary equipment, expensive training and a lot of money for related needs, frankly, you won’t get far. However, a new product called Scorkl, reminiscent of gadgets from James Bond films, opens the way to the underwater world, combining the best experience of professional diving with the ease of free diving.

The Scorkl is a lightweight, portable that allows you to breathe underwater without requiring special diving certifications. According to the Australian company that designed it, the small tank is made to the same standards and specifications as the tanks used in professional diving equipment. At the same time, the original underwater breathing device, which approximately corresponds to the size of a conventional 0.5 liter bottle, is filled with air by a simple hand pump and provides the user with 10 minutes of free time under water.

The device has a standard mouthpiece, but without an air tube, which is directly connected to the SCORKL cylinder. The design uses a permanently acting, balanced, single-stage regulator proven over many years in Scuba diving equipment, the company says.

Each mini-cylinder is equipped with a pressure gauge that displays on a scale how much air is left in it. If you wish, you can quickly fill SCORKL by connecting it through an adapter to a standard cylinder, which is used in traditional scuba diving equipment.

Scorkl developers launch crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which turned out to be more than successful - with a stated goal of 30 thousand, the project raised almost 1.3 million Australian dollars. One Scorkl with adapter could be ordered for $199, which was 33% off the retail price. The can and pump were offered for US$398. The same set, but in a convenient carrying case, cost $597.

However, you can still pre-order Scorkl at a discounted price on the campaign page on indiegogo, which, by the way, also collected more than 1 million dollars, but already American. The manufacturer promises to start shipping the first kits in October this year.

Meanwhile, warning videos have appeared on the net, in which, contrary to the manufacturer's statements, it is not recommended to use this equipment without special training for divers. In one of them, called "The Danger that is SCORKL", the campaign is directly called "the most dangerous on Kickstarter" and, among other dangers that lie in wait for an unprepared SCORKL user, the author cites decompression sickness .

Indiegogo.

artificial gills

Initially, the fundraising campaign for the Triton gadget was launched in mid-March 2016. The developers of the device positioned it as “artificial gills”, which allow scuba divers to breathe underwater for 45 minutes at a depth of up to 4.5 meters without the usual heavy equipment.

The gadget that can't be

For half a month, Triton raised about $ 900 thousand on Indeigogo, but the media quickly drew attention to the impossibility of functioning of such a gadget in terrestrial conditions (in the form in which it was described on Indiegogo), calling it "something from science fiction" (which is ironic, given that such technology with a similar design was shown in the first episode of the Star Wars movie saga).

In particular, experts note that in order to properly provide the user with oxygen, the gadget must process 90 liters of water per minute, which requires a fairly powerful pump. The compact design of the device obviously does not imply such a pump.

Another problem with Triton is the compression of oxygen for its storage, which, with the stated characteristics and tasks of the gadget, would require a more powerful battery than the current level of technology development allows, Tech Insider environmentalist Andrew Thaler (Andrew David Thaler):

“The Triton battery system should be orders of magnitude more efficient than anything on the market. It makes you wonder why they marketed the product as gills and didn't sell their battery technology. It looks like a solution to the problem of cold fusion, only to use it to power a brand new clown-shaped lamp,” Thaler said.

The third problem is the system for monitoring the volume of oxygen supplied to the user, which, according to experts, is also unrealizable given the compact dimensions of the device.

Details about the technological problems of Triton can be found in the American biologist and diver Alistair Dove (Alistair Dove).

Backers want to believe

After the appearance of many articles exposing the "impossible" technology in various media, on April 1, the authors of Triton decided to return the entire amount raised to the backers and start the campaign anew, updating information about the very principle of the device. In particular, now in the description of the gadget on Indiegogo it is mentioned that Triton uses pre-built replaceable vessels with “liquid oxygen” for work.

The disinformation in the original description at Triton was explained by the fact that they were worried about protecting their intellectual property. The authors of the gadget plan to talk about their “liquid oxygen” technology in more detail later, according to an updated description on Indiegogo.

It should be noted that despite the scandal that erupted due to media publications and the return of all funds to backers, the new Triton campaign raised more than $240,000 in three days from its start.

Everything that concerns our planet, we all see only a small part of it - the seas and oceans cover almost 71 percent of the Earth. In this regard, our planet is still a big mystery to us, but perhaps the invention we want to talk about will allow a person to not think about oxygen at all and breathe underwater like a fish.

The device, called "Triton" ("Triton"), will allow each owner to stay under water for as long as he deems necessary. This device, invented by South Korean engineer Jeabyun Yeon, somewhat reminds us of the so-called rebreather - one of the ultra-modern devices with which James Bond could breathe underwater.

The Triton mask works on the principle of fish gills - it extracts oxygen from the water and makes it possible for a person to breathe without the use of oxygen cylinders, which, in addition to a limited duration of action, are also quite large.

This development is still in the testing stage and it may still turn out that not everything is as rosy as it seems, nevertheless, Jebyun Yon believes that his invention will completely replace bulky scuba gear after a while and will allow anyone who wants to stay under water for as long as they like.

In order to use the gadget, you need to bite a special rubber mouthpiece. The mask has branches on both sides that release oxygen from the water. Their microporous structure allows water to be sucked into special chambers, in which oxygen is released, after which the water is drained back. We have given a simplified version of the description of the principle of operation of the device, and for us personally, the process of oxygen evolution and the effectiveness of the device are not fully understood. According to Jon, with the help of a microcontroller built into the Triton, he will be able to accumulate "extra" oxygen in special tanks.

Whether this is true, only time will tell. Well, we can only wait and wish the author a speedy implementation of his ideas in industrial production.

Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device
Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device
Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device
Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device
Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device
Triton is the prototype of the latest underwater breathing device

Blu3 has developed a portable, low-cost dive device they call the Nemo. Its main advantage is that there are no bulky air tanks. Nemo consists of an air supply system and a power source that provide diving to a depth of up to three meters for an hour. The 4.5 kg kit is packaged in a small backpack, which can be purchased separately.

Nemo is essentially a floating air compressor that adjusts to your breathing, delivering air only when you need it, allowing you to run an economical 74 watt-hour power supply. Attached to the compressor is a 10-meter air hose connected to a Smart Reg breathing device that is inserted into the mouth.

Sensors and a silicone diaphragm inside Smart Reg carefully monitor the diver's breathing rate and transmit information to the compressor, which, in turn, forms the optimal air supply mode - as much as needed and at a certain time. According to the developers, compared with existing similar systems, Nemo spends only 10% of energy, which provides it with a unique compactness.

The diver under water will know about the imminent discharge of the battery by a special sound signal. And in order not to be a "victim" of lovers of water skiing or passing boats, a floating ring with a bright red flag is attached to the compressor.

Nemo is already available on Kickstarter for $399. If the promotion campaign is successful, the device could start shipping as early as December this year.