Buoyancy Cruise Control

[Sideband]

Oh yeah. They are going to create the super yo-yo of the deep.

Here is kind of what I picture happening in real life usage:
diver wants to ascend.
computer adds air to BC until ascent starts. (delay due to inertia causes overfilling)
computer detects a rapid ascent (due to too much air in BC) and vents air.
computer vents air until descent starts. (delay due to inertia causes over dumping)
computer detects a rapid descent (due to too little air in BC)
computer adds air to BC until ascent starts. (delay due to inertia causes overfilling)
computer detects a rapid ascent (due to too much air in BC) and vents air.
etc.

End result is a diver with ear pain and a very short dive because half their gas supply was used bouncing them off the surface and bottom for the last 15 minutes while the boat crew rolls around on the deck laughing.

 

[rstofer]

Forgetting about the details, this seems to be a complicated solution to a non-problem. Moreover it would probably create more harm than good, since it increases diver dependency on a device as opposed to developing skills.

After some experience, most divers have no problem managing bouyancy about as well as they can balance a bicycle. It becomes instinctive and is done with almost no conscious effort. If they used this device, they'd become dependent on it, their skills would atrophy and they'd by up the creek if it were to fail (and like all devices, it will).

This is the EXACT argument against using a computer rather than relying on the tables. Hm...

I don't think automatic buoyancy control is going anywhere. It just not a problem worth solving.

Richard

 

[rstofer]

Here is kind of what I picture happening in real life usage:
diver wants to ascend.
computer adds air to BC until ascent starts. (delay due to inertia causes overfilling)
computer detects a rapid ascent (due to too much air in BC) and vents air.
computer vents air until descent starts. (delay due to inertia causes over dumping)
computer detects a rapid descent (due to too little air in BC)
computer adds air to BC until ascent starts. (delay due to inertia causes overfilling)
computer detects a rapid ascent (due to too much air in BC) and vents air.
etc.

End result is a diver with ear pain and a very short dive because half their gas supply was used bouncing them off the surface and bottom for the last 15 minutes while the boat crew rolls around on the deck laughing.

In the world of control theory, a simple PID control scheme could easily account for the lag. There is no reason, technically, that the depth would bounce around. Technically, it would be possible to have a little keypad (wireless, of course) with an up/down or numeric selection for depth.

Technically, doing things like controlling the ascent rate to the current concepts (faster when deeper, slower near the surface) would also be possible. Heck, you could even build in all the deco stops.

Many computers now have e-books to read while you hang out doing deco. It would be easy to expand this to play a movie and have the control system manage all the details of deco. Switch gases, all that stuff. This is just the tip of a much larger iceberg!

Like with the first dive computers, there were will be a lot of naysayers. Who knows, perhaps in 10 years all BCs will be automated.

Or not...

Richard

 

[sabbath999]

"To rise in the water, a diver adds air to the buoyancy control device."

Anyone else have a problem with this?

My exact thoughts when I was reading it.

 

[Dr Neil]

But you know that some enterprising individual will manufacture it, market it as the latest and greatest diving piece of equipment, and sell it for a hefty price.

Individuals in need of the newest toy or gadget will buy it try it once or twice; hang it in their dive locker with all of the other "toys" they have purchased and so it will sit.... until there is no more room for new toys so it will end up on eBAY and be recycled... so goes the circle of gimmicky toys.

Of course the alternative is the enterprising individual will sell it to the military at triple the price. Then some governing agency will require all divers to use the device for "safety" reasons because the military uses it successfully.
Oh I shudder to think....

 

[Randy43068]

somebody's gonna get hurt.........

 

[rollerboi]

Wow. A portable failure point! How much and where can I buy one?

 

[Lobstah Slayah]

I for one, welcome our new BCD overlords. I am also thinking about getting a chip implanted in my head to let me know if I go into an area that is off limits to an OW diver such as wrecks or caves!

 

[Randy43068]

Wow. A portable failure point! How much and where can I buy one?

Too funny! I got some looks from my co-workers when I read this!!

 

[butchpalmer]

Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen to me.


BP