Oceanaut
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The early 1980s saw a major step forward in saturation diving with the introduction of helium recycling, whereby instead of exhaling the gas mix into the water, it is returned to the bell and thence to the support vessel, where it is scrubbed, sent back down and reused. Recycling systems are efficient, but the breathing loop from diver to surface, around the gas storage system and back is inherently long: potentially as much as a kilometer. Furthermore, a typical seven- or eight-part diver’s umbilical is about 60–70MM/2½–2¾" in diameter, which makes it cumbersome in the water and reduces space when coiled up in the bell.
To overcome these shortcomings, in 2006 as part of an initiative to make saturation diving simpler, safer and more efficient, Technip, a French subsea company, entered into an agreement with part of the Deep Life Group, an international association of companies, to design and produce an umbilical supplied rebreather.
The Deep Life unit, which is a variant of a dual scrubber rebreather developed by the Group, is an electronically controlled variable orifice rebreather that automatically adjusts according to the rate of exertion and the composition of the gas supplied. It functions as both the primary life-support system, replacing the surface gas-reclaim equipment, and as the secondary life-support system (there are two bail-out cylinders) should the diver lose his umbilical supplied gas. The umbilical diameter has been reduced to approximately 26MM/1" by switching to fiber optics and digital multiplexing, and by placing the power and data elements around the 9.5MM/3/8" gas supply hose to form one part.
The rebreather has quad redundancy at the electronics level for safety related functions and two independent rebreather controllers operating in parallel. Each rebreather controller is dual redundant through the use of two different control technologies, with rigorous cross checking between the two. Only the counter-lungs and breathing loop have no redundancy, failure of which is guarded against by reverting to open circuit and free flow.
Throughout the dive the rebreather monitors the diver breath by breath, from oxygen levels, expired carbon dioxide and respiration, to control of suit heating. It also handles diver video and speech communications, which it digitizes to provide high definition telemetry.
Deep Life’s British company delivered a total of 12 units to Technip’s specifications, which were used for testing and training until early 2013 when a commercial dispute brought production to a halt.
Given that as of this posting there is no further information on the Deep Life website, it must be assumed the project was mothballed.
To overcome these shortcomings, in 2006 as part of an initiative to make saturation diving simpler, safer and more efficient, Technip, a French subsea company, entered into an agreement with part of the Deep Life Group, an international association of companies, to design and produce an umbilical supplied rebreather.
The Deep Life unit, which is a variant of a dual scrubber rebreather developed by the Group, is an electronically controlled variable orifice rebreather that automatically adjusts according to the rate of exertion and the composition of the gas supplied. It functions as both the primary life-support system, replacing the surface gas-reclaim equipment, and as the secondary life-support system (there are two bail-out cylinders) should the diver lose his umbilical supplied gas. The umbilical diameter has been reduced to approximately 26MM/1" by switching to fiber optics and digital multiplexing, and by placing the power and data elements around the 9.5MM/3/8" gas supply hose to form one part.
The rebreather has quad redundancy at the electronics level for safety related functions and two independent rebreather controllers operating in parallel. Each rebreather controller is dual redundant through the use of two different control technologies, with rigorous cross checking between the two. Only the counter-lungs and breathing loop have no redundancy, failure of which is guarded against by reverting to open circuit and free flow.
Throughout the dive the rebreather monitors the diver breath by breath, from oxygen levels, expired carbon dioxide and respiration, to control of suit heating. It also handles diver video and speech communications, which it digitizes to provide high definition telemetry.
Deep Life’s British company delivered a total of 12 units to Technip’s specifications, which were used for testing and training until early 2013 when a commercial dispute brought production to a halt.
Given that as of this posting there is no further information on the Deep Life website, it must be assumed the project was mothballed.
