Any Advice on my Continuous Blending System Design?

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mikecotrone

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Location
North Carolina
# of dives
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Last edited:
Why the downstream analyser ? The tri-hunter already indicates fO2 and fHe. I would remove the D.A., eventually replace him by a CO2 analyzer (unless your CO also monitors CO2).
 
Why the downstream analyser ? The tri-hunter already indicates fO2 and fHe. I would remove the D.A., eventually replace him by a CO2 analyzer (unless your CO also monitors CO2).

I put the D.A. in play to measure and verify the FO2 after it comes out of the compressor and through the hyper filters. There is between a 1 to 1.5% difference from at the stick currently. That may be due to my home made stick. I will reassess after I install the tri hunter. If anything it helps me pin point my gas points to reach my desired mix faster.

What do you do for CO2 removal in your system?
 
I put the D.A. in play to measure and verify the FO2 after it comes out of the compressor and through the hyper filters. There is between a 1 to 1.5% difference from at the stick currently. That may be due to my home made stick. I will reassess after I install the tri hunter. If anything it helps me pin point my gas points to reach my desired mix faster.

Why don't you plug the O2 sensor of the D.A. to the 2nd connection of the tri-hunter ?

What do you do for CO2 removal in your system?

Nothing more you do.
 
Why don't you plug the O2 sensor of the D.A. to the 2nd connection of the tri-hunter ?



Nothing more you do.

:) the tri hunter isnt installed yet since I just ordered it last week. Sorry my design shows it being there, but right now it is just my nitrox stick until the tri hunter gets here.
 
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I am not an expert by any means so don't take my word for anything, but here is my take on it:

I don't see a need for the third gauge after the O2 reg. There shouldn't hardly be any pressure there. Dial the second gauge to around 32 psi when the compressor is producing 32% and then remove the needle valve knob and set pressure by the regulator. The regulator will require minor adjusting as the bank pressures get higher.

Instead of using all those fancy digital pressure gauges, spend the money on a nice regulator with a couple gauges for filling tanks. Much nicer to start your fills and be able to walk away knowing you are not going to put 4,500 psi in your AL 80 or even HP tanks. If it were me, I would get rid of the panel, the three valves, and the two gauges, and go with the simple system shown below. Maybe with a little lower pressure gauges then what is shown below though. I also don't see a need for the relief valve since our tanks have burst disks. Better yet, just don't crank the pressure up too high.
A-R1011--2-__63278_zoom.jpg

Not sure if your compressor has a gauge on it or not, but I like knowing what my pressure is before the filter stack. Especially when the auto drains kick in.

I assume the OPV valve after the filters is a valve to maintain over 2,500 psi in the filter stacks? Pressure is what allows the filters to work.

Personally I like to occasionally see my actual O2 output under pressure to confirm my inputs and outputs are around the same. A flow meter for the CO monitor and the O2 monitor would be in order. I would also just run them off the same port, and only monitor downstream O2 occasionally (You will be running your compressor for hours at a time). My preference if I was blending Trimix, would be for a downstream Trimix analyzer.

If you are seeing a weird reading on the O2 sensors before the compressor you may have a little bit of vacuum due to a restriction. Does it change depending on whether the compressor is on or off? I would think 2 O2 monitors at the stick would be preferable, so you can continuously monitor HE (Well not directly, but you know what I mean) and O2 content without switching things around. (If the meter shown has dual displays then not an issue).

There shouldn't be a check valve at the banks, as what flows in needs to flow out. Personally I don't have an over pressure valve anywhere but at the compressor, and only in case the auto shutoff mechanism fails.

Your gonna need more bank bottles around say 3-4 3,500 psi banks. You will quickly kill those 4,500 psi banks for topping off by filling tanks up from 700 psi. I cascade every bank bottle independently and do so by just turning the valves on each of the bank bottles themselves. My system is about as simple as it can be.

Also more fills whips! I have four and sometimes wish I had five.

Probably the biggest thing I don't see is a way to shut the O2 off when the compressor shuts off. You need a solenoid mounted on the O2 output somewhere before the mixing stick, or mounted on the mixing stick. If the compressor shuts off then restarts it could go BOOM!
 
I am not an expert by any means so don't take my word for anything, but here is my take on it:I don't see a need for the third gauge after the O2 reg. There shouldn't hardly be any pressure there. Dial the second gauge to around 32 psi when the compressor is producing 32% and then remove the needle valve knob and set pressure by the regulator. The regulator will require minor adjusting as the bank pressures get higher. Instead of using all those fancy digital pressure gauges, spend the money on a nice regulator with a couple gauges for filling tanks. Much nicer to start your fills and be able to walk away knowing you are not going to put 4,500 psi in your AL 80 or even HP tanks.
Thanks Peter I didn't even think of that. That would be much easier with a regulator controlling a max pressure going into the tanks. Thanks!!!

If it were me, I would get rid of the panel, the three valves, and the two gauges, and go with the simple system shown below. Maybe with a little lower pressure gauges then what is shown below though. I also don't see a need for the relief valve since our tanks have burst disks. Better yet, just don't crank the pressure up too high.View attachment 118278Not sure if your compressor has a gauge on it or not, but I like knowing what my pressure is before the filter stack. Especially when the auto drains kick in.
Yes my compressor has a Gauge on it prior to the final filter on board.
I assume the OPV valve after the filters is a valve to maintain over 2,500 psi in the filter stacks? Pressure is what allows the filters to work.
No my Backpressure regulator maintains the pressure in the filter stacks. The OPV is a safety move.
Personally I like to occasionally see my actual O2 output under pressure to confirm my inputs and outputs are around the same. A flow meter for the CO monitor and the O2 monitor would be in order. I would also just run them off the same port, and only monitor downstream O2 occasionally (You will be running your compressor for hours at a time). My preference if I was blending Trimix, would be for a downstream Trimix analyzer. If you are seeing a weird reading on the O2 sensors before the compressor you may have a little bit of vacuum due to a restriction. Does it change depending on whether the compressor is on or off? I would think 2 O2 monitors at the stick would be preferable, so you can continuously monitor HE (Well not directly, but you know what I mean) and O2 content without switching things around. (If the meter shown has dual displays then not an issue). There shouldn't be a check valve at the banks, as what flows in needs to flow out. Personally I don't have an over pressure valve anywhere but at the compressor, and only in case the auto shutoff mechanism fails.
I haven't begun to use my banks quite yet as I am awaiting a few more fittings. I plan on coming out of the left side of the banks with a whip/regulator configuration.
Your gonna need more bank bottles around say 3-4 3,500 psi banks. You will quickly kill those 4,500 psi banks for topping off by filling tanks up from 700 psi. I cascade every bank bottle independently and do so by just turning the valves on each of the bank bottles themselves. My system is about as simple as it can be.
Thanks Peter I will take note to get more tanks :) My wife will not like you :)
Also more fills whips! I have four and sometimes wish I had five.
The visio didn't show since I ran out of room but i have three whips off of my panel which is just a 7 port manifold block with line fillers.
Probably the biggest thing I don't see is a way to shut the O2 off when the compressor shuts off. You need a solenoid mounted on the O2 output somewhere before the mixing stick, or mounted on the mixing stick. If the compressor shuts off then restarts it could go BOOM!
I forgot to add that detail in and thank you for pointing it out. I have a rubber duckie design solenoid shut off for my O2 tanks which is hard wired into my compressor's electronic box.Thank you for your ideas Peter and I really appreciate your input!!Mike
 
HI Mike,
Nice system you have as I've seen some pictures from another post. With the Tri hunter system you will need none of the following items from the O2 bottle. The regulator,solenoid valve, check valve, needle valve and pressure gauge can go. This is do to the the Tri hunter will come with new regulators for O2 and HE. The solenoid vlave and needle valve are built into the control unit. The tri hunter will watch the O2 and shut the O2 off if you run more than 39 percent. It also wires into the compressor and turns the O2 off it the compressor quits. You don't need the down stream O2 prssure gauge as the control until is reading the nitrox mix live and you adjust your mix with the built in needle valve. This would be the same for the HE if you use it. I do run a down stream analizer myself to double check the control box.
Here's a couple pictures of my system I build.
DSC00400n.JPG

DSC00396n.JPG

DSC00395n.JPG


---------- Post added at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 AM ----------

Mike another thing I see is you have a check valve going into the bank. How are you going to get the air from the bank back out to the manifold. This is why I ran two manifolds. The lines from the compressor in the air system are checked going into my four air banks. Also my fill manifold has check valves in them as I have air, nitrox and HE all on one manifold. My four nitrox banks on the fill side I removed the check valves. This is so I can open all the bank and let them equalize. By doing this I can keep the mix the same in all banks.
Also if you look above my bank bottles I have shut off valves there. It does two thing. If a line broke I could shut down many bottles in a quick turn of the valve. It also is an extra shut off I use when running the compressor. So if I make air there are two nitrox valve shut off. This is a second back up to the first valve so air might not leak by. With the extra shut off I can run from the compressor straight thru to the front fill line. Great for running tri-mix fills.
The alumium box under the fill panel is a water box I made. I had the inside line-x inside. It can hold two set of doubles at a time. As for fill wip I have made a custom proable mainifold station that can fill 8 bottles at a tine. I just clip one of my fill line into it and I'm ready.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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