Aqua Lung Kronos!!! Solution in need of a problem???

[mikeguerrero]

So if you have a neumatically balanced 2nd stage does that allow for the over balance to take affect?

I'm trying to see the difference between Kronos supreme and Kronos; the 1st stage, one is sealed with environmental kit the other is not.

So if I add kit to my Kronos does that give me over balance once the shop installs it?

Thanks,

MG

 

[Hallmac]

I'm trying to see the difference between Kronos supreme and Kronos; the 1st stage, one is sealed with environmental kit the other is not.

So if I add kit to my Kronos does that give me over balance once the shop installs it?

Thanks,

MG

No, the function of the first stage is not effected. They are the same. The only thing the environmental kit does is seal off cold water and floating particles from entering the first stage.

 

[S. starfish]

So if you have a neumatically balanced 2nd stage does that allow for the over balance to take affect?

I'm trying to see the difference between Kronos supreme and Kronos; the 1st stage, one is sealed with environmental kit the other is not.

So if I add kit to my Kronos does that give me over balance once the shop installs it?

Thanks,

MG

You're worrying way to much about this, you're not going to notice a difference in performance after you've installed the cold water kit. Here's a quick reg 101.

The way the environmental sealing and over balancing works is like this:
There are four parts- two metal rings, a plastic diaphragm and a plastic plunger. The first metal ring replaces the one already at the front of your reg and is only slightly different in that it has threads for the second ring to attach to. The diaphragm and plunger go between the two metal rings and the top metal ring screws down onto the diaphragm creating a watertight seal. This keeps the water farther away from the inner workings of your reg.

Without the cold water kit water is normally applying pressure to an inner diaphragm on your reg. This is important as it controls the increase/decrease of intermediate pressure in your reg according to ambient pressure. With the cold water kit installed water can no longer reach the inner diaphragm and the pressure needs to be transfered in some way shape or form. Some regs do this by having the space between the inner diaphragm filled with oil, silicone gel, christo lube etc. The aqualung approach to transferring the pressure is to use a plastic plunger. The plunger is a T or thumb tack shape. The outer diaphragm applies pressure to the larger surface area of the head of the plunger and the small end of the plunger applies pressure to the inner diaphragm. Since the part of the plunger applying pressure is smaller than the receiving end of the plunger, the IP actually increases at a rate greater than the ambient pressure.

Example:
Lets say the large end of the plunger has a surface area of 1 square inch, and the small end is 0.5 (I have no idea what they really are). If 10psi is applied to the large end, then the small end, having half the surface area but needing to transfer the same amount of force, will apply 20psi. At least I think that is how the math works, though i'm not totaly sure. Haven't done physics in years.

 

[Luis H]

You're worrying way to much about this, you're not going to notice a difference in performance after you've installed the cold water kit. Here's a quick reg 101.

The way the environmental sealing and over balancing works is like this:
There are four parts- two metal rings, a plastic diaphragm and a plastic plunger. The first metal ring replaces the one already at the front of your reg and is only slightly different in that it has threads for the second ring to attach to. The diaphragm and plunger go between the two metal rings and the top metal ring screws down onto the diaphragm creating a watertight seal. This keeps the water farther away from the inner workings of your reg.

Without the cold water kit water is normally applying pressure to an inner diaphragm on your reg. This is important as it controls the increase/decrease of intermediate pressure in your reg according to ambient pressure. With the cold water kit installed water can no longer reach the inner diaphragm and the pressure needs to be transfered in some way shape or form. Some regs do this by having the space between the inner diaphragm filled with oil, silicone gel, christo lube etc. The aqualung approach to transferring the pressure is to use a plastic plunger. The plunger is a T or thumb tack shape. The outer diaphragm applies pressure to the larger surface area of the head of the plunger and the small end of the plunger applies pressure to the inner diaphragm. Since the part of the plunger applying pressure is smaller than the receiving end of the plunger, the IP actually increases at a rate greater than the ambient pressure.

Example:
Lets say the large end of the plunger has a surface area of 1 square inch, and the small end is 0.5 (I have no idea what they really are). If 10psi is applied to the large end, then the small end, having half the surface area but needing to transfer the same amount of force, will apply 20psi. At least I think that is how the math works, though i'm not totaly sure. Haven't done physics in years.

You were almost correct, but what matters is the ratio of the effective area of the outer diaphragm (where the water applies pressure) to the effective area of the inner diaphragm (where the air Intermediate Pressure is applied).

The size of the rod in the plunger is irrelevant since it is a solid rigid link transferring a direct force (not pressure) to the inner diaphragm. The inner diaphragm basically then converts that applied force into an equivalent pressure increase that the IP has to rise to move the diaphragm and close the first stage valve.


Again this whole over–balanced (over-pressure) is total sales gimmick since you really need to then use a balanced second stage so that it will not be affected by changes in IP. Otherwise it will either free flow at depth or be hard to breath in shallow water.

The dry chamber is a good thing just because it does keep salt water out of the spring chamber. IMHO the over–balanced was just an unintended side effect that marketing got a hold of.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Luis,

Thanks for the facts... I will stick with just a dry kit...

MG