Hydroid Aquabreather

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Ingredients list from the RRC can.

Potassium Super Hydroxide, Calcium Oxide, Aluminum, Brass
{ I don't know what any of this stuff means }

The amount of compressed "air" (not O2) in the helmet is only 1.3 cubic feet and the demo pool diver was underwater for 30+minutes on that.


RRC_ingredients.jpg
 
So just launched is the DEMA Video.
Apparently it weighs 4,5kg (10lbs)

Interesting concept, I suppose with say an AL40 as bailout and for BCD It could be do able

My wife’s certainly excited with the concept of not having a conventional rig.

I’m interested enough to be intrigued even though I’m a cynical engineer


Not sure how I’d feel about wearing a helmet rather than mask. I dislike my dry suit because it separates you from the environment. But I’d probably give it a try dive
 
Physiology is physiology, physics is physics. Worrying about things like bailout and PO2 monitoring would come way after trying to understand how the thing is supposed to work.

Even assuming that there are cans of toxic gunk that can produce enough O2 to support a diver for 60 minutes and scrub enough CO2 (that part is at least theoretically doable), I don't understand the basic premise.

Tidal volume of an adult human is about 500 cc. If this thing is just a spare air in a fancy hat, that much gas would have to be bubbling out with each breath. And apparently that didn't happen, as per witnesses. That means that if the diver is really swimming around the pool for 30 minutes, it's some sort of rebreather. So where are the counterlungs? When that diver exhales, what happens to that gas? In the helmet? Doesn't seem big enough.

Also, if the thing is good to 120 feet, you need to somehow fill that loop - enough dil hides in that helmet somewhere to do that? Forget about doing a dil flush or bailout, I'm just wondering how it maintains loop volume.

Answer those two questions, and we can talk about all of the other stuff...
 
Recreational rebreather, so this is for all those Hollis Explorer owners that need something new?

Proprietary consumables. That rarely works for a marketing standpoint. Unless those consumables are sold dirt cheap, nearly at a loss. But too often the business model is to sell the product at low margin and expect to make the profit on the consumables. Which way are they going to roll those dice?

Soon to be seen in some movie as a prop.

Add in all the above un-addressed concerns as well
 
Potassium Super Hydroxide, Calcium Oxide, Aluminum, Brass
{ I don't know what any of this stuff means }

Potassium Super Hydroxide - No idea what they are referring to might be a common name used in Russia, but this is probably what they are using to generate the oxygen, potassium oxide was(is???) a popular way of generating oxygen in Russia. But it seems like it is missing something, most chemical oxygen generators have something to start the reaction.

Calcium Oxide - CO2 absorbent

Granted I'm not an expert on the topic, but all the chemical oxygen generators I'm familiar with are highly exothermic (meaning it generates heat), and have caused a number of accidents. It wouldn't be something I would want strapped to my head.
 
Potassuim Superoxide is what produces the oxygen. Here is another application of the same principal Kursk submarine disaster - Wikipedia

KO2 was used in US and Canadian emergency breathing devices known as Chemox. We had a few accidents one of which occurred while I was on staff at Damage Control School Esquimalt. It was started with a chlorate candle that was ignited using a 0.22 percussion cap.
 
Potassuim Superoxide is what produces the oxygen. Here is another application of the same principal Kursk submarine disaster - Wikipedia

KO2 was used in US and Canadian emergency breathing devices known as Chemox. We had a few accidents one of which occurred while I was on staff at Damage Control School Esquimalt. It was started with a chlorate candle that was ignited using a 0.22 percussion cap.

image.jpg
 
I'm back home from DEMA.



In regards to the Russian-made Hydroid Aquabreather, I saw the demo, collected video and photographic evidence, interviewed witnesses and talked to people involved in its creation. The research data I collected is currently being finalized into a comprehensive report. It will address the nature of this device and its claims.

To paraphrase a previous famous report:

The full unredacted report will be released in the next couple of days. There will be no further press releases from this office until the report is released.
 
Potassuim Superoxide is what produces the oxygen. Here is another application of the same principal Kursk submarine disaster - Wikipedia

KO2 was used in US and Canadian emergency breathing devices known as Chemox. We had a few accidents one of which occurred while I was on staff at Damage Control School Esquimalt. It was started with a chlorate candle that was ignited using a 0.22 percussion cap.
For those that have Netflix, "The Command" is alleged to retell the story of what happened to the Kursk survivors. The scene where the KO2 is dropped into the water is sufficiently disturbing.
 
tech_diver's Final Report on the Hydroid Aquabreather

Introduction

Every new advance in diving has met resistance and skepticism. Even submersible pressure gauges were first derided as dangerous single point failures that real divers didn't need. I've always told myself to keep a scientific open mind because I didn't want to be one of those crusty old guys that poo-poos what will turn out to be the way of tomorrow. I want to believe in the next big thing as much as anyone but the Hydroid Aquabreater is not it. It is a fake.



There are specific physical limitations to the size and configuration of a rebreather primarily centered around the counter lung. The volume of a counter lung is contingent upon the physical size of the diver and the nature of the diver workload. They range in volume from 4 litres (very, very small diver) to 8 litres. The Hydroid people claim they use a 6 liter counterlung.

The smallest rebreather I've ever seen in my decades in the business was the 'Eoba' from Japan. Two small cartridges in the mouth piece supplied oxygen and a small scrubber canister was worn on the back of the neck. The corrugated loop hoses were the actual counter lung and they would stretch up and down to many times their relaxed size like tentacles as the diver would breath. Even this small design could hold only a few liters of exhaled gas but it would not roll up to fit in the Hydroid helmet.


It is very obvious that there is no room for a 6 liter counterlung in the Aquabreather helmet. Especially when you consider that it is said to also house a small diluent tank, two beer can size scrubbers, computer modules, sensors and a battery pack. Imagine holding the helmet upside down like a salad bowl, putting a human head, a Spare Air, two beer cans and then pour three 2 liter jugs of soda pop it.

Typically, counterlungs are mounted on the chest, back or over the shoulders and are positioned carefully to minimize the work of breathing. I'll leave it to rebreather divers to discuss the adverse effects of having a six liter counterlung mounted on your head.

They claim that the scrubber canister also contains potassium hydroxide which gives off oxygen while removing CO2, however they would not tell me the ratio of sorb to potassium claiming it to be a trade secret. This makes it impossible for me to calculate how much O2 this thing will generate so we can't really know what the duration of their scrubber is. They claim that it will last for an hour down to 42 meters but I find that highly dubious for sixteen ounces of sorb.


During the demo dive, I noticed the diver's breathing to seem shallow. As an instructor, I would have noticed it on a student if they weren't breathing fully and comfortably. This unit is not a fully computerized rebreather that generates is own O2. It became obvious what they had done.

They said there is a 95 liter tank of breathing gas in the helmet for diluent and bailout. 95 liters is 3.2 cubic feet. If 3.2 cubic feet sounds familiar, it's the volume in a Spare Air tank. They have a Spare Air leaking air into the helmet airspace and the 'diver' is breathing through a 'CO2 Rescue Mask."

Personal CO2 Scrubbers - Naval Technology
Comex Emergency Respiratory Unit (ERU) for Lung Powered Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Scrubber ER-216-000



The stunt would not be hard to duplicate with a bucket. You put on the CO2 rescue mask, put the bucket over your head then walk into the water. Then you stick a leaking Spare Air up under the bucket and you are in business. You could even decorate the helmet with the face of a mermaid or zany dugong.

Currently, we have been told that they have one working unit yet they are telling people that it will be available for retail next year for about $4000. This will never happen. I have seen lots of underwater products and you don't go from one functioning unit to retail in a year. If I showed a high end dive computer that had one shaky prototype and claimed that I would have it on the shelf in dive stores within a year, everyone would laugh at me. I don't know why anyone would believe that about a radically new computerized rebreather. It didn't help his cause when he claimed the tank could be refilled by a bicycle pump or 12 volt compressor.

In our industry, we do have meetings with designers who have bold new ideas for equipment. However, in those meetings, critical design questions are answered. In talking to the Hydroid people, several key pieces of information that could validate their claims were being withheld under the guise of 'secrecy.' In the real world, we discuss those specific elements that make a new product possible.

We have a series of case studies for 'technoscams' on crowdfunding websites. One example is the Triton artificial gill but there are other much larger cases. In one case, a designer claimed to develop an electronic device that you wave over your dinner plate and it reads out all the carbs and calories. While people fall for these things all the time, there are several red flags associated with these vaporware techno scams.

- Slick prototypes that look like movie props

- Withholding key pieces of critical information that make the product possible

- The product's existence requires several simultaneous technological breakthroughs in disparate sciences

While I do believe the entire demo was faked, I do keep an open scientific mind open to new evidence. If they or anyone out there can put a functioning product like this on my desk, I have access to an worldwide distribution network that reaches from navies and NASA to spearfishermen and vacation divers in the Caribbean.

This rebreather was just a bucket with a CO2 mask and a Spare Air in it. If the guy's head exploded in a violent potassium reaction, it would have lent some credibility to their claims that they actually had some form of regenerative rebreather. That would have impressed me. Maybe next time...
 

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