Oxygen Mask

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JahJahwarrior

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I've been thinking a lot recently about how to supply o2 during an emergency. As a technical diver, I carry o2 with me most of the time for decompression. A conscious diver could hold a deco reg in their mouth on the way to a chamber, but an unconscious diver? So I was thinking, I'm sure I can get an o2 mask, how hard would it be to attach it to my deco reg?

I think I could build an attachment that goes on a LP inflator hose, and attaches to an o2 mask. The simple flowing-all-the-time type. Has anyone done anything like this?
 
I think even the LPI flow rate (int. pressure) is even too much of a rate for comfortable breathing.
O2 regs are not that expensive and deliver a rate of ~ 9litres/min. (of course you'll need a bottle - small one would be enough)
 
In principle, you could just use a simple orifice to act as a flow restrictor. The IP on the first stage is fairly constant, so all you need to do is start with a small hole and slowly increase the size until you get a flow rate of 12-15 liters per minute.

The rest of it is just a matter of going from the 1/4" NPT thread on the downstream size of the LP QD to male 1/4 NPT adapter to the restrictor to a barbed connector to attach to the hose to a bag type constant flow O2 mask. The restrictor itself could just be a thin round metal plate (with a suitable sized hole in the center) cut to the right diameter to fit snugly inside the female 1/4" NPT to 1/8" barbed connector fitting you'd screw on the LP QD to male 1/4" NPT adapter. The whole thing would be maybe 2.5 " long when done.

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Constnat flow O2 regulators are cheap, but demand regulators are not. If you use a small O2 bottle instead, you would want to use a demand regulator. Alternatively the cheaper constant flow model works, but you need a larger O2 supple - an E or Jumbo D cylinder, or better yet two of them to give you an hour or so of O2 at 15 lpm.

The attachment for a deco reg makes sense as you are not carrying dedicated O2 tanks around as extra baggage that you will probably never use. After a while, you'll leave it home and that is where it will be when you need it. A mask and small adapter would weight maybe a pound and would fit in a pocket in the dive bag, so you'd be more likely to have it in the event you needed it.
 
I simply got a barbed fitting and silver soldered up the hole then found the smallest drill bit I could and drilled out a hole. As it was the flow rate was way too much but with some messing around with the soldering iron I managed to close it up a little to achieve a good flow rate. Of course you could just but an oriface from somewhere like McMaster Carr. A little research will give you the correct oriface size. Add a filter before hand to keep it clear. I did the same thing for my rebreather project but it was only 0.8 LPM 0.004inch I think it was @ 10 bar.
To measure flow rate on the cheap get a bottle of known volume full it with water and invert it in a bowl of water. Put the hose with the oriface in line inside the bottle and crack open the valve. Time how long it takes for the gas to displace the water. You can then work out the flow rate.
You could get a bit more technical and use a needle valve for an adjustable rate.

More technical still you could build a small rebreather system. These are used quite extensively where carrying lots of O2 is not practical. eg Ocean going yachts.
 
I hate how in America, I learned to use imperial measurements, but as soon as we talk o2, for medical purposes, it's all lpm... how many cu.ft. is a litre? I'll go find out, can't be that difficult... Basically, how does an E or jumbo D cylinder compare, cubic foot wise, to my deco 40? In an emergency situation, of course we'd have two 40's available, but neither would be full. The reg could be moved between bottles, I'd just put a backgas reg on the o2. Or, I think I've seen a little QD adaptor for stages to fill up liftbags, could one of those be o2 cleaned, and left on a deco bottle?

Hopefully, this system would only need to be run for 15-30 minutes until EMT's arrive. I'm not a doctor, just first aid and o2 admin...I just want to be able to help a diver stay alive until the EMT's arrive. I want to do it cheap, and I can't afford a special o2 bottle and special regulator and special mask :D

I like what Packhorse suggested, a small needle valve. Do they make cheap valves with the same size fitting as on a QD fitting?
 
Have a look at THIS

gdsrms.jpg
 
That product is almost two hundred dollars. I like safety and all, but I'm a college student full time with basically no source of income during the academic year. If I buy this, I can't afford to go diving for the next 6 months :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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