Project Argonaut, totally new, vintage style DH regulator

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

My point, the Kraken, as regulators go of any type, is a very quiet breathing machine. But to compare to a CCR which neither has an inhalation Venturi assist or exhaled free bubbles, that will be quite the trick. Can it be improved upon over the noise level now, yes, I think so.....Nemrod

We ran across some information done by the French Navy early in the development of the double hose outlining their ideas and concepts to silence the regulator. Some were pretty outrageous and looked like Rube Goldberg contraptions. Others seemed to have promise and will be worth further investigation.

The focus now is to complete the long anticipated DSV style mouthpiece for the Argonaut. Adding it will solidify the identity of the regulator and further increase it's performance potential. The trials and tribulations of this are covered pretty extensively like a soap opera in the Argonaut section of the VDH Forum.
As with most projects Luis is at the drawing board, I'm trying to turn the red side of the ledger into black and Herman is in his workshop cursing both of us :laughing:

 

[danvolker]

How about using a switching device as many rebreathers do, so that they can switch to a bailout mix, whatever----but with the Kraken, switching it would switch to stealth mode, where you are barely moving in the water, thus not needing to breathe fast....so you take a long slow inhale, and then in switched mode, the exhale goes through a fine sponge--there may be some resistance, but the exhale can take as long as it takes....heart rate should be very low....for the photographer trying to get the quiet shot, this is how it is anyway....vry low exertion.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Italian divers with an Argonaut Kraken.....It appears this one has been taken over by SPECTRE. One of the divers in the picture just ordered one for himself and I think that puts a total of 4 in Italy so far.

 

[rhwestfall]

You sure that's a Kraken??????

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

You sure that's a Kraken??????

Well that's what his E-mail says.....but the cans look more like Rob's 50 fathom reproductions.....If not, there is one in transit next week LOL....

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Looking at the photo above, it seems that the new divers to the double hose regulator don't know how to balance the mouthpiece for comfort. (This may be an artifact of the one photo, however.) Even so, here's an explanation of mouthpiece placement. When the regulator is placed face-down, the mouthpiece should point directly back at the regulator, as is shown with the DX Overpressure Breathing regulator photo (metal mouthpiece). You will notice that the diver exiting in the U.S. Navy School for Underwater Swimmers (1967) has the mouthpiece on his chest pointing up at his face. The other way is to balance the regulator on your finger when it is on the scuba, and the mouthpiece should point directly back at the diver's mouth. Many people put a twist in the hoses, which makes the mouthpiece uncomfortable. You can see this from the photo of the diver from the U.S. Navy Diving Manual, March 1970, which shows the mouthpiece in the diver's mouth, and resting there comfortably.

I recently returned from a vacation trip to Germany and Italy. While in Germany, I met Mr. Frank Werthwein, known on these boards as "Vintage Frank." He wrote a book on Scubapro's history titled 50 Jahre Scubapro, and is very knowledgeable about all aspects of vintage scuba. He gave me a Heinikie (sp?) mouthpiece. It is pretty unique, and has about a 15 degree bend in it, then non-returns in their own plastic holder, and another piece that bends back around toward the rear to accept the regulator hoses. I had the privilege of diving it last Wednesday, and took some GoPro video of it. I don't have the video ready, but here is a screen shot of that mouthpiece. You might consider doing something similar, as this does streamline the air flow and also minimize the volume of water to be cleared from the mouthpiece.

SeaRat

 

[trapezus]

4 Kraken too little for Italy.. Italian diving world is very wide..but Boss doesnn't sells to Italy any item in ebay as my country ! May be they bought another way .

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Video I threw together to get the thread back on track......Have a good laugh at my editing skills...Or lack of I should say!
[video=youtube;bbWdiCypsog]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbWdiCypsog[/video]

 

[Luis H]

Argonaut Kraken flow rates

During the design and development of the Argonaut, I did a lot of flow calculations and testing, but I had the opportunity to do some more flow testing last week, I had several tanks that I needed to empty (for hydro testing) so I had a lot of compress air to use up.

I wanted to get some solid numbers showing how long it took to empty a full steel 72 and a full high pressure steel 80. BTW, this steel 80s actually hold 85 cu ft.

Warning: The two videos below are very boring videos showing the pressure gauge needle moving down while the venturi flow on two different Argonauts is used to bleed the tanks dry. One video is almost 5 minutes long and the other 3.5 minutes. You can fast forward the videos. If you watch the full video, you may regret that you will never get that time back.

My Argonaut regulators are normally tuned hot enough that all I have to do is pull a slight vacuum from the mouthpiece and the venturi flow will continue the flow. I am not doing anything other than initiating an intentional free flow and I am letting it flow.

The bottom line is than an Argonaut can empty a full tank (steel 72 or 85 cuft) in 3.5 to 4.5 minutes. That is a flow rate of 16 to 22 cfm. This type of potential flow rate far exceed the needs of any diving situation. Let me know if you are ever in a diving situation where you need to empty a tank in less than 5 minutes. :shocked2:

I have seen claims of flow through piston first stages than can flow 300 cfm. In theory that first stage would empty a steel 72 in 14 seconds. Impressive numbers, but it is not realistic or practical value. That was only the first stage and I am guessing that it was tested with a high flow valve and constant air pressure source.

My test was for a complete regulator, including the hose loop, attached to a standard scuba valve and tank. The two regulators did flow air at different rates. I can explain more about the difference later.

The tank pressure is obviously dropping. I have taken readings from the videos and plotted the data of time versus pressure drop. It looks fairly linear.


[video=vimeo;129324601]https://vimeo.com/129324601[/video]


[video=vimeo;129326129]https://vimeo.com/129326129[/video]

Thanks

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Luis never stops working.......Here he is monitoring and logging IP changes to an Argonaut. I think this is Cozumel on one of the Caribbean Luxury Diver Tours