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I am sorry to repeat, but, for many possible AMRB (= automatic mixture
rebreather) users, please:-
CH> = Carl G Heinzl on Mon, 11 Jul 1994
RN> = Rich Nordstrom (Cis-Lunar)
{curly brackets} = summarized by me
CH> {Cis-Lunar will lose much credibility and trade if other companies get
sets on the market sooner}, especially if the recent report on techdiver of
the Carmellan/Oceanic units being in the 3000 plus pounds ($4500US) price
range are real and they do become available in Sept/Oct '94 as advertised.
RN> I doubt that Oceanic will be in full production. ... pulled the same
stuff over the years. ... not had the field testing of Cis-Lunar's ... only
have one working unit, really only a modified MK-15. ...
RN> {They have} multiple processors, sensors and back up systems. The old
concept or description originally referred to two complete units linked (each
unit had multiple redundancy). In short, yes there is substantial redundancy.
... $15,000 is the going price plus about (approx) $2,500 instruction.
CH> Are there any provision for the computer to be removed from the unit
(i.e. so it can follow a "diver" as opposed to a rebreather unit) *or* can it
be reset so a "new" diver can begin diving with it and not pay the penalty of
having logged a previous dive? ...
RN> The computer will provide a great deal of flexibilty. More information
later. I don't want to give too many details away.
But can the computer be removed so he can take it with him on another dive
with another set such as an aqualung?, instead of complications and expense
getting it to store several users' information etc. Aqualungs will still be
with us even after AMRB's are in common use. Far easier for each diver to
carry his current blood gas status about with him in his own decomp computer
(= `bendmeter'), than having to turn every dive into a computer programming
session copying and downloading and uploading info between one computer and
another, on top of all the other pre-dive and after-dive complications and
duties. Like I wrote before, I feel that the set only needs an output port so
that a separate decompression computer can read the ppO2. If the set has no
CPU of its own but only some simple electronics to keep the ppO2 right, the
set will be much more flexible and much cheaper. If the set has essentially:-
* oxygen cylinder;
* diluent cylinder (for air);
* diluent (air) outlet that he can connect an aqualung regulator to as a
bale-out if he wants one;
* bag, scrubber, backpack harness, breathing tubes;
* a ppO2 (or 2 or 3) and some simple electronics and valves to keep the ppO2
in the set range;
* external port to connect his decompression computer to so it can read his
ppO2 (and perhaps also O2 and diluent cylinder pressures);
how cheaply could the set be made? I get the impression that trying to put
everything in the set including a PC-type CPU needing a bulky battery that
doesn't like depth pressure, etc, has got AMRB developers into a `Chat Moss'
[1] of complications and delays, until it may be that much of the market will
go to Prism's non-automatic mixture rebreather with the inevitable risks of
(what he has dived to do or see) and (having to keep on checking and adjusting
his set's gas flow rates during his dive) competing for his attention.
(On top of having to wait and wait (sorry about the politics) endless years
until the Soviet bloc threat finally vanished and thus the world's Ministries
of Defence no longer had as much excuse to tracelessly requisition and make
secret every civilian diving AMRB patent or project that started.)
[1] Chat Moss is a big dangerous swamp (now drained) between Manchester and
Liverpool in England that caused severe difficulty for the men building a
railway between Manchester and Liverpool last century.
......................
PS. J Shepherd <jms@fe*.ed*.ac*.uk*> on Thu 14 Jul 94 17:30:31 BST
(Subject: introduction) mentioned a "blue peter rebreather". "Blue Peter" here
is a UK children's TV program that sometimes shows children how to make their
own this and that. They have not as yet ventured into the field of scuba gear.
("Blue Peter" is also sailor's slang for the letter `P' signalling flag.)
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