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Hi All,
Just about everyone on this list is building a rebreather at the moment,
so here is a thought for all those manufacturers out there.
Air separation is a quite well developed technology that uses semi-
permeable membranes. The lower molecular weight gasses diffuse faster
across the membrane and when the input is air you end up with 2 output
streams, one oxygen poor and one oxygen rich.
The molecular weights of oxygen and nitrogen are not very different,
so the effect is obtained with rather a lot of membrane and associated
plumbing.
If you used the same type of system with He,O2,CO2 input you may get
2 output streams. One very rich in CO2 and one very poor in CO2.
Since He and CO2 have *very* different molecular weights, and hence
diffusion rates, such a separation would be far more efficient and
require a much smaller device.
If you could build this into a rebreather you could dump the CO2 laden
gas overboard and retain the CO2 depleted gas for breathing. You would
consume oxygen, and to a lesser degree, He, but with no cost for
CO2 absorbent, no risk of a 'caustic cocktail' and no limit on duration
the difficulties may be worth overcoming.
Feedback????
Jason :)
Wellington St. Deep Diving Team (of one)
"Since then I never pay any attention to anything by 'experts'. I calculate
everything myself."
Richard P. Feynman
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