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RMV-Keyed SCR Teardown Pages - Page 3
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Golem Rebreathers has examined a Respiratory Minute Volume Keyed (RMV-Keyed) Passive Semi-Closed Rebreather. The following is a summary of comprehensive report produced during meticulous dissection of the unit.

Tear-Down (con td.)
Page 1, 2, 3
Counter-lungs

Click on image for larger view

Left -
Complete counter-lung assembly attached to the water trap and add-valve/plenum section. The entire counter-lung assembly is enclosed in a cylindrical housing. The housing guides the bellow movement and protects the Counter-lungs from outside environment.

Right -
Bottom view of the CL housing and CL cover with exhaust valve (top).

View through the CL housing. The lip on the bottom of the housing prevents the CL bellows from overextending.

 

Bellows

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Left -
Counter-lung assembly upside down with housing removed. The four hex screws around the exhaust valve hold the CL cover halves together.

Right -
Counter-lung assembly with outer half of the cover removed. The counter-lung bellows are sandwiched between two halves of the CL cover. Main CL is wrapped around inside half of the cover, while exhaust CL is sitting in a recessed groove around center opening. See images on the right for a view of CL cover.


Click on image for larger view

Left -
Exhale bellow attached to the inner half of the CL cover. Note the straight path for any water coming from upper parts of the unit (the CL assembly is upside-down in this picture).

Right -
View of main and exhale counter-lung bellows. Add-valve ports are capped with blue covers.

 

 

Disassembled CL cover. Outer half has an exhaust valve in the center. Inner half holds the bellows in position
Same view, just outer half shows inside of the exhaust valve. When two parts of the cover are screwed together the CL bellows are sandwiched between them. The exhaust (inner) bellow is sealed against the exhaust valve. The outer (main) below forms tight seal between the lid and inner below. Divers inhalation and exhalation drives the main below, while inner (exhaust) below is filled with gas during exhale cycle. The exhaust bellow is compressed, and the gas is expelled through the exhaust valve during the inhale cycle.
Assembled CL cover without the bellows attached. Note the four screw holes around center. The hex screws from outside half attach here.

 

Counter-lungs

Click on image for larger view

Left -
Look inside the main counter-lung bellow. The exhale bellow is in the center. Note two spring-loaded black rods below the exhale CL against the add-valve ports. These are actuator rods that activate add-valves when the main CL bottoms up and CL cover plate (above) presses on them.

Right -
Entire unit assembled together.

     

Conclusions
This unit would make a nice homebuilder project. All one needs is a length of 6" pipe, couple of bellows from McMaster-Carr, couple of one-way valves and a lathe to cut the o-ring grooves and plenum/water trap assembly. There is a little more to it but not much. The question is: is it worth the effort? The design seems to have several weak points*:

  • the counter-lung bellows are in a wrong place - too low on divers back. The WOB in anything but semi-prone position is be extremely high*.
  • every inhalation must pass through several very small openings (~1") in Water-trap/Plenum assembly. This must further increase the WOB*.
  • inhalation air flow takes two sharp right turns through above mentioned small openings (see illustration on the previous page), again, increasing the WOB*
  • Counter-lung cover (rigid plate) traveling through CL housing (rigid cylinder) can be prone to jamming. A small rock or a shell wedged between the housing and cover would completely block the bellows movement, rendering the whole unit unbreathable, as the ADV is mechanically actuated by the CL cover pressing onto the ADV rods.
  • Four screws that hold the CL cover together are drilled through, opening potential leak path into the counter-lungs.
  • A small tear in the counterlung could substantly affect the ration of exhausted and injected gas, and wihout the PPO2 readout (the default configuration), the situation could quickly devolve into dangerous.

The beauty of this system is the fact, that it can be dived with a standard set of doubles configuration, and without much monitoring, since it provides "intuitive" feedback to the diver*. It is very compact, as rebreathers go, and easy to assemble and clean. As with any semi-closed design, there is no computer or voting logic to go beserk, and no batteries to go dead. The "mechanical" aspect of this unit is one of its stregths, but also a weakness, as diver's lungs are the 'engine' that has to drive the counterlung piston through the water column.

In closing, this is a very nice unit,extremely well manufactured, but close toimpossible to breathe in any other position but the "sweet spot". The fact that one has to still carry all sorts of "travel" and deco gases slightly negates the advantages of a rebreather. The unit is a great "gas extender" designed for a specific purpose.

Czech Navy will stick with CCRs for now.

 

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Disclaimer (as was so aptly said elsewhere):
Golem Rebreathers can NOT confirm or deny that there ever was such a unit or that they ever saw it, much less disassembled it. In the age of digital media special FX, it is easy to create anything just from 0s and 1s. Do not beleive anything you see on the Net.

* These statements were evaluated by the EDL CzN/A by the means of WAG** method.
**Wild Ass Guess (WAG) method is very popular at EDL for its ability to deliver requested results on extremely compressed timetable.

 

 
 
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