
Click
on image for larger view
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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. |
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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.
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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