Can a Flexible Air Bag Help Humans Breathe Like Fish Underwater?

[Shawnzyoo]

Just curious to see what some of the people here think of this

http://www.isracast.com/tech_news/310505_tech.htm

Seems legitimate and fairly logical, just wondering if it would be efficienct.

 

[Clausius2]

Calculations showed that a one kilo Lithium battery can provide a diver with about one hour of diving time.

I will be glad if someone opines about this energy consumption. I think one kilo of Lithium battery each hour of diving could be too much and very expensive.

 

[Pengwuino]

A kilogram lithium battery? Probably cost a good $400...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I will be glad if someone opines about this energy consumption. I think one kilo of Lithium battery each hour of diving could be too much and very expensive.

That was my first thought as well. The power load is too high.

 

[russ_watters]

If its rechargeable it might not be that bad. My first reaction though was that it would be difficult to swim with a centrifuge on your back.

 

[Clausius2]

If its rechargeable it might not be that bad. My first reaction though was that it would be difficult to swim with a centrifuge on your back.

I keep on thinking that battery would be:

i) too heavy
ii) too expensive
iii) it would spend a very large time for recharging.

1 Kilo of Litium! My cell phone has a battery (I think it is Ni), they are too expensive and it is very small!.

 

[russ_watters]

I keep on thinking that battery would be:

i) too heavy
ii) too expensive
iii) it would spend a very large time for recharging.

1 Kilo of Litium! My cell phone has a battery (I think it is Ni), they are too expensive and it is very small!.

It says a 1 kilo battery, not 1 kilo of lithum (not sure how much lithium is in a 1 kilo battery). I have a battery for my camcorder that's bigger than that - it cost about $50 and will run my camcorder for like 10 hours.

 

[NateTG]

I wonder what the water flow and power consumption rates are for something like that.

 

[Ouabache]

If its rechargeable it might not be that bad. My first reaction though was that it would be difficult to swim with a centrifuge on your back.

Perhaps they can build an efficient centrifuge using MEMs technology, that would cut down on the battery size requirement.

 

[Moonbear]

I can't tell from the diagram -- is that flexible air bag housed within a rigid casing of some sort? Otherwise, won't the water pressure keep forcing all the air right back out of it?

I also don't know much about the ratio of gases dissolved in water at differing depths. Is it uniform throughout, or would a different gas mixture be extracted depending on depth? I'm also wondering why Navy divers would use this. Don't their divers use special mixes of gases to reduce the risk of decompression sickness and nitrogen narcossis in longer duration or deeper dives than recreational divers?