Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Patent
1982-01-22
1984-03-20
Blix, Trygve M.
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
114315, 12820214, B63C 912
Patent
active
044378432
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a device for self-acting limitation of the ascending speed of divers.
On ascending, air exposed to increased pressure within the alveoli of a diver cannot exit fast enough because of the large change of volume, with decreasing pressure, particularly in the range of -2 and -3 bar. When a part of the alveoli bursts, air enters the bloodstream in an undissolved state and through the left part of the heart, to the body, thus reaching the brain which might lead to an embolism of the brain.
At low over pressures in the lungs, the over extension of the alveoli may lead to disturbances of blood circulation and attacks of vertigo. Once a diver experiences an emergency, he must try, on the one hand, to ascend as fast as possible, but he must also also try, on the other hand, not to surpass a maximum ascending speed, depending on the actual depth, in order to prevent the aforementioned damages to his lungs. The rule of thumb, for instance, is to observe the speed of rise of small air bubbles which depends on the water pressure and thus the actual depth.
Various devices are already known which are utilized to aid a diver while ascending from deep water. Such a known device shows the diver whether a constantly predetermined speed of rise is being maintained, where the minimum rise speed, due to the depth-dependence of the maximum speed of rise, cannot be obtained as needed in an emergency. Another known, extremely expensive electronic device signals to the diver when a certain defined maximum speed of rise is surpassed. Such a signal is practically worthless when the diver is under the influence of an emergency and thereby not capable of regulating the rising process according to the signal, an actuality when the diver has lost consciousness.
Based on the above, the present invention has an objective to provide a device made simply and at a low cost, working under difficult conditions and remaining reliable, which under all circumstances, thus also in the case of extraordinary conditions, assures that the diver does not rise at too great a speed and thus be exposed to life-threatening or injurious conditions.
This objective is obtained by a device which is characterized by a chamber connected to the interior space of the diving suit, with a sealing separating partition that divides such chamber and is elastically and longitudinally movable. This separating partition is connected to a valve closure part leading outwardly and capable of being sealingly movable. An ancillary valve seat is disposed in the outer envelope of the diving suit while the chamber sections, created by the separating partition, are connected to each other by a metering valve and a check valve opening in the direction of the closed chamber section. When a diver dives down, the opened check valve and the metering valve create pressure compensation between the air pressure in the diving suit and its immediately connected chamber section, on the one hand, and the other chamber section on the other hand, through the check valve and the metering valve. Even when rising slowly, pressure compensation occurs between both chamber sections by aid of the metering valve. When rising too fast and uncontrolled, however, the air influx through the metering valve does not suffice to create pressure compensation. Due to the fact that air pressure within the diving suit and within the chamber section immediately connected to it decreases while rising due to decreasing water pressure and the expansion of the diving suit caused by it, reduced pressure arises relative to the closed chamber section.
The result of this under pressure is that the elastic separating partition is pressed downwardly and together with it the connected valve closure part, which is thereby lifted off the valve seat in the diving suit's outer mantle, so that air egresses outwardly from the diving suit through the valve opening, thereby automatically reducing the speed of rise until such a value of the speed of rise is obtained where pressure
REFERENCES:
patent: 4051846 (1977-10-01), McClure
patent: 4176418 (1979-12-01), Scott
Blix Trygve M.
Sotelo Jesus D.
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