DIY Hypoxicator MK2

[fogish]

At the end of your testing what kind of improvements did you get? Did your dive times finally increase? How often do you use it now? I am interested in this, but it will be a little while before I can actually put one together.

 

[ADR]

I do notice a difference however as with all these things you would need to be very rigorous in testing to be sure the changes related specifically to this activity. The problem I have is that the use of this unit usually relates to a time that I am focusing heavily on my freediving and as such also includes a lot of other things that could also be driving the improvements I get at the time. There are plenty of research articles from credible sources to support the use of altitude training but I’m not sure if any specific studies have been done on freedivers. A number of high profile freedivers do use these approaches.

 

[efattah]

Great piece of work !!

Now try making a constant CO2 version ...?

 

[ADR]

Hi Eric,

I was hoping for a pat on the back from you

Not that it's quite in the relm of F1s or X1s but if you and liquivision want the design to commercialise it then I'm happy to give you any IP that i might have.

A constant CO2 model would be quite easyas you can judge the CO2 by the intensity of the related headache.:head

In actual fact it would be a relatively simple build as you would add a CO2 sensor and another valve and could simply control how much you use or bypass the CO2 scrubber.

regards

 

[shoutatthesky]

I know very little about electronics and rebreathers but it looks like quite an interesting device you have made Andy.
One question: you talk about the percentage of oxygen you are breathing but what are the remaining gases in the mix. I am guessing mostly nitrogen and a little CO2?

 

[ADR]

Very little CO2 as the CO2 scrubber pretty much removes all of it, allowing very low levels of O2 to be breathed without the CO2 discomfort. The rest is Nitrogen and as the source is air, its all free!!

 

[shoutatthesky]

For the purposes of the http://forums.deeperblue.net/general-freediving/72769-glossary-freediving-terms.html could you please define "HO2"?
You obviously have an in depth knowledge of hypoxicators so maybe you could offer a better definaition than I have come up with?

HYPOXICATOR - A device used to simulate breathing conditions at high altitude. Used in freediving to accustom one’s body to being in a hypoxic state.

 

[ADR]

Sorry, I don't know what H02 is. PPO2 is oxygen partial pressure and for 1atm is 0.21 or 21%. Hypoxicator is a made up word and it would probably e better to refer to Altitude Training, Simulated Altitude Training and Intermittent/Interval Hypoxic Training (IHT). The last one is actually what i have designed this system for.

 

[efattah]

For specificity of training, I would recommend writing a program for the hypoxicator that plunges you down into profound hypoxia for a brief moment, then reoxygenates you. This will draw on high energy phosphate reserves, and stimulate their accumulation as well, like in a real dive in the last 15m.

For example, one session could include 10 hypoxic plunges down to 4% O2 and back again.

 

[fredp]

...replying to my own post is not great I know but I forgot to say that if anyone is interested in making their own unit I'm happy to provide the code and info on the electronics to make your task easier.

I am interested in building a DIY Hypoxicator for training to run Ultra distances at high altitude. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Fred Pollard
flpmai@aol.com

 

[Anjin]

Where did you find the Hypoxic training schedule you are using?

 

[ADR]

Standard Russian or NZ O2 centre type schedule. There are quite a few on the web.

 

[Anjin]

I am usualy pretty decent at finding stuff online, but I have not been successful at finding any schedule. If you have a link or a portal site I would appreciate it.

I am looking now at making a hypoxicator that scrubs everything, but N2 and is rechargable so you won't have to change catridges. I know there are some out there but they are electrode based. If I get it to work I'll post it.

K

 

[ADR]

I dont understand why you would want to build that given scrubber chemicals are cheap.

O2 - you can have whatever % you like given its a closed system and you breathe it down anyway.

N2 - Well you were happy with that being there

CO2 - standard scrubber takes care of that.

??????

 

[ADR]

and here is one link with a program, there are many under IHT and Intermittent Hypoxic Training

Hypoxic training. Intermittent Hypoxic Training.

 

[Anjin]

Awesome, thank you for the link. As for the hypoxicator, I really just got interested in the challenge of making a membrane based rechargeable hypoxicator. I liked you design, it just started me thinking of way sthe make the same results. That is about the only reason. The challenge.

 

[reynmike]

I'm also building a DIY IHT kit. Just starting though. How much soda lime do you use and how long does it last? My kit is a bit on the cheap side - no O2 or CO2 meter, just a fingertip SPO2 clip. I figure that will help keep SPO2 in the 75-90% range. But haven't yet put in a CO2 scrubber thus I can only last ~5 minutes. Just ordered some activated carbon as a cheap first CO2 scrubber test. May have to try CarboLime or a similar product if that doesn't work well.

 

[efattah]

It is much simpler to do the IHT exercise with an oximeter and no big machine, just breath control. See earlier descriptions. The effect is the same or better and much cheaper.