Underwater Breathing Gill Being Developed

[DeeperBlue.com]

It’s almost like something “Q” would take out of his pocket in a James Bond film: an artificial gill that allows the user to breathe underwater without an air tank.

Korean designer Jeabyun Yeon…

Click here for original DeeperBlue.com Post...

 

[CEngelbrecht]

Holy shit. It's not even April.

Would this potentially eliminate the dangers of DCS?

 

[sims]

Doubt it.. you still need to breathe pressurized gas. If it works, this is just a smaller alternative to a rebreather.

Also I can't see how this would work at depth (if it gives you pure O2 that will be toxic at a certain point.. and the deeper you go, the harder it would have to work to produce enough Oxygen and pressurize it), although it would definitely be cool for extended stays close to the surface... think of it like snorkeling on steroids.

 

[CEngelbrecht]

The article does mention something about a "storage tank." Is Nitrogen also dissolved in sea water? I think so. So that should be flushed in as well. If so, does that mean that we could be at "any" depth, as long as there's O2 and N2 dissolved in the water? Or would we get nitrogren narcosis at the same depths as regular scuba? I can't figure that out right now.

All theoretical. Maybe the damn thing won't even work ...

 

[cdavis]

Very fun idea, but not so sure it would work. If it produces pure 02, its depth limited, 02 gets toxic under much pressure. If it produces 02 plus something else to get around the toxicity problem, it has DCS problems. That would work fine for moderate depths and short days(much like SCUBA) but the technical problems involved in producing a combination of gases are formidable.

 

[Apneaddict]

I'd circumnavigate Hawaii on a single "dive". 5-15m deep the entire time!

Or, I'd sit at the bottom of an outdoor pool for an entire weekend!

Just 'cause I could!

 

[Ronnie]

It will be free divers who pioneer this kind of technology. I imagine units like this will be able to extend a dive rather than act like a full scuba set - at least initially