Breathe Underwater Without Oxygen Tanks! (moved from ATSNN)

A new invention coming forward will allow underwater breathing without oxygen tanks. The new device makes use of existing compressed oxygen in the water, and is able to extract enough oxygen to allow a human to stay underwater for about one hour. The lab model device gets it's power from rechargable batteries, and the inventor expects to have a full version ready within a few years that will allow a human several hours of underwater breathing.



This rocks! As a licensed PADI diver, I can't wait to try this new technology in a few years. Oxygen tanks are heavy and ackward, especially when wearing "fins" on your feet! I hope the consumer product will revolutionize the SCUBA industry, and make SCUBA available to more folks, with less burden.


Related News Links:
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www.primidi.com

[edit on 6/7/2005 by cohiba]

Awesome!

More science fiction becoming science fact.

Oh wow, this is a dream come true IF:

It's much smaller and more lightweight than air tanks.

The fun of skin diving (no air tanks) is killed by lack of underwater time, and the fun of tank diving is killed by lack of mobility. I hope this increases mobility.

I hope the batteries don't fail at the wrong moment...

It actually has a "backup" in case they do fail at the wrong time...




Probably enough to decompress/surface, but not much more.

[edit on 6/7/2005 by cohiba]

Hey, that's awesome.
Will be fantastic to see if it does happen! It'll make exploration much easier.

This is great news! I heard about this technology being developed decades ago and now to see that it is functional and publicly knowledgable is great! Once again, science fiction becoming science fact.

I've been following this sporadically over the last year, and just wanted to give an update to others that may be interested in this cool new technology.

The "Like a Fish" company formed by the inventor has a website which is tracking the technologies progress.

What really got my attention this time, is the project it will be involved in, "The Biosub Project" - Link Here

They will test the "Like a Fish" technology for creating oxygen from compressed gas in H2O.

From Biosub Project Information

It is proposed that the underwater habitat will be ready to launch for National Science Week, 12-20 August 2006.

Seems this is coming along nicely... I can't wait to see how much these will cost when/if available for retail sale.

Didn't Jacque Cousteau have and use a scrubber system that allowed several hours underwater?

Perhaps 15-20 years ago?

Probably cost prohibitive for most, but the system Cohiba has posted about looks like a positive step toward the future for divers.

So, it's been a couple years since I first posted this, and I just looked into it again today.

It appears the military has taken some interest in the technology as well. It need to be determined if this system can be incorporated into a "rebreather" to prevent bubbles from escaping, allowing less chance at detection during stealth missions.

I've yet to see one in my local dive store, but hopefully it won't be too much longer. The most recent prototype pictures are over a year old, so I'm sure progress is being made.




[edit on 9/26/2008 by cohiba]