Rebreathers - An Overview
Types of Rebreather
Where are all the bubbles? - Rebreathers in one form or another have been about for more 100 years. The basic principle is to clean your exhaled air of carbon dioxide, bring the oxygen content of the exhaled gas up to a level that can support life and then pass it back to the user.Sounds simple, but it has taken many years of design work and testing to get where we are today. On today's market there is probably 10 or more rebreathers of different shapes and forms available to the general public. This does not count the many types of military rebreathers. On the UK market the big 9 are:-
- Ambient Pressure Diving Ltd. Inspiration and it's little brother the Evolution eCCR
- Drager's Dolphin and little brother the Ray mSCR
- KISS Manufacturing's KISS and Travel KISS mCCR
- San-O-Sub/Mares/Northern Diver Azimuth mSCR
- Delta-P/CCR Technology Ouroboros eCCR
- Megladon Electronic eCCR
All of the units, with the exception of the Drager range can be easily converted to Trimix (A mixture of Helium, Oxygen and Nitrogen. Helium is added to replace some of the Nitrogen and therefore reducing the Nitrogen's Narcotic effect) with correct training and understanding.
Out of the units listed above I believe that only the Inspiration, Evolution, Dolphin, Ray and Azimuth have CE approval - As of January 2006.
These rebreathers can then be split into two distinct types Closed Circuit Rebreathers (CCR) and Semi Closed Rebreathers (SCR). AP Diving's Inspiration and Evolution are electronic CCR's. While the KISS units are manual CCR's.
Closed Circuit Rebreathers
CCR's tend only to add oxygen to the breathing loop as required and therefore at a constant depth no bubble should be given by the unit.
Semi Closed Rebreathers
On the other hand the SCR units work by usually adding a constant stream of Enriched Air (Nitrox or EAN) to the breathing loop, therefore if the oxygen in the loop is not used at the same rate as the injection bubbles will be given off every so often. The Azimuth and the Drager units are mechanical SCR units. You will also see that I have added either a lower case 'm' or 'e' to their designation. This is to indicate if they are Manual/Mechanically or Electronically controlled.
Rebreather Training Courses with Borneo Dream
Training - at Borneo Dream we can offer you rebreather training on the following:
- Drager Dolphin through PADI's Semi Closed Rebreather Speciality program.
- TDI Closed Circuit Rebreather Course Module 1 for A P Diving Limited's Inspiration, Inspiration with Vision electronics and the Evolution closed circuit rebreather range. Please contact us for a written quotation and further details.
For all your rebreather - Drager Dolphin, Evolution, Inspiration Rebreather Training in Sabah, Borneo, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and broader Asia This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it today.