Basic principle

At shallow depths, a diver using open-circuit breathing apparatus typically only uses about a quarter of the oxygen in the air that is breathed in, which is about 4 to 5% of the inspired volume. The remaining oxygen is exhaled along with nitrogen and carbon dioxide – about 95% of the volume. As the diver goes deeper, much the same mass of oxygen is used, which represents an increasingly smaller fraction of the inhaled gas. Since only a small part of the oxygen, and virtually none of the inert gas is consumed, every exhaled breath from an open-circuit scuba set represents at least 95% wasted potentially useful gas volume, which has to be replaced from the breathing gas supply.^[2][1]

A rebreather retains most of the exhaled gas for re-use and does not discharge it immediately to the surroundings.^[3][4] The inert gas and unused oxygen is kept for reuse, and the rebreather adds gas to replace the oxygen that was consumed, and removes the carbon dioxide.^[3] Thus, the gas recirculated in the rebreather remains breathable and supports life and the diver needs only to carry a fraction of the gas that would be needed for an open-circuit system. The saving is proportional to the ambient pressure, so is greater for deeper dives, and is particularly significant when expensive mixtures containing helium are used as the inert gas diluent. The rebreather also adds gas to compensate for compression when dive depth increases, and vents gas to prevent overexpansion when depth decreases.^[2][5][1]

Advantages

US Navy explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) divers

Disadvantages

When compared with open circuit scuba, rebreathers have some disadvantages, including expense, complexity of operation and maintenance, and more critical paths to failure. A malfunctioning rebreather can supply a gas mixture which contains too little oxygen to sustain life, too much oxygen which may cause convulsions, or it may allow carbon dioxide to build up to dangerous levels. Some rebreather designers try to solve these problems by monitoring the system with electronics, sensors and alarm systems. These are expensive and susceptible to failure, improper configuration and misuse.^[10]

• Oxygen rebreathers (simple closed circuit) are limited to a shallow depth range of approximately 6 m, beyond which the risk of acute oxygen toxicity rises to unacceptable levels very rapidly.
• Semi-closed circuit rebreathers are less efficient than closed circuit, and are more mechanically complex than open circuit scuba or oxygen rebreathers.
• Closed circuit rebreathers are yet more mechanically complex, and generally rely on electronic instruments and control systems to monitor and maintain a safe breathing gas mixture. This makes them more expensive to produce, more complex to maintain and test, and sensitive to getting their circuitry wet.
• Depending on the complexity of the rebreather, there are more failure modes than for open circuit scuba, and several of these failure modes are safety-critical and not easily recognized by the diver without technological intervention. A major disadvantage of a rebreather is that, due to a failure, gas may continue to be available for breathing, but the mixture provided may not support consciousness, and this may not be apparent to the user. With open circuit, this type of failure can only occur if the diver selects an unsuitable gas, and the most common type of open circuit failure, the lack of gas supply, is immediately obvious, and corrective steps like changing to an alternative supply would be taken immediately.

The bailout requirement of rebreather diving can sometimes require a rebreather diver to carry almost as much bulk of cylinders as an open-circuit diver so the diver can complete the necessary decompression stops if the rebreather fails completely.^[11] Some rebreather divers choose not to carry enough bailout for a safe ascent breathing open circuit, but instead rely on the rebreather, believing that an irrecoverable rebreather failure is very unlikely. This practice is known as alpinism or alpinist diving and is generally deprecated due to the perceived extremely high risk of death if the rebreather fails.^[12]

Other differences

A major difference between rebreather diving and open-circuit scuba diving is in fine control of neutral buoyancy. When an open-circuit scuba diver inhales, a quantity of highly compressed gas from their cylinder is reduced in pressure by a regulator, and enters the lungs at a much higher volume than it occupied in the cylinder. This means that the diver has a tendency to rise slightly with each inhalation, and sink slightly with each exhalation. This does not happen to a rebreather diver, because the diver is circulating a roughly constant volume of gas between their lungs and the counterlung. This is not specifically an advantage or disadvantage, but it requires some practice to adjust to the difference.^[5][1]

Scrubber endurance

In rebreather diving, the typical effective endurance of the scrubber will be half an hour to several hours of breathing, depending on the type and size of the scrubber, the absorbent characteristics, the ambient temperature and pressure, the operational mechanics of the rebreather, and the amount of carbon dioxide produced by the diver, which mainly depends on their metabolic work rate.^[8]

Controlling the mix

A basic need with a rebreather is to keep the partial pressure of oxygen (${\displaystyle P_{O_{2}}}$) in the mix from getting too low (causing hypoxia) or too high (causing oxygen toxicity). In humans, the urge to breathe is normally caused by a high level of carbon dioxide in the blood, rather than lack of oxygen. If not enough new oxygen is being added, the proportion of oxygen in the loop may become too low to support consciousness, and eventually too low to support life. The resulting serious hypoxia causes sudden blackout with little or no warning. This makes hypoxia a deadly hazard for rebreather divers.^[1]

The method used for controlling the range of oxygen partial pressure in the breathing loop depends on the type of rebreather.

In an oxygen rebreather, once the loop has been thoroughly flushed, the mixture is effectively static at 100% oxygen, and the partial pressure is a function only of depth. In some early oxygen rebreathers the diver had to manually open and close the valve to the oxygen cylinder to refill the counter-lung each time the volume got low. In others a small continuous oxygen flow is provided by a flow restricting valve, but the set also has a manual bypass valve for descent and when consumption exceeds supply. In more advanced oxygen rebreathers, the pressure in the counter-lung controls the oxygen flow with a demand valve which will add gas when the bag is empty and internal pressure drops below ambient.

In a semi-closed rebreather the loop mix depends on a combination of factors:

• the type of gas addition system and its setting, combined with the gas mixture in use, which control the rate of oxygen added. Oxygen fraction is limited by the gas mix. It can be lower but not higher.
• work rate, and therefore the oxygen consumption rate, which controls the rate of oxygen depletion, and therefore the resulting oxygen fraction.
• depth, which has the usual effect of increasing partial pressure in proportion to ambient pressure and oxygen fraction.

In manually controlled closed circuit rebreathers the diver controls the gas mix and volume in the loop by manually injecting oxygen and diluent gases to the loop and by venting the loop. The loop has a pressure relief valve to prevent damage caused by over-pressure of the loop when the mouthpiece valve is closed.

Narked at 90 Ltd – Deep Pursuit Advanced electronic rebreather controller.

Electronically controlled closed-circuit rebreathers have electro-galvanic oxygen sensors which monitor the partial pressure of oxygen, and electronic control systems, which inject more oxygen to maintain the set point, and issuing an audible, visual and/or vibratory warning to the diver if the partial pressure of oxygen reaches dangerously high or low levels.^[1]

The volume in the loop of both SCRs and CCRs is usually maintained by a pressure controlled automatic diluent valve, which works on the same principle as a demand valve, to add diluent when inhalation lowers the pressure in the loop during descent or if the diver removes gas from the loop by exhaling through the nose.^[1]

Gas endurance

Gas endurance depends on the amount of gas available and the control system for injection to maintain the oxygen partial pressure set points. These include constant mass flow, manual control, and automated control by injecting gas via a solenoid valve. The injection may follow the "bang-bang", "on-off", or "hysteresis" model, where the valve is activated and gas is injected until it reaches the upper set point limit, deactivated until the partial pressure reduces to the lower set point limit, and injection is started again, or more complex models such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, in which the injection rate is controlled taking into account current rate of use, and changes to the rate of use. The gas endurance can be affected by the control model used.^[8]

Oxygen partial pressure in a semi-closed rebreather

A diver with a constant workload during aerobic working conditions will use an approximately constant amount of oxygen ${\displaystyle V_{O_{2}}}$ as a fraction of the respiratory minute volume (RMV, or ${\displaystyle V_{E}}$). This ratio of minute ventilation and oxygen uptake is the extraction ratio ${\displaystyle K_{E}}$, and usually falls in the range of 17 to 25 with a normal value of about 20 for healthy humans. Values as low as 10 and as high as 30 have been measured.^[13] Variations may be caused by the diet of the diver and the dead space of the diver and equipment, raised levels of carbon dioxide, or raised work of breathing and tolerance to carbon dioxide.

${\displaystyle K_{E}={\frac {V_{E}}{V_{O_{2}}}}}$ (≅20)

Therefore, the volume of gas in the breathing circuit can be described as approximately constant, and the fresh gas addition must balance the sum of the dumped volume, the metabolically removed oxygen, and the volume change due to depth change. (metabolic carbon dioxide added to the mixture is removed by the scrubber and therefore does not affect the equation)

Constant mass flow

Loop and pneumatics schematic diagram of a typical constant mass flow semi-closed rebreather
1 Dive/surface valve with loop non-return valves
2 Exhaust hose
3 Scrubber canister (axial flow)
4 Counterlung
5 Loop overpressure valve
6 Inhalation valve
7 Breathing gas supply cylinder
8 Cylinder valve
9 Absolute pressure regulator
10 Submersible pressure gauge
11 Automatic Diluent Valve
12 Constant Mass Flow metering orifice
13 Manual bypass valve
14 Bailout demand valve

Oxygen partial pressure in a constant mass flow system is controlled by the flow rate of feed gas through the orifice and the oxygen consumption of the diver. Dump rate is equal to feed rate minus oxygen consumption for this case.

The change in the fraction of oxygen ${\displaystyle dF_{O_{2}loop}}$ in the breathing circuit may be described by the following equation:^[14]

$${\displaystyle V_{loop}\times dF_{O_{2}loop}=(Q_{feed}\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}-(Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}loop})dt}$$

Where:

${\displaystyle V_{loop}}$ = volume of the breathing circuit

${\displaystyle Q_{feed}}$ = flow rate of the fresh gas supplied by the orifice

${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}feed}}$ = oxygen fraction of the supply gas

${\displaystyle V_{O_{2}}}$ = oxygen uptake flow rate of the diver

This leads to the differential equation:

$${\displaystyle {\frac {dF_{O_{2}loop}}{dt}}={\frac {(Q_{feed}\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}(t)-(Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}loop}(t))}{V_{loop}}}}$$

With solution:

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}(t)={\frac {Q_{feed}\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}}}}+(F_{O_{2}loop}^{start}-{\frac {Q_{feed}\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}}}})\times e^{-{\frac {Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{V_{loop}}}t}}$$

Which comprises a steady state and a transient term.

The steady state term is sufficient for most calculations:

The steady state oxygen fraction in the breathing circuit, ${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}}$, can be calculated from the formula:^[14]

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}={\frac {(Q_{feed}\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}})}{(Q_{feed}-V_{O_{2}})}}}$$

Where:

${\displaystyle Q_{feed}}$ = Flow rate of fresh gas supplied by the orifice

${\displaystyle V_{O_{2}}}$ = Oxygen uptake flow rate of the diver

${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}feed}}$ = Oxygen fraction of the supply gas

in a consistent system of units.

As oxygen consumption is an independent variable, a fixed feed rate will give a range of possible oxygen fractions for any given depth. In the interests of safety, the range can be determined by calculating oxygen fraction for maximum and minimum oxygen consumption as well as the expected rate.

Passive addition

Schematic diagram of the breathing gas circuit of a passive addition semi-closed circuit rebreather
1 Dive/surface valve with loop non-return valves
2 Exhalation hose
3 Counterlung fore-chamber
4 Non-return valve to discharge bellows
5 Discharge bellows
6 Overpressure valve
7 Main counterlung bellows
8 Addition valve
9 Scrubber (axial flow)
10 Inhalation hose
11 Breathing gas storage cylinder
12 Cylinder valve
13 Regulator first stage
14 Submersible pressure gauge
15 Bailout demand valve

(non-depth-compensated, also known as Variable Volume Exhaust (VVE)^[15])

Oxygen partial pressure in a passive addition system is controlled by the breathing rate of the diver. Feed gas is added by a valve which is equivalent to an open circuit demand valve in function, which opens to supply gas when the counterlung is empty – the moving top plate of the counterlung works like the diaphragm of a demand valve to operate the lever opening the valve when the counterlung volume is low. The volume may be low because the internal bellows has discharged a part of the previous breath to the environment, or because an increase in depth has caused the contents to be compressed, or a combination of these causes. The oxygen used by the diver also slowly decreases the volume of gas in the loop.

The change in the fraction of oxygen ${\displaystyle dF_{O_{2}loop}}$ in the system may be described by the following equation:^[16]

$${\displaystyle V_{loop}\times dF_{O_{2}loop}=((Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}-Q_{dump}\times F_{O_{2}loop})dt}$$

Where:

${\displaystyle V_{loop}}$ = volume of the breathing circuit

${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}}$ = oxygen fraction of the gas mixture in the breathing circuit

${\displaystyle Q_{dump}}$ = flow of dumped gas

${\displaystyle V_{O_{2}}}$ = oxygen uptake rate of the diver

${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}feed}}$ = oxygen fraction of the feed gas

This leads to the differential equation:

$${\displaystyle {\frac {dF_{O_{2}loop}}{dt}}={\frac {((Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}feed}(t)-V_{O_{2}}-Q_{dump}\times F_{O_{2}loop}(t))}{V_{loop}}}}$$

With solution:

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}(t)={\frac {(Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{dump}}}+(F_{O_{2}loop}^{start}-{\frac {(Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{dump}}})\times e^{-{\frac {Q_{dump}}{V_{loop}}}t}}$$

Which comprises a steady state and a transient term.

The steady state term is sufficient for most calculations:

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}bag}(t)={\frac {(Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})\times F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{dump}}}}$$

The steady state oxygen fraction in the breathing circuit, ${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}}$, can be calculated from the formula:^[16]

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}={\frac {(Q_{dump}+V_{O_{2}})F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{Q_{dump}}}}$$

Where:

${\displaystyle Q_{dump}}$ = Flow rate of gas dumped by the concentric bellows

${\displaystyle V_{O_{2}}}$ = Oxygen uptake flow rate of the diver

${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}feed}}$ = Oxygen fraction of the supply gas

in a consistent system of units.

The gas volume dumped is related to the expired minute volume and ambient pressure, ${\displaystyle P_{amb}}$:

$${\displaystyle Q_{dump}=P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times V_{E}}$$

Where:

${\displaystyle K_{bellows}}$ = bellows ratio – the ratio between the volume of expired air in the counterlungs and the amount dumped.

${\displaystyle V_{E}}$ = respiratory minute volume.

By substitution:

$${\displaystyle Q_{dump}=P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times K_{E}\times V_{O_{2}}}$$

Which can be inserted into the steady state equation to give:

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}={\frac {(P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times K_{E}\times V_{O_{2}}+V_{O_{2}})F_{O_{2}feed}-V_{O_{2}}}{P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times K_{E}\times V_{O_{2}}}}}$$

Which simplifies to:

$${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}loop}={\frac {(P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times K_{E}+1)F_{O_{2}feed}-1}{P_{amb}\times K_{bellows}\times K_{E}}}}$$

In this case oxygen consumption and feed rate are strongly related, and the oxygen concentration in the loop is independent of oxygen uptake and is likely to remain within fairly close tolerances of the calculated value for a given depth.

The oxygen fraction of the gas in the circuit will approximate the feed gas more closely for greater depth.

The derivation above does not take into account the temperature difference between the lung contents at 37 °C and the breathing loop, which will normally be at a lower temperature. RMV is given in litres per minute at body temperature and ambient pressure, oxygen consumption in standard litres per minute (STP) and the total volume of the lungs and breathing loop in actual litres.^[15] This can be corrected by using the general gas equation of state to provide values for these variables at the temperature of the gas in the circuit. The effect of the temperature corrections is generally a slightly lower value for loop gas oxygen fraction.^[17]

Maximum operating depth

MOD for a closed circuit mixed gas rebreather is usually based on the MOD of the diluent, as that is the leanest mix that can be guaranteed. After a diluent flush the gas must be breathable, and this limits MOD, but it is possible to use more than one option for diluent, and switch the gas to a hypoxic mix for the deeper sector of a dive, and a normoxic mix for the shallower sectors.

MOD calculations for SCRs are usually based on the MOD for the full strength supply gas, as this can then be used for bailout at the full planned dive depth, and is the worst case estimate for the toxicity of the loop gas. MOD calculations can also be done for loop gas as calculated, but this is subject to variations which are not always accurately predictable. Loop gas calculated values for passive addition systems could possibly be used for working MOD calculation, and supply gas for emergency MOD given the relatively stable loop fraction in the passive addition systems, however the loop gas concentration may be closer to full strength if the diver works hard and ventilation increases beyond the linear extraction ratio.

Hazards

In addition to the risk of other diving disorders that open circuit divers are exposed to, rebreather divers are also more exposed to hazards which are directly connected with the effectiveness and reliability of generic and specific rebreather design and construction, not necessarily with the principles of rebreathing:

• Sudden blackout due to hypoxia caused by too low a partial pressure of oxygen in the loop. A particular problem is the drop in ambient pressure caused by the ascent phase of the dive, which can reduce the partial pressure of oxygen to hypoxic levels leading to what is sometimes called deep water blackout.^[21]
• Seizures due to oxygen toxicity caused by too high a partial pressure of oxygen in the loop. This can be caused by the rise in ambient pressure caused by the descent phase of the dive, which raises the partial pressure of oxygen to hyperoxic levels. In fully closed circuit equipment, ageing oxygen sensors may become "current limited" and fail to measure high partial pressures of oxygen resulting in dangerously high oxygen levels.
• Disorientation, panic, headache, and hyperventilation due to excess of carbon dioxide caused by incorrect configuration, failure or inefficiency of the scrubber. The scrubber must be configured so that no exhaled gas can bypass it; it must be packed and sealed correctly, and it has a limited capacity for absorption of carbon dioxide. Another problem is the diver producing carbon dioxide faster than the absorbent can handle; for example, during hard work, fast swimming, or high work of breathing caused by excessive depth for the loop configuration and gas mixture combination. The solution to this is to reduce effort and let the absorbent catch up. The scrubber efficiency may be reduced at depth where the increased concentration of other gas molecules, due to pressure, prevents some of the carbon dioxide molecules reaching the active ingredient of the scrubber before the gas gets out the far side of the absorbent stack.^[22] Low temperatures in the scrubber will also slow down the reaction rate.
• The diver should keep breathing constantly to maintain consistent gas flow at moderate flow velocities over the carbon dioxide absorbent, so the absorbent can work most effectively. Divers need to lose any skip-breathing habits that may have been developed while diving with open-circuit scuba. In closed circuit rebreathers, constant moderate breathing also has the effect of mixing the gas, preventing oxygen-rich and oxygen-lean volumes developing within the loop, which may cause unrepresentative measurement of oxygen partial pressure and consequently misleading information to the oxygen control system. The reduced maximum flow rates of deep, steady breathing both increase average dwell time in the scrubber, and resistive work of breathing.
• "Caustic cocktail" in the loop if water comes into contact with the soda lime used in the carbon dioxide scrubber. The diver is normally alerted to this by a chalky taste in the mouth. A safe response is to bail out to "open circuit" and rinse the mouth out.
• Slow low-temperature start-up of the carbon dioxide-absorbing chemical. This is a particular problem with the Chemox chemical rebreather which requires breath moisture to activate the potassium superoxide and the carbon dioxide absorption.^[23] A chlorate candle can be provided that produces enough oxygen to allow the user's breath to activate the system.^[23]
• A breathing loop may become contaminated by pathogens if not sufficiently cleaned and disinfected between uses or between users. These pathogens may infect subsequent users. Operating manuals include instructions for cleaning and disinfection which have been tested and do not unduly harm the equipment, but are not necessarily effective on all possible pathogens.

Inherent limitations of the types of rebreather

Each type of rebreather has limitations on safe operating range, and specific hazards inherent to the method of operation, which affect the operating range and operating procedures.

Active addition SCR

Active addition SCRs vary in complexity, but all operate with a breathing loop which is normally near the upper limit of its capacity. Therefore, if the gas addition system fails, the volume of gas in the loop will generally remain sufficient to provide no warning to the diver that the oxygen is depleting, and the risk of hypoxia is relatively high.

Constant mass flow SCR

Scuba diver with Dräger Dolphin constant mass flow semi-closed circuit rebreather

Constant mass flow addition provides the loop with added gas which is independent of depth and metabolic oxygen consumption. If the addition to make up for depth increases is disregarded, the endurance of the unit is basically fixed for a given orifice and supply gas combination. However, the oxygen partial pressure will vary depending on metabolic requirements, and this is generally predictable only within limits. The uncertain composition of the gas means that worst case estimates are usually made for both maximum operating depth and decompression considerations. Unless the gas is monitored in real time by a decompression computer with an oxygen sensor, these rebreathers have a smaller safe depth range than open circuit on the same gas, and are a disadvantage for decompression.

A specific hazard of the gas metering system is that if the orifice is partly or completely blocked, the gas in the loop will be depleted of oxygen without the diver being aware of the problem. This can result in hypoxia and unconsciousness without warning. This can be mitigated by monitoring the partial pressure in real time using an oxygen sensor, but this adds to the complexity and cost of the equipment.

Demand controlled SCR

The principle of operation is to add a mass of oxygen that is proportional to ventilation volume. The fresh gas addition is made by controlling the pressure in a dosage chamber proportional to the counterlung bellows volume. The dosage chamber is filled with fresh gas to a pressure proportional to bellows volume, with the highest pressure when the bellows is in the empty position. When the bellows fills during exhalation, the gas is released from the dosage chamber into the breathing circuit, proportional to the volume in the bellows during exhalation, and is fully released when the bellows is full. Excess gas is dumped to the environment through the overpressure valve after the bellows is full.

There is no dosage dependency on depth or oxygen uptake. Dosage ratio is constant once the gas has been selected, and the variations remaining on oxygen fraction are due to variations in the extraction ratio. This system provides a fairly stable oxygen fraction which is a reasonable approximation of open circuit for decompression and maximum operating depth purposes.

If the gas supply to the dosage mechanism were to fail without warning, the gas addition would stop and the diver would use up the oxygen in the loop gas until it became hypoxic and the diver lost consciousness. To prevent this, a system is needed that warns the diver that there is a feed gas supply failure so the diver must take appropriate action. This can be done by purely mechanical methods.

Passive addition SCR

Passive addition relies on inhalation by the diver to trigger gas addition when the volume of gas in the breathing loop is low. This will provide warning to the diver if the addition system stops working for any reason, as the discharge system will continue to empty the loop and the diver will have a decreasing volume of gas to breathe from. This will generally provide adequate warning before hypoxia is likely.

A concentric bellows counterlung controlled gas addition mechanism relies on the full contraction of the counterlung to inject fresh gas. This works well to maintain the loop volume during descent, but may not be effective during ascent if the gas expansion in the loop due to ambient pressure reduction is fast enough to prevent the bellows from sufficiently activating the addition valve. This effect can be counteracted by a sufficiently slow ascent or frequent pauses during ascent to allow inhalation at constant depth. The severity of risk also depends on the oxygen fraction of the supply gas and the bellows ratio.

Non-depth compensated PASCR

Gas extension for the non-depth compensated passive addition SCR is directly proportional to the bellows ratio – the proportion of gas that is discharged during each breath cycle. A small ratio means that the amount of gas added each cycle is small, and the gas is rebreathed more times, but it also means that more oxygen is removed from the loop gas mix, and at shallow depths the oxygen deficit compared to the supply gas concentration is large. A large bellows ratio adds a larger proportion of the breath volume as fresh gas, and this keeps the gas mix closer to supply composition at shallow depth, but uses the gas up faster.

The mechanism is mechanically simple and reliable, and not sensitive to blockage by small particles. It is more likely to leak than block, which would use gas faster, but not compromise the safety of the gas mixture. Oxygen fraction of the loop gas is considerably less than of the supply gas in shallow water, and only slightly less at deeper depths, so the safe depth range for a given supply gas is smaller than for open circuit, and the variation in oxygen concentration is also disadvantageous for decompression. Gas switching may compensate for this limitation at the expense of complexity of construction and operation. The ability to switch to open circuit in shallow depths is an option which can compensate for the reduction in oxygen content at those depth, at the expense of operational complexity and greatly increased gas use while on open circuit. This may be considered a relatively minor problem if the requirement for bailout gas is considered. The diver will be carrying the gas anyway, and using it for decompression at the end of a dive does not increase the volume requirement for dive planning.

The loop oxygen fraction is critically dependent on an accurate assumption of the extraction ratio. If this is chosen incorrectly the oxygen fraction may differ significantly from the calculated value. Very little information on variation of extraction ratio is available in easily accessible references.

Depth compensated PASCR

Halcyon PVR-BASC, a depth compensated passive addition semi-closed rebreather.

Gas extension for the depth compensated passive addition rebreather is approximately proportional to metabolic usage. The volume of gas dumped by the system is, for a given depth, a fixed fraction of the volume breathed by the diver, as in the case of the non-depth-compensated system. However, this ratio is changed in inverse proportion to ambient pressure – the bellows ratio is greatest at the surface, and decreases with depth. The effect is for an amount of gas of reasonably constant mass proportion to oxygen usage to be discharged, and the same amount, on average, is supplied by the addition valve, to make up the loop volume at steady state. This is very similar to the demand controlled SCR in effect on the oxygen fraction of the loop gas, which remains nearly constant at all depths where the compensation is linear, and for aerobic levels of exercise. The limitations on this system appear to be mainly in the mechanical complexity, bulk and mass of the equipment. The linearity of depth compensation is limited by structural considerations, and below a certain depth the compensation will be less effective, and finally dissipate. However, this does not have a great effect on oxygen fraction, as the changes at those depths are already small. The slightly higher concentrations in this case are a bit nearer to the supply gas value than if the compensation was still effective. The depth compensated PASCR can provide almost identical breathing gas to open circuit over a large depth range, with a small and nearly constant oxygen fraction in the breathing gas, eliminating a major limitation of the non-compensated system at the expense of mechanical ¢complexity.

Mixed gas CCR

Close up side view of diver using Inspiration electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather

Diver using Inspiration rebreather at the wreck of the MV Orotava

Diver using Inspiration rebreather

The mixed gas closed circuit rebreather can provide an optimised gas mixture for any given depth and duration, and does this with great precision and efficiency of gas usage until it fails, and there are several ways it can fail. Many of the failure modes are not easily identified by the diver without the use of sensors and alarms, and several failure modes can reduce the gas mixture to one unsuitable for supporting life. This problem can be managed by monitoring the state of the system and taking appropriate action when it diverges from the intended state. The composition of the loop gas is inherently unstable, so a control system with feedback is required. Oxygen partial pressure, which is the characteristic to be controlled, must be measured and the value provided to the control system for corrective action. The control system may be the diver or an electronic circuit. The measuring sensors are susceptible to failure for various reasons, so more than one is required, so that if one fails without warning, the diver can use the other(s) to make a controlled termination of the dive.^[5][1]

Manually controlled CCR

The manually controlled closed circuit rebreather (MCCCR or MCCR) relies on the attention, knowledge and skill of the diver to maintain the gas mixture at the desired composition. It relies on electrochemical sensors and electronic monitoring instruments to provide the diver with the information required to make the necessary decisions and take the correct actions to control the gas mixture. The diver is required to be aware of the status of the system at all times, which increases task loading, but along with the experience, the diver develops and retains the skills of keeping the mixture within planned limits, and is well equipped to manage minor failures. The diver remains aware of the need to constantly check the status of the equipment, as this is necessary to stay alive.

Electronically controlled CCR

The electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather (ECCCR or ECCR) uses electronic circuitry to monitor the status of the loop gas in real time, and to make adjustments to keep it within narrow tolerances. It is generally very effective at this function until something goes wrong. When something does go wrong the system should notify the diver of the fault so that appropriate action can be taken. Two critical malfunctions may occur which may not be noticed by the diver.

• A dangerously low oxygen partial pressure (Hypoxia) will not be noticed by the diver, but if there are functioning oxygen sensors, they will usually pick this up.^[5]
• A dangerously high oxygen partial pressure is more likely to be missed, as defective sensors may still work for low concentrations, but provide inaccurate results for high partial pressures.^[5]

An insidious problem with oxygen sensor failure is when a sensor indicates a low oxygen partial pressure which is actually not low, but a sensor failure. If the diver or the control system respond to this by adding oxygen, a hyperoxic gas can be caused which may result in convulsions. To avoid this, multiple sensors are fitted to ECCCRs, so that a single cell failure does not have fatal consequences. Three or four cells are used for systems which use voting logic.^[19][5]

A control circuit may fail in complex ways. If extensive testing of failure modes is not done, the user can not know what might happen if the circuit fails, and some failures may produce unexpected consequences. A failure which does not alert the user to the correct problem may have fatal consequences.^[19]

ECCCR alarm systems may include flashing displays on handsets, flashing LEDs on head-up displays, audible alarms and vibratory alarms.^[19][5][1]

Failure modes

Several failure modes are common to most types of diving rebreather, and others can occur only when the specific technology is used in the rebreather.

Oxygen monitoring failure

Hyperbaric oxygen cell testing pot for testing cells at high oxygen partial pressure. This can identify cells which are starting to fail.

Partial pressure monitoring of oxygen in the breathing circuit is generally done by electrochemical cells, which are sensitive to water on the cell and in the circuitry. They are also subject to gradual failure due to using up the reactive materials, and may lose sensitivity in cold conditions. Any of the failure modes may lead to inaccurate readings, without any obvious warning. Cells should be tested at the highest available oxygen partial pressure, and should be replaced after a use period and shelf life recommended by the manufacturer.

Prevention: Multiple oxygen sensors with independent circuitry reduce the risk of losing information on oxygen partial pressure. An electronically controlled CCR generally uses a minimum of three oxygen monitors to ensure that if one fails, it will be able to identify the failed cell with reasonable reliability. Use of oxygen sensor cells with different ages or histories reduces the risk of all failing at the same time, and testing the cells before a dive at oxygen partial pressure above the alarm value is likely to identify cells that are close to failing.^[5]

Mitigation: If oxygen monitoring fails, the diver can not be sure that the contents of a mixed gas CCR rebreather will sustain consciousness. Bailout is the only safe option.^[5] Oxygen monitoring is generally an optional facility on a SCR, but may be part of real time decompression calculations. Appropriate action will depend on circumstances, but this is not an immediately life-threatening event.

Managing cell failure in an electronic rebreather control system

If more than one statistically independent oxygen sensor cell is used, it is unlikely that more than one will fail at a time. If one assumes that only one cell will fail, then comparing three or more outputs which have been calibrated at two points is likely to pick up the cell which has failed by assuming that any two cells that produce the same output are correct and the one which produces a different output is defective. This assumption is usually correct in practice, particularly if there is some difference in the history of the cells involved.^[29] The concept of comparing the output from three cells at the same place in the loop and controlling the gas mixture based on the average output of the two with the most similar output at any given time is known as voting logic, and is more reliable than control based on a single cell. If the third cell output deviates sufficiently from the other two, an alarm indicates probable cell failure. If this occurs before the dive, the rebreather is deemed unsafe and should not be used. If it occurs during a dive, it indicates an unreliable control system, and the dive should be aborted. Continuing a dive using a rebreather with a failed cell alarm significantly increases the risk of a fatal loop control failure. This system is not totally reliable. There has been at least one case reported where two cells failed similarly and the control system voted out the remaining good cell.^[30]

If the probability of failure of each cell was statistically independent of the others, and each cell alone was sufficient to allow safe function of the rebreather, the use of three fully redundant cells in parallel would reduce risk of failure by five or six orders of magnitude.^[30]

The voting logic changes this considerably. A majority of cells must not fail for safe function of the unit. In order to decide whether a cell is functioning correctly, it must be compared with an expected output. This is done by comparing it against the outputs of other cells. In the case of two cells, if the outputs differ, then one at least must be wrong, but it is not known which one. In such a case the diver should assume the unit is unsafe and bail out to open circuit. With three cells, if they all differ within an accepted tolerance, they may all be deemed functional. If two differ within tolerance, and the third does not, the two within tolerance may be deemed functional, and the third faulty. If none are within tolerance of each other, they may all be faulty, and if one is not, there is no way of identifying it.^[30]

Using this logic, the improvement in reliability gained by use of voting logic where at least two sensors must function for the system to function is greatly reduced compared to the fully redundant version. Improvements are only in the order of one to two orders of magnitude. This would be great improvement over the single sensor, but the analysis above has assumed statistical independence of the failure of the sensors, which is generally not realistic.^[30]

Factors which make the cell outputs in a rebreather statistically dependent include:^[30]

• Common calibration gas – They are all calibrated together in the pre-dive check using the same diluent and oxygen supply.
• Sensors are often from the same manufacturing batch – Components, materials and processes are likely to be very similar.
• Sensors are often installed together and have since been exposed to the same ${\displaystyle P_{O_{2}}}$ and temperature profile over the subsequent time.
• Common working environment, particularly with regards to temperature and relative humidity, as they are usually mounted in very close proximity in the loop, to ensure that they measure similar gas.
• Common measurement systems
• Common firmware for processing the signals

This statistical dependency can be minimised and mitigated by:^[30]

• Using sensors from different manufacturers or batches, so that no two are from the same batch
• Changing sensors at different times, so they each have a different history
• Ensuring that the calibration gases are correct
• Adding a statistically independent ${\displaystyle P_{O_{2}}}$ measuring system to the loop at a different place, using a different model sensor, and using different electronics and software to process the signal.
• Calibrating this sensor using a different gas source to the others

An alternative method of providing redundancy in the control system is to recalibrate the sensors periodically during the dive by exposing them to a flow of either diluent or oxygen or both at different times, and using the output to check whether the cell is reacting appropriately to the known gas at the known depth. This method has the added advantage of allowing calibration at a higher oxygen partial pressure than 1 bar.^[30] This procedure may be done automatically, where the system has been designed to do it, or the diver can manually perform a diluent flush at any depth at which the diluent is breathable to compare the cell ${\displaystyle P_{O_{2}}}$ readings against a known ${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}}}$ and absolute pressure to verify the displayed values. This test does not only validate the cell. If the sensor does not display the expected value, it is possible that the oxygen sensor, the pressure sensor (depth), or the gas mixture ${\displaystyle F_{O_{2}}}$, or any combination of these may be faulty. As all three of these possible faults could be life-threatening, the test is quite powerful.^[30]

Risk

The percentage of deaths that involve the use of a rebreather among US and Canadian residents increased from approximately 1 to 5% of the total diving fatalities collected by the Divers Alert Network from 1998 through 2004.^[32] Investigations into rebreather deaths focus on three main areas: medical, equipment, and procedural.^[32]

Divers Alert Network (DAN) report 80 to 100 fatal accidents per 500,000 to 1 million active scuba divers in the US, per year. British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) and DAN open-circuit accident rates are very similar, although BSAC dives have a higher proportion of deep and decompression dives.

An analysis of 164 fatal rebreather accidents documented from 1994 to Feb 2010 by Deeplife, reports a fatal accident rate of one in 243 per year, using a conservative assumption of linear growth of rebreather use and an average of around 2500 active participants over that time. This is a fatal accident rate of over 100 times that of open circuit scuba. The statistics indicate that equipment choice has a dramatic effect on dive safety.^[33]

A further analysis of these rebreather deaths^[34] found significant inaccuracies in the original data. Review shows that the risk of death while diving on a rebreather is in the region of 5.33 deaths per 100,000 dives, roughly 10 times the risk of open circuit scuba or horseriding, five times the risk of skydiving or hang gliding, but one eighth the risk of base jumping. No significant difference was found when comparing mCCRs with eCCRs or between brands of rebreather since 2005, but accurate information on numbers of active rebreather divers and number of units sold by each manufacturer are not available. The survey also concluded that much of the increased mortality associated with CCR use may be related to use at greater than average depth for recreational diving, and to high-risk behaviour by the users, and that the greater complexity of CCRs makes them more prone to equipment failure than OC equipment.^[34]

EN 14143 (2009) (Respiratory equipment – Self-contained re-breathing diving apparatus [Authority: The European Union Per Directive 89/686/EEC]) requires that manufacturers perform a Failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA), but there is no requirement to publish the results, consequently most manufacturers keep their FMECA report confidential. EN 14143 also requires compliance with EN 61508. According to the Deep Life report this is not implemented by most rebreather manufacturers, with the following implications:^[33]

• no existing rebreather has been shown to be able to tolerate any one worst case failure.
• users have no information on the safety of the equipment they use.
• the public can not examine the conclusions of FMECA and challenge dubious conclusions.
• there is no public FMECA data which can be used to develop better systems.

Analysis of probability failure trees for open circuit scuba shows that use of a parallel or redundant system reduces risk considerably more than improving the reliability of components in a single critical system.^[35] These risk modelling techniques were applied to CCRs, and indicated a risk of equipment failure some 23 times that for a manifolded twin cylinder open circuit set.^[34] When sufficient redundant breathing gas supply in the form of open circuit scuba is available, the mechanical failure risk of the combination becomes comparable to that for open circuit. This does not compensate for poor maintenance and inadequate pre-dive checks, high risk behavior, or for incorrect response to failures. Human error appears to be a major contributor to accidents.^[34]

There are no formal statistics on underwater electronics failure rates, but it is likely that human error is more frequent than the error rate of electronic dive computers, which are the basic component of rebreather control electronics, which process information from multiple sources and have an algorithm for controlling the oxygen injection solenoid. The sealed dive computer package has been around for long enough for the better quality models to have become reliable and robust in design and construction.^[19]

An electronically controlled rebreather is a complex system. The control unit receives input from several sensors, evaluates the data, calculates the appropriate next action or actions, updates the system status and displays, and performs the actions, in some cases using real-time feedback to adapt the control signal.^[19] The inputs include one or more of pressure, oxygen and temperature sensors, a clock, and possibly helium and carbon dioxide sensors. There is also a battery power source, and a user interface in the form of a visual display, and possibly audio and vibratory alarms.^[19]

In a minimal eCCR the system is very vulnerable. A single critical fault can necessitate manual procedures for fault recovery or the need to bail out to an alternative breathing gas supply. Some faults may have fatal consequences if not noticed and managed very quickly. Critical failures include power supply, non-redundant oxygen sensor, solenoid or control unit.^[19]

The mechanical components are relatively robust and reliable and tend to degrade non-catastrophically, and are bulky and heavy, so the electronic sensors and control systems have been the components where improved fault tolerance has generally been sought. Oxygen cell failures have been a particular problem, with predictably serious consequences, so the use of multiple redundancy in oxygen partial pressure monitoring has been an important area of development for improving reliability. A problem in this regard is the cost and relatively short lifespan of oxygen sensors, along with their relatively unpredictable failure, and sensitivity to the environment.^[19]

To combine cell redundancy with monitoring circuit, control circuit and display redundancy, the cell signals should all be available to all monitoring and control circuits in normal conditions. This can be done by sharing signals at the analog or digital stage – the cell output voltage can be supplied to the input of all monitoring units, or the voltages of some cells can be supplied to each monitor, and the processed digital signals shared. The sharing of digital signals may allow easier isolation of defective components if short circuits occur. The minimum number of cells in this architecture is two per monitoring unit, with two monitoring units for redundancy, which is more than the minimum three for basic voting logic capability.^[19]

The three aspects of a fault tolerant rebreather are hardware redundancy, robust software and a fault detection system. The software is complex and comprises several modules with their own tasks, such as oxygen partial pressure measurement, ambient pressure measurement, Oxygen injection control, decompression status calculation and the user interface of status and information display and user inputs. It is possible to separate the user interface hardware from the control and monitoring unit, in a way that allows the control system to continue to operate if the relatively vulnerable user interface is compromised.^[19]

Assembly and predive function tests

Before use, the scrubber canister must be filled with the correct amount of absorbent material, and the unit tested for leaks. Two leak tests are usually conducted. These are generally known as the positive and negative pressure tests, and test that the breathing loop is airtight for internal pressure lower and higher than the outside. The positive pressure test ensures that the unit will not lose gas while in use, and the negative pressure test ensures that water will not leak into the breathing loop where it can degrade the scrubber medium or the oxygen sensors.

A test and calibration of the oxygen sensors is part of the pre-dive or daily checks for rebreathers which use them. Electronically controlled rebreathers may have an automatic sensor check routine which compares the readings from all the cells using the diluent and pure oxygen as calibration gases. Calibration is therefore usually limited to an oxygen partial pressure of 1 bar, which is not optimal since the set points are usually more than 1 bar. To calibrate at more than one bar a special cell calibration chamber is needed, which can preferably test and calibrate the cells at 1.6 to 2 bar in pure oxygen.

Prebreathing the unit (usually for about 3 minutes) shortly before entering the water is a standard procedure. This ensures that the scrubber material gets a chance to warm up to operating temperature, and works correctly, and that the partial pressure of oxygen in a closed-circuit rebreather is controlled correctly.^[36] Prebreathing has been found to be unreliable for checking scrubber function.^[37]

• 
  Hyperbaric oxygen cell testing pot
• 
  Preparing for use – filling the scrubber canister with sodalime
• 
  Immersion leak test on a Mk16
• 
  Predive positive pressure test

The diver is provided with information on the status of the breathing gas in the loop on the wrist mounted display and sometimes also on a head-up display as can be seen on the mouthpiece of this JJ electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather.

Preventing flooding of the loop

Before the mouthpiece is removed from the mouth the dive/surface valve must be closed (or the bailout valve activated) to prevent water from flooding into the loop. This must be reversed when the mouthpiece is replaced. Operating the DSV or BOV is usually a one-hand operation when the mouthpiece is held by the teeth, but usually requires both hands if it is not in the mouth. There are no automated DSVs, only the diver can prevent flooding.

Oxygen monitoring

Partial pressure of oxygen is of critical importance on CCRs and is monitored at frequent intervals, particularly at the start of the dive, during descent, where transient increases due to compression may occur, and during ascent, where the risk of hypoxia is highest. On electronically controlled CCRs this is done by the control system, and the diver is warned of divergence from the set point by an alarm. The diver may need to manually adjust the mixture or decrease the rate of depth change to help the injection system to correct the mix.

Monitoring carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide buildup is also a severe hazard, and most rebreathers do not have electronic carbon dioxide monitoring. The diver must look out for indications of this problem at all times.^[36] A buddy diver should stay with a rebreather diver who is required to take emergency action until the diver has safely surfaced, as this is the time when the buddy is most likely to be needed.

Restoring the oxygen content of the loop

Many diver training organizations teach the "diluent flush" technique as a safe way to restore the mix in the loop to a level of oxygen that is neither too high nor too low. It only works when partial pressure of oxygen in the diluent alone would not cause hypoxia or hyperoxia, such as when using a normoxic diluent and observing the diluent's maximum operating depth. The technique involves simultaneously venting the loop and injecting diluent. This flushes out the old mix and replaces it with fresh gas with a known fraction of oxygen.

Draining the loop

Regardless of whether the rebreather in question has the facility to trap any ingress of water, training on a rebreather will feature procedures for removing excess water. The method will depend on specific design of the unit, as there are a variety of places in the loop where water will accumulate which depend on the details of the loop architecture and on where the water makes ingress. Mostly these procedures will deal with water that gets in through the mouthpiece, as that is a common problem.

Post dive checks, cleaning and maintenance

• Inspection for signs of wear and damage, replacement of damaged and deteriorated components
• Rinsing with fresh water, draining, drying, and storage in well ventilated, cool, dry environment out of direct sunlight.
• Following the planned maintenance schedule. This may entail servicing by approved agents, and may require shipping to the manufacturer.
• Disposal of spent absorbent material
• Disinfection of the loop.
• Replacement of oxygen sensors.

Bailout

Rebreather diver with bailout and decompression cylinders

While the diver is underwater, the rebreather may fail and be unable to provide a safe breathing mix for the duration of the ascent back to the surface. In this case the diver needs an alternative breathing source: the bailout gas.

Although some rebreather divers – referred to as "alpinists" – do not carry bailout equipment, bailout strategy becomes a crucial part of dive planning, particularly for long dives and deeper dives in technical diving. Often the planned dive is limited by the capacity of the bailout set and not the capacity of the rebreather.

Several types of bailout are possible:

• An open-circuit demand valve connected to the rebreather's diluent cylinder. While this option has the advantages of being permanently mounted on the rebreather and not heavy, the quantity of gas held by the rebreather is usually small so the protection offered is low.
• An open-circuit demand valve connected to the rebreather's oxygen cylinder. This is similar to the open circuit diluent bailout except it can only safely be used in depths of 6 metres (20 ft) or less because of the risk of oxygen toxicity.^[38]
• An independent open-circuit system. The extra cylinders are heavy and cumbersome but larger cylinders let the diver carry more gas providing protection for the ascent from deeper and long dives. The breathing gas mix must be carefully chosen to be safe at all depths of the ascent, or more than one set will be necessary. For long penetrations or decompression obligations, it may be necessary to carry multiple open-circuit bailout cylinders to provide enough gas. In such cases the chosen mixtures may be optimised to suit the worst case situation on the planned profile.
• An independent bailout rebreather system.

The bailout gas supply may be from the rebreather diluent cylinder, from independent cylinders, or in the case of depths less than about 6 m, from the rebreather oxygen cylinder. In all cases when bailing out the rebreather loop should be isolated from the water to avoid flooding and loss of gas which could adversely affect buoyancy. It may be necessary to close the gas supply valves at the cylinders to prevent a malfunctioning control system or free-flowing ADV from continuing to add gas to the loop, which would also adversely affect buoyancy, possibly making it impossible for the diver to remain at the correct depth for decompression.

Bailout valve

Bailout valve on JJ rebreather

See also: Diving rebreather § Bailout valve

A bailout valve (BOV) is an open circuit demand valve fitted to the mouthpiece of a rebreather with a manually operated mechanism to switch from closed circuit to open circuit. The position selecting the open circuit demand valve may substitute for the closed state of a dive-surface valve (DSV) as the breathing loop is effectively sealed when on bailout. A bailout valve allows the diver to switch from closed circuit to open circuit without the need to change mouthpieces. This can save time in an emergency, as the bailout demand valve is in place for immediate use. This can be important in a situation of severe acute hypercapnia, when the diver physically cannot hold their breath long enough to change mouthpieces. Gas supply to the BOV is often from the on-board diluent cylinder, but arrangements can be made for off-board gas to be plumbed in using quick connectors.

Early developments

The first commercially practical scuba rebreather was designed and built by the diving engineer Henry Fleuss in 1878, while working for Siebe Gorman in London.^[40] His self contained breathing apparatus consisted of a rubber mask connected to a breathing bag, with an estimated 50–60% oxygen supplied from a copper tank and carbon dioxide scrubbed by passing it through a bundle of rope yarn soaked in a solution of caustic potash, the system giving a dive duration of up to about three hours. Fleuss tested his device in 1879 by spending an hour submerged in a water tank, then one week later by diving to a depth of 5.5 metres (18 ft) in open water, on which occasion he was slightly injured when his assistants abruptly pulled him to the surface.^[40][41] This apparatus was first used under operational conditions in 1880 by Alexander Lambert, the lead diver on the Severn Tunnel construction project, who was able to travel 1,000 feet (300 m) in the darkness to close several submerged sluice doors in the tunnel; this had defeated the best efforts of standard divers due to extremely long distance, along which their air supply hoses became fouled on submerged debris, and the strong water currents in the workings.^[40][42]

Fleuss continually improved his apparatus, adding a demand regulator and tanks capable of holding greater amounts of oxygen at higher pressure. Sir Robert Davis, head of Siebe Gorman, improved the oxygen rebreather in 1910^[40][41] with his invention of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, the first rebreather to be made in quantity. While intended primarily as an emergency escape apparatus for submarine crews, it was soon also used for diving, being a handy shallow water diving apparatus with a thirty-minute endurance, and as an industrial breathing set.^[41]

Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus being tested at the submarine escape test tank at HMS Dolphin, Gosport, 14 December 1942.

The rig comprised a rubber breathing/buoyancy bag containing a canister of barium hydroxide to absorb exhaled carbon dioxide and, in a pocket at the lower end of the bag, a steel pressure cylinder holding approximately 56 litres (2.0 cu ft) of oxygen at a pressure of 120 bars (1,700 psi) which was equipped with a control valve and connected to the breathing bag. Opening the cylinder's valve admitted oxygen to the bag at ambient pressure. The rig also included an emergency buoyancy bag on its front to help keep the wearer afloat. After further development by Davis in 1927 the DSEA was adopted by the Royal Navy.^[43]

In 1911 Dräger of Lübeck tested a self-contained semi-closed rebreather system for standard diving equipment, which used an injector system to circulate the breathing gas through the scrubber and breathing loop, which included the full interior of the helmet. This was put into service soon thereafter and was available in two versions, an oxygen rebreather DM20 for depths shallower than 20 m, and a nitrox rebreather DM40 for depths up to 40 m. It was possible to minimise the work of breathing and use a helmet without a mouthpiece because the gas was pneumatically circulated.^[44] The US Navy developed a variant of the Mark V system for heliox diving. These were successfully used during the rescue of the crew and salvage of the USS Squalus in 1939. The US Navy Mark V Mod 1 heliox mixed gas helmet is based on the standard Mark V Helmet, with a scrubber canister mounted on the back of the helmet and an inlet gas injection system which recirculates the breathing gas through the scrubber to remove carbon dioxide and thereby conserve helium.^[45] The gas supply at the diver was controlled by two valves. The "Hoke valve" controlled flow through the injector to the "aspirator" which circulated gas from the helmet through the scrubber, and the main control valve used for bailout to open circuit, flushing the helmet, and for extra gas when working hard or descending. Flow rate of the injector nozzle was nominally 0.5 cubic foot per minute at 100 psi above ambient pressure, which would blow 11 times the volume of the injected gas through the scrubber.^[46]

World War II era

During the 1930s and all through World War II, the British, Italians and Germans developed and extensively used oxygen rebreathers to equip the first frogmen. The British adapted the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus and the Germans adapted the Dräger submarine escape rebreathers, for their frogmen during the war.^[47] The Italians developed similar rebreathers for the combat swimmers of the Decima Flottiglia MAS, especially the Pirelli ARO.^[48] In the U.S. Major Christian J. Lambertsen invented an underwater free-swimming oxygen rebreather in 1939, which was accepted by the Office of Strategic Services.^[49] In 1952 he patented a modification of his apparatus, this time named SCUBA,(an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus"),^{[50][51][52][53]} which later became the generic English word for autonomous breathing equipment for diving, and later for the activity using the equipment.^[54] After World War II, military frogmen continued to use rebreathers since they do not make bubbles which would give away the presence of the divers. The high percentage of oxygen used by these early rebreather systems limited the depth at which they could be used due to the risk of convulsions caused by acute oxygen toxicity.

Technical diving era

In the early days of technical diving (roughly the late 1980s and early 1990s) there was considerable interest in mixed gas rebreather technology, as it appeared to offer significantly extended bottom times, which in closed circuit systems, could be largely independent of depth. It also seemed useful for minimising decompression obligation and optimising decompression, though at the time the full complexity of achieving acceptably safe systems and procedures was not yet apparent, and the required technology was not yet readily available. The technical diving magazine aquaCorps first reported on rebreathers in their second issue in June 1990, and the topic was covered in most subsequent issues, including an entire issue in January 1993.^[55]

In May 1994 the first Rebreather Forum was held in Key West, Florida, organised by Michael Menduno and Tracy Robinette, with guests including Dr Edward D. Thalmann, the US Navy diving physiology researcher, and developer of the US Navy's mixed-gas decompression tables, and inventor Alan Krasberg, who had done significant development work on closed-circuit mixed-gas rebreathers. The 90 attendees included five rebreather manufacturers, several training agencies, and representatives from recreational, military, and commercial-diving communities. The forum recognised that there was a market for recreational rebreathers but no supply. The only community successfully using rebreathers at the time was the military, and their success depended on disciplined use and very good technical support. Commercial diving had rejected them as too complex and unreliable. It was also clear that training requirements for rebreather diving would be more complex than for open circuit, that semi-closed rebreathers would probably be easier to bring into the recreational diving market because of relative simplicity and lower cost, and that unlike the initial reaction to nitrox, there did not appear to be great concern that the technology was inappropriate for recreational diving – PADI technical development director Karl Shreeves indicated that when the technology was ready PADI would provide training. Despite continued rebreather workshops and try-dives at further annual conferences, actual rebreather availability was slow to materialise.^[55]

Dräger introduced a semi-closed circuit rebreather designed for recreational divers called the Atlantis in 1995. The company had accumulated experience in rebreather design and manufacturing going back to 1912, and was a major manufacturer of military rebreathers, which helped with credibility. In Japan, Grand Bleu marketed another recreational semi-closed unit called the Fieno.^[55]

Rebreather Forum 2.0 was held in Redondo Beach, California, in September 1996, and the proceedings were published by the PADI subsidiary Diving Science and Technology (DSAT). At this time Dräger reported that it had sold about 850 Atlantis semi-closed rebreathers, and it was estimated that up to 3000 Fienos may have been sold in Japan. The British and US navies were at the time the largest users of mixed gas rebreathers, with an estimated 240 units in service. Somewhere in the order of 25 to 50 mixed gas units were estimated to be in use by the technical diving community, mostly by exploration teams and film-makers. The forum identified widespread interest in recreational rebreathers, and recognised that there were complex risks. At this stage there was no standardised training, and agencies were advised to work with manufacturers to develop effective responses to failure modes, and instructors were advised to own, or have access to, the models on which they were planning to provide training.^[55]

At this time only the US Navy 0.7atm constant PO₂ decompression tables had been validated for nitrox and heliox, and it was not clear whether reprogramming the existing algorithms to use the PO₂ provided by the rebreathers would be effective. Some recommendations published by the forum included third party testing for quality assurance, the use of full-face masks or mouthpiece retaining straps, adherence to the buddy system, and a maximum PO₂ setpoint of 1.3 atm. It was also recognised that the development and use of on-board CO₂ monitors, which were not available at the time, would contribute to improved safety.^[55]

In 1996 Cis-Lunar Development Labs was selling its MK-IV rebreather. About a year later (1997), Ambient Pressure Diving in the UK started selling the Inspiration electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather, followed by the KISS from Jetsam Technologies.^[55]

By 1998 French cave diver Olivier Isler used a fully redundant RI 2000 semi-closed rebreather in the Doux de Coly resurgence, France.^[55]

The recommendation for maximum PO₂ supported by the technical diving community has since risen to 1.4 atm for the working dive and 1.6 atm for decompression, partly due to advice from diving physiologist Dr Bill Hamilton, and partly due to satisfactory experience. Safety was predicted to be the biggest challenge to acceptance of rebreathers, and this proved to be true. There were 200 rebreather fatalities reported worldwide between 1998 and 2012, when the third rebreather forum was held: about 10 per year between 1998 and 2005, and about 20 per year from 2006 to 2012, which is a risk five to ten times greater than on open circuit scuba. Evidence suggests that safety has continued to improve since 2012.^[55]

Mixed mode and mixed platform diving

A mixed mode dive team is a buddy team where the divers use different modes of diving on the same dive, such as one diver on open circuit and the other on rebreather. Mixed platform rebreather diving refers to the use of different makes or models of rebreather on the same dive.^[60]

There are dive profiles and tasks in which mixed modes may not work well because of incompatible requirements for bottom times, decompression and gas planning, but there is a wide range of operations where this is much less of a problem, however it is necessary for both members of the team to be able to assist each other in an emergency, which requires the ability to recognise problems, and the knowledge, skills and equipment to respond appropriately. This includes knowledge of emergency procedures appropriate to the other diver's equipment. Some training and briefing is necessary, and appropriate procedures should be covered in the operations manual. Similar considerations apply to mixed platform diving, but to a lesser extent.^[60]

Training

As of 2016 there were three sets of rebreather standards for scientific diving in the US, those of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS), National Park Service (NPS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).^[61]

All three organisations require full scientific diver status with nitrox certification as prerequisite, NOAA requires certification to 130 feet (40 m) and 100 open water dive, while AAUS and NPS require 100 feet (30 m) and 50 open water dives. Each agency specifies stepwise certification to increasing depths, and certification is valid only for the rebreather type trained on, for environmental conditions similar to those during training. Classroom training includes theory review of topics included in open circuit training, and decompression and dive planning appropriate to the chosen unit. More technical topics include system design and operation, pre-dive setup and testing, post-dive break down and maintenance, oxygen exposure and decompression management, dive operations planning, problem recognition and management specific to the chosen unit. Practical skills training includes system calibration and operation checks, preparation and management of absorbent canisters, breathing loop assembly, non-return valve function and pressure checks, gas analysis, pre-breathing function assessment, buoyancy control, system monitoring during the dive, bailout procedures, and system user maintenance, and experience exposure by way of minimum hours of underwater time under supervised conditions.^[61]

Sources

• A history of closed circuit oxygen underwater breathing apparatus^[usurped] (archive link), published in 1970, plenty of images, including mountaineering rebreathers, may be slow to download
• Teknosofen homepage Åke's Rebreather Related Page