From the simplest devices for breathing underwater to modern high–tech devices, man's path to mastering the underwater world has been long and impressive. Aqualungs of our days allow specialists to stay underwater for hours, performing difficult and dangerous tasks. For example, to engage in search and rescue operations.
Rostec recently handed over modern underwater equipment manufactured by NPP Respirator to search volunteers. The company has been developing and manufacturing gearboxes, lung machines and full-fledged scuba diving equipment for many years. The products of the Respirator are used by both amateur divers and professional divers.
We understand how modern diving devices are designed and how Rostec equipment helps to conduct searches even in the most difficult conditions.
Down to the depths
The desire to conquer underwater spaces has fascinated mankind since ancient times. The first underwater breathing devices were described in Antiquity, and Leonardo da Vinci's drawings preserved images of bags with breathing mixture and mouthpieces. However, the first practically applicable autonomous breathing apparatus appeared only in 1865.
Designed by Frenchmen Rouqueyrol and Deneiroz, the Aerophore was already equipped with an important device – a diaphragm pressure reducing valve that supplies air only at the moment of inhalation. The next step was to increase the air supply, and again the French were the first here, namely military captain Yves Le Prior, who increased the pressure in the cylinder.
Ten years later, researchers Jacques Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan improved the device by connecting two air cylinders and a gearbox. Their company Aqua Lung ("Water lung") has made a significant contribution to the development of scuba diving, and the word "scuba" has become a household word for such devices. Modern scuba tanks include new materials and technologies, but the basic principle of their operation has remained unchanged.
How the "water lung" works
The main components of a modern scuba tank are a high-pressure air cylinder (200-300 atmospheres) and a two-stage gearbox. For example, the model of the AVM-15 air breathing apparatus manufactured by NPP "Respirator" includes two cylinders of seven liters each and can use not only air, but also oxygen-enriched mixtures, making breathing at depth more comfortable.
It is impossible to breathe compressed air directly from the cylinders, so the pressure must be lowered before it enters the lungs. A two-stage regulator or gearbox is used for this purpose. The first stage is attached to the cylinder and reduces the pressure to an intermediate value. The second stage of the regulator supplies air at a pressure equal to the pressure of water at any depth, and monitors the supply of air only at the moment of inhalation, which saves its consumption. The AVM-15 device is an open-cycle scuba diver: exhalation occurs through membrane valves directly into the water.
Most scuba gear is arranged in a similar way. Everything else is nuances, which, however, may be important. For example, the AVM-15 has a patented "bubble" type alarm device that warns visually and acoustically that the air supply is running out.
Search in difficult conditions
NPP "Respirator" was founded in 1932. It was here that the first domestic scuba AVM-1 was developed, which was put into mass production in 1957. Rostec's modern underwater equipment is used both for diving and for serious diving tasks.
In March of this year, Rostec devices were transferred to the DobrotvoretS volunteer community for testing. This is an association of caring people − divers, divers, drone and echo sounder operators, boatmasters − who search for missing people on the water for free. Community volunteers help search engines and rescuers in many regions of Russia, from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin.
Photo: the Dobrotvorets diving group Searches for people who have become victims of the water element, often takes place in difficult conditions, at different depths and in different climates with great exertion of forces. And here it is very important that the diving equipment does not fail. According to the first reviews of dobrotvorets, reducers and lung machines manufactured by Rostec are distinguished by comfort in operation, ease of breathing and simplicity of design. In addition, the devices have proven themselves well when working in the subglacial space. The frost resistance of the equipment will allow divers to stay underwater longer at low temperatures, as well as avoid freezing and equipment failure. Another important advantage is the cost of Russian underwater equipment, which is several times cheaper than imported. Feedback on the results of the use of the technique by volunteer divers will be taken into account when developing new models.