DIVING REBREATHERS

Course overview

SELF-CONTAINED UNDERWATER BREATHING APPARATUS (SCUBA) HAS BEEN IN USE BY RECREATIONAL, EXPLORATION, SCIENTIFIC, AND MILITARY DIVERS SINCE THE ADVENT OF THE TECHNOLOGY BY COUSTEAU AND GAGNON AFTER WORLD WAR II. AT THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL, AN UNDERWATER BREATHING APPARATUS CAN BE DELINEATED INTO SURFACE SUPPLIED AND SELF-CONTAINED UNITS. SURFACE SUPPLIED DIVERS MAKE USE OF AN UMBILICAL TO PROVIDE BREATHING GAS TO THE DIVER, WHILE SCUBA DIVERS CARRY THEIR LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT WITH THEM AT ALL TIMES. SCUBA SYSTEMS THEMSELVES ARE FURTHER CLASSIFIED AS OPEN CIRCUITS OR CLOSED CIRCUITS. A CLOSED-CIRCUIT BREATHING APPARATUS (COMMONLY KNOWN AS A REBREATHER), THE EXHALED GAS IS SCAVENGED, SCRUBBED OF CARBON DIOXIDE, ENRICHED WITH OXYGEN, AND THEN SENT BACK TO THE DIVER IN THE BREATHING LOOP. THIS SYSTEM IS EFFICIENT AND COMPLEX, REQUIRING CONSTANT MONITORING OF THE GAS IN THE SYSTEM TO ENSURE IT IS CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING LIFE. THIS ACTIVITY DESCRIBES REBREATHERS DURING DIVING AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN ENSURING SAFETY WHILE IN THE WATER.