Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63C—LAUNCHING, HAULING-OUT, OR DRY-DOCKING OF VESSELS; LIFE-SAVING IN WATER; EQUIPMENT FOR DWELLING OR WORKING UNDER WATER; MEANS FOR SALVAGING OR SEARCHING FOR UNDERWATER OBJECTS
  • B63C11/00—Equipment for dwelling or working underwater; Means for searching for underwater objects
  • B63C11/02—Divers' equipment
  • B63C11/32—Decompression arrangements; Exercise equipment
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63C—LAUNCHING, HAULING-OUT, OR DRY-DOCKING OF VESSELS; LIFE-SAVING IN WATER; EQUIPMENT FOR DWELLING OR WORKING UNDER WATER; MEANS FOR SALVAGING OR SEARCHING FOR UNDERWATER OBJECTS
  • B63C11/00—Equipment for dwelling or working underwater; Means for searching for underwater objects
  • B63C11/02—Divers' equipment
  • B63C2011/021—Diving computers, i.e. portable computers specially adapted for divers, e.g. wrist worn, watertight electronic devices for detecting or calculating scuba diving parameters

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method for determining the minimum non-pathological decompression program for a person (diver, hyperbaric worker, aviator, cosmonaut, etc.) who has stayed and breathed a gaseous mixture containing one or more gases which cannot be tabulated at ambient pressures higher than that of the "surface" that it ultimately wants to reach, as well as an automatic device for determining and indicating said program and related parameters applying the said method as well as a diving set incorporating the said device .
• the need for a decompression program stems from the fact that, during the stay under pressure, the non-tabolatable gases dissolve via the lungs and the blood in the tissues of the organism in larger quantities than they may exist there. the pressure of the surface, and that a too rapid decompression would release in situ, rather than in the exhalation gases via the blood and the lungs, the excess of said gases not consumable by the organism in the form of bubbles called "pathological" ", that is to say capable of inflicting lesions on the tissues in which they appear and / or of interrupting the blood circulation in certain vessels, the spectrum of observable and generally delayed consequences of these decompression sicknesses ranging from slight localized itching until death.
• the two main types of decompression are continuous decompression and step decompression.
• Continuous decompression is to reduce the ambient pressure continuously or in small steps, and is faster but hands practice as decompression in stages, which consists in making stops of relatively long duration at predetermined ambient pressures relatively distant from each other, generally spaced 3 mem (meters of sea water) in 3 mem up to 'on the surface, the speed of movement to the first level and between the levels being limited by a given maximum admissible value, generally between 10 and 20 mem / min.
• the ideal decompression program is the minimal program, ie the one whose total duration is the shortest without compromising the safety of the person concerned.
• a method for determining decompression programs is precise when the program prescribed by this method for a given exposure comes as close as possible to the minimum program, any deviation going in the direction of safety.
• the first is the accuracy of determining the state of saturation of the person with non-metabolizable gases after a given exposure.
• the second is the precision with which the constraints to which said state of saturation must be obeyed are known during decompression to avoid the appearance of pathological bubbles.
• the method of the invention has a better first factor and, in turn, a better second factor than conventional methods.
• the state of saturation of the organism is represented by the tensions of non-metabolizable gases in a certain number of tissues. These tensions represent concentrations of dissolved gases scaled so that at Saturation of a given tissue for a given gas (we will use Saturation here with a capital S in the direction of the equilibrium state where the tissue contains in solution all the gas which can reside therein in a stable manner), the ten
• the gas in the tissue is numerically equal to the partial pressure of the said gas in the breathed mixture, itself equal to the product of the ambient pressure and the molar concentration. gas in the mixture.
• These tissues do not represent well defined anatomical tissues, but rather sets of diverse anatomical tissues united by a common behavior with regard to the dynamics of exchanges of a given non-metabolizable gas with respiratory gases.
• Each tissue is characterized for a given gas by a constant called period or half-life, which according to the tissue can go from a few minutes to a few hundred minutes, which is defined as the time necessary for the tension of this gas in this tissue to halved the difference initially separating it from the Saturation voltage, equal to the partial pressure of the gas in the respiratory mixture, the latter being assumed to be constant.
• certain methods employ calculation devices for estimating the tensions when the ambient pressure is high, such as the "magnification" of the times actually spent at ambient pressures greater than 70 mem by a factor of 1.5 or 2.
• C is the blood perfusion of the tissue
• B is the solubility of gas in the blood
• S is the solubility of the gas in the tissue.
• This vasodilatation is accompanied by an increase in cardiac output in order to maintain a constant blood pressure.
• cardiac output in humans can vary between 5 and 25 1 / min, that is to say by a factor of 5, or even more: heart rates of around 40 1 / min have been measured in well-trained athletes providing maximum effort.
• the ambient temperature that is to say the temperature of the medium which receives the plunger, influences the perfusion of the organic tissues. This is how a temperature low re reduces tissue perfusion and reduces the rate of gas exchange.
• the purpose of the method according to the invention is to take into account the exercise of the diver and / or the temperature of the ambient environment in order to more accurately determine the optimal decompression program.
• the method according to the invention for determining in real time the decompression program of a diver or a hyperbaric worker is essentially characterized in that it consists:
• the method according to a first embodiment consists in measuring the plon time and the ambient pressure, to memorize the highest ambient pressure to deduce the maximum diving depth, to measure one of the exercise parameters 1 to 5 above (for example pulmonary ventilation) and the ambient temperature, to memorize the highest value of said exercise parameter and the lowest value of ambient temperature, to be selected as a function of these last two parameters, ie a first pre-recorded decompression table, for example the Gers table, said table being selected if, for example, the ventilation has never been higher than 40 liters / minute and if the ambient temperature has never been lower, for example, at 10 ° C, i.e. a second premorised decompression table, for example the table of the French Ministry of work and to indicate to the diver the data of this selected decompression table in relation to the dive time and the value of the depth maximum reached.
• a first pre-recorded decompression table for example the Gers table
• a second premorised decompression table for example the table of the French
• qi is the quantity of gas present in the corresponding tissue
• ⁇ i is equal to either (gp - qi) if qi ⁇ (p + Ki) or to (gp - (p + Ki)) otherwise
• g is the molar fraction of the neutral gas in the breathable mixture
• p is the ambient pressure
• Ki> 0 is a constant determined by experimentation, which can represent the threshold for bubble formation in the tissue and where the exponential coefficient ki> 0 of tissue is obtained from the exercise parameter measured, for example from VE (value of pulmonary ventilation), T (room temperature) and the sign of ⁇ i,
• Qc is the upper limit of the cardiac output taking into account the measured exercise parameter, the ambient pressure and the composition of the respiratory mixture, the said limit being determined on the basis of predicted experimental physiological data and in which the coefficients are constants determined by experimentation,
• the pulmonary ventilation (respectively the oxygen consumption) can be determined by monitoring the pressure of the respiratory gas tank for an open circuit respiratory device (respectively that of the oxygen tank for a device for recycling neutral gases) , according to the following isothermal expansion expression:
• V is the volume of the tank concerned
• P is the pressure of the tank concerned (dP / dt rate of variation of P, is obviously negative at constant temperature),
• Knowing P has other obvious safety advantages by allowing good management of respiratory reserves.
• Ps is the value of P predicted on arrival at the surface Po is the present value of P x0 is the presumed constant value of ventilation (oxygen consumption respectively) during decompression.
• the present invention also relates to a device for determining in real time the decompression program of a diver, for the implementation of the method defined above.
• indication means receiving the output signals from the calculation means and / or the output signals from the measurement means
• the measurement means each consist of a sensor which delivers an analog electrical signal and by an analog digital converter which receives the analog electrical signal and converts it into a digital signal in the form of binary coding while the calculation means are constituted by a microcomputer comprising the memories mentioned above.
• the means for measuring pulmonary ventilation or oxygen consumption are constituted by a bottle pressure sensor connected to said bottle by a flexible hose, by the analog-digital converter, by a clock. programmable and by the microcomputer which receives from the analog digital converter for a period of time determined by the programmable clock or timer, successive values of the gas pressure in the bottle, to calculate the ventilation or the oxygen consumption, by calculating the speed of pressure drop in said bottle.
• the memories of the microcomputer include data representative of those of the table of GERS and those of the table of the French Ministry of Labor or any other tables.
• the memories of the microcomputer equipping the device contain the data of a program for calculating in real time the quantities of neutral gases present in the theoretical tissues.
• the device according to the invention for determining in real time the diver's decompression program comprises:
• - automatic memory calculation means receiving the output signals from the measurement means, estimating from said signals and prerecorded programs the saturation state of the diver, determining the optimal decompression program and producing output signals representative of the decompression program and / or values measured by the measuring means,
• - indication means receiving the output signals from the calculation means and / or measurement means, and / or data input means.
• the device further comprises a housing equipped with compartments for receiving the various means mentioned above.
• the memory of the calculation means includes the data of at least two decompression tables, for example the table of GERS and the table of the French Ministry of Labor.
• the device also includes two registers for receiving the highest value of the pulmonary ventilation and the lowest value of the ambient temperature, these two registers preferably being constituted by two areas of the random access memory.
• the device also includes two other registers which respectively receive the value of the highest ambient pressure. experienced by the diver and the value of the dive time.
• the means of calculation based on the value of the highest ambient pressure, determine the maximum diving depth and thereafter, as a function of the value of the minimum ambient temperature and the value of the maximum pulmonary ventilation recorded in the registers, select either the GERS table or the French Ministry of Labor table.
• the GERS table is selected if the ambient temperature has never been below 10 ° C and if the pulmonary ventilation has never been above 40 liters / minute.
• the calculation means via the indication means, indicate to the diver the parameters fixing the decompression stages (stages and durations of the stages).
• the device automatically detects the fact that the diver ascends, checks whether the diver follows the indications of the decompression table and is therefore able to warn him by l intermediary means of indication if this is not the case, and to update the decompression program according to the actual progress of the decompression.
• the calculation means calculate the quantities of neutral gases contained in one or more theo tissues risks, by real-time integration of the gas exchange rates of said tissues, following the instructions of a program stored in the memory of the device.
• This calculation takes into account the ambient pressure, the time, at least one of the exercise parameters (for example ventilation), and the ambient temperature, to evaluate the state of saturation of said diver, whose optimal decompression program is then deducted according to a conventional method.
• this second variant of embodiment lends itself more than the first to the reactualization of the decompression program as a function of the actual progress of the ascent, as well as to the execution of successive dives and / or at altitude and / or caving. Indeed, it takes into account the actual profile of an exposure and not only the extreme values of the parameters.
• This second variant can also coexist with the first to take over in the event that the diving profile goes beyond the framework of the prerecorded tables.
• the device comprises a means for measuring the ambient pressure, a means for measuring the time, a means for measuring the ambient temperature and a means for measuring the exercise.
• the device according to the invention comprises at least one means for measuring the pulmonary ventilation or the oxygen consumption to determine the exercise.
• the pulmonary ventilation (respectively the oxygen consumption) is determined by measuring the speed of decrease of the pressure P of the respiratory gas reservoir (respectively of the oxygen reservoir) according to (Eq.4).
• the calculation means and possibly the indication means are sensitive to the signals coming from said pressure measurement means P.
• Said calculating means evaluate the speed of variation of the pressure P as a function of the signals coming from said means for measuring the pressure P and from those coming from the time measuring means at the ends of a small time interval.
• Said calculation means determine the pulmonary ventilation (respectively oxygen consumption) of the user as a function of said speed of variation of P, of the ambient pressure, and of the volume of the reservoir concerned.
• the calculation means also use the current measured value of. pressure P to predict, on the basis of and possibly simultaneously with the current decompression program, the value of P when it arrives at the surface in the event that the user immediately performs his ascent according to the indications of the device and where his pulmonary ventilation during said ascent would have a given presumed value, said value may or may not depend on the values measured until the time when the prediction is made.
• Said calculation means are capable of warning the user by means of one or more of the indication means as soon as the value P predicted upon arrival at the surface becomes less than a given safety threshold.
• the above prediction is also done by doing preced der the ascent of a hypothetical residual stay at this depth, at the end of which the new state of saturation and the new decompression program are calculated as for an actual stay, so that the calculation means predict by successive tests the duration maximum possible residual at this depth taking into account the available breathing gas reserves.
• the means for measuring the ambient pressure, the ambient temperature, and the pressure of the bottle (s) each comprise at least one sensor which delivers an analog electrical signal and at least one analog digital converter which receives the analog electrical signal and the converts to digital signal.
• the means for measuring the ventilation in combination with the bottle pressure sensor and the analog-to-digital converter includes a programmable clock or timer so that the calculation means in relation to the programmable clock can evaluate the speed of variation. pressure in the bottle.
• the bottle pressure sensor is connected to said bottle by a flexible hose.
• the outputs of these sensors are connected to at least one multiplexer controlled by the calculation means, the output of this multiplexer is electrically connected to the input of the analog to digital converter.
• the calculation means select the outputs of the different sensors sequentially.
• the sensors of the pressure measurement means are reactive or resistive, electro-mechanical or electrical, passive or active, precalibrated or not, with or without internal thermal compensation for sensitivity and / or zero, sensitive to absolute pressures or pressures relative to that prevailing inside the housing or one of its compartments. They may or may not include bellows, Bourdon tubes, levers, converters for displacement into an electrical signal, membranes, intermediate fluids transmitting pressure, flexible or rigid pipes or conduits equipping the sensitive parts of the sensors and the environments where pressures are measured.
• Their electrical part can be composed of one or more discrete or integrated electronic elements, which can behave electrically like a "Wheatstone bridge" whose resistance of one or more of the branches varies according to the pressure measured thus varying the output voltage of said bridge, or as a differential electric oscillator or not, the impedance of one or more of the elements of which varies as a function of the pressure measured, thus varying the oscillation frequency of said oscillator.
• Said means for measuring the pressure or pressures may also include circuits for amplification and / or external thermal compensation of the input (excitation) and / or output signals of the base sensor (s).
• circuits can be integrated in a single component or made up of operational amplifiers and passive components (resistances, capacities). These circuits can also be common to other sensors by insertion of one or more analog demultiplexers and / or multiplexers controlled by the calculation means between said circuits and the inputs and / or outputs of said sensors.
• Said means for measuring the pressure or pressures may comprise at least one constant voltage source, the output of which is connected either directly or by means of the said amplification and / or thermal compensation circuits at the input (excitation) of the sensor or sensors, said constant voltage source being able, according to an arrangement called “ratiometric", to be that which internally or externally calibrates the analog-digital converter (s).
• the ambient temperature sensor is of the resistive temperature detector (RTD), thermistor, thermocouple, diode or integrated circuit type.
• Said means for measuring the temperature may have parts in common with other elements of the device, the temperature sensor being able in particular to be integrated into one of the pressure sensors or to the analog-to-digital converter being able to be of the voltage-frequency type.
• the signals from the temperature measurement means can be used to compensate for the thermal coefficients of the other measurement means and possibly of the indication means.
• the temperature measurement means comprise at least one analog-digital converter which can be of the voltage-frequency type which they can share with other measurement means if an analog multiplexer is provided. deputy, the output or outputs of said converter being connected to one or more lines of the calculation means, said converter also being able to contain the base temperature sensor.
• the indication means can be directly sensitive, via amplification circuits or via calculation means, to signals from the temperature measurement means and capable of informing the user of the value of said temperature.
• a possible version of the device also includes a means of measuring the heart rate.
• this means is constituted by a pulse sensor of a known type which is sensitive to the cardiac pulse and which transforms the said pulse into an electrical pulse.
• This means is also constituted by the progr ammab clock or "timer" which measures by means of an interruption line of the microcomputer the time interval between two electrical pulses received.
• This circuit can for example be a flip-flop of the "Schmidt trigger" type.
• the heartbeat sensor is mounted in a bracelet intended to be attached to the wrist of the diver.
• An electric line constituted by an electric wire coated with an insulator connects this sensor to the rest of the device.
• the means of data entry allow the possible modification, for purposes of experimentation or adaptation to new diving conditions or simply for reasons of personal preferences, of some of the quantities that can be held explicitly or implicitly in the memory of the means of calculation such as pressure prevailing at the surface, volume of the tank in which the pressure P is measured, type of respiratory device used, safety threshold, of the pressure P predicted on arrival at the surface, composition of the respiratory mixture possibly under the form of a function of the ambient pressure, number and basic periods (for a given basic cardiac output) of the tissues constituting the mathematical model of the organism, initial values of the tensions of the various gases which cannot be metabolized in said tissues, values maximum admissible of said voltages in the form of functions of ambient pressure, rate of ascent ma ximal, desired decompression mode (continuous or stepwise), depths or ambient pressures authorized for the execution of steps in the case of step decompression, coefficients of correlation cardiac output / pulmonary ventilation / ambient pressure, coefficients of correlation of cardiac output / period for each tissue, dive time not to be exceeded, depth or
• the data entry means are composed of magnetic action switches of the "reed” or Hall effect type located inside the housing, controlling the binary state of lines of the calculation means and one or more several magnets encapsulated in or covered with a material capable of protecting them from corrosion, situated outside said housing and movable in translation and / or rotation by the user in order to actuate said switches selectively and remotely.
• the data entry means may also include a locking device to protect the constants against any accidental modification during use or transport of the device.
• the calculation means are for example constituted by a microcomputer which can be of CMOS construction comprising in one or more boxes one or more microprocessors with 4, 8, 16, 32 or even 64 bits, one or more clock signal generators, one or more random access memory elements which may be of the static or dynamic type or a combination of the two, possibly one or more programmable or non-programmable read-only memory elements, possibly one or more "timers”, possibly one or more decoders , eventually one or more binary signal amplifiers ("buffers”, “drivers”, buffers, transmitters, receivers, transmitters) possibly one or more auxiliary logic boxes (gates, inverters, monostable, multiplexers, counters, Schmidt flip-flops) possibly one or several passive components (resistors, capacitors), possibly one or more communication interfaces, programmable or not, parallel (PIA, - PIO) or synchronous or asynchronous series (SCI, UART, USART, ACIA).
• PIA parallel
• - PIO synchronous or asynchronous
• the said clock signal generator (s) allow the said microprocessor (s) to execute in sequence the machine code instructions stored in memory (dead or in the case of a live fault) of which the various operations for entering, processing and transmitting assigned information are made up to the means of calculation.
• the RAM can be kept under permanent voltage so that its content is preserved even during periods of device shutdown.
• the microprocessor (s) can operate in various modes such as “active”, “sleep”, “standby” corresponding to various energy levels.
• the computing means can have one or more hierarchical or non-hierarchical interruption facilities, whether or not concealable, internal and / or external, by hardware and / or software, allowing the execution of specific algorithms according to the state of the means of measurement and / or display means and / or timers or if applicable and / or data input means if necessary and / or electrical power supply means.
• One of said interruption facilities preferably of the non-maskable type, controlled by the data input means, can trigger an organized system closure procedure which guarantees the backup of the contents of the RAM.
• the timers can fulfill all or part of the functions of the time measurement means in association with the clock signal generator (s).
• the clock signal generator (s) may be composed of independent oscillators (crystalline, for example quartz, or others, for example RLC circuits) or outputs from those of the time measurement means, if any, which are separate from the means of calculation.
• the communications between the various components, if there are several, of the internal communication means) and between the calculation means and the other components of the device are made via programmable ports or no, with or without latch ("latches"), one-way or two-way or mixed, which may have an inhibition facility (high impedance state) and / or via interrupt lines (for example for reception of frequency type signals) and / or via control lines (such as selection lines, handshake lines) and / or via parallel or serial communication interfaces.
• Some of these ports can be interconnected in a so-called "bus" arrangement.
• the input-output ports can be specialized or projected in memory.
• Said calculation means can fulfill part of the functions of the various measurement means, in particular by performing thermal calibrations and / or compensations for sensitivities and / or zeros, by generating via digital converters. ques-analogical analog signals allowing to evaluate the signals to be measured by the use of comparators or by measuring the frequency of an alternating signal using a "timer” and the ease of associated external interruption (" input capture interrupt "). Said calculation means can modify one or more excitation voltages of the measurement and / or indication means by means of digital-analog converters or analog multiplexers associated with potential dividers and possible operational amplifiers and components.
• the sequences of instructions executed by said calculation means may include various tests of the correct functioning of the device, in particular likelihood tests, leading to a warning of the diver via the indication means in the event of a malfunction detected.
• Said calculation means can, thanks to one or more switches of the "solid-state” type (for example Darlingtons or power Mosfets) or mechanical relays (for example of the "reed” type) selectively or globally control the supply of electrical energy other components of the system, in order to direct their operation (on / off of lamps, horns, etc.) and / or to save energy for example by temporarily deactivating certain measurement means while the output signals of said means are not “online” (active on the input lines of the computing means) or when the said output signals are observed, vary very slowly allowing infrequent sampling.
• switches of the "solid-state” type for example Darlingtons or power Mosfets
• mechanical relays for example of the "reed” type
• the electrical energy supply means are for example constituted by rechargeable batteries of the cadmium-nickel type or non-rechargeable batteries of the lithium or mercury type.
• Said means for supplying electrical energy occupy, for example, a separate and possibly detachable and replaceable compartment of the housing, hermetically isolated from the other compartment or compartments of said housing while being electrically connected to them.
• Said supply means if they are of the rechargeable type are connected to two stainless steel contacts, for example gold or gold-plated contacts located outside the housing and allow recharging of said supply means, at least one of the two connections by means of a diode or a switch preventing the discharge of said supply means via said contacts in seawater or in the ambient environment of the user, whoever it may be, the switch, in the case of a switch which can be of the reed type controlled from the outside of the housing using a magnet by the user or a relay controlled by the calculation means as a function of the ambient pressure, and / or requests expressed by the user via the data entry means.
• two stainless steel contacts for example gold or gold-plated contacts located outside the housing and allow recharging of said supply means, at least one of the two connections by means of a diode or a switch preventing the discharge of said supply means via said contacts in seawater or in the ambient environment of the user, whoever it may be, the switch, in the case of a switch which can be of the ree
• the compartment of the box containing the said supply means is provided with a manual opening or with a valve for the elimination of the gases released by the supply means while preventing the entry of fluids or foreign bodies.
• the device of the invention may also include means for determining the state of charge of the supply means. These determination means consist of a constant voltage source, possibly of a potential divider to which the potential difference is applied between the terminals of said supply means, and of a comparator or more simply of a divider of voltage connected to an additional input of the analog multiplexer downstream of the analog-digital converter. These means are totally or partially integrated into a single component, the output or outputs of said determination means being connected to one or more ports of the calculation means and / or to the indication means.
• the means of determining the state of charge trigger, after possible expiration of a delay and possible warning of the diver via the indication means, an organized closure of the system guaranteeing the backup of the contents of the RAM.
• the means of indication consist of visual, sound or tactile means.
• the visual means comprise one or more simple light emitting diodes or arranged in segment display and / or dot matrix and / or "bar-graphs", one or more reflective, transmitive or transflective liquid crystal displays, with direct or multiplexed excitation, illuminable or not, with segments and / or matrixes of points and / or predefined symbols and / or "bar-graphs", one or more plasma screens, one or more cathode-ray tube screens, one or more needle dials, one or incandescent lamps, one or more flash lamps, one or more electroluminescent tubes or screens, painted and / or engraved legends.
• These visual means are apparent to the user through one or more windows or transparent walls of the housing and are capable of representing, in digital or analog form or in "bar-graph” or binary (two-state display, such as an LED illuminating when a certain quantity exceeds a certain threshold) simultaneously or alternately , automatically or on request via the data entry means, any combination of the following information that the calculation means and possibly the measurement means are capable of providing them: decompression program in full or partial steps consisting of couples (depth or ambient pressure, time) and possibly the total duration of the ascent, depth or minimum ambient pressure accessible for continuous decompression, duration of this dive (stay at ambient pressures higher than that prevailing on the surface), time, date, possible residual dive time at this depth or ambient pressure depending on the estimated present state of saturation of the user's body and of its residual quantity of respiratory gas and possibly of the request which it has expressed via the data entry means in terms of maximum duration of the dive, depth or maximum ambient pressure reached during this dive, current depth or ambient pressure, current ascent rate, residual amount of respiratory gas present (pressure P or
• the sound means comprise one or more electro-acoustic transducers adapted to the ambient environment (for example hydrophones in a marine or freshwater environment) as well as their associated generator and amplifier circuits. These transducers are electromagnetic or piezoelectric, monotone or multitone, capable of informing the user in a qualitative manner (alarms and signals differentiated or not according to the information transmitted, particularly suitable for information of binary type), or even quantitative for example by speech synthesis if they are associated with one or more speech synthesis circuits receiving their instructions from the calculation means, the information transmitted by said sound means can be any combination of those listed above with reference use of visual means.
• Tactile means are made up of mechanical appendages driven by electromagnets or electric motors. These mechanical appendages come into contact with any part of the body of the user or of fixed electrodes in permanent contact with the skin of the user. These electrodes cause a slight discharge.
• Said tactile means if present allow, in the event of important information to be transmitted to the user (see list referring to visual means), to draw his attention to said visual means even under ambient noise conditions which would make ineffective sound means.
• the present invention also relates to a diving assembly
• a breathing apparatus composed of reserves of compressed gases carried or not by the diver, one or more regulators, and optionally a breathing bag provided with valves and a carbon dioxide absorption cartridge and an automatic oxygen metering device, possibly a waterproof lamp, possibly orientation instruments (compass, goniometer), a diving mask or helmet, possibly means of propulsion (fins, "scooter” underwater), possibly means of protection against the cold (heated suit or not), possibly means of adjusting the buoyancy of the diver and his equipment (buoy for ascent, ballasts or dry suit) with or without a supply of inflation gas independent of the supply of respiratory gas, possibly a turret or box or c decompression chamber.
• an electric turbine-generator assembly (dynamo or rectified alternator) associated with a regulator and capable of extracting the energy for expansion of the respiratory gases and / or of inflation from the means for adjusting the buoyancy and maintaining in a state of charge satisfying the means of supplying electrical power to the assembly during the dive.
• Said device according to the invention can be incorporated into the diving helmet and may include a corrective optical assembly based on lenses and / or mirrors and / or prisms and / or semi-reflecting blades allowing close-up vision, and possibly superimposed in the normal field of vision, visual means of indication.
• This device can also include conventional sound indication means (speakers, headphones) operating in the gaseous volume of the headset, and can include voice type data input means consisting of a microphone or laryngophone connected to the means of calculation via a speech recognition module.
• the diving set can include two solenoid valves controlled by the calculation means, binary way via relays or switches known as “solid-state” or proportionally via digital-analog converters followed by amplifiers, one controlling the entry of the inflation gas into the jacket or dry suit and the other controlling the escape of said gas to the ambient environment, said electrovalves allowing said means of calculation as a function of time, ambient pressure and possibly its time derivatives - easily calculated as a function of the output signals over a period of time of the time measurement means and of the ambient pressure measurement means -, possibly of information previously stored in the memory by the user via the input means of data (such as the diver's mass, volume, sound coefficient of resistance to movement in water, the compressibility coefficient and the surface volume of his suit), and possibly the current decompression program, to
• the means of calculating said device according to the invention may be able to similarly control a solenoid valve responsible for decompressing a diving turret or chamber or decompression chamber and possibly another responsible for its compression, thus automating the operation of said turret or box or chamber for decompression and possibly for compression.
• a preferred embodiment among the combinations of embodiments given for each of the main components of the device, particularly suitable for the use of divers submarines, and which has the advantages of being economical, versatile and relatively simple, is as follows:
• the ambient and reservoir pressures are transmitted to the "pressure" inputs, mouthed on one side of the housing, of two absolute pressure sensors, monolithic (with single semiconductor substrate) of the "Wheatstone bridge” type whose measurable pressure ranges are compatible to their respective measurands, via a rot-proof stainless membrane and an incompressible, non-corrosive and electrically non-conductive intermediate fluid in both cases, also via a flexible hose designed for high pressures (armed) connected to the HP outlet of the regulator in the second case.
• the two bridges are excited by constant voltages obtained by amplification of the constant voltage output of the single voltage-frequency converter ("ratiometric" arrangement), on the "voltage to measure” input of which are multiplexed, after amplification and offset, the output signals of said bridges as well as the "temperature” output with which said converter is also provided.
• the time calculation and measurement means consisting of an 8-bit CMOS microcomputer in a box (microprocessor, read-only memory, random access memory, 16-bit timer or timer, 29 input-output lines), control multiplexing analog signals to be measured by two of their input-output lines, and receive the output frequency of the converter on their "frequency to be measured” line. They are therefore able to know at any time the non-calibrated values of the pressure ambient temperature, tank pressure and temperature, calibrate them and, with regard to pressures, apply thermal compensations to them.
• the calibration and thermal compensation constants are introduced into the microcomputer's RAM thanks to data input means of the "reed" type controlling the state of input-output lines of said microcomputer.
• the device is provided with a second charge level detector for the main batteries, constituted as the first of a po ti ti al di visor and with a threshold detector, which change the state of an input-output line of the micro-computer when the said charge level only allows a few hours of operation, so that the user is informed.
• This arrangement is advantageous for several reasons: a) it allows the use of non-calibrated and not thermally compensated pressure sensors, therefore inexpensive. b) It allows calibration without delicate manipulation of potentiometers or other variable components and even without opening the device housing, by simply reading the indications of the device subjected to known pressures and temperatures and introduction of constants easily calculated from said indications and said known values. c) It provides precise calibration / compensation because downstream of all analog circuits. d) It authorizes recalibrations as frequent as necessary, possibly being carried out by the user himself. e) It allows the display of the water temperature for the benefit of the diver. f) It allows the entry of other constants such as surface pressure, composition of the respiratory mixture, etc., which will also be preserved when the device is stopped or discharged.
• the main batteries are simply charged via two bare stainless steel contacts emerging from the housing, the discharge of said batteries by the same path being prevented by the interposition of a diode.
• This diode can be short-circuited by an externally controlled reed switch allowing in the event of an emergency, a rapid total discharge of the main batteries via the external contacts, a condition necessary for the subsequent execution of a rapid total charge at 2A in 15 minutes without harm to the batteries.
• a second diode connected to the positive pole of the back-up battery via a resistor, performs a 1 mA bypass of the current charging, allowing relatively quick recharging of said "back-up” battery when it has been used for a prolonged period, which the "trickle charging" current cannot guarantee.
• the maximum permanent charge current of the assembly is 68 mA.
• the visual means consist of a transflective LCD screen module (lighting either behind or in front) with 32 alphanumeric multiplex characters, in a resistance scale associated with an analog multiplexer allowing the optimal viewing angle of the screen to be adjusted. by that of the excitation voltage of the liquid crystals, into an electroluminescent panel underlying the screen and into a wave generator intended to supply said panel.
• the calculation means control said visual means by fifteen of their input-output lines: eleven are dedicated to data transmissions, three to control the multiplexer 8-1, one to the wave generator of the EL panel controlled via a Darlington .
• the audible indication means consist of a piezoelectric transducer connected to the "frequency output" line of the microcomputer via an amplifier.
• a relatively simple automatic device can ensure constant current charging of the batteries in either of these two modes (including the remote triggering of the reed bypass switch by creating a magnetic field the along the reed using a coil traversed by a current, including also the discharge prior to rapid charging using a switching and threshold detection device) safely, the timing of the fast charge that can be done using a simple timer.
• Such an automatic charging device can be designed to operate indifferently from a mains supply or from a 12 or 24 V vehicle battery.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
• Measuring And Recording Apparatus For Diagnosis (AREA)
• Measurement Of The Respiration, Hearing Ability, Form, And Blood Characteristics Of Living Organisms (AREA)

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• 1984
  • 1984-08-16 FR FR8412952A patent/FR2569158B1/fr not_active Expired
• 1985
  • 1985-08-16 DE DE8585904004T patent/DE3575896D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1985-08-16 JP JP50357285A patent/JPS62500492A/ja active Pending
  • 1985-08-16 WO PCT/FR1985/000222 patent/WO1986001172A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1985-08-16 EP EP19850904004 patent/EP0193546B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime

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