US3815591A - Diving gas mixtures and methods of deep diving - Google Patents

Diving gas mixtures and methods of deep diving Download PDF

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Publication number
US3815591A
US3815591A US00248700A US24870072A US3815591A US 3815591 A US3815591 A US 3815591A US 00248700 A US00248700 A US 00248700A US 24870072 A US24870072 A US 24870072A US 3815591 A US3815591 A US 3815591A
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United States
Prior art keywords
neon
helium
percent
nitrogen
diving
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Expired - Lifetime
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US00248700A
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English (en)
Inventor
H Schreiner
R Hamilton
A Francis
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Union Carbide Industrial Gases Technology Corp
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Union Carbide Corp
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Application filed by Union Carbide Corp filed Critical Union Carbide Corp
Priority to US00248700A priority Critical patent/US3815591A/en
Priority to CA170,041A priority patent/CA997130A/en
Priority to JP4678873A priority patent/JPS5565B2/ja
Priority to GB2003673A priority patent/GB1367029A/en
Priority to FR7315546A priority patent/FR2182230B1/fr
Priority to NL7305977A priority patent/NL7305977A/xx
Priority to NO1757/73A priority patent/NO133538C/no
Priority to DK233473AA priority patent/DK138010B/da
Priority to AU55013/73A priority patent/AU469703B2/en
Priority to IT49737/73A priority patent/IT986082B/it
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Publication of US3815591A publication Critical patent/US3815591A/en
Assigned to MORGAN GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY OF NEW YORK, AND MORGAN BANK ( DELAWARE ) AS COLLATERAL ( AGENTS ) SEE RECORD FOR THE REMAINING ASSIGNEES. reassignment MORGAN GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY OF NEW YORK, AND MORGAN BANK ( DELAWARE ) AS COLLATERAL ( AGENTS ) SEE RECORD FOR THE REMAINING ASSIGNEES. MORTGAGE (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: STP CORPORATION, A CORP. OF DE.,, UNION CARBIDE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS CO., INC., A CORP. OF PA.,, UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, A CORP.,, UNION CARBIDE EUROPE S.A., A SWISS CORP.
Assigned to UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, reassignment UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, RELEASED BY SECURED PARTY (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: MORGAN BANK (DELAWARE) AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Assigned to UNION CARBIDE INDUSTRIAL GASES TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, A CORP. OF DE. reassignment UNION CARBIDE INDUSTRIAL GASES TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, A CORP. OF DE. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. Assignors: UNION CARBIDE INDUSTRIAL GASES INC.
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    • 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
    • B63C11/18—Air supply

Definitions

  • BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION To sustain life a diver must be supplied breathing gas at "a pressure equal to the pressure in the water surrounding the diver. There is however, an upper limit of oxygen pressure above which the oxygen becomes bio chemically toxic. Thus, it is necessary'to include an oxygen diluent in a divers breathing gas. To satisfy normal breathing requirements at high pressures, it is necessary to supply between 0.2-1.5 atmospheres of oxygen with the balance represented by-a non-toxic diluent. Air of course is a suitable breathing mixture for a diver based primarily on nitrogen as the oxygen diluent. In fact, air is the preferred breathing mixture for all dives to depths of less than about 150-200 fsw (feet of sea water).
  • helium is preferred as the diluentand is in fact particularly well suited to the depth range immediately beyond air diving (e.g., 150-250 fsw).
  • Helium does not cause narcosis at these pressures, is relatively inexpensive and at least .in the United States is readily available.
  • helium has a low density and is, therefore, easy to breathe at such pressures.
  • Speech in this range is totally lost on an untrained ear, though anticipated statements can be understood by a listener familiar with the voice and the situation. So often, however, a sudden change in the topic of conversation throws everyone off, and it is necessary for the diver to speak slowly, repeat himself and to try to say things a different way. It can be done but it is slow and consequently expensive.
  • Decompression is a problem associated with all deep dives. Although saturation techniques make the continental shelves accessible to' all operators whocommand the requisite resources, this kind of diving-is neither easy nor necessarily economical. In the commerprobably the worst possible gas. Since too little is really known about the biophysics of decompression and decompression sickness it is sufficient to say that no matter what gas is breathed decompression. is a difficult and a slow process, and is probably the most serious problem facing the deep diving operator today.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates the relationship of known diluents and the preferred mixture with respect to loss of speech intelligibility
  • FIG. 3 is a similar illustration-as that of FIGS. 1 and 2, but with respect to body heat loss on work effectiveness;
  • FIG. 4 is a similar illustration asthat of FIGS. 1-3, but with respect to breathing capability at varying depth;
  • FIG. 5 illustrates the advantageous and disadvantageous properties of a neon-helium diving gas mixture as a function of increasing neon both substantially with and substantially without the addition of nitrogen;
  • FIG. 6 illustrates the degree of useful work that can be expected'from varying mixtures of neon and helium, both with and without nitrogen at 850 fsw;
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a preferred decompression profile for the gas mixture of the present invention.
  • FIGS. 1-4 The above factors are displayed graphically in FIGS. 1-4.
  • the most severely limiting factor is the narcotic effect displayed in FIG. 1.
  • marcosis results in errors in judgment and observation.
  • its most severe stage it results in total loss of consciousness.
  • pure helium or neon exhibit no narcotic effect while pure argon and nitrogen for most of the commercial diving depth range from 150-850 ft. is too narcotic.
  • Narcotic effects appear to be a function of the partial pressure of the narcoticgas. For example, we normally breathe'nitrogen at'a partial pressure of 12 pounds per square inchwithout anyundesirable influ ence. To avoid undesirable narcotic effects throughout the entire depth range encountered in the continental shelf argon should not exceed percent of .the total mixture and nitrogen should not exceed percent.
  • FIG. 2 displays the relationship of speech intelligibility to the velocity of sound through the gaseous medium.
  • Velocity of sound is influenced primarily by the molecular weight of the gas and secondarily by factors such as temperatureand pressure.
  • the various gases are appropriately indicated for the velocity of sound at 32F and one atmosphere pressure.
  • FIG. 2 indicates reasonably .well the relationships between the gases'at any of the pressure temperature combinations likely to be encountered in actual com- Lowest cost, available' anywhere.
  • FIG. 3 displays the effect of different'gaseous environments on the body heat loss compared to an ir environment. To understand the significance of this display it'is necessary to keep in mind that as lower temperatures are encountered in an air environment, there will be loss of work effectiveness. What FIG. 3 indicates is that by switching to different gases this loss of work effectiveness will be reduced or accentuated depending on the thermal conductivity of the gas chosen to replace normal air. If inened according to the relationships displayed in FIG. 3.
  • a fourth influence of gaseous environment on diver work performance concerns breathing difficulty. Breathing must accomplish two separate objectives. First oxygen must be taken into the lungs and thence into the blood stream. Secondly carbon dioxide produced as a result of muscular activity must be removed tion for carbon dioxide removal. To get itout you must breathe it out.
  • FIG. 4 graphically portrays the impact of breathing difficulty on the capacity to do useful work at various depthsof sea water. At nor'rnalatmospheric pressure full work output can be maintained breathing any of these gases as the oxygen diluent. As diving depth-increases, there will be very little, if any, reduction in work capacity until a threshold level is reached.
  • the present invention is based on the theoretical proposition that although pure neon may indeedbe more difficult to breathe than helium and may posses othe disadvantages, not to mention its cost, its beneficial characteristics should be capableof exploitation in an appropriate combination with helium and/or other gases, even nitrogen, if a diver could be successfully decompressed with'such a mixture. Even then, such a combination would have to demonstrate increasedbenefits for deep diving with the shortcomings of theindividual gases evident to only a minimal extent.
  • mice I25 atm.
  • This experiment represented the first exposure of man to saturation diving conditions at continental shelf depths. Two subjects, while saturated with a mixture of a 95 percent helium, 4 percent nitrogen and about 1 percent oxygen breathed a neon-oxygen mixture by.
  • verbal Communication improves slightly with increasing neon up to about a 50-50 mix and then sharply improves with a further increase of neon leveling off above about 78 percent neon.
  • Subjective observations of neonspeech intelligibility corroborate these data.
  • the linearly increasing density curve represents a mixture of neon and helium.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates the degree of useful work that can be expected from varying mixtures of neon and helium at 850 fsw.
  • Neon 75 vol. percent (ranging from 72 to about 78 percent) Helium 25 vol. percent (ranging from 28 to 22 percent) When nitrogen is deliberately included the preferred range is as follows:
  • the above noted preferred ranges should not negate the possible existence of trace concentrations of hydrocent nitrogen, this effect is negligible and will not inhibit the diving operation or disturb the diver.
  • the density of nitrogen is greater than either neon orhelium the viscosity of nitrogen is lower than each of them. Thus, the presence of some nitrogen will not alter the threshold level at which breathing difficulty would be encountered.
  • FIG. 2 shows a decompression profile which has been developed for the preferred neon-helium mixture.
  • the profile was developed to further optimize the characteristics of the optimum mixtures of the present invention in regard specifically to decompression.
  • the procedure was tested to pressure of 680 fsw. This depth is at the outer limits of present diving technology, but is representative of the range of diving in which neonbased gas offers most advantage.
  • the figure shows the time-pressure curve for decompression from thirtyminute working dives in which divers breathed a mixture of 5 percent oxygen combined with an inert gas having about percent neon, less than 5 percent N and remainder helium.
  • a breathing gas composition consisting of oxygen and a gaseous diluent for use by divers at depths of from about 150-850 fsw, wherein said gaseous diluent comprises a three-component gas mixture consisting essentially of 50-80 VOL-percent neon, less than 20 percent nitrogen and the remainder helium and wherein the volume percent of helium is at least equal to that of the nitrogen.
  • a breathing gas composition as claimed in claim 1 wherein approximately 65 percent neon and approximately 15 percent nitrogen is present in the gas mixture, balance helium.
  • a gas com position consisting of 0.827.0 vol-percent oxygen, and. 73.0-99.2 vol-percentof a three. component gas mixture consisting essentially of 50 80 percent neon, less than 20 percent nitrogen and the remainder helium, wherein the percentage of helium is at least equal to that of the nitrogen and wherein the relative concentration of oxygen in the total gas composition is varied with depth.v 7.

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Pulmonology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
  • Pharmaceuticals Containing Other Organic And Inorganic Compounds (AREA)
  • Arc Welding In General (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Velocity Or Position Using Acoustic Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
US00248700A 1972-04-28 1972-04-28 Diving gas mixtures and methods of deep diving Expired - Lifetime US3815591A (en)

Priority Applications (10)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US00248700A US3815591A (en) 1972-04-28 1972-04-28 Diving gas mixtures and methods of deep diving
CA170,041A CA997130A (en) 1972-04-28 1973-04-24 Diving gas mixtures and method for deep diving
JP4678873A JPS5565B2 (he) 1972-04-28 1973-04-26
NO1757/73A NO133538C (he) 1972-04-28 1973-04-27
FR7315546A FR2182230B1 (he) 1972-04-28 1973-04-27
NL7305977A NL7305977A (he) 1972-04-28 1973-04-27
GB2003673A GB1367029A (en) 1972-04-28 1973-04-27 Diving gas mixtures and method for deep diving
AU55013/73A AU469703B2 (en) 1972-04-28 1973-04-30 Diving gas mixtures and method for deep diving
IT49737/73A IT986082B (it) 1972-04-28 1973-04-30 Miscele di gas di respirazione per sommozzatori di profondita e relativo metodo di impiego
DK233473AA DK138010B (da) 1972-04-28 1973-04-30 Indåndingsgasblanding til dykkere.

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US00248700A US3815591A (en) 1972-04-28 1972-04-28 Diving gas mixtures and methods of deep diving

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US3815591A true US3815591A (en) 1974-06-11

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JP (1) JPS5565B2 (he)
AU (1) AU469703B2 (he)
CA (1) CA997130A (he)
DK (1) DK138010B (he)
FR (1) FR2182230B1 (he)
GB (1) GB1367029A (he)
IT (1) IT986082B (he)
NL (1) NL7305977A (he)
NO (1) NO133538C (he)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5186924A (en) * 1991-01-16 1993-02-16 Praxair Technology Inc. Magnetic resonance human medical and veterinary imaging method
US5429123A (en) * 1993-12-15 1995-07-04 Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education Process control and apparatus for ventilation procedures with helium and oxygen mixtures
US5794616A (en) * 1993-11-17 1998-08-18 Cochran Consulting, Inc. Use of multiple gas blends with a dive computer
EP1064945A1 (fr) * 1999-07-02 2001-01-03 Air Liquide Sante (International) Utilisations thérapeutiques d'un mélange helium/oxygene, en particulier dans le traitement de l'asthme
US12094482B2 (en) * 2021-04-26 2024-09-17 Nantong University Lexicon learning-based heliumspeech unscrambling method in saturation diving

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4782903A (en) * 1987-01-28 1988-11-08 Strange William S Replaceable insert stud for drilling bits
FR2723909A1 (fr) * 1994-08-26 1996-03-01 Comex Compagnie Maritime D Exp Procede et installation de plongee sous-marine en melange respiratoire a l'hydrogene

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1473337A (en) * 1919-08-15 1923-11-06 Cooke Charles John Atmospheric compound for divers' use
US1644363A (en) * 1925-05-20 1927-10-04 William P Yant Artificial breathing atmosphere and treatment of persons exposed to abnormal pressures

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR1318615A (fr) * 1961-10-02 1963-02-22 Mélange respiratoire pour plongée
FR1374034A (fr) * 1963-11-05 1964-10-02 Shell Int Research Système de plongée

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1473337A (en) * 1919-08-15 1923-11-06 Cooke Charles John Atmospheric compound for divers' use
US1644363A (en) * 1925-05-20 1927-10-04 William P Yant Artificial breathing atmosphere and treatment of persons exposed to abnormal pressures

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
William et al., Chem. Abst. Vol. 74 (1971) page 135354S. *

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5186924A (en) * 1991-01-16 1993-02-16 Praxair Technology Inc. Magnetic resonance human medical and veterinary imaging method
US5794616A (en) * 1993-11-17 1998-08-18 Cochran Consulting, Inc. Use of multiple gas blends with a dive computer
US5429123A (en) * 1993-12-15 1995-07-04 Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education Process control and apparatus for ventilation procedures with helium and oxygen mixtures
EP1064945A1 (fr) * 1999-07-02 2001-01-03 Air Liquide Sante (International) Utilisations thérapeutiques d'un mélange helium/oxygene, en particulier dans le traitement de l'asthme
FR2795644A1 (fr) * 1999-07-02 2001-01-05 Air Liquide Sante Int Utilisations therapeutiques d'un melange helium/oxygene, en particulier dans le traitement de l'asthme
US6592848B1 (en) 1999-07-02 2003-07-15 Air Liquide Sante (International) Mixtures of oxygen and helium for the treatment of respiratory insufficiency
US12094482B2 (en) * 2021-04-26 2024-09-17 Nantong University Lexicon learning-based heliumspeech unscrambling method in saturation diving

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Publication number Publication date
DK138010C (he) 1978-11-20
AU5501373A (en) 1974-10-31
CA997130A (en) 1976-09-21
AU469703B2 (en) 1976-02-19
FR2182230A1 (he) 1973-12-07
FR2182230B1 (he) 1977-04-29
GB1367029A (en) 1974-09-18
IT986082B (it) 1975-01-10
NO133538B (he) 1976-02-09
JPS4955098A (he) 1974-05-28
JPS5565B2 (he) 1980-01-05
DK138010B (da) 1978-06-26
NO133538C (he) 1976-05-19
NL7305977A (he) 1973-10-30

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Free format text: MORTGAGE;ASSIGNORS:UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, A CORP.,;STP CORPORATION, A CORP. OF DE.,;UNION CARBIDE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS CO., INC., A CORP. OF PA.,;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:004547/0001

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