Hyperbaric Chamber Question.

[Dirty-Dog]

Jim, you should make a run over to Catalina some time. The diving's great, and if you call ahead sometimes you can get a chamber tour.

And if you don't call ahead, just surface real fast. Then you'll get the tour for sure.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

Look up the "Byford Dolphin" accident. Pretty gruesome, but it has exploding heads and bodies. The explosive decomp. was from 9 atm. (far higher than therapeutic chambers are usually able to generate). The chamber tech who killed these divers also paid the ultimate price for his mistake. The worst of the physical damage was actualy caused by one of the bodies being forced through a small orafice.

Byford Dolphin

Yeah...that's pretty disgusting but very interesting.

 

[DCBC]

A reality show Tells a story of a Female Scuba Diver doing a dive to 350ft, Something goes wrong and she has to bolt for the surface.

She makes it, But of course has to take a chamber ride, during the time she is in the Chamber, somehow someone Opens the chamber door and it instantly Kills her and sends Blood flying......

I hate to sound Stupid, But could there be any truth to that???????????

It shouldn't happen. Most chambers exert internal pressure on a locking mechanism (fail-safe hatch) that will not release until the pressure has equalized.

 

[Superlyte27]

I used to be a chamber operator for a multi-lock chamber.

The doors had no locks or latches of any kind. The door was hinged to the inside, so interior pressure held the door closed.

We once tried pulling the door open from the inside. With two of us pulling we couldn't do it when the chamber was at 30 fsw, so we kept getting shallower and trying. We were able to force the door open at about 1 or 2 fsw.

So the first big hole in the story is opening the door.....let alone the slasher film blood splatter....


All the best, James

agree completely
I too am a chamber operator. You can't open the door with even a little bit of depth. Imagine you are at 20'. What's the pressure per square inch at 20'? 20 x .445 = ?

Now, the size of the hatch on the chambers I used were probably 24" - 30" in diameter. So, what's the area of a 30" circle? So Area = Pie x R(squared)

3.14 x 15 x 15 = Radius

706 square inches, x pressure at 20'
706 x 8.9 = 6283.4lbs of pressure to pull that door open at 20'

Even with the ball valves full open, you'd still survive, if you didn't get bent. Not that it was bright or encouraged, but when I first started, I watched as the "seasoned professionals" would take people down absolutely as fast as they could clear their ears, and bring them up as fast as we could vent the ball valves. Never saw any blood spatter.

 

[ben_wilson3301]

Kinda similar story involving pressure at depth and blood everywhere. On the show Mythbusters they did a myth that a Navy diver using SNUBA (a long hose that pumps air down to the diver) was down at around 300 feet when the hose came off the compressor and the one way valve was missing. He was literally sucked through the hose, they did the experiment and sure enough, there was so much pressure it almost instantly sucked a pig through a one inch hose.
Crazy stuff!

 

[DCBC]

An experience of the past (even before my time).

 

[Superlyte27]

Kinda similar story involving pressure at depth and blood everywhere. On the show Mythbusters they did a myth that a Navy diver using SNUBA (a long hose that pumps air down to the diver) was down at around 300 feet when the hose came off the compressor and the one way valve was missing. He was literally sucked through the hose, they did the experiment and sure enough, there was so much pressure it almost instantly sucked a pig through a one inch hose.
Crazy stuff!

That doesn't make sense to me. Please explain. So basically a Navy diver is surface supplied, and his umbilical breaks from the compressor. Where did the suction occur? Am I missing something?

Ok, I just watched the Mythbusters. The video is completely bs. For a multitude of reasons. YouTube - Mythbusters - Compresed Diver *Gory*

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

That doesn't make sense to me. Please explain. So basically a Navy diver is surface supplied, and his umbilical breaks from the compressor. Where did the suction occur? Am I missing something?

Ok, I just watched the Mythbusters. The video is completely bs. For a multitude of reasons. YouTube - Mythbusters - Compresed Diver *Gory*

I think the idea is that the pressure of about 300 feet is being forced through the air hose since there is no compressor on the surface to feed it air.

 

[Thalassamania]

But it doesn't actually happen because of the non-return valve that is always mounted on the hat.

 

[Superlyte27]

See, the hose supplying that hat is 3/8" inner diameter. So 300' is roughly 150psi. Well 150psi x 3/8" is less than 75psi. And quite honestly, we hold up to more than 75psi. Hehe. So even if the check valve was bad or non-existant, it's still not enough pressure to suck a person through it. Ever hold your hand over a turned on water hose? Did the water hose blow a hole through your hand?

The other thing is, the drysuit was filled with water. In life, it wouldn't be. And if you notice the 3 ball valves in the boat, they have changed the direction of the pressure. They are not just bleeding the air, they are actually sucking the air out.