Optimizing Pendulum Rebreather Design Pendulum rebreathers are rarely the best design.

They are often touted for their scrubber efficiency. This really is of minor importance as scrubber material is cheap compared to loss of life or complications due to a CO2 hit. They are sometimes complimented on their valveless simplicity. While this is true and valves do sometimes fail the CO2 retention from the excessive dead space inherent to this design represents a risk far greater to the diver than valve failure from any but the most poorly designed valve system. They have other risks which we will discuss as we try to optimize this easy to build type of rebreather. Pendulum rebreathers possess all the faults of circuit rebreathers plus some of their own. Nevertheless pendulum types such as the CDBA remained very popular with their users for decades and had a surprisingly long service life. They were the pioneers of mixed gas diving as well as the most commonly used SCRs for many years. This is somewhat surprising due to the long length of hose from the mask to scrubber used on the CDBA which seemingly invites CO2 retention. Dives were made to surprising depths and for what seems like excessive duration by modern standards. The RN remained very tight lipped for years regarding their rebreather use. Especially regarding Mixture/ Nitrox use. A short as practical hose length from mouthpiece (or FFMask) to scrubber is a desirable element in pendulum design to reduce dead space and CO2 retention. Obviously some length is

necessary to allow head movement and comfort. Please see the included illustrations. A narrow by modern standards hose is actually a desirable element for this type of design. There is a lot of quibbling regarding the width/inside diameter of a pendulums hose, but here are the true guiding principles. It should be narrow so as to reduce the dead space, but not so narrow as to excessively increase the work of breathing. It should be short of length as stated above but comfortable for the diver. It should not collapse easily but should be flexible enough to meet the functional needs of the diver. It should also be recognized by the designer and the user that a short hose brings a container of caustic chemicals very close to the divers mouth and his respiratory system should flooding of the system occur. Davis et al, had the benefit of experience with terrestrial CCRs from mining, fire rescue and WW1 when designing the DSEA and later CDBA. The gas mask type hoses were not a bad choice for a pendulum CCR but early designs invariably had excessive dead space due to long hoses and CO2 retention was common at even mild to moderate work loads. Focused exhalation during the breathing cycle while using a pendulum was found to significantly reduce CO2 retention. This soon becomes second nature for the pendulum CCR diver. Clever designers soon realized that placing the O2 or breathing gas inlet close to the mouthpiece or FFM (with or without a Venturi nozzle) would entrain the gas in the pendulum hose and decrease the static breathing gas or functional dead space and

force some of this back through the scrubber. This actually works fairly well when the inlet flow rate is greater than 1.5 to 2 l/min. These flow rates would be typical for O2 and would be higher for Mixture/Nitrox with a moderately active diver. This is the preferred position for the breathing gas inlet in a pendulum type. The scrubber should be of sufficient volume to hold adequate material appropriate for its intended duration. Duration is determined by the intended mission or anticipated use of the CCR/SCR. 2.5 to 3 kg of coarse grained material will usually give a safe duration of 2 hours plus in a pendulum rebreather. A diagram of scrubber designs is included. Some of the early pendulums had very small scrubbers but we must recall that they used a scrubber material with a much higher concentration of NaOH or KOH than modern soda-lime and that breakthrough was also very common. An experimenter today should build a scrubber of adequate size with minimal breathing resistance, either radial or axial. The scrubber should open easily yet seal securely. Protecting the scrubber inside the counter lung helps insure a higher operating temperature and less likelihood of leaks. The dead space in the scrubber should be minimized and the hose should attach securely to it. It should pack easily and if possible have some means to lightly compress the material, either a spring or springy foam/sponge elastomer. Screen material prevents the granules from passing though the ports of the scrubber or back to the breathing hose. The ports should be sufficiently large to minimize the work of breathing.

Counterlung design could be a separate article but for pendulums a chest mounted design is nearly mandatory. The general shape and volume of the CDBA is about as ideal as can be had for this type of apparatus although most modern experimenters choose to reduce the volume. A volume of 5 liters should be considered a minimum for an averaged sized man. If use of mixed gas is anticipated 6 liters is recommended. The anticipated activity level is a key factor here. Many experimenters use significantly less volume. Any use of a pendulum CCR should be on the non-challenging level. The counterlung should have an easy to access drainage/purge valve at its lowest point to quickly purge sea-water or condensation from it. This can be life saving! The counterlung should have an easily adjustable over-pressure valve at its highest point, this is essential to its proper functioning in the SCR mode. The over-pressure valve should be adjusted individually by the diver for comfort as per typical SCR practice. The counterlungs interior should be easy to access between dives so that an absorbent pad or cloth may be placed within it as well as for cleaning. The counterlung should seal completely and be of a resilient puncture resistant material. A list of suggestions is included.

Breathing gas supply is of course another study in itself. A useful approach is to use a dual system with a 1 to 2 litre bottle of O2 and at least a 2 litre bottle of Mixture/Nitrox. This will allow operation of the apparatus as an O2 CCR and as a Nitrox SCR as well as give usable dive times. Larger cylinders clearly allow longer dive times. Both gas sources will require a constant flow valve as well as a manual addition valve for purges and adjustment upon descent. Nitrox mixture for pendulum type SCRs would usually be 50% O2 and the MOD of this mixture would actually be within the maximum depth range usually recommended for these units. An automatic descent addition valve (ADV) is not usually used on these types of devices in order to avoid complexity. They do add safety to prevent a sudden plunge to the depths for an overweighted diver in all rebreather designs but defeat the simplicity in design that these devices are based on. The mouthpiece must be comfortable and should probably have an elastic retaining strap. It must be leak free! The diver must grip it firmly and seal his lips around it well. A close fitting FFM is preferable but bulky and often difficult for the developer/experimenter to obtain. They are safer and have prevented drownings. In a pendulum system they must have minimal dead space and nose-clips are frequently recommended. There are several very compact designs using the pendulum principle that are convenient for travel, can be packed discretely and have been used covertly. They have been carried by back packers and spelunkers. They have been used for covert hull

inspections etc. The best of these incorporate the discussed optimizing principles. A compact and comfortable soft harness system is recommended usually with a jocking band to stabilize the counterlungs position which improves breathing and reduces diver fatigue. It is recommended that pendulum rebreathers not be used in the fully inverted position (diver on his back), as that maximizes the likelihood of a caustic cocktail. Modern scrubber material is much superior to earlier forms of soda-lime or bara-lime and vastly safer than shell natron which is formed NaOH. Lithium hydroxide should not be considered for use in a simple pendulum design. It requires the use of either a semipermeable membrane or of the use of liquid and dust traps which increase the work of breathing or dead space. The use of plastic membrane type scrubbers in pendulum systems for diving have not been fully evaluated although these show promise in emergency rescue and SI-O2 systems. Pendulum rebreather systems are common in anesthesia machines and are becoming more common in diver oriented surface systems for back-up and rescue O2 to maximize gas use efficiency while providing O2 to divers with DCS or other distress. They are also being used to provide efficient O2 use for SI-O2 to reduce the surface interval required prior to flying after diving. Should the developer or experimenter choose to work with the valveless pendulum rebreather designs we recommend that they review the literature on the ARO, the Davis and the Drager designs which pioneered rebreather development from the early

20th century. True circuit rebreathers offer overwhelming advantages to the diver outside of the very narrow range appropriate for pendulum systems. Working with rebreathers is fascinating and rewarding but requires a level of knowledge and expertise which must be acquired slowly. There are a large number of references available although many of the older reference books may require access to good technical libraries that maintain a historical section. The internet has many references and guides and the Rebreathersite is a good place to start as are sites dedicated to the history of diving.