page_title: Rebreather diving
section_title: Mixed gas CCR
hierarchical_section_title: Rebreather diving / Safety / Inherent limitations of the types of rebreather / Mixed gas CCR
caption_attribution_description: English: Diver using Inspiration rebreather at the wreck of the MV Orotava in Smitswinkel Bay off the Cape Peninsula
context_page_description: Rebreather diving is underwater diving using rebreathers, which recirculate the breathing gas already used by the diver after replacing oxygen used by the diver and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic product. Rebreather diving is used by recreational, military and scientific divers in applications where it has advantages over open circuit scuba, and surface supply of breathing gas is impracticable. The main advantages of rebreather diving are extended gas endurance, and lack of bubbles.
  Rebreathers are generally used for scuba applications, but are also occasionally used for bailout systems for surface-supplied diving. Gas reclaim systems used for deep heliox diving use similar technology to rebreathers, as do saturation diving life support systems, but in these applications the gas recycling equipment is not carried by the diver. Atmospheric diving suits also use rebreather technology to recycle breathing gas, but this article covers the technology, hazards and procedures of ambient pressure rebreathers carried by the diver.
context_section_description: The mixed gas closed circuit rebreather can provide an optimised gas mixture for any given depth and duration, and does this with great precision and efficiency of gas usage until it fails, and there are several ways it can fail. Many of the failure modes are not easily identified by the diver without the use of sensors and alarms, and several failure modes can reduce the gas mixture to one unsuitable for supporting life. This problem can be managed by monitoring the state of the system and taking appropriate action when it diverges from the intended state. The composition of the loop gas is inherently unstable, so a control system with feedback is required. Oxygen partial pressure, which is the characteristic to be controlled, must be measured and the value provided to the control system for corrective action. The control system may be the diver or an electronic circuit. The measuring sensors are susceptible to failure for various reasons, so more than one is required, so that if one fails without warning, the diver can use the other(s) to make a controlled termination of the dive.
caption: Close up side view of diver using Inspiration electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather
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