Hydrox

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Hydrox is a breathing gas mixture of hydrogen and oxygen that is used when scuba diving at very great depths . It allows a descent to a depth of a maximum of 700 meters.

history

Although the discoverer of hydrogen, Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794), used it by exposing guinea pigs to the gas, the first use of hydrogen in diving can be attributed to the experiments of the Swedish engineer Arne Zetterström in 1945. This proved that it can be used in great depth. During a dive, Zetterström died as a result of a mistake by the surface crew.

Studies with hydrogen were not resumed until many years later, first by the US Navy , then by the French company Comex, who developed methods for reaching depths between 500 and 700 m, with the help of hydrogen-based gas mixtures such as Hydrox (hydrogen and Oxygen) or hydreliox (hydrogen, helium and oxygen).

Properties and use

With various hydroxyl mixtures, diving depths of up to 700 meters could be reached. Hydrox is particularly helpful against High Pressure Nervous Syndrome , the most common deep-sea diving disease caused by helium in mixtures such as Heliox , Hydreliox and Trimix . Since Hydrox does not contain nitrogen , there is no nitrogen anesthesia . However, hydrogen also has a narcotic effect. This effect is used in Hydreliox to act as an antagonist to helium to weaken the HPNS . Disadvantages are the high risk of explosion of a hydrogen-oxygen mixture as an oxyhydrogen gas and, due to the very good thermal conductivity of hydrogen (0.1805 W / (m · K)), a strong cooling of the lungs. Furthermore, Hydrox can only be used at depths below 30 meters, so that two different breathing gases have to be carried.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WP Fife: The use of non-explosive mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen for diving . In: Texas A&M University Sea Grant . TAMU-SG-79-201, 1979.
  2. ^ Brauer RW (ed) .: Hydrogen as a Diving Gas. . In:, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (Eds.): 33rd Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop. . No. UHMS Publication Number 69 (WS-HYD) 3-1-87, 1985, p. 336. Retrieved September 15, 2008.
  3. ↑ Ornhagen H: Hydrogen-Oxygen (Hydrox) breathing at 1.3 MPa. . In: National Defense Research Institute . FOA report C58015-H1, 1984, ISSN  0347-7665 .
  4. ↑ B. Gardett, C. Gortan: Mice and Monkeys Deep Dives in heliox, hydrox and Hydeliox Gas Mixtures - Synthesis of COMEX "Hydra" programs . In: PB Bennett, RE Marquis (Ed.) Basic and applied high pressure biology. Boydell & Brewer, 1994, ISBN 9781878822253 , pp. 173ff
  5. ↑ Lafay V, Barthelemy P, Comet B, Frances Y, Jammes Y: ECG changes during the experimental human dive HYDRA 10 (71 atm / 7,200 kPa) . In: Undersea Hyperb Med . 22, No. 1, March 1995, pp. 51-60. PMID 7742710 . Retrieved September 15, 2008.
  6. ↑ www.dolacek.de: " Interesting facts about deep diving for professional reasons" Section: "HPNS - the reaction of the nervous system to high pressures" and the following
  7. ↑ Webelements.com: Hydrogen .
  8. ↑ Techdiver.ws: Exotic diving gases - Hydrogen (H 2 ), hydreliox and hydrox. ( Memento from December 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )