What is a rebreather?

What is a rebreather?

A rebreather is a breathing apparatus used and worn by a diver. The distinctive aspect of a rebreather is that all or part of the exhaled gas is reused. As a result, no or few bubbles will be visible escaping from the device during the dive. How the system affects the quality of breathing air is determined by the type of rebreather we are dealing with. The diver breathes the gas that should contain oxygen. He converts this oxygen into carbon dioxide in his body. On exhalation, the gas is passed through an absorption cartridge containing a chemical that binds the carbon dioxide. The deoxygenated gas is enriched again by adding new oxygen. Because a calmly swimming diver uses only 1 litre of oxygen per minute at all depths, the system is up to 40 times more economical with breathing gas than traditional breathing systems.

Rebreathers are used in many different industries. Areas of application are:

Aviation
Mining
Aerospace
Professional divers
Sport divers
Earthquake rescue teams
Fire brigade
Confined spaces
Medical applications

The extremely broad application spectrum makes the rebreather an extremely interesting subject. The development from 1850 to the present has produced hundreds of models. Technical developments have led to very modern high-tech systems. The techniques used for entering harmful atmospheres and for underwater use have received special attention on this website. An overview of the different systems that have been developed over the years can be found here. The page shows links to home-built rebreathers. An overview of professional systems can be found on the page with databases. A special application of the rebreather is the use in atmospheric diving suits and these can be viewed here.

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