Automatic Buoyancy Compensator

[kdzidoc]

Joshua,
I could see a market for this in the new diver arena. Lord knows I've seen some divers that could use it if it works like you intend.
Most of the divers here are pretty advanced and know EXACTLY what they are doing. I gained a lot of knowledge from this board over the last 8-10 years and one thing I've learned is that these old salty dogs are good people, smart people, and have a world of experience. And they are not afraid to share that with you. that being said, an automatic BC device is like introducing a car that drives itself to people who LOVE to drive. I could see an automatic valve that was controlled by pressure. I wouldn't use it, but plenty out there would.

[JoshuaHeard]

Thanks for your responses. It never occurred to me anyone would oppose the idea of an automatic BC. To me, maintaining neutral buoyancy is a chore, which distracts from the purpose of the dive. I think it's analogous to a manual vs. automatic transmission. Sure, race car drivers still use manual transmissions, but the vast majority of everyday drivers use automatic transmissions.

The device is simple. There are no electrical components; it is purely mechanical. Once it is adjusted at the surface for the individual diver, it uses water pressure to expand or contract a volume to keep the diver neutrally buoyant at all times during the dive. Since we are in the design stage, I don't know how precise it will be. It should be exact. We will have a prototype that we will test by this summer. I'll keep this forum informed as we progress.

[cneal]

Thanks for your responses. It never occurred to me anyone would oppose the idea of an automatic BC. To me, maintaining neutral buoyancy is a chore, which distracts from the purpose of the dive. I think it's analogous to a manual vs. automatic transmission. Sure, race car drivers still use manual transmissions, but the vast majority of everyday drivers use automatic transmissions.

Take the time to learn buoyancy control and you will find that it is automatic. Swim up to an obstruction and you will be able to rise up to swim across it without any vertical effort. And on the other side you can sink back down with the same ease.

[Domonic-A]

sounds like somewhere along the way you would be setting a depth that you want to stay at.

In an emergency I'd hate to claw may way to the surface to try and find air and have your device decide that No he set me for 20 feet deep therefore I am going to ignore his fully inflating the BC and take him back down to 20 feet below. That would make it a major liability exsposure for you.


There have been other auto componsator devices marketed over the years. Most people have decided that they would for whatever reason rather depend on there own skills to handle it. Now if you make one use it and impress enough other divers thay may ask you to make them one. That might start a word of mouth campain. who knows maybe like the single hose reg everyone will be useing your or a desendant of your device in 20 years. But it is going to have to be something that shows significant gain over the current standrad. And it willtake time.

dom
wwsd

[Saudio]

That's the ticket, it has to be better than doing it manually. And I'm a gadget guy, so I'm inclined to like tech devices, but they have to be an improvement to the current way of doing something.

[LarryL]

To me, maintaining neutral buoyancy is a chore, which distracts from the purpose of the dive.

It always starts out that way. As you get more experience, staying neutral goes from being a chore to being a real pleasure. It's like staying in your lane when you're learning to drive. After doing it for a while you'll wonder why it seemed so hard.

Maybe you could use the device to make some people's $10K camera rigs neutral instead.

[diverchaz]

Oh the technology is gonna kill me. Remember when we listened to music on 8 tracks in our cars????

[TMHeimer]

Perhaps it would make more sense if you could turn on & off the "auto pilot" buoyancy at will? That would seem to be a pretty simple thing to accomplish with today's technology. There are times when I need to be touching the bottom to pull myself over rocks in a current, or when I do get leg cramps. And most of the time I'm almost on the bottom searching for shells. If diving solo I often don't really care if I touch bottom and mess up the viz a bit. But it sure is an interesting idea.

[JoshuaHeard]

Thanks again for your feedback. You are raising issues I hadn't considered before.

One issue is about using breathing for precise buoyancy control. The device I am developing uses water pressure among things to drive changes in buoyancy. Since the device will have some inherent friction, a diver must rise or fall several feet in order to activate the device. This "gap" will allow precise buoyancy control by the diver using the lungs, and it will also ensure that the diver, and not the device, is controlling depth.

The other issue is manual control of the device. This is a good suggestion and we have decided to incorporate a manual override feature. This will allow the diver to manually adjust buoyancy, say at the surface, or descending, and at any time during the dive you don't want neutral buoyancy.

I appreciate your advice!

[Domonic-A]

Joshua Good luck with this. You have shown that your willing to listen to your potential customers. and try to incorporate their feedback.

dom
wwsd