Step by Step Ascent
Inflatable Water Airbag
V1, 2022
Sandra L’Herminé, Sylvain Jacquart (Robotics Master students) and Omar Meebed, Roan Nones, Elyes Zribi (Mechanical Master students)
Demo Duration:
3'
We present a design of a diving wearable airbag that aims to achieve a safer diving experience by bringing unconscious or injured people back to the surface while abiding by the decompression stops to avoid injuries coming from high pressure difference.
While it is relatively simple to inflate the airbag and start the ascent, the stabilization of a diver underwater is a challenge, as it requires emptying the correct amount of air to stop the diver’s ascent and keep enough air to prevent him from sinking.
The demonstration will consist in achieving the ascent of an aluminum mass of 0.4 kg in a 1.5 meter column of water. You will be able to see how it will stabilize several times in a row during the ascent.
Using a pneumatic based approach through a good pressure sensor information processing, we can show that it is possible to automate the stabilization of a mass at different water depths during its ascent and that doing it at the scale of a diver would be possible.
This device is a first step to increase the safety and, thus, accessibility of diving. It will limit health issues due to the high pressure divers are exposed to and eventually save lives or find the bodies in case of death.
Materials:
One Arduino Uno,Two 2 ways valves, One accelerometer, one pressure sensor, an air pump, a mass representing the diver and a plastic inflatable bag