Saturation diving is diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas. It is a diving technique that allows divers to reduce the risk of decompression sickness ("the bends") when they work at great depths for long periods of time because once saturated, decompression time does not increase with further exposure.[1][2] Saturation divers typically breathe a helium–oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis, but at shallow depths saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures.
In saturation diving, the divers live in a pressurized environment for long periods up to 28 days, which can be a saturation system on the surface, or an ambient pressure underwater habitat when not in the water. Transfer to and from the pressurized surface living quarters( sleeping, eating, waking up and again sleep) to the equivalent depth is done in a closed, pressurized diving bell. This may be maintained for up to several weeks, and they are decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their tour of duty. By limiting the number of decompressions in this way, the risk of decompression sickness is significantly reduced, and the time spent decompressing is minimized. Thats why saturation diving is the second home of commercial diver underwater
- BGP: bell gas panel
- S1: first water separator
- BP1: bell back-pressure regulator
- U: bell umbilical
- F1: first gas filter
- BP2: topside back-pressure regulator
- R1, R2: serial gas receivers
- F2: second gas filter
- B: booster pump
- Sc1, Sc2: parallel scrubbers
- C: gas cooler
- S2: last water separator
- VT: volume tank
- PR: pressure regulator
- MGP: main gas panel
1 Comments
good read! thank you !
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