SNC initiative to address oxygen shortage

Diving School under SNC designs Oxygen Recycling System

The Diving School of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) conceptualised and designed an Oxygen Recycling System (ORS) to address the issue of Oxygen (O2) shortage. The basic concept has been derived from diving sets used by naval divers. ORS is designed to extend the life of the existing medical O2 cylinders two to four times exploiting the fact that only a small percentage of O2 inhaled by a patient is actually absorbed by the lungs, the rest being exhaled into the atmosphere along with carbon-dioxide (CO2) produced by the body. This exhaled O2 can be re-used, provided the exhaled CO2 is removed. To achieve this, the ORS has a second pipe to the patient’s existing O2 mask, which sucks out the air exhaled by a patient using a low-pressure motor. Both the mask inlet pipe (for O2) and the mask outlet pipe (for exhaled air) are fitted with non-return valves to maintain a positive pressure and unidirectional flow of gases at all times to ensure the patient’s safety against dilution hypoxia, according to a defence press release.