More dive time offered by new breathing system

COBRA (the Compact Bailout Rebreathing Apparatus) provides 45 minutes of emergency life support at a depth of 120m, compared to seven minutes at 120m for other systems, claims its maker JFD.

Giovanni Corbetta, managing director at JFD, said: “Our entire focus and commitment as a company is founded upon improving diver safety and setting new benchmarks within the industry.”

Fully operational

The system also provides 20 minutes of air at 270m, with alternative systems providing just three minutes of air at this depth.

Having undergone trials and completed its first deepwater commercial dive project to become fully operational, JFD hopes the system’s ability to increase the standard supply of emergency breathing gas available to the diver will mark a significant enhancement in subsea safety.

COBRA was designed and developed by JFD in response to a need for more advanced ‘bailout’ technology to provide a diver with an emergency supply of breathing gas in the event of a primary gas failure.

Extended work time

It is designed to work at the greater depths and protracted dive periods typical of new generation diving operations.

The extended operation time means divers can work further from the bell confident that they have sufficient breathing gas to make it back, which significantly improves the likelihood of a successful rescue in the event of an emergency, said JFD.

COBRA’s first operational dives occurred recently in Australia at a depth of 270m. Pre-dive checks included two divers breathing five times on COBRA mode, before switching back to umbilical mode, and then starting their work.

By Rebecca Jeffrey