Saturation diving.....A discussion !

[JE]

On a ccr system at what depth & duration of your dive will you become what is called Saturated ? How long will you be able to stay at a specified depth ? What is the deepest in salt or fresh water you will be able to dive or work without worry of deco ?
To top this discussion off, what is the preferable breathing media for saturation diving ?

je

[gschaut]

Saturation occurs at ANY depth when you remain at depth long enough to completely saturate your body with inert gas. Generally 24hrs, but there are variations.

Saturation (at depths greater than 30'/10m) ALWAYS involve significant decompression. In some cases, several weeks are required by commerical divers to decompress back to the surface.

Saturation diving involves breathing mixtures with significantly lower ppO2 levels(than normal tech diving), because you are exposing your body & lungs to higher than normal pp02 for days and weeks, instead of just a couple hours. Lower pp02 means more inert gas AND longer decompression time.

Saturation is used for commercial diving so that long, deep dives can be done repeatedly over a span of days and weeks for commerical operations such as oil platforms or underwater construction work.

Saturation divers typically live inside high pressure chambers on the surface, at working pressure, and travel to and from the bottom inside portable travel chambers. Divers remain continiously at the same pressure as their working depth so that they can accomplish dozens of dives, but only have to decompress back to the surface ONCE, at the end of the working cycle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturation_diving

[divingabe]

Saturation diving use only Heliox as a breathing medium and a ppo of .45 to .49
Basic lenght of stay in sat is no more than 28 days including deco.(HPNS is the limiting factor)
Deco varies on schedules pending on working depth but a rough average is a rise up to 50' at 5' an hour and from 50' to surface at 3' an hour