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Understanding Oxygen Sensors Part II - The Complete Picture

- Oxygen sensors can fail in different ways such as suddenly stopping output or displaying increasingly inaccurate variable outputs. - Statistics show that replacing all sensors at once increases the risk of multiple sensors failing on the same dive as sensors from the same batch may exhibit similar degradation patterns. - Sensors can sometimes display a "recovery" effect where current-limited sensors regain the ability to display high oxygen levels after a period of exposure to low oxygen, though this effect is temporary. - Warm-up of rebreather scrubbers affects sensor performance, with current-limited sensors more impacted earlier in dives before full scrubber warming.

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32 views

Understanding Oxygen Sensors Part II - The Complete Picture

- Oxygen sensors can fail in different ways such as suddenly stopping output or displaying increasingly inaccurate variable outputs. - Statistics show that replacing all sensors at once increases the risk of multiple sensors failing on the same dive as sensors from the same batch may exhibit similar degradation patterns. - Sensors can sometimes display a "recovery" effect where current-limited sensors regain the ability to display high oxygen levels after a period of exposure to low oxygen, though this effect is temporary. - Warm-up of rebreather scrubbers affects sensor performance, with current-limited sensors more impacted earlier in dives before full scrubber warming.

Uploaded by

ich
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Understanding Oxygen Sensors

Part II

The Myth!
Part I:

• Sensor construction
• Failure modes
• Statistics
• Recommendations
Sensor construction
Failure modes

• Sudden dead
• ‘announced failure’ (increased output, then..)
• Random variable output
• Current limitation
Current limiting
Statistics
Statistics

total cells
cells number used
of used
in use cells 1 fail 2 fail 3 fail 4 fail 5 fail /year

policy 1 3 73301 14542 524 7 3,81


4 97936 18994 937 48 1 5,09
5 121962 22448 1531 98 2 0 6,34
policy 2 3 39527 38499 511 2 2,06
4 52733 50560 1070 11 0 2,74
5 65816 62257 1745 23 0 0 3,42
policy 3 3 49627 23106 152 0 2,58
4 59098 38140 527 4 0 3,07
5 70205 52958 1095 6 1 0 3,65
Recommendations
• Sensor check at the start of the dive?
• Redundant electronics
• Don’t throw away GOOD sensors
• Never exchange all your sensors at the same
time: rotate them, so you exclude ‘common’
behaviour.
Why part II?

The Myth ?
Previous dive > 14 days ago
Cell check to 1.6 bar PPO2
Normal dive at 1.3 bar PPO2
Next dive after 24 hours:
Sensor check at 1.6 bar PPO2: OK!
1 sensors shows current limitation
As expected ?
Third dive again 24 hours later:
During prebreath and sensor check,
Sensor is ok again …?
• Current limitation has ‘reversed’?
• The sensor seems to ‘recover’ .. : after 24
hours the sensor is again capable of displaying
high PPO2.
• It seems as if the sensor has been
‘regenerated’ …

• Value of the O2 flush at 6m?


Again 24 hours later, another dive:
Same result!
• Regeneration has happened again!

• Is this unlikely ? Is it a ‘rare’ event?


Next graph:
• 5 sensors from 1 rebreather that came in for
service
• Unit was not dived for +/- 3 weeks
• 5 sensors from the same batch…
• User claims all sensors work correctly: O2
spike at the start shows all sensors > 1.6 bar
• (black line is reference sensor)
• All sensors are able to show > 1.6 bar PPO2
• All sensors show 1.3 bar
• All sensors show current limiting after some
time into the dive
• and …
• All sensors ‘recover’ after 1/2/3 days..
Can more than 1 sensor fail in a single
dive if you replace all your sensors when
they are 12 months old?

• 2013: 25% of the divers reported 2 or more


sensors (less than 1 year old!) failing on them
in 2013! (Poll RBW March 2014)

• .. So the answer is YES!


Conclusion 1:
• Sensors show a behaviour of ‘recovery’:
• Even when a sensor showed ‘current
limitation’ before, when a sensor has been
exposed to low PPO2 (0.21) for longer time, it
is able to display high PPO2 again for a shorter
period of time, until the ‘current limiting’
shows up again.
• The galvanic part shows similarities with the engine of
a hybrid car: a main engine, (the current generator)
and a battery: this battery is charged when the main
engine only has to produce little power, and the
battery is used when lot’s of power is required.
• When getting older, the main engine gets weaker, the
battery loses capacity…
New topic:

• Warm-up profile of a typical scrubber, during


prebreath and start of the dive
8 temperature sensors along the length of the scrubber
High workload dive
Black: depth profile
Output of current limited sensors when temperature changes
Conclusion 2
• Only after 20-40 minutes into the dive, the
sensor is at working condition, and the current
limited sensor is affected by the temperature
change before and after the full warm up of
the scrubber
How can we check for this type of
current limitation before the dive?

The Myth: we cannot !


• Spike at the start of the dive?...
-> things only happen later into the dive

• Cell checker? …
-> how to simulate real dive condition: heat and
moisture only later into the dive?

• Sensor validation? …
-> diluent PPO2 is always < working dive PPO2
What can we do?
• Check sensors during the dive… and hope
• Check sensors at the end of the dive: in real
working conditions, O2 flush at 6 meter
• Only install GOOD sensors approved for
rebreather use
• Exchange your sensors at different intervals:
‘rotate’, (don’t ‘hope’): reduce the likelihood
of having multiple sensors suffering from
current limitation!

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