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Avelo scuba system moves buoyancy control into a high-tech air tank

Avelo scuba system moves buoyancy control into a high-tech air tank
The Avelo System is claimed to eliminate the need for a BCD, reduce or even eliminate the need for weights, and make maintaining neutral buoyancy much easier
The Avelo System is claimed to eliminate the need for a BCD, reduce or even eliminate the need for weights, and make maintaining neutral buoyancy much easier
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The Avelo System should be commercially available in 2024
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The Avelo System should be commercially available in 2024
The Avelo System's air bladder should last for at least 85,000 cycles
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The Avelo System's air bladder should last for at least 85,000 cycles
The Avelo System is claimed to eliminate the need for a BCD, reduce or even eliminate the need for weights, and make maintaining neutral buoyancy much easier
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The Avelo System is claimed to eliminate the need for a BCD, reduce or even eliminate the need for weights, and make maintaining neutral buoyancy much easier
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Although scuba divers may appear to be "as free as a fish," they're actually loaded down with quite a bit of gear. The Avelo System is designed to help in that regard, as it moves the functionality of the buoyancy compensator into the air tank, making the former unnecessary.

Ordinarily – along with a wetsuit, fins, mask and snorkel – divers wear equipment that includes a compressed air tank, regulator, weight belt and buoyancy compensator device (BCD).

The latter takes the form of a big inflatable yoke-like vest, which is used to maintain neutral buoyancy. If the diver needs to increase their buoyancy, they transfer a bit of air from their tank to the BCD – they decrease their buoyancy by purging air from the BCD into the water.

As an air tank becomes increasingly empty throughout the course of a dive, it becomes more buoyant. Releasing air from the BCD helps divers compensate, although they also require a fair amount of weight on their belt to keep them from popping up to the surface.

The Avelo System is claimed to eliminate the need for a BCD, and to greatly reduce the amount of weights required. It's also said to make maintaining neutral buoyancy much easier.

The Avelo System should be commercially available in 2024
The Avelo System should be commercially available in 2024

The setup still incorporates a tank, but that tank consists of a carbon fiber shell with an expandable air bladder inside. An electric pump and purge valve are located to one side of the tank, while a battery is located to the other. All of the components are mounted on a backpack-type platform, as is the case with traditional scuba tanks and BCDs.

Before a dive, the air bladder is filled via a standard compressor, up to a maximum pressure of 4,350 psi (300 bar). At that point, the bladder fills the inside of the tank. Once the diver is in the water and ready to descend, they gradually pump water into the tank. The bladder compresses up to the top of the tank as it's displaced by the water at the bottom – at the same time, the added water makes the tank heavier, and thus less buoyant.

As the dive progresses and the air in the bladder is consumed, the diver simply pumps in more water to offset the increasing buoyancy. On the other hand, if they want to increase their buoyancy, they just purge some of the water from the tank.

The Avelo System's air bladder should last for at least 85,000 cycles
The Avelo System's air bladder should last for at least 85,000 cycles

Along with its other selling points, the Avelo System is claimed to let divers stay down longer, as some of their air supply isn't being diverted into a BCD. The absence of a BCD should also make them more streamlined, allowing them to move through the water with a bit less effort.

We're told that one charge of the battery should be good for seven to 10 dives by an experienced user, or three to four dives by someone who's still learning. Should the battery run out during a dive, there will reportedly be no immediate effect, although the diver will gradually become more buoyant – at a rate of about 1 lb (0.5 kg) every 15 to 20 minutes – as they consume the air in the tank.

Needless to say, the Avelo System isn't the type of thing that people should just buy and figure out on their own. For that reason, the Avelo company is now inviting interested parties to register for one of its training sessions in Maui, which will take place throughout next year. Commercial availability should follow in 2024 – pricing will be "competitive with standard scuba systems."

There's more information in the video below.

Presenting the Avelo System

Source: Avelo

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11 comments
11 comments
guzmanchinky
Someday I envision a system like in Star Wars, just some tiny tank that can hold hours worth of air at 50,000 PSI... :)
Jim Morton
This system is incredible. I live in Maui and taught scuba (recreational, technical, and professional levels) for the last 25 years. Had the incredible opportunity to participate in the pilot program. This is the best diving I have ever done. It is by far safer than standard scuba, the experience is smoother and it is much lighter than my gear. I can't wait for it to go commercial. It is just a fantastic development for the scuba world at any level of diving.
GregVoevodsky
If you scuba you don't have this problem. First you dive the deepest of your dive first and work your way up as you get lighter (to prevent Nitrogen narcosis). Adding a battery underwater for only 5 dives and making things more complicated rather than simple - bad idea. Also, I wear a 20+ pound weight belt. Do they build that into the tank?! How do they get negative buoyancy when it's lighter - huh?! Also, You want negative buoyancy when yo u want to dive down 100 feet and not swim down. You then add air to your BC to create positive buoyancy when you want to surface and float. Why would you want neutral as most dives are going down and up along coral walls, ship wrecks, etc. I find this solving a problem that doesn't need to be solved. Where is my weight belt - the math doesn't add up?! I want one of those underwater scuba propeller things so I don't have to bother swimming.
Jim Morton
Greg Voevodsky - read their website thoroughly and watch the webinar they have with Dan Orr (who is one of the most respected scuba safety experts in the world and the former CEO of Divers Alert Network). Highly suggest you do that BEFORE you comment and demonstrate your current level of knowledge publicly.
Steve Atkinson
OK, several points here:
1 the system has a lot of points of failure, and doesn't seem to have any contingency for them.
2 few dive centres pump to 300 bar. The wear and tear on a compressor at that pressure isn't worth the issues it causes.
3 might be OK in recreational blue water, but how could it work with a dry suit in real diving...?
Separately: Greg don't dive with me if you are adding air to ascend! Recipe for disaster, you should be dumping air to prevent a runaway ascent. If you are over using your BCD at depth, you need to tune up your kit and skills.
Jim Morton
Steve Atkinson - The perception of complexity compared with standard scuba is not justified. Look, I don't work for these guys (I wish) but I did go through the training and dove the system several times afterwards. With me, there were world-renowned scuba-safety experts who come from several disciplines of diving. Going through the training really explains everything in a logical way and we dove everything - from skin suits to dry suits. For a full explanation, you have to go through the training program (whenever they'll open it up to the public). It has a really good online training program which is equivalent in my mind to how scuba used to be taught in the late 90s/early 2000s. They dig into the physics of buoyancy quite heavily because this is very different from standard scuba. Then you have the water portion that gives you the experience. A lot of the answers to your questions are on their website already. The level of safety is much higher than with standard scuba. There is a better level of contingency compared with standard (unless you dive with two BCDs and two regulators and two tanks all the time... :) ). You don't need to fill the tanks to 300 bar. They typically fill them to 200 bar. I have a compressor where I work that usually goes to 300 bar and we run it like that for the last 10 years. But that is another topic and not relevant. You get more bottom time with this system because as a diver, you are far more efficient than with standard. You don't need to fill it to 300 bar. You could if you do technical diving with it (a whole different topic) but you don't have to. You'll still get better mileage than with standard scuba. If you really care to know the whole story. Watch that webinar they have with Dan Orr. All of it. Dan Orr is quite an authority in the scuba world and often is considered one of the most critical opponents of new gear.

Agreed about Greg... :)
Patrick Jacobs
Many good comments, but a.lot of misconceptions. First, they are. not tanks. your car has a gas tank. SCUBA uses cylinders. The 300 bar in interesting, but without knowing the volume it's a meaningless number. You need both to understand has much air can be provided; but gas consumption is based on depth. Greg. please fo back for retraining. You clearly don't understand the effects of gas on the body and your comment about adding air to go up is dangerous. Please get remedial trying before you get hurt.
Nobody
This sounds a little like the BCP(backpack) from 50 years ago but more sophisticated. I loved the BCP because it didn't have near the drag of a vest. I am also curious how long a 300 bar tank will last and who will inspect it. I am also curious how this fits in with mixed gases.
PB
Judging by the comments (posted by people skilled in SCUBA) it seems that education will be required for this technology.
I've been diving for forty years and I've watched equipment improvement and this system has to be a step forward, otherwise they won't get to sell it. But I'm guessing that communicating the benefits is the key. I'm struggling see a benefit over the BC system.
science tech
Let's do some math, whee!

The web site says the tank fill pressure is 3,000 – 4,350 psi (206 - 300 bar). Let's assume the tank is filled to about the same pressure and volume as a typical aluminum 80 (10L) tank, 3000 PSI (206 bar). The web site also says no weights are necessary (with a wetsuit?? uh...) and that the system is "lightweight and buoyant when you enter the water." Okay, fine. It doesn't say how buoyant the system is, but, since it's not a metal tank, let's assume ~9 pounds (4 Kg), enough to let you float comfortably on the surface.

So the diver is buoyant and ready to dive. The diver then uses the pump system to push water into the tank, removing some of the buoyancy. How much? Well, at least 4 liters (4Kg) to gain neutral buoyancy. More if the diver's wetsuit is buoyant too. Let's say 5 liters (5 Kg, 11 lbs). That's a pretty common amount of weight to have on a weight belt for diving in temperate waters even with a negatively buoyant tank, depending on your gear and physiology. Now the diver is neutral. We good so far?

By removing 5 liters of gas volume from the tank, the diver has compressed the remaining gas to 5 liters (remember, we're assuming the same internal volume as a 10L tank) . The internal pressure has now doubled to 6000 PSI (412 bar). Your typical SPG is now pegged or broken. The regulator first stage is far beyond its working pressure has probably exploded.

But no problem! Let's assume the dive goes well, up until the diver runs out of air because his/her SPG was no longer working. OOA. Yikes! The panicking diver now wants to ascend by dumping water from the tank. But tank pressure is zero (ambient, relative to the water depth) and must power up instead of doing a buoyant ascent.

This can all be okay, if everything goes right, but let's not think about what the diver's buddy would do to make an unconscious diver buoyant if they don't have any ditchable weight. Or if the purge valve fails. Or if kelp clogs the inlet tube. Or if the battery goes dead.

I dunno man. Seems like too many failure modes, and a lot of marketing gimmicks. If they really want to convince divers like myself, their FAQ needs to address the questions I've posed above.

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