Juergensen Marine
BUDDY INSPIRATION™ REPLACEMENT ELECTRONICS
Hammerheads
are almost EVERYWHERE now!
Keep watching this page for new developments!
(The
man that INVENTED the Inspiration)
Dave Thompson
Dives A Hammerhead.
"Ok,
I have to say this, just got my HH back with the new solenoid algorithm and
it is, as we say in limeyland, "the dogs bollocks""
(We're
hoping that's a good thing...!)
Mark Nix
Dives A Hammerhead.
"I
have had some great dives on the HH. I have not used the original AP head since
getting the new one from Kevin"
(These
are REAL quotes!)
Mike Dyson
Dives a Hammerhead.
"I
ran a sea dive today only 42 meters on a wreck off the south coast. The visibilty
was awful so I laid a line. The HH is great for this as you only need to concentrate
on the DIVA and reel. As usual, the HH ran perfectly - this is becoming too
routine!"
(Again,
a REAL quote!)
Here
are the Details:
ANNOUNCING
The
Juergensen Marine Hammerhead™
A
New Generation of Diving!
We are very
proud to announce the beginning of production of the ALL NEW Juergensen Marine
"Hammerhead" replacement Head/Electronics assembly for the Inspiration™
Rebreather!
The first
25 Sets (50 Pieces) have arrived, and are ready for assembly! 12/20/02
For several
years, Juergensen Marine, in association with the late Will Smithers of Digital
Deep, has been building and installing digital electronics for Closed Circuit
Mixed Gas Rebreathers, as well as building and designing new products for the
civilian Mark 15/15.5 CCR's used in past years by the US Navy.
We have
now applied the knowledge gained over the years to the Inspiration™ rebreather,
to come up with the Hammerhead™ Replacement Head and Electronics.
Let's look
at what's new about this system:
This is
the inside of the new Head. You will notice there is now a solid plate which
holds the Sensors. They are facing down, and are well spaced to give plenty
of room for installing them into the Replacement Head - Here's a graphic look
inside the new head:
In this image, the Head has been graphically
removed so you can see the internal "guts" of the Hammerhead, including
the Oxygen Solenoid port, the Banana Plug Box and the Three Oxygen Sensors.
Here's what you don't see above:
We have
included a port for a 4th sensor - the diver can use their VR-3 or HUD with
a different sensor (say a R-22DHO, or even a K1-D with a proper fitting to hold
it) in order to verify the operation of the other three. An innovation for the
truly paranoid! Now - you may be wondering, "how hard will it be to open
this and change your sensors?...."
With the
removal of one nut (the round gray one in the picture above this one) your Sensor
Plate is removed.
Now, for
the next innovation:
One of the
improvements we've made to the original system is how to connect your Oxygen
Sensors, yet keep the pathway between them and the Control Electronics dry and
free of any water "creep." What we came up with is shown here: the
plugs out of the 3 sensors actually lead to micro Banana Plugs which are Gold
Plated Brass - the Jacks for these are permanently mounted in the Head and sealed.
That means that the wires leading from your sensors have connectors at either
end - one end is the Molex that goes into the actual sensor, and the other end
is a Gold Plated Brass Banana Plug - if either end of these gets corroded, you
toss them out and put in new ones for about $5. No more worries about twisting
wires, bad connections to your sensors, or globs of plastic all over the place.
Since the
Battery and Control electronics are in the Wrist Unit - we have eliminated much
of the clutter found in the original head itself, and consequently have lots
of room for the Sensors to stand straight up (as well as adding a 4th). The
ports in the top of this unit can be configured in any way that the diver wants
to - they come standard with a Primary and a Secondary Display (the Primary
controls the Solenoid, the Secondary is a backup Display which is independently
wired and powered - for TRUE redundancy) - then they can have either a HUD integrated
into the system (via the Internal 3 sensors, the Internal 4th sensor, or an
External Sensor, a la the Bob Howell Mod) - or they can have a connector to
go directly to their VR-3 (once again, via the 3 Internal sensors, or 4th Internal
sensor).
This is
what it looks like with the Fischer Connectors and waterproof Cables attached.
The Lumberg (yellow) cable is for the Heads Up Display which mounts on your
DSV.
About
the Cable... One of the biggest problems with any Electronically Controlled
Closed Circuit Rebreather is maintaining electrical continuity, and preventing
water intrusion into anything involving current. This has been an issue for
every ECCR ever built. The one rig that seems to have solved this issue did
so many years ago: the Mark 15/CCR-1000 rigs were equipped with cables and connectors
made by Bendix, and later by Amphenol Aerospace. These connectors are 10,000
psi OPEN FACE capable, and the cable they were molded into was sealed on multiple
levels. Of course, each connector on a cable cost about a hundred bucks, then
add the cable cost and molding, and pretty soon you were looking at a $750 cable.
Not too practical outside of the military.
To
confront this issue, we contacted a specialty cable company which produces cable
for deep water use. We specified an 8 conductor cable that had to have a maximum
diameter of .300 of an inch (7.62 mm) and a Bend Radius of 1.5 inches or less
(38 mm). It also had to be waterproof.
What
we wound up with is a cable that is more than that - a cable which is Depth
of Ocean rated, and Helium Leak Proof. A cable which has a PVC jacket which
is one of the toughest we have ever seen, yet conforms to our Bend Radius and
Maximum Diameter requirements.
Each
conductor is coated with void-filling sealant, and each individual STRAND of
wire in each of the 8 conductors is also coated with void-filling sealant, making
this the most amazing cable we've ever worked with.
A
solid PVC core is surrounded by a high-twist archetecture of 8 conductor void
filled conductors, ensuring that there are virtually no spaces where water or
gas can intrude.
If
water gets through this stuff, it must be possessed...
Combine
that with the fact that the conductors are channel sealed inside the Head, and
then isolated from the control electronics via a Fischer Connector and Receptacle,
and you have yourself one of the most leak-proof systems ever made. Period.
Here it
is all assembled, and installed into the Inspiration housing. This is now a
DIRECT REPLACEMENT for the existing Inspiration Head. To install this system,
you simply remove your existing Inspiration Head, complete with all internal
and external connections/batteries/electronics/etc, and put them in a closet
somewhere safe. You then attach this Replacement Head, hook up your intake/exhaust
and Oxygen hoses and DSV and go diving. It is really just that simple. Nothing
more to add, nothing to remove from your old Head (except for the O2 Sensors
if you want to use them in this new assembly). True "Plug and Play."
A closer
view of all the connections and how well they all line up. The complete assembly
fits very well and tight into the body of the Rebreather.
But one
of the best things about this system is the Displays. Here are all three displays
- the Primary on the Left and the Secondary on the Right, as well as the HUD
(Mounted on the DSV at the top). TRUE TRIPLE REDUNDANCY in one compact user-friendly
unit. If your Primary fails, you have your Secondary Display to tell you what
your 3 ppO2 readings are, as well as the HUD to keep you informed of your ppO2
from either all three sensors, or a 4th sensor (your choice). If your Secondary
fails, you have your HUD. If your HUD fails, well, then, you really need to
book some time with the vicker...
We use identical
assemblies for the Primary and Secondary, except they are mirror-image of each
other.
The Displays
also incorporate the "Varicon™" Convex Lens System, which actually
Magnifies the LCD Image for easier viewing. Both Displays come with built-in
BACKLIGHT as Standard.
Each of
the Wrist Units has an isolated waterproof Battery Housing which contains twin
3.6v Lithium batteries, which cost about $5 each. These are the same batteries
used in most computers for PRAM, and as such, are available just about everywhere
computers are sold. In our preliminary testing, we found that the batteries
in the Primary ran the system, with Solenoid firing, for about 80 HOURS, while
the Secondary ran for about 168 HOURS. Clearly, a major improvement over the
original system.
The
batteries can be removed via a coin-slot cap located on top of the Wrist Unit.
This should make changing batteries on a rocking boat a snap.
You
will also notice that the top of the Wrist Units (Primary and Secondary) have
Wet Switches integrated into them - this means that should you forget to switch
on either of your displays, they will do so automatically when you hit the water.
Now for some REALLY Interesting Stuff...
Here
you see a side detail of the Primary Electronics Wrist Unit, which also houses
the Pressure Transducer (the silver port next to the Fischer Connector). Considering
the Primary Electronics also handles Trimix Decompression computing in both
Closed Circuit and Open Circuit modes, it makes for an interesting option when...
...you
disconnect the cable leading to the Head, Cap the Fischer Bulkhead Connector,
and go diving Open Circuit with your Dive Computer still strapped to your wrist...
You
now have not only a CCR Controller/Computer, but a perfectly viable OC Dive
Computer (or fixed ppO2 CCR Computer) to take with you should you choose to
leave your Inspiration® back on the boat!
Is
this cool or what?
The
unit also has a built-in Trimix Decompression Computer - we are using Buhlmann
with Gradient Factors, and are planning on implementing other deco algorithms
in the future in order to give users of the Hammerhead® a wide choice of
decompression profiles. Stay tuned for further updates...
We
are now accepting orders for the THIRD AND FOURTH
RUN. The demand for this product, even in the initial phase of its production
was intense, and therefore deliveries will occur in Mid to Late March 2003.
The
Retail Price of the Complete Hammerhead® is $2,995.00
(plus shipping).
If
you wish to be included in the 3rd or 4th Run, please send an e-mail to us at
hammerhead@electricfilm.com.
We
now Accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover!
For more information, please e-mail us at the link posted above.
Inspiration™
is a TradeMark of the AP Valves Company
Hammerhead™
is a TradeMark of Juergensen Marine
Varicon™
is a TradeMark of Juergensen Marine
All
photographs and Text ©2002 Juergensen Marine. All Rights Reserved
O.K.
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