The Ouroboros Rebreather
VR Technology LTD have already made an impact on the rebreather market with the launch of the Ouroboros Closed Circuit Rebreather, a back mounted unit that used a radial canister and has back mounted lungs, the unit has remarkable work of breathing statistics and fantastic duration due to the radial scrubber, unlike alot of other rebreathers the electronics are separate from the breathing loop so if there is a flood the likelihood of the electronics being damaged is eliminated, the rebreather also utilised small bore piping for the gas delivery to the rebreather which means there is a minimal amount of gas in the system, the unit is fitted with many safety features including a back up display, both dil and O2 isolation valves, there is a rearmounted display for buddy monitoring. The unit can also be fitted with many optional extras including, a foam base for better trim, a hydrophobic membrane for the scrubber, software upgrades for downloading, VPM algorithm amongst others, the unit can also be fitted with an off board gas connection system which enables the user to plumb in off board gas.
Launch of the Sentinel CCR
After the success of the Ouroboros, VR Technology LTD developed a new rebreather which caters for the current market trends of rebreather divers. It comes in 3 levels, level 1 being for air diluent, level 2 being an intermediate trimix 60m unit and level 3 being a full hypoxic 100m trimix unit. Please read the design concept here. The Sentinel as it has been christened is also a back mounted CCR only this time with an axial canister, due to their extensive research VR Technologies LTD have developed a system with a single counterlung and an axial canister with outstanding work of breathing (WOB) also due to their research they have developed new methods to increase the effieciency of the axial scrubber which in the past on most commercially available units has been inherently poor, please view the Test Comparison Results. what has also steered market trends to a degree is the type of scrubber media available in a certain geographic location, in Europe due to the location of the manufacturer, granular Sofnolime has been very popular, where as in the States the Extend Air Cartridge has been popular, again due to the location of the manufacturer, the sentinel will be the first rebreather available when purchased to utilise both of these types of media and will also be able to use the soon to be released cartridge from molecular products. The unit also comes with a canister duration monitor, a temperature based system in addition to monitoring the consumed O2 through the solenoid which will predict scrubber break through. The scrubber was tested at a depth of 40m with 1.6 l/min CO2 production and outlasted all of the commercially available units at the time of testing, the increase in time over other common back mounted units was over 65% more time. the unit also has a BOV (bail out valve) installed as standard, again the electronics are feature rich out of the box and like the Ouroboros it also has PIN upgradeable options, the Gas connection system can also be fitted to this unit giving more flexibility to the diver in the water.
Future Developments
Staying at the forefront VR Technologies are planning some optional upgrades for the Sentinel Rebreather, these include: an intelligent back up display that will include a full decompression computer. there is also a lightweight option that involves removing the case and replacing the counterlung with an over the shoulder counterlung. thus reducing the overall size of the unit and making it lighter for travel. For a full list of features and some future development ideas click here
Alternatively the manufacturers website can be found here VR Technologies LTD.
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Closed Circuit Research LTD Ouroboros and Sentinel 
