The building of "Wille" was started during the spring of
2002 and the "Willie" seen in the pictures below is actually the
second divable version. "Willie" is named for the killer whale because
of the very characteristic noise of the dump valve.
The proud owner and designer of Willie is mr Peder Seippel, a
dedicated diver living in Stockholm, Sweden. He can be contacted at peder@seippel.nu.
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The unit with cover on.
The over pressure dump valve (a. SI-teck dry suit valve) is seen to the
right. A 5L 200 (i.e. 35 cubic feet for you imperial freaks) with a
Poseidon 1st stage feed the unit. The first stage is ambient referenced
thus allowing a slight increase in fresh gas flow with increased
depth but also makes it possible to use an ordinary 2nd stage as a
bailout, just like the Draeger Ray.
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"Willie" without cover. The scrubber is an IDA
canister that houses 2kg of soda lime. The breathing hoses connect to a
screw connector at the end of the two corrugated hoses at the top. The
exhalation side is to the right. The breathing bags connect under the two
(yellow and blue) aluminium boxes. The blue box houses the dump valve and
the yellow one the oxygen sensor. Fresh gas is added directly into the
inhalation bag. The needle valve (swagelok, what else...) used for flow
control is located to the left.. |
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Without the cover seen from the front side. A standard backplate and wing
is used even though the wing was not mounted during the photo session. The
DSV and hoses are from Ambient Pressure, i.e. Inspiration. The Oxygen
gauge is low to the right (with a violet strap) and bailout reg to the
left. The bypass valve is the small red button see far down on the
picture. |
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Close up of the exhalation bag. It is a standard dromedary
bag. The bag is placed relatively close to the back and is then allowed to expand all the way down to the backplate.
The result is that the negative
hydrostatic load inherent with back mounted bags is minimized. |
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The canisted and dump valve. The valve is a SI-tech dry suit
valve. This particular valve gives off a distinct sound when dumping gas,
that sound is the reason for the name "Willie". It sound like
the tame killer whale in the film. The blue housing has a (unused) penetrator for
oxygen sensors as well.
All hoses that convey breathing gas are insulated with neoprene covers..
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Close up of the inhalation side with the (back side of the)
needle valve seen as well as the cable penetrator for the oxygen sensor. |
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Oxygen sensor, R22d mounted in the inspiratory gas path. |
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The oxygen gauge, this is a modified submersible pressure
gauge (according to the original idea of mr Ola Lindh), this extremely
compact and rugged oxygen gauge
contains battery, cal pot and digital voltmeter. This oxygen gauge will have a
page of its own soon.
Also available for the "Willie" is a PIC processor design for
3 oxygen sensors with auto cal and alarms, all made by Peder - of course..
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The inhalation bag, a 2 litre dromedary bag with a quick
connector (a Buddy Classic inflator port) for fresh gas supply. If a
larger bag would be necessary one day in the future, the RB can house up to two 4 litre
bags. The exhalation bag is identical but lacks the fresh gas
injection port.
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 Willie
in real life on the Swedish west coast.
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Willie in real life on the Swedish west coast.
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