Enriquespiration Teardown

My friend Enrique Alvarez transitioned to diving a Buddy Inspiration closed-circuit rebreather at the beginning of the 2001 dive season. Based upon the type of diving that we do, he decided that he wanted the capability to use larger bottles for the on-board diluent and oxygen than those provided with the unit. This would allow him to carry much more bailout gas without resorting to side slung or butt-mounted bottles. So he set out to redesign the way the unit fit together and mounted the bottles. Here are some pictures of the "Enriquespiration" prototype unit, taken on Sunday, October 28, 2001 (the weather was too crappy to dive, so what better thing to do than tear down rebreathers?).

Here Enrique shows off the rear of the unit on the workbench in the dive shop in my basement. You can see the back stainless steel cover opened, and the unit standing on its rack.
	He has it rigged with twin OMS 46 cubic foot bottles, the diluent on the left and the oxygen on the right. With his frame modification, almost any size bottles can be used. You can see how the stainless center section cover is hinged. The cylindrical center section contains the scrubber at the bottom, and the sensor & battery pod on top. This setup weighs 96 lbs. fully loaded.
Here you can see the back cover in the closed position, with a clear view of the rack on which the unit is standing.
	A view with the center section removed. The gas manifold is at the top of the picture. The welded stainless frame is in the middle, and holds the unit together.
These buckles on top of the unit are for locking the stainless cover shut.
	Looking inside the sensor pod, you can see the three sensors (top), the opened battery pod with two batteries (one for each handset, bottom), and the solenoid (the silver thing in the lower right-hand corner of the pod).
The Inspiration uses two 6-volt lithium batteries.
	Picture with the batteries removed. They are both in the same compartment.
Enrique uses a standard ABS plastic Dive Rite backplate for his Enriquespiration. Any standard backplate could be used, however.
	He also uses his old OMS wings from his open circuit gear, but virtually any wings could be used.
Here we show off our babies, Enrique and his Enriquespiration, and me and my Juergensen Mk-15.
	The Enriquespiration and the Mk-15 on the bench, side by side. Hope you've enjoyed these pics!