Diver Daves' Fenzy Rebreather Teardown

The mission for this little French 02 rebreather is unclear. Maybe it's for surface use, maybe for armored vehicle escape, and maybe for emergency shallow-water diving. In any case, it would do any of the above. It's a perfect example of a 'Pendulum Breathing" rebreather, meaning that the mouthpiece is supplied with only one hose, and the diver breathes directly through the scrubber into the counterlung and then back through the scrubber from the counterlung. This forces the diver to rebreathe a small quantity of dirty gas on each breath, but with a short hose to the scrubber the volume of dirty gas inhaled is just a few CC's. This is a neat little rig, so let's get on with it!

 

 

Here's the tiny wonder all packed into it's green aluminum can. This is a SMALL cannister as the ruler shows.

 

 

This is the tag on the inside of the lid. Note the date of 1978.

 

 

Flipping open the can we find the breathing hose and DSV at the top, with the bottle and scrubber wrapped by the counterlung for storage.

Point of use was obviously the Royal Dutch Army. The card indicates that it was controlled by  "Head of the Materials supply department 6 of the Directorate of Materials" which means that it was controlled by the same office as for underwater equipment in the Netherlands. This indicates that it was a diving rebreather, at least for water escape, and not only for surface use.

Extricating it from the can, we find the rig consists of a simple counterlung, a scrubber with one hose at the top which is the pendulum hose (in and out), a 0.7 liter 02 bottle, an overpressure relief valve, and a simple harness.

Removing the scrubber and the bottle, what is left is painfully simple: Across the bottom from left to right are the scrubber port, the 02 bottle port, and the exhaust valve. The exhaust valve is identical to the one on my ancient Buoy Fenzy buoyancy compensator, and the connection to the 02 bottle is the same as the filler system on that old vest as well. Note the simple fabric bands that hold the scrubber and cylinder in place.

The DSV is a simple barrel valve, made of blackened brass. With only one hose there is no need for one-way valves to be installed.

A thoughtful addition is this stylish nose-clip! This is one clue that makes me believe that this was originally designed for surface use, as a diver would be wearing a mask.

Here we see the bottom of the scrubber, which connects to the counterlung. The simple scrubber has a screen at the top and at the bottom, nothing more. The diver passes gas through the scrubber twice: On exhaling the gas passes through the scrubber to the counterlung, and upon inhalation the process reverses. Some gas never leaves the scrubber, and of course the gas in the short breathing hose is not scrubbed at all. The system works as long as tidal volume is kept at a normal level, thus forcing an adequate volume of gas into the scrubber. In practice, the volume of the dead-space (breathing hose) is so small that there is no practical disadvantage to the system.

On the top of the scrubber we find the refilling port. This has a lead seal attached, obviously a military inspection seal after it was filled.

Here's the little bottle, which is a 0.7 liter cylinder at 200 BAR. The only thing I have not analyzed yet is the method of flow-delivery from the bottle, as I cannot find my Fenzy filling adapter as of just yet. I believe that the rig is manually controlled with the cylinder valve (which is probably a needle valve) but am not sure. I'll know shortly!

 

That's all folks! This is the most compact rig I've ever examined. As I have said, I'm not sure it was designed for diving use, but it's perfectly suited for it. If I was diving in shallow alpine lakes where I needed to back-pack gear in, this would be my choice. Other than that, it makes a neat curiosity. Maybe use it in a remote area as a surface oxygen system for a bent diver? Who knows. It's just cute, and that's all there is to it!

 

Return to Rebreather Teardown Main Page