Improvement of the Heat Balance Equation Accuracy, in the Case of Saturation Diving

Abstract

The body temperature of a diver is one of the most important aspects of the concept of underwater safety and comfort. The heat balance equation previously established, was improved in this paper by introducing a linear dependence of the absolute humidity on the body temperature, as the absolute humidity influences the latent heat flux needed for the humidification of the breathing gas. The solution of the new proposed heat balance equation is a step forward in assessing the body temperature in both cases of unitary and saturation diving. The paper presents the equation and its solutions in the case of breathing either air or Heliox and compares the theoretical results with the values measured in the frame of simulated saturation diving with Heliox 5/95, in the hyperbaic laboratory. The proposed equation predicts the body temperature of the diver, at the end of a 30 minutes immersion with a good accuracy. The relative error is up to 1%.

Keywords

• body temperature
• heat balance
• saturation diving