Journal of Ergonomics
Open Access

Department of Physics, Naval Postgraduate School, 833 Dyer Road, Monterey, CA, 93943, USA

Publications

• Research Article   
  Neutrally Buoyant Ergonomic Segmented Cast Composite Diving Suit with Depth-Independent Thermal Protection
  Author(s): Konstantinos Meligkaris, Garrett Sabesky, Jeffrey Catterlin and Emil P. Kartalov*
  
  Sea water is a hostile environment in a multitude of ways. Cold water can quickly put the human diver into hypothermia leading to organ damage, loss of consciousness, and ultimately death. Hence, thermal protection is critical. It is usually provided by conventional neoprene wetsuits. However, neoprene loses thermal insulation with depth, as its air bubbles shrink under increasing ambient pressure. Thicker neoprene improves protection but is far less flexible, which worsens ergonomics and fatigues the diver faster. We recently developed and reported on a segmented composite suit (K1) that presented a solution to these problems. The suit uses a composite material containing silicone-embedded hollow glass microspheres. As the glass microspheres do not shrink with depth, the K1 suit offered thermal protection that was depth-independent and superior to a conventional 7 mm neoprene suit, w.. View More»
  DOI: 10.35248/2165-7556.22.12.322

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