Brian, You can put a first stage scuba regulator on the air tank. If the air tank outside, the pressure will not rise over 10 bar +outside pressure. Control is then also better. A pressure gauge on the VBT is also useful. But I also like a relief valve. If somebody put HP air on the VBT, the result can be deadly! Emile van Essen _____________________________________________ Van: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] Namens Brian Cox Verzonden: maandag 16 februari 2009 8:00 Aan: Personal_Submersibles@Psubs. Org Onderwerp: [PSUBS-MAILIST] over pressure hard tank Question for some experienced submariners, I'm wondering if this is something that is commonly done, say you have your hard ballast tank partially or half full. Now the bottom vent for expelling water is closed, at this point hp air is injected into the hard ballast tank, since no water can get out the bottom of the tank, air in the top of the tank increases in pressure and approaches what ever pressure is in the hp tanks. Since the bubble in the hard ballast tank cannot grow any larger no increase in buoyancy for the sub would take place. Then one would be able to cruz around like this until it was desireable to ascend. So at this point if the bottom vent were to be opened then the bubble inside would be able to expand and thus creating more buoyancy. Am I understanding this right ? This is assuming that the hard ballast tank can handle a significant amount of pressure, not as much as the HP tanks but up there. It would have a relief valve that wuld pop before it's max pressure rating. Thanks, Brian
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