Tuesday, April 2, 2013

ONM...Battle Over?

For years I have wrestled with mounting an oral-nasal mask (ONM) in the helmet, for several technical reasons, rather than just breathing from the suit atmosphere. This has several safety advantages, but has been tough to do. The other day I finally had the courage to pull all of the old valves and fittings from the helmet and install my own, and for perhaps the 30th time did a build incorporating breathing gas in and out hoses through my new fittings (plastic now, but will be metal of course, for flight). I think I've got it this time. Details show zipties used to fix the breathing gas delivery and exhaust hoses to the mask and the placement of the hoses up the sides of my face and back into the helmet before reaching the ports. A fully pressurized test this weekend should prove the system!

No comments: