SCUBA with lithium batteries

[bystander]

This was new news back in early June of this year.

An inventor has put together a lab prototype that uses batteries to turn a centrifuge which cavitates water to drive out the dissolved air from the water. He believes that it can be made portable and that an hour's worth of air can be obtained per each kilogram of lithium batteries.

http://www.isracast.com/Transcripts/100605a_trans.htm

There's also an audio interview with the inventor at the above web page.

This page has similar info, plus a printed transcript of the interview:

http://www.isracast.com/tech_news/310505_tech.htm

Here's a page from mid-June that has more links:

http://www.defensereview.com/modules...rticle&sid=746

It's not clear to me whether it's an open or closed system. It seems to be a hybrid - air is extracted from the water, then used to "top-off" a closed rebreather type system.

As well as producing air for divers or personnel on a submarine, the device also produces "degassed" water. If there were sufficient degassed water produced, and it was driven by a submarine's main propeller(s), noise producing cavitation would be greatly reduced. Assuming of course, that the noise of the centrifuge could be damped/shielded sufficiently.