Introduction to Breathing Air Components

Basics of Breathing Air
INTRODUCTION
The design and operation of a cylinder refill system for compressed
breathing air can be simplified by separating the system into five
components:

1. Compressor
2. Purification System
3. Air Quality Monitors
4. Storage System
5. Filling Station

These components can be integrated into a single package to form
a complete Cylinder Refill System (CRS), or they can be individually
combined to form a component-built or modular system.

Once interconnected, the components operate as follows:

• The compressor draws ambient air through a strategically
  located air intake and compresses it through multiple
  compression stages. The compressed air is then routed to the
  purification system for processing.
• The purification system processes the compressed air
  stream to ensure that delivered air meets breathing air quality.
  The mechanics of the purification process includes mechanical
  separation, impingement, adsorption, absorption and catalytic
  conversion. During the purification process visible contaminants
  such as oil, water and particulate matter, down to a size of 1.0
  micron, is removed. Finally, gaseous contaminants such as water
  vapour, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide are removed.
• Air monitors are utilized to ensure that the air quality is maintained
  in accordance with industry standards. Compliance with
  established regulations is facilitated through such methods as
  continuous in-line monitoring and/or periodic sampling.
• Once purified, compressed breathing air is then stored in the
  storage system. The storage system consists of high pressure air
  receivers or containers that store the purified, pressurized air until
  needed. High-pressure air is transferred from the storage system
  into breathing apparatus cylinders by the filling station.
• The filling station is designed to fill self-contained breathing
  apparatus (and/or self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
  cylinders easily, efficiently and safely. A filling station can be very
  simple or quite complex. A simple filling station may consist of a
  single fill hose. A complex filling station may consist of both an air
  control panel, utilized to monitor and control the system air flow
  and pressure, and a fill container enclosing BA cylinders during
  the filling process in order to protect the operator and by-standers.

The following abbreviations are commonly used in conjunction with
compressed breathing air systems:

• BA=Breathing Apparatus, SCBA and/or SCUBA
• SCBA=Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
• SCUBA=Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
• CRS=Cylinder Refill System