What is a decompression chamber?

A decompression chamber is an essential piece of equipment that helps divers perform saturation diving, and it also serves as a crucial tool for treating decompression sickness. When divers descend to great depths, they may suffer from decompression sickness—a condition often referred to as "diver's disease" or "caisson disease"—due to changes in pressure. Caisson disease typically refers to a condition caused by the rapid decrease in ambient pressure around the body. It is both a diving hazard and a barotrauma-related illness. Next, let’s briefly introduce how a decompression chamber works.

According to Henry’s Law, when the pressure of a gas above a liquid decreases, the amount of gas dissolved in the liquid also decreases. An example that illustrates this law is as follows: When you open a bottle or can of soft drink, gas bubbles immediately emerge from it, and bubbles begin to form in the liquid. This release of carbon dioxide occurs because the pressure inside the container drops to atmospheric pressure.

The function of a decompression chamber is similar to that of... “Open-cola” is pressurized to prevent bubble formation, and then slowly depressurized within a safe range without generating excessive bubbles, allowing the gas to escape gradually.

To ensure safe diving, it’s essential to control the ascent rate, rise slowly, and allow sufficient time for the body to eliminate gases, thereby reducing the risk of decompression sickness. Decompression chambers are typically used when exceeding... A 40-meter dive is intended for no-decompression diving. The decompression time can even far exceed the duration of the dive itself. At a depth of 100 meters, a dive lasting more than ten minutes might require as much as six hours of decompression.

In saturation diving, divers remain in a high-pressure environment for extended periods, during which the inert gas components in the breathing gases absorbed by various tissues throughout the body reach a state of complete saturation. Between successive dives, divers must stay in the same high-pressure environment. A decompression chamber can provide them with both a high-pressure working and living environment. Decompression may be performed only once, before all underwater operations have been completed.