Breathing-Air and Cooling Apparatus for Protective Suit

The figure schematically illustrates a portable life-support apparatus for any of a variety of protective suits to be worn in hostile environments. A prototype of the apparatus has been fitted to space suits for use underwater. Astronauts wear these suits during training dives in a tank of warm water, using the neutral buoyancy available in the underwater environment to simulate aspects of the zero gravitation of outer space. The apparatus provides breathing air and adjustable cooling in the suit, while maintaining overall neutral buoyancy. The apparatus is readily adaptable to such related applications as conventional diving and space suits, firefighting suits, and protective garments to be worn in hot, toxic, and/or radioactive environments.