 Typhoon Icebreaker
The world's leading supplier of divers dry suits is Typhoon International, based at Redcar in the North East of England.
Following an unsatisfactory experience using an alternative to EXO² technology, Typhoon was seeking a new partner with whom to develop a system for keeping divers warm at depths of down to 150 feet, enabling them to stay down and enjoy the dive for longer periods, also avoiding the unpleasant chill which is a feature of the waiting period prior to adjusting atmospheric pressures sufficiently to rise to the surface again.
This new system would need to overcome several drawbacks of the earlier product : heavy, unwieldy batteries; temperature fluctuation & overall system unreliability. Thus EXO² worked together with Typhoon during 2003 to develop Icebreaker, involving a series of tests for pressure, safety, prevention of water ingress, temperature maintenance & reliability; testing was both extensive & exhaustive, however the outcome was worthy of this combined effort.
Winning the highly prestigious Diving Innovation Award for 2004 at Oceanology International has catapulted this product into the word-beating league, generating a large amount of positive publicity in the process.
Icebreaker comprises of a 3mm neoprene under-suit vest, containing heat pads using EXO² FabRoc®, encapsulated together with a conductive tinned copper braid in a nylon envelope, with a connector leading to a water proof canister, which houses a lithium-ion battery, normally mounted on the diver's flotation device or cylinder.
The EXO² heat pads within Icebreaker are designed to operate at an optimum 42°C, protecting users from ambient temperatures which can fall to 2°C .Two pads to the front, and two at the back, provide an enveloping warmth designed to sustain the user for longer visits to the oceans depths. The battery unit is designed to provide up to 70 minutes of constant warmth, and is fully recharged within six hours.
Icebreaker is already proving highly popular with male & female divers around the world. Both Typhoon & EXO² are now looking at applications for this technology in other aquatic spheres, and we will soon be posting details of our next generation of diving socks, glove liners and, of course, dry suit products!
Yet again, EXO² technology is proving it's adaptability to a whole new set of engineering and environmental criteria. It seems there are very few areas where our polymeric heating systems will not offer the best design & operational parameters to those seeking a reliable and extremely safe, low voltage method of providing personal, controllable warmth in hostile, or simply uncomfortable, climatic and environmental conditions.
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