AP Valves - Commercial Diving Buoyancy Control Jacket

AP Valves (APV) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of commercial buoyancy control diving equipment, specialising in high-quality BCD jackets primarily for the offshore saturation diving environment.

APV jump jackets have been in constant service, predominantly in the North Sea, for over 15 years, with international distribution currently by Searchwise, Divex and The National Hyperbaric Centre and major customers including Subsea 7 and Smits Subsea.

Adjustable buoyancy harness jump jacket

APV’s Mk4 jump jacket has been designed specifically for surface air and mixed gas diving and is the only commercial BCD available to incorporate a full-recovery diving harness, helmet-retaining safety harness, bailout backpack and emergency buddy-breathing cross-connect.

The emphasis has been placed heavily on safety and efficiency, allowing the diver greater flexibility underwater without drawing on emergency energy levels.

Complete buoyancy control

The key advantages offered by APV’s Mk4 are complete buoyancy control, diver comfort and diver mobility, allowing a direct horizontal approach to the worksite from the bell and greater mobility around the worksite with the ability to re-locate to another site without repositioning the bell. Complete buoyancy control leads to significant work-time savings, greater productivity and improved safety.

Buoyancy control features:

• Primary buoyancy-gas supply fed via a Swagelok quick-connect hose from the helmet side-block; the Mk4 has been designed to be used with Kirby Morgan 17/18 b/c dive helmets or any subsequent model with a suitable low-pressure port on the side-block
• Secondary pneumo valve buoyancy-gas supply
• Tertiary buoyancy-gas supply from twin-cylinder bailout cylinders; all jump jackets are fitted with AP Valves’ time-proven, quick-release twinset camband system
• Three over-pressure / dump valves - one at each shoulder and a third at the hip for dumping in inverted positions; operating any dump can empty all gas from the jacket in 3s

Buoyancy control at depth is very gradual. At typical working depths of 100m-150m plus, a fully inflated jump jacket will make the diver only slightly positively buoyant. The diver is able to adjust their buoyancy extremely accurately using a combination of the multiple inflate and deflate options.

Control buoyancy and recovery harness

APV’s jump jacket has key safety features, including the ability to control buoyancy - which conserves energy levels and enables a much faster diver recovery to the bell than if one or both divers were negatively buoyant – the ability to buddy-breathe and the integral diver recovery harness, which facilitates lifting into the bell.

Emergency buddy-breathing jump jacket

APV’s Mk4 jump jacket features diver-to-diver emergency buddy-breathing from one umbilical supply. The primary buoyancy supply is delivered from the helmet via a cross-connect hose with quick-connect fittings at both ends. This allows buddy-breathing by connecting into the rescued diver’s helmet. Buoyancy can then be controlled with the secondary pneumo supply.

Integrated harness manoeuvrability

APV’s Mk4 jump jacket has front and rear harness lifting points on the integrated harness, which offers the ability to winch a diver into the bell, support them to aid the rapid removal of kit and rapidly manoeuvre them into the ideal position to perform EAR and cardiac massage.

Twin-bag design jump jacket

APV’s Mk4 jump jacket is a twin-bag design with a rugged outer bag and an airtight inner bladder. The outer bag features a service zip, allowing access for routine maintenance. All valves can be stripped down and replacement parts are readily available. Factory service training is available.