Respirator: "A small compressor which allows an individual to breathe in very thin atmospheres." Simple description. Maybe a bit too simple. If you introduce pressurized air into your lungs and exceed your lung volume, they sorta go pop - pulmonary barotrauma - and you die. If you don't exceed your lung volume, well, you can draw deep breaths on your own without a machine's help, assuming you're in good health.
However, there is a device that uses a compressor to deliver breathing air: the O2 concentrator. It takes in air, compresses it and passes it through a molecular sieve to separates out the oxygen, then delivers the oxygen to the user through a cannula. The user's breathing enriched air at ambient pressure, not pressurized air. They're generally for medical use, the portable ones delivering two or more liters per minute of 90% O2, but one could be designed for use by healthy people in low-pressure situations, perhaps using a pressure sensor to vary the O2 flow rate according to the local air pressure.
Smallest I've seen is an Airsep Focus, 0.8 kg, about 1.25 liters, with a pair of 0.2 kg batteries that drive it for 3 hours, delivering 2 liters per minute. Presumably if you reduce flow rate to 1 or less liter per minute, you'd get more time out of the batteries. That gets pretty close to the size and performance of the game respirator, except the game respirator doesn't mention where it gets the power needed to run that compressor.
https://www.portableoxygensolutions...rs/airsep-focus-portable-oxygen-concentrator/
An unmentioned feature is the respirator is useful for depressurization emergencies. Depressurization isn't necessarily immediate: a 30 cubic meter volume with a hole 10 cm on a side takes about 5 seconds to drop to 50% pressure (at which point unprotected people are passing out) but about 32 seconds to drop to zero. Slap on your respirator and you've bought yourself maybe 20-25 seconds to respond where you'd only had 5 before. The ship might have masks to do the same thing, in emergency kits on the wall or something, but if you're smart your respirator's right on your hip waiting to be used.
However, there is a device that uses a compressor to deliver breathing air: the O2 concentrator. It takes in air, compresses it and passes it through a molecular sieve to separates out the oxygen, then delivers the oxygen to the user through a cannula. The user's breathing enriched air at ambient pressure, not pressurized air. They're generally for medical use, the portable ones delivering two or more liters per minute of 90% O2, but one could be designed for use by healthy people in low-pressure situations, perhaps using a pressure sensor to vary the O2 flow rate according to the local air pressure.
Smallest I've seen is an Airsep Focus, 0.8 kg, about 1.25 liters, with a pair of 0.2 kg batteries that drive it for 3 hours, delivering 2 liters per minute. Presumably if you reduce flow rate to 1 or less liter per minute, you'd get more time out of the batteries. That gets pretty close to the size and performance of the game respirator, except the game respirator doesn't mention where it gets the power needed to run that compressor.
https://www.portableoxygensolutions...rs/airsep-focus-portable-oxygen-concentrator/
An unmentioned feature is the respirator is useful for depressurization emergencies. Depressurization isn't necessarily immediate: a 30 cubic meter volume with a hole 10 cm on a side takes about 5 seconds to drop to 50% pressure (at which point unprotected people are passing out) but about 32 seconds to drop to zero. Slap on your respirator and you've bought yourself maybe 20-25 seconds to respond where you'd only had 5 before. The ship might have masks to do the same thing, in emergency kits on the wall or something, but if you're smart your respirator's right on your hip waiting to be used.
