An oxygen concentrator is a device that concentrates oxygen from a gas supply (usually ambient air) to supply an oxygen rich gas stream.
Video Oxygen concentrator
Histori
Home medical oxygen concentrator was discovered in the early 1970s. The manufacturing output of these devices increased in the late 1970s. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Bendix Corporation are early manufacturers. Prior to that era, home medical oxygen therapy required the use of high pressure oxygen tubes or small cryogenic liquid oxygen systems. Both delivery systems require frequent home visits by suppliers to replenish oxygen supply. In the United States Medicare shifted from the cost-to-service payments to the average monthly rate for home oxygen therapy in the mid-1980s, leading to a durable medical equipment industry (DME) to rapidly embrace concentrators as a way to control costs. This replacement replacement dramatically decreased the amount of primary pressure and liquid oxygen delivery systems used in homes in the United States at that time. The oxygen concentrator becomes the most preferred and most common tool for sending oxygen to the home. The number of producers entering the oxygen concentrator market increases exponentially as a result of this change. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) invented the molecular sieve in the 1950s that enabled this device. UCC also invented the first cryogenic home medical oxygen system in the 1960s.
Maps Oxygen concentrator
How oxygen concentrators work
Oxygen concentrators typically use pressure pressure adsorption (PSA) technology and are used extensively for the provision of oxygen in health care applications, especially when liquid or pressure oxygen is too dangerous or uncomfortable, such as at home or in a portable clinic. For other purposes there are also concentrators based on membrane technology.
The oxygen concentrator takes the air and purifies it for use by people who need medical oxygen because of the low oxygen levels in their blood. Oxygen concentrators are also used to provide an economical oxygen source in industrial processes, where they are also known as oxygen gas generators or oxygen generation plants. The oxygen concentrator utilizes molecular sieves to absorb the gas and operates on the principle of rapid pressure swing adsorption from atmospheric nitrogen to zeolite minerals and then ventilates nitrogen. This type of adsorption system functions as a nitrogen cleanser leaving other atmospheric gases to pass. This leaves oxygen as the main gas remaining. PSA technology is a reliable and economical technique for small to medium-sized oxygen generation, with cryogenic separation more suitable at higher volumes and external delivery is generally more suitable for small volumes.
At high pressures, zeolites â € <â € An oxygen concentrator has an air compressor, two cylinders filled with zeolite pellets, a pressure equalization reservoir, and several valves and tubes. In the first half cycle the first cylinder receives air from the compressor, which lasts about 3 seconds. During that time the pressure in the first cylinder rises from the atmosphere to about 2.5 times the normal atmospheric pressure (usually 20 psi/138 kPa gauge, or 2.36 absolute atmosphere) and the zeolite becomes saturated with nitrogen. When the first cylinder reaches near pure oxygen (there is a small amount of argon, CO 2 , water vapor, radon, and other small atmospheric components) in the first half cycle, the open valve and oxygen-enriched gas stream into the reservoir equalization of pressure, which connects to the patient's oxygen hose. At the end of the first half of the cycle, there is a change in the position of the other valve so that the air from the compressor is directed to the 2nd cylinder. The pressure in the first cylinder drops when the enriched oxygen moves into the reservoir, allowing the nitrogen to be reabsorbed into the gas. In the second half of the cycle, there is a change in the position of the valve to release the gas in the first cylinder back into the ambient atmosphere, keeping the oxygen concentration in the equalizing pressure the reservoir falls below about 90%. The pressure in the oxygen-delivered hose from the equalization reservoir is maintained steady by the pressure-reducing valve. The older unit rotates with a period of about 20 seconds, and supplies up to 5 liters per minute of 90% oxygen. Since about 1999, units capable of supplying up to 10 lpm have been available.
Apps
PSA generators provide a cost-effective source of oxygen. They are safer, cheaper, and more convenient alternatives to cryogenic oxygen tanks or pressurized cylinders. They can be used in various industries including medical, pharmaceutical production, water treatment and glass manufacture.
PSA generators are particularly useful in remote or inaccessible parts of the world or mobile medical facilities (military hospitals, disaster facilities).
Portable oxygen concentrator
Since the early 2000s, a number of companies have been producing portable oxygen concentrators. Typically, these devices produce equivalent to one to five liters per minute of continuous oxygen flow and they use multiple versions of pulse flow or "demand flow" to deliver oxygen only when the patient inhales. They can also provide good oxygen pulses to provide a higher intermittent flow or to reduce power consumption.
Research on oxygen concentrations is ongoing and modern techniques show that the amount of adsorbents needed by medical oxygen concentrators can potentially be "reduced by a factor of three while offering 10-20% higher oxygen recovery compared with typical commercial units."
This portable concentrator is usually plugged into an electrical outlet and may have an internal battery or external battery pack for remote operation from home. Portable oxygen concentrators can usually be plugged into a vehicle DC outlet, and most of these devices are suitable for ambulatory use.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States has approved the use of portable oxygen concentrators on commercial airlines. However, users of this device must first check whether certain brands or models are allowed on certain airlines. Unlike in commercial flights, aircraft users without cabin pressure require oxygen concentrators capable of delivering sufficient debits even at altitudes, such as OXYFLY.
Typically, "demand" or pulse-oxygen concentrators are not used by patients while they are asleep. There is a problem with the oxygen concentrator unable to detect when the patient is sleeping inhaling. Some of the larger portable oxygen concentrators are designed to operate in continuous flow mode in addition to pulse-flow modes. Continuous flow mode is considered safe for night use when combined with a CPAP engine.
The general model sells for about $ 600. Rental arrangements may be available through various medical supply companies and/or insurance agencies.
Alternate apps
Repurposed medical oxygen concentrates or specialty industrial oxygen concentrators can be made to operate oxyacetylene or other fuel gas cuts, welding and lampworking.
Security
In both clinical and emergency care situations, oxygen concentrators have the advantage of being not as dangerous as oxygen cylinders, which can, if ruptured or leaked, greatly increase the rate of fire combustion. Thus, oxygen concentrators are very advantageous in military or disaster situations, where an oxygen tank may be dangerous or improper.
Oxygen concentrators are considered safe enough to be given to individual patients as prescription items for use in their homes. Usually they are used in addition to CPAP treatment from severe sleep apnea. There are also other medical uses for oxygen concentrators, including COPD and other respiratory diseases.
Used and updated units must be purchased through reputable dealers. The temperamental units are useless to the medical community because one's health often depends on continuous unit operations. However, such units are invaluable to metal and glass fans. Since oxygen is a "permanent gas" (can not be liquefied at any pressure at room temperature), it is expensive to get in the form of a bottle.
Industrial industrial oxygen concentrators
Industrial processes can use much higher pressure and flow than medical units. To meet that need, another process, called vacum swing adsorption (VSA), has been developed by Air Products. This process uses a single low pressure blower and a valve that inverts the flow through the blower so that the regeneration phase occurs under vacuum. Generators using this process are being marketed to the aquaculture industry. Industrial oxygen concentrators are often available in capacities much larger than the medical concentrators.
Industrial oxygen concentrates are sometimes referred to as oxygen generators in the oxygen and ozone industries to distinguish them from medical oxygen concentrates. This difference is used in an attempt to clarify that industrial oxygen concentrates are not a medical device approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and they are not suitable for use as a bedside medical concentrator. However, applying the nomenclature of the oxygen generator can cause confusion. The term, oxygen generator, is wrong because oxygen is not produced as a chemical oxygen generator, but more concentrated than air.
Non-medical oxygen concentrators can be used as feed gases for medical oxygen systems, such as hospital oxygen systems, although government approval is required, as by the FDA, and additional filtering is generally required.
See also
- Nitrogen separation membrane
- Oxygen therapy
- Portable oxygen concentrator
- Membrane gas separation
Note
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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