JP2001129091A - Medical oxygen concentrator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medical oxygen concentrator to which a humidifier can be attached by one operation, can be easily attached to and detached from a cannula and does not impose much burden on a patient. SOLUTION: Oxygen gas concentrated in an oxygen concentrator 1 is supplied to a patient through a humidifier 2 and a cannula 3, and the oxygen concentrator body 1 has a humidifier container 4 that can store the humidifier 2, the container 4 is provided with the latch body 5a of a raised latch that is fixed when depressed once and released from fixation when depressed once more and an oxygen discharge portion 6a, the humidifier 2 is provided with a striker 5b engaging with the latch body 5a and an oxygen inflow portion 6b that can be connected airtightly to the oxygen discharge portion 6a. At this time, it is preferable that a male plug 7a is provided on the oxygen outflow opening side of the humidifier 2 and a female coupler 7b is attached to the end of the cannula 3 so that the humidifier and the cannula may be attached and detached by one operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a humidifier which can be mounted simply by pushing a humidifier into a discharge port of a medical oxygen concentrator body.
A medical oxygen concentrator that has a structure that can be removed just by pushing it in again, and that allows the humidifier and medical oxygen concentrator to be attached and detached by a very simple operation, thereby not burdening elderly patients. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Up to now, a pressure-variable medical oxygen concentrator has been used as a home medical device for patients with chronic respiratory failure, but in the case of a medical oxygen concentrator without a humidifying mechanism. Since the patient is supplied with low-humidity oxygen gas, when the patient inhales it directly, the nasal mucosa dries,
The patient sometimes complained. Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, most of recent medical oxygen concentrators are provided with a humidifier for humidifying by blowing oxygen gas into a container containing water.

[0003] However, the conventional method of connecting a humidifier to a medical oxygen concentrator is as follows. The humidifier itself is suspended in a way that is directly attached to the conduit means for leading out the oxygen gas by a joint of a bag nut type. For this reason, every time the water inside the humidifier is replaced or replenished after being used for a certain period of time, the pipe needs to be aligned, inserted, and attached by screwing. Recently, as a device which makes it easy to attach a humidifier, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 4200, a guide capable of positioning the humidifier accommodating portion and the humidifier is provided, and the humidifier is inserted along the guide to adjust the position of the coupling means.
A humidifier installation is disclosed. However, in the case of such a conventional apparatus, oxygen gas humidified through a humidifier is guided to a product gas outlet through a tube provided inside the apparatus, so that the tube is washed when not in use. This is very difficult, and there is a high possibility that bacteria and the like are generated in the tube, which is not hygienic.

[0004] Most of the conventional humidifiers have a joint in which an oxygen gas outlet is protruded like a bamboo shoot, and the end of a cannula is directly screwed into the joint. It is necessary to remove the lid of the humidifier when filling the vessel with water and refill it, re-attach it to the humidifier compartment of the medical oxygen concentrator, and connect the end of the cannula. It is not practical because it is difficult to attach and detach the humidifier and the cannula when cleaning is required. In particular, medical oxygen concentrators used by patients with respiratory failure are used continuously over a long period of time, day or night, so for example, remove the humidifier once or more times a day, It is necessary to attach it, and such an operation is a heavy burden for a patient with weak physical strength.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems by installing a humidifier simply by pushing it into the outlet of a medical oxygen concentrator and removing it by pushing it again. An object of the present invention is to provide a medical oxygen concentrator that does not burden elderly patients by making it possible to attach and detach the humidifier and the medical oxygen concentrator by a very simple operation.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention is a pressure-variable type oxygen concentrator capable of concentrating and extracting oxygen in air using an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen over oxygen. Wherein oxygen gas delivered from the oxygen concentrator body 1 is supplied to the patient via the humidifier 2 and the cannula 3, wherein the oxygen concentrator body 1 can accommodate the humidifier 2 A humidifier accommodating portion 4, and the humidifier accommodating portion 4 is fixed to the humidifier accommodating portion 4 once, and is released from being fixed when pushed again. The humidifier 2 is provided with an oxygen discharge unit 6a from which gas is discharged.
When the humidifier 2 is attached to the humidifier accommodating section 4,
A striker 5b that engages with the latch body 5a, and an oxygen inflow portion 6 that can be connected to the oxygen discharge portion 6a in an airtight state.
b is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, in the medical oxygen concentrator, a male plug 7a for discharging humidified oxygen gas is provided on the oxygen outlet side of the humidifier 2.
A female coupler 7b that can be connected to the male plug 7a is attached to an end of the cannula 3.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings to explain the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a preferred example of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention, and shows a state in which water is put into a container main body of the humidifier 2. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing a state in which a striker 5b provided on the humidifier 2 is engaged with a latch body 5a provided on the oxygen concentrator body 1, and FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a state inside the latch when the striker 5b is pushed into the latch main body 5a from the state shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing the appearance of a preferred example of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention, in which the humidifier 2 is accommodated and fixed in the humidifier accommodating section 4 and the cannula 3 is connected to the humidifier 2. The state at the time is shown.

The medical oxygen concentrator according to the present invention comprises at least one or more adsorption tanks filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen rather than oxygen, and supplying compressed air to the adsorption tanks. It is of a pressure fluctuation type having an air compressor and a product gas tank for storing oxygen concentrated in an adsorption tank. As shown in FIG. A humidifier accommodating section 4 suitable for accommodating the vessel 2 is provided.
The latch body 5 of the floating latch having a structure in which it is fixed when pushed once and released when pushed again.
a and an oxygen discharge unit 6a from which concentrated oxygen gas is discharged
Is provided.

On the other hand, a projecting striker 5b and an oxygen inlet 6b are provided on the mounting surface side of the humidifier 2 as shown in the drawing. And a lid capable of covering the opening of the container body. At this time, the container body is generally made of a material having transparency so that the amount of water in the container can be seen from the outside, and the lid body extends in a direction perpendicular to the lid surface and is provided with a humidifier. There is provided a guide pipe capable of guiding oxygen gas supplied into the water into the water, and an oxygen outlet from which the humidified oxygen gas flows out. The container body and lid of the humidifier 2 in FIG. 1 generally have a structure that can be screwed and fixed to each other, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention, when the humidifier 2 is pushed into the humidifier accommodating portion 4 and attached, the latch body 5a and the striker 5b are engaged, and the oxygen discharging portion 6a
The oxygen inflow portion 6b and the oxygen inflow portion 6b can be connected in an airtight state, and packing is provided at the tip of the oxygen discharge portion 6a in FIG.

As the latch body 5a and the striker 5b in the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention, a commercially available floating latch can be used, and the tip of the striker 5b abuts on the latch body 5a as shown in FIG. In this state, the humidifier 2 is fixed by pushing the humidifier 2 in the depth direction once (see FIG. 3).
The humidifier 2 can be removed from the humidifier housing 4.
Latches having such a fixing mechanism are used in televisions and VTRs.
It is generally used as a lock for a hidden knob door such as a humidifier, in which a latch body 5a is embedded and fixed in the oxygen concentrator body 1 and a striker 5b is integrally formed with a lid of the humidifier 2. However, the positions and shapes of the latch body 5a and the striker 5b are not limited to those illustrated in the drawings.

In the present invention, a male plug 7a is provided on the oxygen outlet side of the humidifier 2 so that the connection between the humidifier 2 and the cannula 3 can be easily performed, and an end portion of the cannula 3 connected to the male plug 7a. It is preferable that a detachable female coupler 7b be attached to the humidifier 2 by pressing a push button provided on the female coupler 7b. Although shapes are shown, the shapes and structures of the male plug 7a and the female coupler 7b are not limited to those illustrated in the drawings. In FIG. 1, the oxygen discharge portion 6a and the male plug 7a in the lid are provided on the same axis so as to face outward (directly opposite directions) to each other.

The external appearance of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include an apparatus as shown in FIG. In the oxygen concentrator shown in FIG. 4, when the operation switch 8 is turned on, the air compressor inside the apparatus is activated, the raw air is taken in from the air inlet 9, and the flow rate setting knob 10 is turned to adjust the flow rate of the oxygen gas. The actual flow rate is displayed on the flow meter 11, and the oxygen concentration supplied to the user is displayed on the oxygen concentration display lamp section 12. Then, the oxygen gas is sent into the humidifier 2 accommodated in the humidifier accommodating section 4 and humidified to an appropriate humidity, and then supplied to the user via the cannula 3.
Although not shown, the humidifier 2 is filled with water up to a certain water level during use.

[0014]

In the case of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention,
With the floating latch (latch body and striker) provided on the humidifier and the device main body, the humidifier can be attached by simply pushing it once into the humidifier accommodating section, and the humidifier can be removed just by pushing it again. Since the humidifier can be attached and detached very easily without performing complicated installation work, there is an advantage that the burden on the elderly patient is less than that of conventional devices. or,
The male plug is provided on the oxygen outlet side of the humidifier, and the one with a one-touch detachable female coupler at the end of the cannula has a structure that allows easy attachment and detachment of the humidifier and the cannula. The humidifier and cannula are washable, very hygienic and practical.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a preferred example of a medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a latch body 5a provided in the oxygen concentrator body 1.
FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing a state when a striker 5b provided in the humidifier 2 is engaged.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing a state inside the latch when the striker 5b is pushed into the latch main body 5a from the state of FIG. 2 and both are engaged.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the appearance of a preferred example of the medical oxygen concentrator of the present invention, in which the humidifier 2 is accommodated and fixed in the humidifier accommodating section 4 and the cannula 3 is connected to the humidifier 2; The state is shown.

[Description of Signs] 1 Oxygen concentrator main body 2 Humidifier 3 Cannula 4 Humidifier housing section 5a Latch main body 5b Striker 6a Oxygen discharge section 6b Oxygen inflow section 7a Male plug 7b Female coupler 8 Operation switch 9 Air intake 10 Flow rate setting knob 11 Flow meter 12 Oxygen concentration display lamp section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pressure-variable medical oxygen concentrator capable of concentrating and extracting oxygen from air using an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen rather than oxygen, comprising: Is supplied to the patient via the humidifier 2 and the cannula 3, wherein the oxygen concentrator body 1 has a humidifier accommodating portion 4 capable of accommodating the humidifier 2, The humidifier accommodating section 4 is provided with a latch body 5a of a floating latch having a structure which is fixed once it is pushed in and is released when it is pushed in again, and an oxygen discharge section 6a from which concentrated oxygen gas is discharged. On the other hand, when the humidifier 2 is attached to the humidifier accommodating portion 4, the striker 5b that engages with the latch body 5a, and the humidifier 2 is airtight with the oxygen discharge portion 6a. Oxygen inlet that can be connected in a state 6b. A medical oxygen concentrator provided with 6b. 2. A male plug 7a for discharging humidified oxygen gas is provided on the oxygen outlet side of the humidifier 2, and the male plug 7a is provided at the end of the cannula 3.
2. The medical oxygen concentrator according to claim 1, wherein a female coupler 7b connectable to a is attached.