JP2002345964A - Medical pressure variable oxygen condensing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medical oxygen condensing device which eliminates the non-uniformity of a heating temperature inside the device, and improves oxygen separation efficiency. SOLUTION: This medical pressure variable and adsorption type oxygen condensing device has an adsorption cylinder with a meandering capillary heat pipe radiator.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an oxygen concentrator for separating and using oxygen-enriched air from the atmosphere. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator, and more particularly, to an improved oxygen concentrator capable of improving oxygen separation efficiency by soaking a process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the number of patients suffering from respiratory diseases such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis has been increasing. One of the most effective treatments is oxygen inhalation therapy. Oxygen concentrators for directly separating oxygen-enriched gas from inside have been developed, and are becoming increasingly popular as therapeutic devices for oxygen inhalation therapy because of their convenience in use and ease of maintenance.

[0003] As such an oxygen concentrator, an adsorbent oxygen concentrator in which an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen is filled in one tube or a plurality of adsorbent beds is known. Among them, pressure fluctuation using a compressor as an air supply means is known. Adsorption type oxygen concentrators are frequently used. Such an apparatus generally obtains oxygen-enriched gas by supplying compressed air from a compressor to one or more adsorption beds filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen and adsorbing nitrogen in a pressurized state. The adsorption step and the desorption step of reducing the internal pressure of the adsorption bed to desorb nitrogen to regenerate the adsorbent are repeated in a fixed cycle, and if necessary, between the two steps, dry oxygen-enriched air already generated This is an apparatus for obtaining an oxygen-enriched gas by adding a pressure equalization step for improving the regeneration efficiency and increasing the pressure by partially backflowing the gas, and sequentially performing the same in a constant cycle.

The zeolite adsorbent used in the adsorption bed of the oxygen concentrator is an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen over oxygen, such as molecular sieve zeolite 5A, 13X, or lithium zeolite. Is used.

[0005]

The problem with such an adsorbent is that, under certain conditions of use, the amount of nitrogen adsorbed on the adsorbent changes depending on the temperature of the adsorbent, and the recovery rate of oxygen is greatly affected accordingly. Have a point. As a means for eliminating the influence of the temperature of the oxygen concentrator on performance degradation, a method of utilizing the cooling and exhaust heat of an air supply means such as a compressor to blow exhaust gas directly to the surface of an adsorption bed, or a heat transfer means such as a heat pipe There is a method of recovering the adsorbent bed and using it for heating the surface of the adsorbent bed. However, this method has a large restriction on the arrangement and hinders reduction in size and weight.

It is known that the adsorption phenomenon is an exothermic reaction, while the desorption phenomenon is an endothermic reaction. In a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator that repeats adsorption and desorption, the adsorbent has a temporal and spatial temperature distribution, and in general, in a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator, abruptly occurs at the part where compressed air flows into the adsorption bed. Temperature changes occur. At the time of adsorption, a rapid temperature rise occurs due to an exothermic reaction accompanying rapid nitrogen adsorption by the inflowing air. This increase in temperature causes a decrease in oxygen concentration efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the temperature non-uniformity in these processes and improve the performance such as the oxygen recovery rate. The present invention provides a medical oxygen concentrator having a high level of oxygen separation efficiency by equilibrating a process by attaching a vessel.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have made intensive studies on such problems and found the following oxygen concentrator. That is, the present invention provides an adsorption column filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen over oxygen, an air supply means for supplying air to the adsorption column, and a device for supplying the generated oxygen-enriched air to a user. A pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator provided with a heat pipe radiator in the adsorption column.

The present invention also provides a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator in which the heat pipe radiator is a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator.

[0010] The present invention also provides a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator characterized in that the meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator is provided inside the adsorption tube, and the tube itself of the suction tube is a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator. An apparatus is provided.

Further, the present invention comprises a plurality of the adsorption cylinders,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator characterized in that a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator is provided and connected between an adsorption column in an adsorption step and an adsorption column in a desorption step.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 4, a medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to the present invention has an adsorption column filled with a zeolite adsorbent as an adsorbent for selectively adsorbing nitrogen over oxygen. Pressurized air by a compressor
An oxygen-enriched gas having an oxygen concentration of 90% or more is taken out, and passed through a humidifier to a user, a respiratory disease patient, for example, 3 L /
This is a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator having one or a plurality of adsorption cylinders supplied at a flow rate of min.

[0013] One or more adsorption cylinders are installed in the housing of the oxygen concentrator and are filled with an adsorbent. In general, a compressor for intake and exhaust and a compressor for storing product air are provided through a switching valve. Connected to the product tank.
Further, the pressure in the adsorption cylinder fluctuates due to intake and exhaust from the compressor, and adsorption and desorption are repeated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the meandering thin tube heat pipe has an inner diameter reciprocating between a heat receiving portion and a heat radiating portion inside a container body 1 made of aluminum steel or copper steel plate having good heat conductivity. It has a structure 2 for forming a closed meandering thin tube of about 3 mm or less, and the meandering thin tube is filled with a refrigerant working liquid such as water as a basic element. The working fluid undergoes a phase change due to heat absorption, and the vapor moves from the high-pressure side of the heat-receiving part to the low-pressure side of the heat-dissipating part to transport latent heat. And transports sensible heat as well. For this reason, the meandering thin tube heat pipe is different from the conventional heat pipe, and the heat radiating portion can be installed below the heat receiving portion. Further, it can be used by bending it into an arbitrary shape or attaching a fin.

The structures of the adsorption cylinder and the meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator will be described in more detail. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of an adsorption cylinder used in the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to the present invention. The adsorption cylinder 3 is filled with an adsorbent 4, and pipes 6a and 6b are connected above and below the adsorption cylinder 3, and are connected to a compressor or an exhaust port for intake by the pipe 6a, and oxygen is concentrated by a pipe 6b. In many cases, the gas is stored in the product tank, and the stored oxygen-enriched gas is back-flowed due to a rinsing effect for re-pressurizing and desorbing the adsorption bed.

5 is a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator,
By adopting a structure in which the adsorbent 4 is brought into direct contact with the adsorbent 4, it is possible to equalize the temperature of the adsorbent 4, which has a temperature distribution due to heat of adsorption and heat of desorption. In addition, as such a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator, Heat Lane ™ manufactured by TS Heatronics Co., Ltd. was used.

The inventor of the present invention has disclosed a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator having a single adsorber having an inner diameter of 60 mm and a height of 320 mm filled with a lithium zeolite, and having the meandering thin-tube heat pipe radiator installed therein in a vertical direction. Of the performance between the case using the adsorption tube loaded in the tube and the case using the adsorption tube without the meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator (Example 1 /
Comparative Example 1) was performed. Temperature changes on the outlet side (surge tank side) of the adsorption cylinder under operating conditions in which oxygen-enriched gas of 90% or more was generated were measured.

In the present device, a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator having fins may be used in consideration of heat transfer efficiency. Further, in addition to the meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator provided inside the adsorption cylinder shown in FIG.
It is also effective to fabricate the adsorption tube itself using a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator (not shown), and it is possible to equalize the temperature of the adsorbent having a temperature distribution. .

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the configuration of the adsorption column of the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator of the present invention. An example of such an embodiment is a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator having a plurality of adsorption cylinders, for example, an adsorption apparatus in which two adsorbents 4 are sequence-controlled so that one is an adsorption step and the other is a desorption step. The tube 3 is connected by a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator 5. The temperature difference between the adsorbent whose temperature has risen due to pressurization and gas adsorption in the adsorption process and the adsorbent whose temperature has dropped due to decompression and gas desorption in the desorption process is equalized by a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator to separate oxygen. Efficiency can be improved.

The inventor of the present invention has proposed a two-tube pressure fluctuation adsorption-type oxygen concentrator using lithium zeolite and having two adsorption cylinders having an inner diameter of 60 mm and a height of 320 mm. A comparison of performance (Example 2 / Comparative Example 2) depending on the presence or absence of connection between the adsorption cylinders was performed in the same manner as in Example 1. Table 1 shows the results.

[0021]

[Table 1]

As is clear from the results shown in Table 1, the maximum temperature and the temperature difference in the process are reduced by applying the meandering thin-tube heat pipe radiator. In the above embodiment, the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator, and heat generation and endothermic phenomenon occur in the process in the device. It can be applied to medical equipment that performs

[0023]

According to the present invention, there is provided an oxygen concentrator having an improved oxygen separation efficiency by applying a meandering thin-tube heat pipe radiator having a high degree of freedom in a mounting position and an excellent heat exchange property and equalizing the process. It becomes possible. As a result, it is possible to provide a medical pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator which has realized a reduction in size and power consumption of the device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an adsorption column of the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of another embodiment of the adsorption cylinder of the medical pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator main body 2 Meandering thin tube structure 3 Adsorption tube 4 Adsorbent 5 Meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator 6a Intake or exhaust piping 6b Oxygen-enriched air piping

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kenshi Nishimura 3-4-1 Amihara, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Teijin Limited Inside Osaka Research Center (72) Inventor Taizo Makari 3-4-1 Amihara, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Teijin Inside Osaka Research Center Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroto Hayasaka 3-11-4 Iwatokita, Komae-shi, Tokyo TS Heatronics Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4D012 CA05 CB16 CD07 CK02 CK10 4G042 BA15 BB02 BC04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An adsorption column filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen rather than oxygen, an air supply means for supplying air to the adsorption column, and a device for supplying the generated oxygen-enriched air to a user. A pressure-variation-type oxygen concentrator comprising the oxygen supply means of claim 1, wherein said adsorption column is provided with a heat pipe radiator. 2. The pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to claim 1, wherein said heat pipe radiator is a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator. 3. The pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to claim 2, wherein said meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator is provided inside the adsorption cylinder. 4. The pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator according to claim 2, wherein said adsorption cylinder is a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator. 5. The pressure fluctuation adsorption according to claim 2, further comprising a plurality of said adsorption cylinders, wherein a meandering thin tube heat pipe radiator is provided and connected between the adsorption cylinder in the adsorption step and the adsorption cylinder in the desorption step. Type oxygen concentrator.