JP2006174897A - Oxygen enricher - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an oxygen enricher with a large flow, with low vibration and low noise. <P>SOLUTION: The oxygen enricher comprises a vacuum pump 5, an outlet 6 for letting out oxygen enriched air to the outside, and a plurality of spring members 31 and 32 for holding the vacuum pump 5. The vacuum pump 5 is connected to the downstream side of an oxygen enriching membrane unit 35 for generating oxygen enriched air with a high oxygen concentration, and sucks air around the oxygen enriching membrane unit 35 into the oxygen enriching membrane unit 35. The spring members 31 and 32 are disposed on the piston side and the counter-piston side of the vacuum pump 5 respectively between the vacuum pump 5 and a body housing 42. The spring constant of the spring member 32 disposed on the piston side of the vacuum pump 5 is different from the spring constant of the spring member 31 disposed on the counter-piston side, and therefore, the vibration on the whole body and the noise can be efficiently reduced, for example, by disposing the spring member 32 with a large spring constant on the piston side where the amplitude is large and disposing the spring member 31 with a small spring constant on the counter-piston side where the amplitude is small. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an oxygen enricher that provides a user with so-called oxygen enriched air obtained by using an oxygen enrichment means comprising an oxygen enriched membrane unit.

A conventional oxygen enricher of this type includes an oxygen enriched membrane unit that concentrates oxygen in the air to generate oxygen enriched air, and a vacuum pump connected to the downstream side of the oxygen enriched membrane unit, It is connected to the downstream side of the vacuum pump and has an oxygen discharge port for discharging oxygen-enriched air.When the oxygen discharge port is set at the user's mouth and the vacuum pump is operated, the air around the oxygen-enriched membrane unit is It is sucked through the oxygen-enriched membrane unit and oxygen-enriched air is obtained at that time, and the oxygen-enriched air is discharged from the oxygen discharge port so that the user can suck the oxygen-enriched air ( For example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-234836

  However, the conventional oxygen enricher does not take much effective vibration countermeasures of the vacuum pump, which is indispensable for concentrating oxygen in the air. Oxygen enrichment machines are used at bedtime, watching TV or reading because of the nature of the product, so the product body must be quiet, but to concentrate oxygen. The vacuum pump itself, which is indispensable for the vibration, has a large vibration, and it has been very difficult to take measures to reduce the vibration. In particular, since the rotation speed of the vacuum pump is a relatively low rotation speed such as 1000 to 3000 rpm, the vibration component is a region that is particularly uncomfortable for the user.

  There are also various vacuum pump systems used, and if the product has a flow rate of 2.5 to 3.0 L / min and an oxygen concentration level of 30%, a diaphragm type pump is often used. In this case, a double head structure is often used. If the diaphragm type double head structure is used, vibration is relatively small, and vibration countermeasures are relatively easy. However, in order to satisfy the recent increase in flow rate, concentration, size, and weight, it is desirable to mount a rocking piston type vacuum pump with a single head structure that is small and has a high vacuum pressure. However, the single-head structure rocking piston system has the biggest drawback that the vibration due to the oscillation of the piston is very large.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an oxygen enricher that has extremely low vibration and noise while having a large flow rate.

  In order to solve the above conventional problems, an oxygen enricher of the present invention includes a main body casing, an oxygen enriched membrane unit that generates oxygen enriched air having a high oxygen concentration, and a downstream of the oxygen enriched membrane unit. A vacuum pump for sucking air around the oxygen-enriched membrane unit into the oxygen-enriched membrane unit, a discharge port for discharging the oxygen-enriched air to the outside, the vacuum pump, and the main body casing A spring constant of a spring member arranged on the piston side of the vacuum pump, and a plurality of spring members arranged on the piston side and the anti-piston side of the vacuum pump, and holding the vacuum pump; The spring constant of the spring member arranged on the anti-piston side is different. For example, a spring member with a large spring constant is placed on the piston side where the vibration width of the single-head vacuum pump is large, and the anti-piston with a small vibration width. ~ side By placing a small spring members spring constant, it is possible to reduce the vibration of the entire body efficiently.

  The oxygen enricher of the present invention can be extremely reduced in vibration and noise of the oxygen enricher body by devising the holding of the vacuum pump.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a main body housing, an oxygen-enriched membrane unit that generates oxygen-enriched air having a high oxygen concentration, and an air around the oxygen-enriched membrane unit connected to the downstream side of the oxygen-enriched membrane unit. Between the vacuum pump and the body housing, a vacuum pump for sucking the oxygen-enriched membrane unit into the oxygen-enriched membrane unit, a discharge port for discharging the oxygen-enriched air to the outside, A plurality of spring members arranged on the anti-piston side and holding the vacuum pump, and a spring constant of the spring member arranged on the piston side of the vacuum pump and a spring constant of the spring member arranged on the anti-piston side For example, a spring member with a large spring constant is arranged on the piston side with a large vibration width of a single-head vacuum pump, and a spring member with a small spring constant is arranged on the non-piston side with a small vibration width. , It is possible to reduce the vibration of the entire body efficiently.

  In the second invention, in particular, the spring constant of the spring member arranged on the piston side of the vacuum pump of the first invention is made larger than the spring constant of the spring member arranged on the anti-piston side. Can be reliably reduced.

  In the third invention, in particular, a rubber-like soft material is interposed between the vacuum pump of the first or second invention and the main body casing, and the spring is applied with a large impact applied when the main body falls. It is possible to prevent the member from being deformed or detached.

  In the fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, the vacuum pump of any one of the first to third aspects is a single-head rocking piston system, which takes advantage of the small size and high vacuum pressure, and the piston swings. The shortage of vibration caused by the above can be compensated for by the holding method, so that the oxygen enricher can have a large flow rate, a small size, a light weight, and the like.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  1 to 5, the oxygen enricher main body 1 (hereinafter referred to as “main body 1”) has a higher concentration of oxygen in the air sucked into the main body 1 by an intake means 26 described later, so-called oxygen. An oxygen-enriched membrane unit 35, which is an oxygen-enriching means for generating enriched air, is provided inside. By passing the air through the oxygen-enriched membrane unit 35, the oxygen concentration of the air is increased to about 30% (about 70% nitrogen) from the normal 21% (about 79% nitrogen) before the passage.

  Further, inside the main body 1, there is provided an intake means 26 for sucking outside air into the main body 1 from an intake port 3 provided on the back surface of the main body 1 and sending it to the oxygen-enriched membrane unit 35. Air that does not pass through an oxygen-enriched film (not shown) constituting the air 35 is discharged to the outside from an exhaust port 4 provided on the back surface of the main body 1.

  5 has an intake port (not shown) connected in communication with the downstream side of the oxygen-enriched membrane unit 35 via the piping member 5a, and a part of the air sucked into the main body 1 is converted into an oxygen-enriched membrane. A vacuum pump serving as a suction means for allowing the oxygen enriched film of the unit 35 to pass through, and its exhaust port (not shown) is connected to a discharge port 6 provided on the upper surface of the main body 1 via a piping member 6a. Further, oxygen-enriched air is sent to the oxygen-enriched air discharge means 7 connected to the discharge port 6, and the vacuum pump 5 and the intake means 26 are arranged in the main body 1 and are controlled by the substrate 10. Operation is controlled by means (not shown).

  The oxygen-enriched air discharge means 7 supplies oxygen-enriched air from a mouse 9 to a user's mouth (not shown) via a tube 12 made of a soft body and a capsule 13 for storing condensed water. is doing. The mouse 9 is provided on a headset 8 that is hung on the user's ear, neck, head, and the like so as to be tiltable and rotatable, and can be easily positioned at the user's mouth.

  As a feature of the present embodiment, the vacuum pump 5 is a single-headed locking piston type that is small and lightweight and can obtain a relatively high flow rate. The holding of the vacuum pump 5 is shown in FIG. Thus, the holding plate 30 is fixed to the bottom surface of the vacuum pump 5, and spring members 31 and 32 having spring properties are provided and held between the holding plate 30 and the bottom plate 2 forming the bottom of the main body housing 42. . Furthermore, the spring constant is different between the spring member 32 installed on the piston side of the vacuum pump 5 and the spring member 31 installed on the non-piston side.

  Next, the operation and action of the oxygen enricher based on the above configuration will be described.

  Since the vacuum pump 5 uses a single-head rocking piston type as described above, the vibration is very large although it is small, light, and has a high flow rate. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, since it has a single head structure, a piston rod 34 that swings in the vertical direction is connected to a shaft 41 on one side of a motor unit 40 disposed in the vacuum pump 5. As the rod 34 swings in the vertical direction, suction and exhaust are repeated in the cylinder 33.

  At this time, the vibration in the vicinity of the piston portion where the piston rod 34 swings is inevitably increased, and conversely, the vibration on the counter-piston side is smaller than that on the piston side. In order to prevent the vibration of the vacuum pump 5 from being transmitted to the main body 1, a method of holding with a spring material is generally known. However, as described above, the locking piston type vacuum pump 5 having a single head structure is held. In this case, if the piston member and the non-piston side are held by spring members having the same spring constant, vibrations cannot be suppressed well. Therefore, in this embodiment, the piston-side spring member 32 and the anti-piston-side spring member 31 are used. And the spring constant are set differently. That is, a spring member 32 having a large spring constant is disposed on the piston side having a large vibration and a spring member 31 having a small spring constant is disposed on the non-piston side having a small vibration. Thus, vibration transmission of the vacuum pump 5 can be reduced, and a low-vibration oxygen enricher can be provided.

  In the above description, the spring members 31 and 32 are held on the bottom surface of the vacuum pump 5, but the bottom surface of the vacuum pump 5 is held as shown in FIGS. First, the bottom surface of the vacuum pump 5 is held by holding the main body housing 42 and the vacuum pump 5 inside the main body 1 in a state of being hung by the spring member 32 on the piston side and the spring member 31 on the non-piston side having different spring constants. Therefore, it is possible to provide an oxygen-enriching machine with less vibration and less vibration transmission to the main body 1.

  6 and 7, when the vacuum pump 5 is held with the spring members 31 and 32 suspended, the spring materials 31 and 32 may be detached even if the main body 1 falls down. Although few, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the bottom surface of the vacuum pump 5 is held by the spring members 31 and 32, the spring members 31 and 32 are likely to come off. As a method for solving this, as shown in FIG. 8, a holding plate fixing hole 37 and a bottom plate fixing hole 38 are provided in the holding plate 30 and the bottom plate 2, respectively, and the holding plate fixing hole 37 and the bottom plate fixing hole 38 are rubbery. By connecting the rubber member 36 as the soft material, the rubber member 36 holds the positional displacement between the holding plate 30 and the bottom plate 2 to a certain extent even when the main body 1 falls down violently. It can be prevented from coming off.

  However, in the above-described countermeasure, there is a problem that vibration is transmitted to the spring members 31 and 32 through the rubber member 36 and the vibration of the main body 1 is slightly increased. As a method for solving this, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, the diameter of the bottom plate fixing hole 38 of the bottom plate 2 is set to be larger than the diameter of the rubber member 36 (the gap A is provided). In the case of being placed on a floor or the like, since the rubber member 36 does not contact the bottom plate 2, the transmission of vibrations to the main body 1 can be further suppressed, and the main body 1 is left and right more than a predetermined angle. Alternatively, the rubber member 36 comes into contact with the bottom plate 2 only when it is tilted back and forth, or when it falls, so that it is possible to prevent the spring members 31 and 32 from coming off at the time of falling.

  In order to reduce the transmission of vibrations to the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 10, an intake port (not shown) and / or an exhaust port (not shown) of the vacuum pump 5 and piping members 5a, 6a By connecting to the connecting portion through a bellows piping member 39 which is a member made of a bellows-like soft material, transmission of vibration generated by the vacuum pump 5 to the main body 1 can be reduced.

  Instead of providing a member made of a soft material at the connection between the intake port and the exhaust port of the vacuum pump 5 and the piping members 5a and 6a, the members may be interposed in the middle of the piping members 5a and 6a.

  Since the oxygen enricher according to the present invention is small, light and has a high flow rate, it has very low vibration and low noise. Therefore, the oxygen enricher particularly needs low vibration and low noise. Is also widely applicable.

Side view of oxygen enricher in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Rear view of the oxygen enricher Side cross-sectional view of the oxygen enricher Rear cross-sectional view of the oxygen enricher Perspective view of oxygen-enriched air discharge means of the oxygen enricher Side sectional view of oxygen enricher showing another example Rear cross-sectional view of the oxygen enricher The principal part expanded sectional view of the oxygen enricher which shows another example The principal part expanded sectional view of the oxygen enricher which shows another example Side sectional view of oxygen enricher showing another example

Explanation of symbols

1 Body 2 Bottom plate 5 Vacuum pump (suction means)
6 Discharge port 7 Oxygen-enriched air discharge means 30 Holding plate 31 Spring member (anti-piston side)
32 Spring member (piston side)
33 Cylinder 34 Piston rod 35 Oxygen-enriched membrane unit 36 Rubber member (soft material)
37 Holding plate fixing hole 38 Bottom plate fixing hole 39 Bellows piping member (member)
42 Main unit housing

Claims (4)

A main body housing, an oxygen-enriched membrane unit that generates oxygen-enriched air with a high oxygen concentration, and an oxygen-enriched membrane unit connected to the downstream side of the oxygen-enriched membrane unit A vacuum pump for sucking in, an outlet for discharging the oxygen-enriched air to the outside, and between the vacuum pump and the main body housing on the piston side and the anti-piston side of the vacuum pump. A plurality of spring members for holding the vacuum pump, wherein the spring constant of the spring member disposed on the piston side of the vacuum pump is different from the spring constant of the spring member disposed on the anti-piston side. Machine. The oxygen enricher according to claim 1, wherein the spring constant of the spring member disposed on the piston side of the vacuum pump is larger than the spring constant of the spring member disposed on the anti-piston side. The oxygen enricher according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a rubbery soft material is interposed between the vacuum pump and the main body casing. The oxygen enricher according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vacuum pump is a single-head rocking piston system.

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