JPH0531482B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a device for obtaining oxygen-enriched gas from air using an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen more easily than oxygen, and is particularly suitable for medical use. Concerning oxygen enrichers suitable for use. More particularly, the present invention provides an improved oxygen enricher with specific adjustment means for varying the level of oxygen concentration in the oxygen-enriched gas used.

[Prior Art] It is said that the number of patients suffering from respiratory system diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis has been increasing in recent years, and one of the most effective treatments for these diseases is oxygen. There is an inhalation method.

This oxygen inhalation method involves having the patient inhale oxygen gas or oxygen-enriched air.Oxygen gas cylinders have traditionally been used as the source of the oxygen gas or oxygen-enriched air, but in recent years oxygen gas cylinders have been used as the source of the oxygen gas or oxygen-enriched air, but in recent years oxygen gas cylinders have been used as sources of oxygen gas or oxygen-enriched air. Since the development of oxygen enrichers that separate oxygen-enriched gas, they have become increasingly popular due to their convenience in use and ease of maintenance.

There are two main types of oxygen enrichers: a membrane type oxygen enricher using an oxygen selective permeability membrane and an adsorption type oxygen enricher using an adsorbent that selectively adsorbs nitrogen or oxygen. In the case of a membrane type oxygen enricher, it is easy to obtain air with an oxygen concentration of around 40% due to the selective permeation characteristics of the membrane, while in the case of an adsorption type oxygen enricher, it is easy to obtain air with an oxygen concentration of around 40%. It has the characteristic that it is easy to obtain oxygen enriched gas with a high concentration such as 90%. When treating patients with respiratory diseases using oxygen inhalation, depending on the patient's condition, a low concentration of oxygen-enriched gas of about 40% may be required, while a high concentration of oxygen-enriched gas of about 90% may be required. In some cases, oxidizing gas is required.

In the conventional oxygen inhalation method using oxygen enrichers, adsorption-type oxygen enrichers are used when high-concentration oxygen-enriched gas is required, and membrane-type oxygen enrichers are used when low-concentration oxygen-enriched gas is required. Each was used separately. That is, in order to carry out the oxygen inhalation method, it was necessary to prepare both an adsorption type oxygen enricher and a membrane type oxygen enricher. still
In conventional adsorption-type oxygen enrichers, which aim to achieve a high concentration of about 90%, simply opening the outflow control valve for the oxygen-enriched gas used for use lowers the oxygen concentration to about 70%, but that concentration It fluctuated significantly by ±20%, making it impossible to operate stably, making it extremely unsuitable for practical use in low concentration ranges.

[Object of the Invention] The object of the present invention is to eliminate the inconvenience of preparing both adsorption type and membrane type oxygen enrichers to perform the same type of oxygen inhalation method.
More specifically, one oxygen enricher provides at least 90
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an enricher that can stably obtain both a high concentration oxygen-enriched gas of about 10% and a low concentration oxygen-enriched gas of about 40%, and which is small and easy to use.

[Structure of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present inventors conducted intensive research and found that a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen enricher using an adsorption bed that selectively adsorbs nitrogen can absorb nitrogen. It is very effective to provide a flow passage restricting means in the conduit means through which the oxygen-enriched gas is discharged from the bed, and to adjust the degree of restriction of the flow passage restricting means to correspond to the target oxygen concentration in the oxygen-enriched gas. This discovery led to the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides at least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen more easily than oxygen, a compressor means connected to the air inflow side of the adsorption bed, and an oxygen-enriched gas in the adsorption bed. A pressure fluctuation device comprising: storage tank means for oxygen-enriched gas connected to the discharge side via a flow path restricting means; and flow rate setting means for setting the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used from the storage tank means. In the adsorption type oxygen enricher, the flow path restricting means controls the flow of the oxygen-enriched gas between the adsorption bed and the storage tank means in accordance with a predetermined range of oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used. It is a series and/or parallel combination of a plurality of throttling functions consisting of at least one of an orifice, a nozzle, and a ventilate tube so as to adjust the flow resistance, and the oxygen concentration range of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used. The present invention provides an oxygen enricher characterized in that it is equipped with a valve means for selecting a throttling function section through which the oxygen-enriched gas discharged from the adsorption bed passes in accordance with the above.

Furthermore, the present invention provides compressor means connected to the air inlet side of at least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen more easily than oxygen, and a flow path connected to the oxygen-enriched gas discharge side of the adsorption bed. A pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen enrichment device comprising: storage tank means for oxygen-enriched gas connected via a throttle means; and flow rate setting means for setting the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used from the storage tank means. a plurality of openings so as to adjust the flow resistance of the oxygen-enriched gas between the adsorption bed and the storage tank means to correspond to a predetermined range of oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used; The present invention provides an oxygen enricher characterized in that a valve means capable of selecting an opening from among the parts and setting the opening to a predetermined degree is used as the flow path restricting means.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings.

Preferred embodiments of the oxygen enricher of the present invention are illustrated in FIGS. 1-3. That is, in the enricher shown in FIG. 1, air A compressed by a compressor 4 is passed through a cooler 5 and a drain trap 6 to adsorption beds 1 and 2 filled with an adsorbent that selectively adsorbs nitrogen over oxygen.
For example, when passing through the adsorption bed 1, nitrogen is adsorbed and oxygen-enriched gas flows from the three-way valve 11 through the orifice 12 or 13, and then passes through the valve 14. It flows into the rear storage tank 3. The oxygen-enriched gas stored there is passed through a filter 30 such as a sterilization filter, a flow rate setting device 31, and a humidifier 3 such as a bubble type.
After passing through step 2, it is used as D at a predetermined concentration and a predetermined flow rate. B shows drain discharge. In addition, in this oxygen enricher, after the above-mentioned adsorption step is completed in the adsorption bed 1 by closing the valve 8, the valves 7, 14, and 18 are closed and the valve 19 is opened, so that the desorption has already been completed and the state is at normal pressure. Adsorption bed 2 and adsorption bed 1
equalize the pressure, and then close valves 7 and 19.
8 is opened, the flow path of the three-way valve 9 is switched to the adsorption bed 2, and the adsorption process in the adsorption bed 2 is started. On the other hand, for adsorption bed 1, valve 8 is opened and nitrogen enricher C
After the pressure is reduced to normal pressure by discharging the gas, the valve 14 is opened and the oxygen-enriched gas is allowed to flow countercurrently into the adsorption bed 1 through the orifice 12 or 13, thereby desorbing and regenerating the adsorbent therein. Do the following. By sequentially performing such operations on both beds, a pressure fluctuation type adsorption operation is performed. The flow rate setting device may be, for example, one having a plurality of pore-shaped openings or a rotameter type, but the former is preferred.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen enricher illustrated in FIG.
The discharge side of the adsorption beds 1 and 2 is equipped with orifices 12, 13, 16, and 17, which are a type of channel restricting means, and the orifice 12
and 13 have different opening ratios, and the flow path through which the oxygen-enriched gas flows can be switched by a three-way valve. In this oxygen enricher, for example, the oxygen concentration in the oxygen enriched gas D is about 90%.
The present invention is achieved by determining the opening ratio of the orifice 12 so that the oxygen concentration in D is approximately 40%, and by determining the opening ratio of the orifice 13 to be larger than that of the orifice 12 so that the oxygen concentration in D is approximately 40%. The purpose is achieved. It is preferable that the orifices 12 and 16 and the orifices 13 and 17 have the same aperture ratio.

As a preferred mode of operation of the oxygen enricher shown in FIG. 1, for example, when desorbing the adsorption bed 1, immediately after the bed reaches substantially normal pressure, the orifice 13 with a large opening ratio is first used, and then the orifice 13 with a large opening ratio is used. A method using a small orifice 12 is mentioned. Further, for example, during the adsorption process of the adsorption bed 1, first, the valve 14 is closed and compressed air is allowed to flow in, and the valve 14 is opened only after the pressure is increased to a predetermined pressure.
It is preferable to adopt a system in which the pressure during the adsorption step is kept as constant as possible, and this is particularly effective when attempting to obtain a highly concentrated oxygen-enriched gas.

In the oxygen enricher shown in FIG. 2, the method of connecting the orifices 12, 13, 16, and 17 in FIG. is almost the same as in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is practically preferable to use two types of orifice means with different opening ratios in parallel as a flow path throttling adjustment means. Alternatively, a ventilator tube means or the like may be used. In addition, these orifice means etc. may vary depending on the number of oxygen concentration levels required in the oxygen enricher.
Instead of just two oxygen concentrations such as 90% and about 40%, for example, three or more oxygen concentrations corresponding to three levels such as about 90%, about 65%, and about 40% can be connected in parallel or in series. It may also be used in combination in parallel. In the oxygen enricher of the present invention, the oxygen concentration at each level fluctuates slightly depending on the flow rate used, but the fluctuation is much smaller than that of the conventional technology, and a specific example of the fluctuation range is ±5% or less. In particular, in the range of 2 to 5/min, which is most frequently used for medical purposes, the fluctuation range is ±3% or less, and it can operate very stably.

FIG. 3 shows another example of a preferred embodiment of the oxygen enricher according to the present invention, which is characterized in that a valve means, such as a needle valve type, is used as the flow path restricting means. In this case, continuous adjustment of the flow restriction is possible, but the opening degree of this valve means can be adjusted discontinuously, for example by 2 or 3, so that oxygen-enriched gas in a predetermined concentration range can be easily obtained. Practically, it is desirable to set an opening degree setting means such as a stopper so that the opening degree can be adjusted to a fixed value. Also, as this valve means,
For example, a flow rate setting device having two or more openings with different degrees of opening may be used. The other components in FIG. 3 are the same as those shown in FIG. 1.

Further, the oxygen enricher of the present invention may be of a type other than those illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, for example, the pressure on the downstream side (secondary side) can be maintained between the storage tank and the flow rate setting device as much as possible. It is preferable to use a pressure reducing valve such as a secondary pressure regulating valve that can be constantly adjusted, and a check valve may be provided in the conduit means on the inlet side of the storage tank to prevent the oxygen-enriched gas from flowing back. . Adsorption again →
In a series of cycle operations such as desorption → pressure equalization,
The time required for each cycle is usually constant, but a variable cycle type may be used in which the cycle time depends on the oxygen concentration of the predetermined oxygen-enriched gas to be taken out. It should be noted that it is easier and more reliable to control each valve for carrying out each cycle by using a microcomputer or the like built in the enricher.

Regarding the number of adsorption beds in the oxygen enricher of the present invention, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, a two-bed type is used as the upper limit of the flow rate of oxygen-enriched gas required for medical use, for example, about 6/min. A compact and lightweight unit that satisfies the above is the most practical option, but it can also be made into a single unit type for the purpose of being even smaller and lighter.
If a large flow rate is intended, three or more units may be used. The adsorbent filled in the adsorption bed is usually a zeolite type such as zeolite 5A type or 13X type which is more likely to adsorb nitrogen, but other adsorbents may be used. Incidentally, a dehydrating adsorbent such as silica or alumina which is more likely to adsorb moisture may be filled upstream of the filled portion of the adsorbent that is more likely to adsorb nitrogen.

Furthermore, although a compressor is normally used as the compressor means in the present invention, a blower type may be used in some cases. It is also useful to reduce the pressure below atmospheric pressure by connecting beds or using other vacuum pumping means.

The oxygen enricher of the present invention is suitable for medical use for the treatment of patients with respiratory diseases, etc., but it is also effective when used for recovering from fatigue during sports and the like.

<Object of the invention> The oxygen enricher of the present invention has an oxygen enrichment of about 90% and about 40%, for example.
It has the excellent effect of stably obtaining oxygen-enriched gas in a predetermined concentration range at a plurality of levels over a wide range such as %. In other words, it has the functions of both the adsorption type oxygen enricher, which obtains about 90% enriched gas, and the membrane type oxygen enricher, which obtains about 40% enriched gas, which were used as medical oxygen enrichers. It has the characteristics of being as small and lightweight as the conventional suction type.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 illustrate preferred embodiments of the oxygen enricher of the present invention. In these figures, 1 and 2 are adsorption beds, 3 is a storage tank means, 4 is a compressor means, 12, 13,
16 and 17 are orifice type flow path restricting means; 2
Reference numerals 1 and 22 indicate valve-type flow path restricting means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. At least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen more easily than oxygen, and compressor means connected to the air inlet side of the adsorption bed;
an oxygen-enriched gas storage tank means connected to the oxygen-enriched gas discharge side of the adsorption bed via a flow path restricting means; and a system for setting the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used from the storage tank means. In a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen enricher equipped with a flow rate setting means, the flow passage restricting means controls the adsorption bed and the storage tank means in accordance with a predetermined range of oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used. It is a series and/or parallel combination of a plurality of throttling sections each consisting of at least one of an orifice, a nozzle, and a ventilate tube so as to be able to adjust the flow resistance of the oxygen-enriched gas between the 1. An oxygen enricher comprising valve means for selecting a throttling section through which the oxygen-enriched gas discharged from the adsorption bed passes in accordance with the oxygen concentration range of the enriched gas. 2. The oxygen enricher according to claim 1, wherein there are two or more adsorption beds, and each adsorption bed is connected to storage tank means via the flow path restricting means. 3. The oxygen enricher according to claim 2, wherein the flow path restricting means is a combination of two orifices having different opening ratios in parallel. 4. at least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen more easily than oxygen; compressor means connected to the air inlet side of the adsorption bed;
an oxygen-enriched gas storage tank means connected to the oxygen-enriched gas discharge side of the adsorption bed via a flow path restricting means; and a system for setting the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas to be used from the storage tank means. In a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen enricher equipped with a flow rate setting means, the oxygen enriched gas is supplied between the adsorption bed and the storage tank means in accordance with a predetermined range of oxygen concentration of the oxygen enriched gas to be used. 1. An oxygen enricher characterized in that a valve means capable of selecting an opening from a plurality of openings and setting a predetermined opening degree is used as the flow path restricting means so as to adjust the flow resistance of the oxygen enricher. 5. The oxygen enricher according to claim 4, wherein there are two or more adsorption beds, and each adsorption bed is connected to storage tank means via the flow path restricting means.