KR102036861B1 - Portable High Purity Oxygen Generation System - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention purifies oxygen by passing the air injected through the air injection pump to the zeolite-filled absorption part for use in the place where oxygen supply is required above a certain concentration, and then through the polymer hollow fiber membrane formed with micropores after adsorbing nitrogen. The present invention relates to a portable high-purity oxygen generating system configured to discharge nitrogen and other foreign substances that have not passed through a polymer hollow fiber membrane.

Description

Portable High Purity Oxygen Generation System

The present invention relates to an oxygen generator, in detail, a polymer hollow in which micropores are formed after adsorption of nitrogen through an absorbing part filled with zeolite through an air injected through an air injection pump for use in a place where oxygen supply is required. The present invention relates to a portable high purity oxygen generation system configured to pass oxygen through the desert to purify oxygen and to release nitrogen and other foreign matter that failed to pass through the polymer hollow fiber membrane.

As a technique for obtaining oxygen in a place where oxygen supply above a certain concentration is required, such as aquaculture farms, fish transportation containers, containers, and hospitals, 1) oxygen generation using a catalyst, 2) oxygen generation using electrolysis, and 3) PSA (Pressure) Oxygen generation using Swing Adsorption);

First of all, the oxygen generation method using a catalyst is a catalyst using a bleach to generate oxygen by reacting with water. The structure is very simple, is applied to a low cost type, and generates high purity oxygen. Since it is a low-cost model, it is inconvenient to replace the catalyst every time, so it is used as a portable oxygen generator.

Oxygen generation method using electrolysis is the principle that oxygen and hydrogen are generated when water is electrolyzed, and the structure is very simple and generates high purity oxygen. It is the most basic and the most open technology, but it is not used commercially. In particular, the post-treatment process is complicated because the highly explosive hydrogen is generated and dangerous and the hydrogen must be treated separately.

Lastly, the oxygen generation method using the PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) method is the oxygen generating method using the adsorbent and is the most widely used as a method of increasing the concentration of oxygen by absorbing nitrogen molecules in the air by the adsorbent. In addition, there is no difficulty in manufacturing due to the expiration of the duration of the basic technology, but the raw material used as the adsorbent is weak to moisture, so it is necessary to pay attention to the prevention of moisture.

1 is a conceptual view showing the principle of a conventional oxygen generator, briefly described the principle of operation as follows.

It is equipped with AIR BLOWER, COOLER, 2 / 3-TOWER, vacuum pump, etc., and the air passing through the adsorption tower removes moisture, carbon dioxide, liquefied hydrogen, and other impurities so that only oxygen / nitrogen is separated. At this time, the medical oxygen generator uses the same principle, but the purity of oxygen should be purified to 90% or more.

That is, the inhaled atmosphere is composed of 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen. The air introduced by AIR COMPRESSOR / BLOWER passes through the adsorbent (M / S) while nitrogen is adsorbed and oxygen is passed through and stored or used. At this time, if the adsorption tower is filled with nitrogen, FLUSHING (regeneration) is performed periodically, and adsorption and regeneration are repeated using 2 ~ 3-TOWER.

Recently, the demand for oxygen generators is increasing due to the aging population of the world, the increase of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other respiratory diseases, and the demand for various industrial oxygen generators as well as medical is increasing.

In particular, support for health insurance will be expanded for home-based medical devices that patients use at home, not at medical institutions, and national support for four types of medical devices and consumables, including portable oxygen generators and cough generator rental fees, autologous catheterization and automatic peritoneal dialysis consumables, will also be provided. The necessity of oxygen supply for living in enclosed residential space is also pointed out as a countermeasure against fine dust, which is a problem in recent years.

Therefore, it is urgently required to develop a medical oxygen generator capable of generating high purity oxygen as a portable type of product while eliminating the cost burden of the basic oxygen generator.

Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-0605549 (2006.07.20)

The present invention was created to solve the above problems, the object of the present invention is to be compact and lightweight to a portable level, and can be operated regardless of the place without supplying commercial power for a certain time by the efficient operation of the battery, It is to provide a portable high-purity oxygen generating system that can generate high-purity oxygen that can be used for medical purposes by oxygen generation.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a portable oxygen generating system housed in a case, wherein suction and pressurized discharge of external air is carried out through a suction pump, and a suction filter for filtering the sucked air, and the noise of the suction pump. An intake unit provided with an inhalation silencer to reduce the amount; Filled with zeolite for adsorbing nitrogen in the air discharged from the intake portion, the oxygen outlet having a first valve to discharge the high concentration of oxygen removed nitrogen to the upper side, and the nitrogen adsorbed separated through the zeolite to the lower side A nitrogen outlet having a second valve so as to be discharged, and an absorber having a discharge silencer for reducing noise caused by nitrogen discharge; A purifying unit made of a hollow fiber membrane filter to transmit oxygen discharged from the oxygen outlet and improve purity; An oxygen sensor for measuring the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit and the air discharged through the oxygen outlet, a temperature and humidity sensor for measuring temperature and humidity, and a nitrogen sensor for measuring the nitrogen pressure and concentration inside the absorber Sensor unit provided with; A power supply unit including a battery chargeable through an external power source, and a switching unit selected to charge the battery together with an external power supply or to supply power through the battery; A control unit which receives power from the power supply unit and controls the driving of the suction pump and opening / closing of the first valve and the second valve by reflecting the measurement result of the sensor unit; Characterized in that made.

In this case, the control unit includes a first storage unit storing driving information of the suction pump and opening / closing information of the second valve according to the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit, the oxygen concentration measured through the sensor unit and the driving information and It is preferable to control the suction pump and the first valve and the second valve by reflecting the opening and closing information.

The power supply unit may include: a power measurement unit for measuring the remaining amount of power of the battery; a calculation unit calculating a power consumption rate according to the driving of the suction pump; a power supply time for the battery; and an oxygen production amount; and a calculated power supply It is preferable to further include a power management unit for controlling and managing the suction pump and the second valve so as to maximize the amount of oxygen production in consideration of the available time, and a notification unit for notifying the user of the remaining amount of battery and the available time.

The control unit may further include a second storage unit configured to store oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit, an intake pump driving time, and an oxygen generation amount and power consumption discharged to the oxygen discharge port over time, and the second storage unit. The data storage device may further include an optimizer configured to update the first storage unit by calculating the driving information of the intake pump having the highest oxygen generation rate relative to the power consumption and the opening / closing information of the first valve and the second valve.

The present invention can be miniaturized and lightened to a portable level, and can be operated regardless of a place without supplying commercial power for a certain time through efficient operation of a battery, but can produce high purity oxygen from which nitrogen and foreign substances are removed through zeolite and hollow fiber membranes. have.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing the principle of a conventional oxygen generator;
2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a block diagram showing a configuration and a connection relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the configuration of the present invention portable high purity oxygen generating system.

2 is a perspective view showing the internal configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration and connection relations according to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is a portable oxygen generation received inside the case 100 The intake unit 110, the absorption unit 120, the purification unit 130, the sensor unit 140, the power supply unit 150, and the control unit 160 are provided in the box-shaped case 100. It is made of a built-in structure.

As the oxygen generating system according to the present invention is reduced in size and weight, the case 100 is easily moved and can be used regardless of time and place, and moves to the bottom, including a bag shape with a handle or a shoulder strap. It may be in the form of a carrier equipped with wheels.

The intake unit 110 is a configuration corresponding to a small air compressor basically sucks and pressurizes and discharges the outside air through the suction pump 111 to supply to the absorbing unit 120, the suction filter and activated carbon on the suction side Suction filter 112 for filtering harmful gas and other gas components including fine foreign matter in the inhaled air, and a suction to attenuate the noise generated from the suction pump 111 to the level of 50 dBA according to the characteristics of portable Silencer 113 is installed.

Typically, since the air is composed of 70% or more nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and other gases in the residual ratio, the suction filter 112 may remove residual gases other than nitrogen and oxygen.

In addition, for the purpose of noise reduction, the suction pump 111 is installed through a material capable of absorbing vibrations inside the case 100, and the suction filter 112 for sucking the outside air in the entire case 100. Except for the oxygen outlet 121 and the nitrogen outlet 123 which will be described later has a closed structure but the entire inner wall of the case is surrounded by a sound absorbing material.

In addition, in order to minimize the noise emitted from the suction pump 111 to the outside through the suction filter 112, the suction silencer 113 is arranged so that a plurality of plate-shaped sound absorbing material is spaced apart at intervals. It forms a zigzag air passage and allows the intake of air, but has a structure that can absorb the emitted noise.

The absorber 120 is configured to absorb nitrogen that occupies the largest proportion of the air discharged from the intake unit 110 and to improve the purity of oxygen that occupies the next largest ratio. As a structure filled with zeolite, an oxygen discharge port 121 having a first valve 122 is formed to pass through the zeolite and discharge a high concentration of nitrogen from which nitrogen is removed, and adsorbed through the zeolite below. A nitrogen outlet 123 having a second valve 124 to discharge the separated nitrogen is formed.

In this case, each of the first valve 122 and the second valve 124 is a check valve having a function of preventing reverse flow of oxygen and nitrogen, and is composed of a solenoid valve that is opened and closed through a control signal. As the N) is opened, nitrogen is discharged from the absorber 120 to a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and an exhaust silencer 125 is installed to attenuate such noise as noise is generated.

The discharge silencer 125 is discharged in the same manner as the suction silencer 113 described above, a plurality of plate-shaped sound absorbing material is arranged to be partially shifted at intervals to form a nitrogen passage of the zigzag and is made of a structure capable of absorbing noise Along with the decompression of nitrogen, noise reduction through sound absorbing material is achieved.

The purification unit 130 is composed of a hollow fiber membrane filter which transmits oxygen discharged from the oxygen outlet and improves purity, and the oxygen saturation concentration is about 80 to 90% when nitrogen is adsorbed using the existing zeolite, and the hollow fiber membrane filter While increasing the purity to 95% or more through the use of the medical use of the present invention is possible.

That is, as mentioned above, 70% or more of nitrogen is adsorbed as the foreign material or other gas is removed through the suction filter 112 and passes through the absorbing part 120, and the remaining 20% of oxygen is desired. The nitrogen is discharged through the first valve 122 and the oxygen outlet 121, and the nitrogen adsorbed through the zeolite is discharged to the outside through the second valve 124 and the nitrogen outlet 123 at an appropriate timing.

However, when measuring the oxygen concentration actually discharged from the conventional oxygen generator is approximately 80 ~ 90% is different from the theoretical value. An important element in the medical oxygen generator targeted in the present invention is the oxygen concentration, but if the oxygen concentration is usually 90% or more in a medical device, permission may be obtained, but the effect may be further recognized by increasing the saturated oxygen concentration. As described above, by installing the refining unit 130, which is a hollow fiber membrane filter, in the oxygen outlet, the level can be increased to 95%.

This is literally a method that uses only oxygen permeation. By applying this principle in general air inhalation, oxygen concentration of about 30% can be obtained and through this, the amount of zeolite can be reduced, so that the system can be made smaller, lighter and cheaper. Portable products can be made.

The sensor unit 140 specifically includes an oxygen sensor 141 and an intake unit 110 for measuring oxygen concentrations of air sucked into the intake unit 110 and air discharged through the oxygen discharge port 121, respectively. The temperature and humidity sensor 142 for measuring the temperature and humidity of the air sucked into the) and the nitrogen sensor 143 for measuring the nitrogen pressure and concentration in the absorber 120, the state of the air to be the oxygen generating raw material In addition to the verification of the quality of the oxygen produced, and through the second valve 124 and the nitrogen discharge port 123 to prepare the basis of the timing to discharge the nitrogen inside the absorber 120 so that efficient system operation can be made do.

The power supply unit 150 is a component for supplying power necessary for the overall control of the oxygen generation process, including driving the suction pump 111, and in the present invention, a battery that can be basically charged through an external commercial power source in response to a feature of portability. 151, a place capable of supplying home or commercial power with a switching unit 152 selected to charge the battery 151 together with an external power supply or to supply power through the battery 151. While driving and charging is possible through commercial power, the power is supplied through the battery 151 while being portable, and can be used without restriction at a certain time and place.

The control unit 160 receives power from the power supply unit 150 in a configuration corresponding to the main control board in the system of the present invention and reflects the measurement result of the sensor unit 140 to drive the suction pump 111. In addition, the opening and closing of the first valve 122 and the second valve 124 are controlled to allow generation and supply of high purity oxygen.

Simply driving the suction pump 111 to apply the control through a timer in the state of sucking air to block the first valve 122 at a predetermined time and open the second valve 124 to absorb the portion ( After discharging the nitrogen accumulated in the 120, the first valve 122 is opened and the second valve 124 is blocked, so that high-purity oxygen is supplied. The first valve and the drive information of the suction pump derived to optimize the oxygen generation amount of high purity through the theoretical and experimental values according to the oxygen concentration and temperature and humidity of the air sucked into the intake unit 110 in the control unit 160 Corresponding to the oxygen concentration, the nitrogen concentration and the pressure, and the temperature and humidity measured by the sensor unit 140 with the first storage unit 161 storing the opening and closing information of the 122 and the second valve 124. Stored in the first storage unit 161 It can be controlled to reflect group information and the driving opening information.

In addition, in using the battery 151 from the outside, the power supply unit 153 is provided in the power supply unit so as to prevent the oxygen supply or stop the oxygen supply when necessary by the power consumption and efficient power management can be made. The detailed configuration of the calculator 154, the power manager 155, and the notifier 156 may be added.

The power measuring unit 153 measures the remaining amount of power charged through voltage and current in response to the capacity of the battery 151.

The calculation unit 154 based on the power remaining measured by the power measuring unit 153 and the driving information of the suction pump 111 is the most power consumption, the power consumption according to the driving of the suction pump 111. The speed and the available time for supplying the battery 151 and the oxygen production amount are calculated. For this calculation, power consumption according to driving of the suction pump 111, opening and closing of the first valve 122 and the second valve 124, and specifications of the battery 151 need to be input as basic information.

The power management unit 155 is connected to the control unit 160 in order to maximize the amount of oxygen production in consideration of the power supply time calculated by the calculation unit 154, the suction pump 111 and the first The valve 122 and the second valve 124 are controlled.

For example, when the concentration of oxygen discharged through the oxygen discharge port 121 decreases while the pressure of the absorber 120 rises while the suction pump 111 is driven, the suction pump 111 is stopped. The first valve 122 is closed and the second valve 124 is opened to sufficiently discharge nitrogen in the absorbing part 120. At this time, if the operation is stopped in the state that the high-purity oxygen is discharged through the oxygen outlet 121, the efficiency will be reduced, so effective power management will be possible by adjusting the timing of nitrogen discharge relative to the remaining power.

The notification unit 156 is configured to recognize the remaining amount and the available time of the battery 151 to the user through the output means that is the time through the lamp or the display, or audible output means such as a speaker or a lack of power in the future Make it easy for users to recognize the available time.

In addition, as the usage patterns such as the use of oxygen generated by each user and time may be different, the control unit 160 controls the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit 110 so that the operation optimized to the pattern is possible. And a second storage unit 162 for storing the driving time of the intake pump 111 and the amount of oxygen generation and power consumption discharged to the oxygen outlet 121, and the data stored in the second storage unit 162. The method may further include an optimizer 163 configured to update the first storage unit 161 by calculating driving information of the intake pump 111 having the highest amount of oxygen generation compared to power consumption.

Oxygen generation amount can be identified through the oxygen concentration discharged to the oxygen outlet 121 measured by the oxygen sensor, depending on the use, for example, when using the oxygen every 30 minutes, the continuous use information for this is collected and the second storage unit As it is stored in the device, the optimized operation information and the opening / closing information are calculated by reflecting this, and then the optimization operation may be performed according to the user's pattern without additional setting.

The rights of the present invention are not limited to the embodiments described above, but are defined by the claims, and those skilled in the art can make various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the claims. It is self-evident.

100: case 110: intake portion
111: suction pump 112: suction filter
113: suction silencer 120: absorber
121: oxygen outlet 122: first valve
123: nitrogen outlet 124: second valve
125: discharge silencer 130: purification unit
140: sensor unit 141: oxygen sensor
142: temperature and humidity sensor 143: nitrogen sensor
150: power supply unit 151: battery
152: switching unit 153: power measuring unit
154: calculating unit 155: power management unit
156: notification unit 160: control unit
161: first storage unit 162: second storage unit
163: optimizer

Claims (4)

In the portable oxygen generation system accommodated in the case 100,
Intake and pressure discharge of the outside air through the suction pump 111, the suction filter 112 for filtering the air to be sucked, and a plurality of plate-shaped sound absorbing material is formed of a structure to form a zigzag air passage at intervals An intake unit 110 provided with a suction silencer 113 for reducing noise of the suction pump 111;
Oxygen outlet 121 having a first valve 122 to discharge the high concentration of oxygen is removed, the zeolite is adsorbed nitrogen in the air discharged from the intake unit 110, the upper side and the lower side Nitrogen discharge port 123 having a second valve 124 to discharge nitrogen adsorbed and separated through the zeolite and a plurality of plate-shaped sound absorbing material to form a zigzag air passage at intervals in accordance with the nitrogen discharge Absorber 120 is provided with an exhaust silencer 125 to reduce the noise;
Refining unit 130 is made of a hollow fiber membrane filter to transmit the oxygen discharged from the oxygen outlet 121 to improve the purity;
An oxygen sensor 141 for measuring the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit 110 and the air discharged through the oxygen outlet 121, a temperature and humidity sensor 142 for measuring temperature and humidity, and the A sensor unit 140 having a nitrogen sensor 143 for measuring nitrogen pressure and concentration in the absorber 120;
A battery 151 that can be charged through an external power source, a switching unit 152 that is selected to charge the battery 151 together with an external power supply or to supply power through the battery 151, and the battery 151 A power measuring unit 153 for measuring the remaining power of the battery, a power consumption rate according to the driving of the suction pump 111, a power supply time for the battery 151, and an oxygen production amount for calculating the amount of oxygen production; The power management unit 155 controls and manages the suction pump 111 and the second valve 124 to maximize the oxygen production capacity in consideration of the calculated power supply time, and the remaining amount of the battery 151 and A power supply unit 150 including a notification unit 156 for notifying a user of available time;
A first storage unit 161 storing driving information of the suction pump 111 and opening / closing information of the second valve 124 according to the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the intake unit 110, and the intake unit 110. And a second storage unit 162 for storing the oxygen concentration of the air sucked into the air, the driving time of the intake pump 111, and the amount of oxygen generation and power consumption discharged to the oxygen outlet 121 over time, and the second storage unit. Analyzing the data stored in the storage unit 162 to calculate the driving information of the intake pump 111 with the highest amount of oxygen generation compared to the power consumption and the opening and closing information of the first valve 122 and the second valve 124 to calculate the first An optimization unit 163 for updating the storage unit 161 and receiving power from the power supply unit 150 and reflecting the oxygen concentration measured through the sensor unit 140 and the driving information and opening / closing information. A controller 160 for controlling the pump 111, the first valve 122, and the second valve 124; Portable high purity oxygen generating system, characterized in that made. delete delete delete

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