KR200375440Y1 - Gas Concentrator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas concentrator, and more particularly, to an apparatus for producing a concentrated gas by using an adsorbent having a selective adsorption degree for a specific gas. The adsorbent is operated between a pressure above atmospheric pressure and an atmospheric pressure or a pressure below atmospheric pressure by the flow path switching of the valve means, and achieves continuous production by an adsorptive bed including two or more adsorbents. The valve means is a direct-acting valve means capable of operating at low pressure rather than the conventional PSA operation valve means for normal cylinder control.

Description

Gas Concentrator

Many processes and apparatus are known based on the pressure swing adsorption (PSA) method for separating the target gas from the gas mixture using the adsorption characteristics of the adsorbent to the particular gas. The first PSA process is published in US Pat. No. 2,944,627, filed by Skarstrom, and typically has four basic steps: adsorption, decompression, purge and repressurization. The device by the PSA process has been used to date, such as US5,176,722, and many modifications have been made until now, but the basic form is the same, and in particular, it is used to supply high concentration of concentrated oxygen by being applied to an oxygen concentrator for medical or home use. have.

In addition to supplying the compressor body by using a gas compressor to the adsorption bed including the adsorbent, a process and a device for performing desorption under vacuum pressure using a separate vacuum pump when performing the desorption process are also widely used. Subdivided in, it is called vacuum-pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) method. This process is advantageous in terms of operating energy and is widely applied in industrial applications, and has been successfully applied in some small medical applications. Such a process is known from Japanese Patent No. 59-160515, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-184851, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-294613, and US Pat. Nos. 4,781,735, US5,015,271, US5,429,666 and US2001 / 0023640 A1. The apparatus driven by the VPSA system is generally composed of adsorption beds, valve means, and other mechanical devices and piping, in addition to gas compressors and vacuum pumps. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a simplified configuration of such a device. Briefly, the operation is as follows.

The mixed gas compressed by the compressor 1 is introduced into the adsorption bed 9 having the adsorbent therein through the valve 3. At this time, the valve 4 is locked, the valve 5 is locked and the valve 6 is open. The introduced mixed gas is adsorbed by the adsorbent in the adsorption bed 9, and the adsorption bed 10 is connected to the vacuum pump 2 through the valve 6 to receive a vacuum pressure to desorb the gas adsorbed on the adsorbent. Will be performed. The valves 7 and 8 are used to increase the efficiency when the mixed gas is air, such as an oxygen concentrator. When the suction bed 10 receives a vacuum pressure by the vacuum pump 2 and the inside becomes below atmospheric pressure, The mixed air is introduced through the valve 7, and when the pressure in the adsorption bed 10 reaches atmospheric pressure, the valve 7 is closed and the mixed gas is introduced into the adsorption bed 20 through the valve 5. The function of the valve 8 is opened when the pressure in the adsorption beds 9 and 10 is greater than atmospheric pressure at the time of purging the adsorption beds 9 and 10, and the pressure is different from the atmospheric pressure in addition to the discharge by the vacuum pump 2. It is discharged through the valve (8). The concentrated gas passing through the adsorptive beds 9 and 10 is collected in the tank 14 through the valves 12 and 13, and is produced by adjusting the flow rate and the agricultural gas pressure by adjusting the valve 15. The valve 11 is used in the pressure equalization step of the two adsorptive beds 9 and 10, and the microtubules 16 assist in cleaning the adsorbent through the delivery of some of the production gas to the other adsorptive beds.

The PSA process is basically the same as the above, and the biggest difference is that the vacuum pump 2 is not used. Thus, the valves 7 and 8 are not necessary and are operated between the pressure by the compressor 1 and the atmospheric pressure through purging to the atmosphere.

The valves (3, 4, 5, 6) used in such a device are controlled by using individual valves in the industry. In the application of a device such as a small oxygen concentrator, it is possible to use a limited number of valves and expensive valves. Economic problems will follow. Therefore, a single integrated valve is typically used, in which case a simplified five-port two-position valve or five-port three-position valve is used, and other embodiments are known from US Pat. No. 4,115,276 or US4,925,464. As shown in the drawing, a rotary valve using flow path switching by a rotating plate according to the rotation of the motor is used. Such a rotary valve is advantageous for two or more multi-adsorption bed methods, but the structure is complicated when two adsorption beds are used.

In the case where the gas concentrator is manufactured and applied in a small size rather than an industrial form, the miniaturization and low cost of the valve means become an important problem. Therefore, the valve means as described above is not configured separately in the case of home appliances, it is used to configure a switching flow path in one body. Typically, such a valve means is to be used for the valve for cylinder control used in general automation equipment and the like is shown in FIG. This valve is an embodiment of the most commonly used double solenoid (22, 22 ') type in the case of the 5 port 2 position. Five ports 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 of the body 20 are connected to the adsorption beds 9 and 10, the compressor 1 and the vacuum pump 2 (opened to the atmosphere in the case of PSA). Each will be connected, the connection being apparent to those skilled in the art. The switching of the flow paths for these ports is made by the drive of the splice assay 21, which is driven by the force of the solenoids 22, 22 '.

This valve means is used in a large number of PSA process constituting a small oxygen concentrator, the same applies to the small device adopting the VPSA process. However, these valve means are expensive, and especially when using a weak pressure should be used directly because there is a drawback of increased power consumption and reduced flow rate and manufacturing cost. This is due to such valves not being developed exclusively for gas concentrators, but for industrial applications such as conventional automation equipment or other cylinder drives.

The valve means used in a gas concentrator that receives only a vacuum pressure driven below the atmospheric pressure of the registered utility model No. 0351702 known by the applicant can be reduced in cost, but can be used only where a weak pressure is applied due to its connection structure. There is a disadvantage that can not be used immediately.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, to provide a gas concentrator according to the PSA or VPSA method by applying a valve that can be configured simple and low-cost by modifying the conventional expensive valves There is this.

The object of the present invention is to provide a gas concentrator for driving a valve by low power by applying a conventional direct acting valve to a gas concentrator driven by a method on a PSA or a VPSA.

The present invention aims to provide a simplified gas concentrator by removing and simplifying a complicated valve device installed at the gas concentrator production stage.

The object of the present invention is to construct an oxygen concentrator for home appliances by applying a small oxygen concentrator to construct an oxygen concentrator that can be applied to low-cost air conditioning and personal inhalation.

In order to achieve the above object, the gas concentrator according to the present invention comprises the following components. The apparatus includes a filter means for filtering impurities such as dust from the mixed gas, a compressor for compressing the mixed gas passing through the filter means to provide a compressor body, a valve for determining the flow path for guiding the compressed mixed gas; It consists of a pair of one or more adsorption bed containing an adsorbent for selectively adsorbing a specific gas from the mixed gas passed through the valve and the control means for controlling the amount of supply of the concentrated gas passed through the adsorption bed to the target space. . Here, the valve is a body that supports the whole, the bed connection side port connected to each bed, the suction port into which the compressor body is introduced, and the discharge port for discharging the impurity gas separated during the desorption process from the adsorption bed Each port is opened and closed by driving two or more plungers, and the plunger is driven and operated by an electromagnetic force formed by a solenoid and an elastic force by a spring. Here, the compressed mixed air is supplied in a direction opposite to the spring for pushing the plunger.

As other construction means, the check valve replacing the valves 12 and 13 of FIG. 1 and the microtubes 16 for cleaning the suction beds 9 and 10 can be configured as necessary. Such means may be provided when driven by both the PSA process and the VPSA process, and when driven by the VPSA, a separate vacuum pump is additionally required. When such a vacuum pump is provided, the vacuum pump in the valve is connected to a spring side for pushing the plunger to operate the vacuum pressure.

FIG. 3 is a circular, vacuum-pressure valve for a gas concentrator known by the present applicant, which is a conventional three-port direct solenoid valve. The valve has three ports 35, 36, 37, and when the current flows through the solenoid 31 provided in the body 30, the plunger 33 is driven in the guide pipe 32. The opening and closing port 38 is blocked, and the port 37 and the port 36 are connected. When no current flows, the spring 39 acts as an elastic force to block the opening and closing hole 34, and a flow path through which the port 35 and the port 37 are connected is formed. The spring 39 may be provided at the lower end of the plunger 33. In this case, the opening and closing hole 38 is blocked when no current flows so that the port 36 and the port 37 are connected. Therefore, selective flow path switching is possible by connecting the suction bed to the port 37.

When the valve as described above is integrally formed, it can be configured as a valve having four ports as shown in FIG. 4 is an embodiment of the two coupled valves, the flow path switching is made by the drive of a pair of plungers (33, 33 '). The two ports 35 and 35 'are connected to each other to form one port 42, and a pair of ports corresponding to the ports of FIG. 3 are connected to each other and are provided as a single port 41. Thus, a valve assembly having four ports 37, 37 ', 41, and 42 are constructed. In FIG. 4, the plunger 33 seals the opening and closing hole 34, and the other plunger 33 ′ opens another opening and closing hole 34 ′. In this case, the port 37 The port 35 is connected to the port 42, and the port 37 ′ is connected to the port 41 through the opening and closing hole 34 ′.

5 is a schematic view of a gas concentrator using the VPSA process according to the present invention using the valve means as described above. The operation of the apparatus is basically the same as the apparatus of FIG. 1. Specifically, the operation of the oxygen concentrator is described as follows. The mixed air passes through the filter 50 to remove impurities and flows into the compressor 1. The filter 50 may include a moisture filter in addition to the conventional dust filter. The mixed air compressed by the compressor 1 is introduced into the adsorption bed 10 through the valve 56. In FIG. 5, the adsorption bed 10 shows the adsorption state by the compressed air, and the adsorption bed 9 shows the desorption state by the vacuum pump 2. The mixed air is introduced into the adsorption bed 10 so that nitrogen is mainly adsorbed and the concentrated oxygen is injected into the target space through the controllers 54 'and 55. Here, although not shown, the oxygen tank may be attached as needed, and the regulators 54 and 54 'are typically composed of a simple check valve in a small oxygen concentrator or, in a simpler embodiment, an orifice having micropores. You may. The regulator 55 adjusts the flow rate of the concentrated gas produced by mainly using a check valve for sealing or a valve for adjusting the flow rate, and may be simply configured as an orifice having a micro hole.

As described above, the adsorption bed 9 receives the vacuum pressure by the vacuum pump 2 while the adsorption bed 10 is compressed air, thereby discharging nitrogen and impurities contained in the adsorbent to the outside. The orifice 16 transfers a part of the concentrated gas produced in the adsorption bed 10 to the other adsorption bed 9 to assist the cleaning operation. The above operation takes place alternately in the adsorption beds (9, 10), according to the required process, such as pressure balancing process step, the two adsorption beds (9, 10) at the same time toward the compressed air toward the compressor (1) Or, it may be connected toward the vacuum pump (2).

Since the check valve 53 is connected to the adsorption beds 9 and 10 toward one side toward the compressor 1 or the vacuum pump 2 when the power is turned off due to the principle of the valve according to the present invention, A sealed check valve for adsorbent protection is shown. When the sealing property is assured by the structure inside the compressor 1 or the vacuum pump 2, it can remove. As shown in FIG. 4, the springs 39 and 39 'normally push the plungers 33 and 33' to the bottom to connect the port 42 and the ports 37 and 37 'so that the suction beds 9 and 10 are vacuumed. When the pump 2 is connected, the sealed check valve 53 blocks the external air and the adsorbent to protect the adsorbent when the vacuum pump 2 is incompletely sealed. The silencer 57 is a device for reducing the discharge sound that is typically used to reduce the discharge sound generated by the vacuum pump (2). The check valves 51 and 52 correspond to the valves 7 and 8 of FIG. 1, and the mixed air flows into the adsorbent after the suction bed 9 has a vacuum pressure formed therein by the vacuum pump 2. The check valve 51 is opened by the pressure difference so that the mixed air flows into the adsorption bed 9, and when the pressure of the adsorption bed 9 reaches atmospheric pressure over time, the pressure difference disappears and the check valve 51 is removed. Is closed and the compressed air by the compressor 1 is introduced into the adsorption bed 9. The operation of the check valve 52 is similar, and when the flow path is connected to the vacuum pump 2 with the suction bed 10 raised above atmospheric pressure, the check valve 52 is opened due to the pressure difference, and nitrogen and impurities are discharged to the outside. When the pressure in the suction bed 10 reaches atmospheric pressure, the check valve 52 is closed, and the vacuum pressure by the vacuum pump 2 is received. These check valves (51, 52) are to increase the efficiency can be optionally omitted.

One of the important features of the present invention is that, in the above configuration, the vacuum pump 2 side must be connected to the port 42, the compressor 1 side must be configured to be connected to the port 41. . This is determined by the position of the springs 39, 39 ′ in FIG. 4, and unlike the FIG. 4 of the plungers 33, 33 ′, the springs 39, 39 ′ are installed at the bottom to provide elastic force from the bottom to the top. In this case, the connection positions of the ports 41 and 42, the compressor 1 and the vacuum pump 2 should be changed. Fig. 6 shows the force acting on the plunger 33 of the valve, where P is the force due to the compression force of the compressor 1, P is the force due to the vacuum pressure of the vacuum pump 2, and V is the spring 39. If the force by K and the current acting on the plunger 33 by passing a current through the solenoid are S, respectively, when S does not flow, the force by the spring is the force by the compression force and the vacuum pressure. It must be greater than the sum of the flow path of the port 42 and the port 37 is possible. That is, it should be P + V <K. When the current flows between the port 42 and the port 41, if S + P + V> K, the plunger 33 is driven to enable connection between the ports. Therefore, when designing the spring, the spring may be designed to give a force slightly stronger than the sum of the vacuum pressure and the compressive force, and the force by the solenoid is the difference between the spring force minus the sum of the vacuum pressure and the compressive force. You can design it to be slightly more powerful. In other words, the plunger can be sufficiently driven if it can exert a force slightly larger than K- (P + V). Therefore, it becomes possible to use a solenoid valve having such a structure that cannot be conventionally used where compressed air is used. If the flow path connection as described above is reversed, the force by the vacuum pressure and the force by the compressive force act in the same direction as the force by the spring, and if no current flows, between the port 42 and the port 41 Although a reliable connection is possible, a large power consumption solenoid must be used since a current S flows through the solenoid and a force S greater than P + V + K is required to drive the plunger.

In general, when the apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a small apparatus such as a small oxygen concentrator, the maximum value of the compressed air by the compressor 1 is about 1 to 2 atmospheres of gauge pressure, and the vacuum pressure by the vacuum pump is 0.2. It is operated at ~ 0.7 atm. The higher the compressor pressure, the better the concentration efficiency of the equipment, but the disadvantage that the compressor life, heat problems and noise problems occur. The compressor 1 and the vacuum pump 2 may use a device driven by a separate motor, but as is well known, a separate pump head is attached to one motor so that each pump head has a compression action and a vacuum pump. Can be configured to perform each action.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a case where the vacuum pump 2 is not used, and is a schematic diagram when the vacuum pump 2 is driven by the PSA process. The basic operation is the same as that of the VPSA in FIG. 5, except that the suction beds 9 and 10 are purged to atmospheric pressure without receiving vacuum pressure, in which case the check valves 51 and 52 in FIG. 5 are unnecessary. The check valve 53 is composed of a sealed check valve for adsorbent protection and is connected to the port 42 connected to the valve 56 when purging to the outside air by internal pressure after the adsorption process of the adsorption beds 9 and 10. The heat exchanger 60 may be provided to cool the compressed air to the adsorption beds 9 and 10 as necessary.

While the above shows an embodiment in which two suction beds 9, 10 are controlled by using a valve having two plungers 33, 33 ', it is possible for a person skilled in the art to construct an apparatus having three or more suction beds. Self-explanatory In this case, the same number of plungers and solenoids as those of the adsorptive bed are provided, and the ports (37,37 ', 37' '...- not shown) and the ports (41, 42) are connected to each other. It is possible to configure a gas concentrator driven in the same way.

By the configuration of the device according to the present invention it is possible to implement a simpler and less expensive small gas concentrator.

By applying the gas concentrator of the valve according to the present invention, it is possible to implement a gas concentrator driven by a low-cost and miniaturized PSA and VPSA method.

By the connection structure of the direct valve according to the present invention it is possible to implement a gas concentrator driven by a PSA and VPSA method that can be driven by a low-power solenoid.

1 is a schematic diagram of a device operated by a VPSA method according to the prior art.

2 is a cross-sectional view of a valve for a compact oxygen concentrator for a PSA system according to the prior art.

3 is a schematic view of a conventional solenoid valve according to the prior art.

4 is a schematic view of a valve for a direct type integrated gas concentrator according to the present invention.

5 is a schematic diagram of a device operated by a VPSA method according to the present invention.

6 is a view showing the direction of the force according to the connection of the valve according to the present invention.

7 is a schematic diagram of a device operated by the PSA method according to the present invention.

Claims (6)

At least two adsorptive beds comprising adsorbents having an optional adsorption degree for a particular gas, a compressor for supplying a compressor body to the adsorption bed, a filter for filtering a mixed gas supplied to the compressor, and a A vacuum pump applying a vacuum pressure, a flow path connecting the adsorption bed, the compressor and the vacuum pump to control the flow path, an orifice connecting the production stages of the adsorption beds, and the production of the adsorption beds. In the gas concentrator provided with a regulator provided in the stage is driven by the VPSA process to concentrate the specific gas by the pressure difference between the pressure by the compressor and the vacuum pump by the vacuum pump, The valve has the same number of plungers as the suction bed, A spring for applying an elastic force to each of the plungers, It is provided with a solenoid which pulls and drives each said plunger when a current flows, Two openings and closing openings are respectively provided according to the driving of the plungers, and each of the suction beds is selectively connected to the flow paths of the compressor and the vacuum pump according to opening and closing of the openings. The vacuum pump is connected to the opening and closing direction of the spring side to apply the elastic force to the plunger, the compressor is connected to the opening and closing direction of the opposite side to the spring, the elastic force of the spring by the pressure and the vacuum pump by the compressor Gas concentrator, characterized in that act in the opposite direction of the vacuum pressure. The gas concentrator of claim 1, wherein the compressor and the vacuum pump are respectively driven by two pump heads provided in a single motor. According to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the check valve is opened and closed by the pressure difference between the outside and the adsorption bed by providing a closed check valve in parallel between the compressor and the valve flow path, and between the vacuum pump and the valve flow path, respectively. Gas concentrator. The gas concentrator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a closed check valve is provided at an outlet of the vacuum pump to seal the adsorbent to the outside when the entire apparatus is not driven to protect the adsorbent. At least two adsorptive beds comprising adsorbents having selective adsorption for a particular gas, a compressor for supplying a compressor body to the adsorption bed, a filter for filtering a mixed gas supplied to the compressor, and the adsorption bed and compressor And a valve for controlling the flow path, an orifice for connecting the production ends of the respective adsorption beds, and a regulator provided at the production end of each of the adsorption beds. In the gas concentrator driven by the PSA process to concentrate the specific gas by the pressure difference and the external pressure difference, The valve has the same number of plungers as the suction bed, A spring for applying an elastic force to each of the plungers, It is provided with a solenoid which pulls and drives each said plunger when a current flows, Two openings and closing openings are respectively provided according to driving of the plungers, and each suction bed is selectively connected to a compressor and an external flow path according to opening and closing of each opening and closing hole. The external connection port of the valve is connected to the opening and closing direction of the spring side to apply the elastic force to the plunger, the compressor is connected to the opening and closing direction of the opposite side of the spring so that the elastic force of the spring in the opposite direction to the pressure by the compressor Gas concentrator, characterized in that the action. The method according to claim 5, wherein a closed check valve is provided at a port connected to the outside of the valve when the adsorption bed is purged to seal the adsorption bed from the outside when the entire apparatus is not driven to protect the internal adsorbent. Gas concentrator.