WO2021149909A1 - Portable oxygen supply device having remaining use-time display function - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable oxygen supply device having a remaining use-time display function, the portable oxygen supply device comprising: an oxygen tank in which high-pressure oxygen is stored; a decompressing device for decompressing high-pressure oxygen introduced according to an opening operation of an oxygen tank valve installed on an upper part of the oxygen tank; a digital pressure gauge provided above the decompressing device and visually displaying a remaining use-time of the oxygen tank according to a change in pressure of the oxygen tank; a flowmeter connected to one side of the decompressing device and measuring the supplied amount of oxygen decompressed in the decompressing device; and an oxygen bottle provided under the flowmeter, wherein an oxygen hose connected to a mask, which a patient wears, is connected to the oxygen bottle.

Description

Portable oxygen supply device with available time display function

The present invention relates to a portable oxygen supply device, and more particularly, to a portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function that allows a user to easily check the available time of an oxygen tank regardless of various pressure units. .

A portable oxygen supply device is a device for continuously supplying oxygen to a patient when he or she moves to an outpatient clinic for treatment or treatment. An oxygen tank (oxygen container or oxygen cylinder), pressure reducing device, pressure gauge, flow meter (flow meter) and an oxygen bottle.

The current portable oxygen supply device is a small container of 10L or less, and the use time is short, so there is a risk that dangerous situations such as human accidents may occur as oxygen supply is interrupted when waiting time for examination or treatment time is delayed.

In fact, due to the unconfirmation of the remaining amount of the oxygen tank of the portable oxygen supply device, the oxygen supply was stopped during use, resulting in the death of the patient.

In order to solve this problem, in the prior art, in order to prevent the oxygen supply from being interrupted while the patient is moving or waiting for an examination, the remaining amount of oxygen is checked before use of the oxygen tank, and if necessary, it is supplemented (filled). There are several oxygen tanks.

Meanwhile, the user is provided with a calculation formula that calculates the minimum amount of oxygen required in consideration of the test required time, the amount of oxygen currently entering, the transfer time, and the test waiting time, and allows the user to check the amount of oxygen remaining through the pressure gauge.

As another method, the replacement of the oxygen tank is induced by attaching a sticker to the pressure gauge and prohibiting the use when the scale on the pressure gauge falls below a certain range. The safe use time of the oxygen tank is provided in a table through the oxygen injection flow rate.

However, the conventional portable oxygen supply device as described above has to check the available time through the table provided each time according to the pressure change of the oxygen tank, and it is difficult to directly apply it to various patients.

In addition, in the conventional mobile oxygen supply device, it is necessary to check the amount of compressed oxygen remaining in the oxygen tank by checking the needle on the pressure gauge. In this case, since the waiting time and treatment time are different for each patient who needs oxygen, the residual compression of the oxygen tank There is a problem in that it is difficult to determine whether oxygen is sufficient for each patient. In addition, there is a problem in that it is not possible to accurately determine the remaining amount of compressed oxygen only with the needle on the pressure gauge.

In addition, there is a problem in that the remaining amount or the usable time cannot be easily checked with the pressure gauge alone because the user or the people around him do not have expert knowledge about the gas.

[Prior art literature]

(Patent Document 1) Republic of Korea Utility Model Publication No. 20-0141829 (January 6, 1999)

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and has a usable time display function that allows users such as patients, guardians, or nearby people to easily check the usable time of the oxygen tank regardless of various pressure units. It is to provide a portable oxygen supply device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function that displays the actual available time of the oxygen tank, not the needle on the pressure gauge, so that it can be used according to the conditions of various patients with different oxygen consumption levels. will be.

Another object of the present invention is to generate an alarm according to the minimum available time of the oxygen tank, so that the user can recognize the replacement time of the oxygen tank, thereby preventing the occurrence of fatal accidents. to provide the device.

In order to achieve the above object, a portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function according to the present invention includes an oxygen tank in which high-pressure oxygen is stored; a pressure reducing device for decompressing the high-pressure oxygen introduced in response to an opening operation of an oxygen tank valve installed on the oxygen tank; a digital pressure gauge provided above the pressure reducing device and visually displaying the available time of use of the oxygen tank according to a change in pressure of the oxygen tank; a flow meter connected to one side of the pressure reducing device and measuring a supply amount of oxygen decompressed in the pressure reducing device; and an oxygen bottle provided under the flow meter and connected to an oxygen hose connected to a mask worn by a patient. It is characterized in that it includes.

In addition, the digital pressure gauge includes a sensor unit for measuring the pressure of oxygen supplied to the patient from the oxygen tank; a control unit for calculating a usable time according to the amount of change in pressure measured from the sensor unit and outputting a display signal for visually displaying the calculated available time; and a display unit for displaying the available time of use of the oxygen tank according to the display signal output from the control unit. It is characterized in that it includes.

In addition, the display unit is characterized in that the available time of the oxygen tank is displayed in numbers so that the patient, guardian, or a nearby person (user) can easily understand.

In addition, the digital pressure gauge further includes a setting unit and a sound generating unit, the setting unit sets the minimum available time of the oxygen tank, the control unit according to the minimum available time of the oxygen tank set by the setting unit The alarm generation is controlled, and the sound generator generates a sound when the minimum available time of the oxygen tank elapses under the control of the controller.

As described above, according to the portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function according to the present invention, a user such as a patient, a guardian, or a nearby person can easily check the available time of the oxygen tank regardless of various pressure units, It is possible to prevent the occurrence of human accidents due to the interruption of oxygen supply.

In addition, by displaying the actual available time of the oxygen tank instead of the needle on the pressure gauge, it can be used according to the conditions of various patients with different oxygen consumption. There is no need to check, and work efficiency is increased. In addition, even if a dangerous situation occurs due to the depletion of oxygen in the oxygen tank, a quick response is possible.

In addition, since the user can recognize the replacement time by generating a sound at a preset time before the oxygen in the oxygen tank is depleted, an emergency accident can be prevented in advance.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen supply device for movement having a usable time display function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the digital flow meter shown in FIG. 1 .

Figure 3 is an exemplary diagram schematically shown in Table 1.

4 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen supply device for movement having an available time display function according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily implement them with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, it should be noted that the same reference numbers are used as much as possible when indicating the same configuration in other drawings. In addition, in the description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or a known configuration may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, certain features presented in the drawings are enlarged, reduced, or simplified for ease of description, and the drawings and components thereof are not necessarily drawn to scale.

However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate these details.

In addition, in the following, terms indicating directions such as 'left', 'right', 'front', 'rear', 'up' and 'down' are used to indicate each direction based on the state shown in each figure defined as

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen supply device for movement having a usable time display function according to the present invention.

The portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function according to an embodiment of the present invention allows a patient, guardian, or a nearby person (hereinafter referred to as a user) to easily check the available time of the oxygen tank regardless of various pressure units. It was designed to prevent the occurrence of casualties due to the interruption of supply.

In addition, by displaying the actual usable time of the oxygen tank rather than the needle on the pressure gauge, it can be used according to the conditions of various patients with different oxygen consumption, enabling active coping.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the oxygen supply device for movement having the available time display function according to an embodiment of the present invention is an oxygen tank 10, a pressure reducing device 20, a digital pressure gauge 30, a flow meter ( 40) and an oxygen bottle 50.

The oxygen tank 10 stores high-pressure oxygen therein.

The oxygen tank 10 may be formed of a conventional movable oxygen tank (or oxygen container). The volume and unit of the oxygen tank 10 may vary according to standards determined by the relevant institution, but in the present invention, the oxygen tank 10 having a volume of 5L or 10L will be described as an example.

On the other hand, the high-pressure oxygen stored in the oxygen tank 10 is discharged according to the opening operation of the oxygen tank valve 11 provided at the upper part of the oxygen tank 10 and introduced into the pressure reducing device 20 .

The pressure reducing device 20 serves to depressurize the high-pressure oxygen introduced according to the opening operation of the oxygen tank valve 11 installed at the upper portion of the oxygen tank 10 . The pressure reducing device 20 may be formed of a conventional regulator.

The digital pressure gauge 30 is provided on the upper portion of the pressure reducing device 20 , and serves to visually display the usable time of the oxygen tank 10 according to the pressure change of the oxygen tank 10 . This digital pressure gauge 30 will be described in detail with reference to other drawings.

The flow meter 40 is connected to one side of the pressure reducing device 20 , and serves to measure the supply amount of oxygen decompressed in the pressure reducing device 20 . The flow meter 40 may include a conventional flow gauge 41 and a flow control valve 42 .

The oxygen bottle 50 is detached from the lower part of the flow meter 40 , and an oxygen hose (not shown) connected to a mask (not shown) worn by the patient is connected.

The four components 10 , 20 , 40 , and 50 listed above are the minimum components for implementing the technology proposed in the present invention, and are described briefly because they are obvious to those skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, the digital pressure gauge 30 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 .

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the digital flow meter shown in FIG. 1 .

In the past, by using an analog pressure gauge, the user checked the amount of compressed oxygen remaining in the oxygen tank by checking the needle on the pressure gauge. In this case, the waiting time and treatment time are different for each patient who needs oxygen, so the amount of oxygen in the oxygen tank is different. It was difficult to determine if it was sufficient to supply the patient.

In addition, since the needle on the pressure gauge alone cannot confirm the exact remaining amount of compressed oxygen, and the user does not have expert knowledge about gas (oxygen), it is not possible to easily check the available time.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, the digital pressure gauge 30 is applied, and the available time can be easily checked.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the digital pressure gauge 30 according to the present invention includes a sensor unit 31 , a control unit 32 , a display unit 33 , a setting unit 34 , and a sound generating unit 35 .

The sensor unit 31 serves to measure the pressure of oxygen supplied to the patient from the oxygen tank 10 and transmit it to the control unit 32 .

More specifically, the compressed oxygen charging pressure of the oxygen tank 10 of the present invention is charged at a pressure of about 12Mpa, and the oxygen is consumed by 2L to 10L per minute depending on the condition of the patient. At this time, the pressure of the oxygen tank 10 is gradually decreased according to the amount of oxygen consumed. The sensor unit 31 measures the gradually decreasing pressure and transmits it to the control unit 32 .

That is, the pressure of the oxygen tank 10 is changed according to the amount of oxygen supplied from the oxygen tank 10 to the patient, that is, the oxygen consumption amount. At this time, the sensor unit 31 measures the changed pressure. To this end, the sensor unit 31 may be formed of a conventional pressure measuring sensor. However, this is only an example, and various known pressure measuring means capable of measuring the pressure of the oxygen tank 10 may be applied.

The control unit 32 calculates the usable time according to the amount of change in the pressure measured by the sensor unit 31 , and outputs a display signal for visually displaying the calculated available time.

More specifically, the control unit 32 is built in the digital pressure gauge 30 , and calculates the usable time according to the pressure reduction amount of the oxygen tank 10 .

The usable time is a time indicating how much the patient can actually use the oxygen stored in the oxygen tank 10, and it can be calculated by comparing the current pressure with the pressure value after a predetermined time and calculating the time when it becomes zero. .

Such a calculation method will be described in more detail by taking Table 1 below as an example.

Item												time
	0 minutes	1 min	2 minutes	3 minutes	4 minutes	----	56 minutes	57 minutes	58 minutes	59 minutes	60 minutes
pressure	120	118	116	114	112	----	8	6	4	2	0
Pressure change per minute (bar)	0	2	2	2	2	----	2	2	2	2	2
Available time (minutes)		59	58	57	56	----	4	3	2	One	0

Table 1 above shows that the available time is calculated by the control unit 32 according to the pressure change, assuming that the oxygen tank 10 has a volume of 5L and the oxygen stored therein is consumed at 10L per minute. will be. In order to explain this in more detail, the schematic diagram of Table 1 is shown in FIG. 3 .

Figure 3 is an exemplary diagram schematically shown in Table 1.

Referring to FIG. 3 and Table 1, when the oxygen tank 10 is first opened, the pressure is 120, and as 10 L of oxygen per minute is supplied to the patient, the pressure is 118, 116, ... , change to 0.

In addition, as shown on the right side of FIG. 3 , it can be seen that the available time is decreased every 1 minute. That is, the usable time is reduced according to the decrease in pressure, and this usable time can be calculated by the formula shown in Table 2 below.

Available time = current pressure/pressure change

In this case, when 10 L of oxygen is consumed per minute, how much pressure in the oxygen tank 10 is consumed per minute and how much the current pressure remains can be confirmed through the calculation method described in Table 2 below.

In the case of using 10L of oxygen per minute, the theoretical pressure calculation	Oxygen amount = pressure * oxygen tank capacity	= 120 * 5 = 600L
	Oxygen consumption = Oxygen consumption per minute * Time (minutes)	= 10 * 1 = 10L
	Oxygen remaining after 1 minute = Oxygen amount - Oxygen consumption per minute	= 600 - 10 = 590L
	Convert the residual oxygen amount to pressure after 1 minute = oxygen amount/oxygen tank volume	= 590/5 = 118 bar

That is, using the pressure calculation formula shown in Table 3 above, the value obtained by changing the residual amount of oxygen after 1 minute into pressure can be known. Accordingly, it can be confirmed that the pressure is uniformly reduced by 2 per minute from the initial pressure of 120, and as the pressure decreases by 2 per minute, the current pressure can be known. On the other hand, the consumption of oxygen stored in the oxygen tank 10 may be changed according to the breathing of the patient.

In the case of a patient whose oxygen consumption is 5L per minute, the usable time will be increased compared to the patient who consumes 10L of oxygen per minute as described above. This will be described with reference to Table 4 below.

Item												time
	0 minutes	1 min	2 minutes	3 minutes	4 minutes	----	56 minutes	57 minutes	58 minutes	59 minutes	60 minutes
pressure	120	119	118	117	116	----	4	3	2	One	0
Pressure change per minute (bar)	0	One	One	One	One	----	One	One	One	One	One
Available time (minutes)		119	118	117	116	----	4	3	2	One	0

Table 4 above shows that the available time is calculated by the control unit 32 according to the pressure change, assuming that the oxygen tank 10 has a volume of 5L and the oxygen stored therein is consumed 5L per minute will be.

Referring to Table 4, when the oxygen tank 10 is first opened, the pressure is 120, and as 5 L of oxygen per minute is supplied to the patient, the pressure is 119, 118, ... , change to 0.

In addition, as can be seen through the amount of pressure change per minute calculated according to the formula described in Table 2 above, it can be seen that the pressure is uniformly reduced by 1 per minute.

And if the current pressure, ie, 119, is divided by the pressure change amount, ie, 1, 119 minutes becomes the usable time.

Meanwhile, the oxygen consumption of the oxygen tank 10 may vary according to the patient's respiration amount.

In this case, it will be described with reference to Table 5 below.

Item														time
	0 minutes	1 min	2 minutes	3 minutes	4 minutes	5 minutes	6 minutes	7 minutes	8 minutes	9 minutes	10 minutes	11 minutes	----
pressure	120	118	116	114	112	110	109	108	107	106	105	103	----
Pressure change per minute (bar)	0	2	2	2	2	2	One	One	One	One	One	2	----
Available time (minutes)		59	58	57	56	55	109	108	107	106	105	52	----

Table 5 shows that the oxygen tank 10 has a volume of 5L, and the oxygen stored therein is changed to consume 10L per minute, 5L per minute after 5 minutes, and then change to consume 10L per minute after 5 minutes again. In this case, it shows that the usable time is calculated by the control unit 32 according to the pressure change. As can be seen from Table 5, when the oxygen consumption is 10L, the pressure decreases by 2 per minute until 5 minutes, and when the oxygen consumption changes to 5L as the patient's respiration changes, the pressure is reduced by 1 again per minute. Accordingly, although the usable time is 55 minutes from 5 minutes, it can be seen that the usable time is increased to 109 minutes when the oxygen consumption is changed to 6 minutes. Then, it can be seen that the usable time is changed in the period of 10 to 11 minutes in which oxygen consumption is increased from 5L to 10L again.

As can be seen from this point, even if the oxygen consumption varies, the amount of pressure change is constant, so that the usable time can be calculated accordingly, and the changed usable time can be checked.

That is, even if the pressure of the oxygen tank 10 changes due to the patient's respiration or external factors, it can be directly applied to various patients and used. There is no need to check the remaining amount of Due to this, the efficiency of the operation is increased, and even if a dangerous situation such as oxygen shortage in the oxygen tank 10 occurs, a quick response is possible.

In this way, the control unit 32 calculates the available time through the calculation methods shown in Tables 1 to 5 above. Then, a display signal for visually displaying the calculated available time is output and transmitted to the display unit 33 .

Referring back to FIG. 2 , the display unit 33 serves to display the usable time of the oxygen tank 10 according to a display signal output from the control unit 32 .

The display unit 33 is a display configured on the digital pressure gauge 30 and displays the available time calculated by the control unit 32 in numbers so that the user can easily understand it. That is, by displaying only numbers regardless of the various pressure units, the available time of the oxygen tank 10 can be immediately interpreted by a patient, a guardian, or a nearby person.

However, this is only an example of the present invention, and by displaying not only numbers, but also phrases such as minutes/seconds, the user can more easily check the available time of the oxygen tank 10 .

On the other hand, the present invention generates an alarm according to the minimum available time of the oxygen tank 10 so that the user can recognize the replacement time of the oxygen tank 10 to prevent the occurrence of human accidents, the digital pressure gauge 30 The setting unit 34 and the sound generating unit 35 may be configured.

The setting unit 34 serves to set the minimum usable time of the oxygen tank 10 . That is, the setting unit 34 is composed of a plurality of buttons so that the user can set the time that can be used before the oxygen in the oxygen tank 10 is completely consumed, that is, the minimum available time.

On the other hand, the setting unit 34 may be configured to be able to set not only the minimum available time of the oxygen tank 10 , but also the minimum possible pressure. Here, the minimum possible pressure may be defined as a pressure that is minimally applied to the oxygen tank 10 before the pressure applied to the oxygen tank 10 becomes zero.

When the minimum available time or minimum available pressure of the oxygen tank 10 set by the setting unit 34 is set, the control unit 32 controls alarm generation according to the minimum available time or minimum available pressure. That is, when the minimum available time or minimum possible pressure set by the setting unit 34 is reached, the operation of the sound generating unit 35 is controlled to prevent complete consumption of oxygen stored in the oxygen tank 10 .

Here, the sound generating unit 35 serves to generate a sound when the minimum available time or minimum possible pressure of the oxygen tank 10 has elapsed under the control of the controller 32 .

The sound generator 35 may be implemented as a speaker, and may be installed at a location that can efficiently notify the user of the sound. For example, the sound generating unit 35 is preferably provided on one lower side of the display unit 33 so that the user can easily check the display unit 33 when the sound is generated.

In this case, the sound output from the sound generator 35 may be a previously stored sound. For example, a message such as "There is not much oxygen left" is stored in advance in the control unit 32, and the control unit 32 stores the previously stored message according to the minimum available time or minimum possible pressure setting of the setting unit 34. It is transmitted to the sound generating unit 35, and the sound generating unit 35 outputs the received message.

For this reason, since a sound is generated at a preset time before the oxygen in the oxygen tank 10 is depleted, so that the user can recognize the replacement time, a safety accident can be prevented in advance.

The invention made by the present inventors has been described in detail according to the above embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

That is, in the above embodiment, it has been described that the digital pressure gauge 30 is installed in the place of the existing pressure gauge (analog), but the present invention is not limited thereto.

4 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen supply device for movement having an available time display function according to another embodiment of the present invention.

For example, the present invention can be modified so that the digital pressure gauge 30 can be installed next to the analog pressure gauge 60 as shown in FIG. 4 . In this way, as the two pressure gauges 30 and 60 are used at the same time, the reliability of the use time can be increased.

Claims (4)

1. an oxygen tank in which high-pressure oxygen is stored;

   a pressure reducing device for decompressing the high-pressure oxygen introduced in response to an opening operation of an oxygen tank valve installed on the oxygen tank;

   a digital pressure gauge provided above the pressure reducing device and visually displaying the available time of use of the oxygen tank according to a change in pressure of the oxygen tank;

   a flow meter connected to one side of the pressure reducing device and measuring a supply amount of oxygen decompressed in the pressure reducing device; and

   an oxygen bottle provided under the flow meter and connected to an oxygen hose connected to a mask worn by a patient; Oxygen supply device for movement having a usable time display function, characterized in that it comprises a.
2. The method according to claim 1, The digital pressure gauge

   a sensor unit for measuring the pressure of oxygen supplied to the patient from the oxygen tank;

   a control unit for calculating a usable time according to the amount of change in pressure measured from the sensor unit and outputting a display signal for visually displaying the calculated available time; and

   a display unit for displaying the available time of use of the oxygen tank according to the display signal output from the control unit; Oxygen supply device for movement having a usable time display function, characterized in that it comprises a.
3. The method according to claim 2, The display unit

   A portable oxygen supply device having a usable time display function, characterized in that the available time of the oxygen tank is displayed in numbers so that a patient, guardian, or a nearby person (user) can easily understand it.
4. The method according to claim 2, The digital pressure gauge

   setting unit; and

   sound generator; further comprising,

   The setting unit sets the minimum available time of the oxygen tank,

   The control unit controls the alarm generation according to the minimum available time of the oxygen tank set by the setting unit,

   Wherein the sound generator generates a sound when the minimum available time of the oxygen tank has elapsed under the control of the controller.

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