JP2726240B2 - Oxygen-enriched gas supply device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying a so-called oxygen-enriched gas having an oxygen concentration higher than that of air.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an oxygen-enriched gas supply device having a humidifying unit for humidifying an oxygen-enriched gas. In particular, the present invention provides an easy-to-use and excellent oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus in which the humidifying means is connected in an improved manner. [0002] Conventionally, oxygen therapy for providing oxygen from an oxygen cylinder to a patient with respiratory disease has been performed. Recently, oxygen-enriched air obtained by concentrating oxygen in the air has been used. With the development of the oxygen therapy used, the treatment has become increasingly popular. In these oxygen therapies, when supplying a gas such as oxygen or oxygen-enriched air to a patient's nasal cavity, the gas is usually humidified to near saturated steam pressure in order to prevent the patient's nasal cavity from drying out. A device has been devised to supply gas. That is, in the case of oxygen from an oxygen cylinder, the humidity is too low as it is, so that it is supplied to a patient after being humidified by passing through, for example, a bubble type humidifier. In order to obtain an oxygen-enriched gas, an adsorption-type oxygen enricher or a membrane- type oxygen enricher is used. A humidifier is used to supply the patient with a humidified enriched gas that is hardly contained. However, such a humidifier is directly connected to a conduit means for leading out the oxygen-enriched gas obtained by a cylinder or an adsorption-type oxygen enricher and a conduit means of a supply means for supplying the humidified oxygen-enriched gas for use. Therefore, it is difficult to remove the humidifier and further attach it when, for example, injecting water into the humidifier. In particular, the adsorption type oxygen-enriched gas supply device for medical use is used continuously for a long period of time regardless of night and day. For example, the humidifier is detached and attached once or more daily. This imposes a heavy burden on patients and the like whose physical strength has declined, and improvements have been strongly desired. An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an oxygen-enriched gas supply device in which attachment and detachment of a humidifier are extremely simple. As a result of intensive studies to achieve the above object, it has been found that it is effective to connect a humidifier by a special connector means, and the present invention has been achieved. That is, the present invention provides an oxygen-enriched gas generating means having an oxygen concentration higher than that of air and lower in humidity, a humidifying means for humidifying the oxygen-enriched gas, and the humidified oxygen-enriched gas. In the oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus provided with a supply means for use of the humidifying means, the inlet-side conduit means and the outlet-side conduit means of the humidifying means are respectively connected to the conduit means from the generating means via the plug-in type connector means and the supply means. Connected to the conduit means, each male connector means comprising an outer tubular male member and an inner tubular male member, the inner tubular male member being fitted into the outer tubular male member and having a sealing fit. The two mating connector means are integrated in parallel and secure their sealed fit. For this purpose, the outer tubular fitting member has fixing means which can be releasably pushed into the outer peripheral groove provided in the inner tubular fitting member in one of the fitting connectors. Is provided. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a humidifying means is connected by a one-touch fitting type connector means in an oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus according to a reference example of the present invention. That is, the one-touch type fitting connector means includes a tubular fitting member including an inner tubular fitting member 1 and an outer tubular fitting member 2, the inner fitting member 1 having outer peripheral grooves 3 and 4, and the outer fitting. One of the outer peripheral grooves 4 is fitted so as to be fitted into the opening of the member 2 together with the sealing packing member 5 set in the outer peripheral groove 3, and the outer fitting member 2 can be fixed while being fitted and sealed in the outer side. It has a fixing member 6 positioned to protrude at the portion.
The connector means can release the fixation by pushing the pushing means 7 so that the fixing member 6 does not project into the outer peripheral groove 4, that is, the inner fitting member 1 and the outer fitting member 2 can be separated. . Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the humidifying means includes lid means 13 having an inlet 11 for an oxygen-enriched gas to be humidified and an outlet 12 for a humidified oxygen-enriched gas, and water or an aqueous solution 14. It has a filled receiving means 15 and a tube means 17 provided with an opening 16 having a large number of pores or the like at the tip and connected to the inlet 11 of the oxygen-enriched gas. The oxygen-enriched gas is humidified by passing through the filling liquid 14 as bubbles 18. As a preferred form of the humidifying means, there is a case in which a core means (not shown) for limiting a region where the gas bubbles rising from the opening 16 rises to a part in the receiver means 15 is provided. can give. Preferably, the core means surrounds the opening 16 and the liquid filling area above the opening 16 and has an opening at the lower part and communicates with the outside liquid filling area. Further, the core means which partitions the upper space of the humidifier while communicating with each other is easier to fix the humidifier at a predetermined position in the humidifier. In an oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus according to a reference example of the present invention, the gas inlet 11 of the humidifying means is connected to the outer fitting member 2 of the fitting type connector means by conduit means, and the inner fitting member 1 is Conduit means 21 for leading out the oxygen-enriched gas obtained from the enriched gas generating means is connected thereto, and the conduit means 21 is connected to the oxygen-enriched gas supply device so that the axis of the plug-in connector means is substantially vertical. It is fixed to the upper wall member 22 of the humidifying means accommodating section constituting the section. In addition, this fitting type connector may be used with the inside fitting member being on the lower side. In this manner, the humidifying means mounted and suspended on the wall member 22 via the one-touch type fitting connector which is easy to attach and detach is more easily fitted to the fitting connector. This is advantageous because the humidifying means can be mounted in an appropriate state without applying excessive force in the lateral direction. The outlet 12 of the humidified oxygen-enriched gas is connected via conduit means 23 to conduit means 24 for supply means fixed to the wall means. It is preferable to use a plastic flexible tube as the conduit means 23, and in some cases, a fitting type collector may be used at an intermediate portion thereof. Further, the material of the plug-in type connector and the conduit means before and after it is not particularly limited, but the weight is reduced, the corrosion resistance,
Considering the price and the like, a plastic material is preferable. FIG. 2 shows an oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus, when the humidifying means is connected by a coaxial double-tube type one-touch fitting type connector means, the fitting type is used. FIG. 3 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a connector means. That is, the connector means shown in FIG. 2 includes an inner tube side, that is, an inner tubular fitting member 31 for gas introduction, connected to a conduit means from an oxygen-enriched gas generating means such as an adsorption type oxygen enricher, and a humidifying means. The outer tube fitting member 32 for gas introduction connected to the gas inflow conduit means is in a sealingly fitted state via the packing member 33 for sealing, and further connected to the outflow conduit means for the humidified oxygen-enriched gas from the humidification means. The outer tubular side, i.e., the outer tubular insert for gas delivery 35, and the inner tubular insert 34 for gas delivery connected to the conduit means to the supply means for use of the humidified oxygen-enriched gas, comprise a sealing packing. It is in a state of being fitted with a seal via the member 36. Further, the connector means has a fixing member 38 which is positioned so as to protrude from a part of the outer circumferential groove 37 of the tubular fitting member 34 so that each of these double tubes can be fixed while being fitted and sealed. Is provided. By pushing in the pushing means 40 provided with the spring means 39, the fixing member 38 is released so as not to protrude into the outer peripheral groove 37, and the inner fitting members 31, 34 and the outer fitting members 32, 35 are respectively moved. Can be separated. The sealing packing member used for the fitting type connector means in the oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention is not particularly limited. A letter-shaped soft rubber packing member is preferred. As described above, the double-tube type plug-in connector as shown in FIG. 2 allows one-touch attachment and detachment of the humidifying means, and is an example of an embodiment particularly excellent in operability. In the oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus of the present invention, two fitting connector means are integrated in parallel and one of them is provided with a fixing member. The oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus of the present invention includes the humidifier described above in addition to the oxygen-enriched gas generating means and the supply means for supplying the oxygen-enriched gas for use. The oxygen-enriched gas generating means is oxygen-enriched air having a higher oxygen concentration than air or a gas mainly composed of oxygen, and has a relative humidity at room temperature of, for example, about 50% or less or about 30% or less. Means for generating oxygen-enriched gas with low humidity. Specific examples thereof include oxygen-enriched devices and the like to obtain an oxygen enriched air from the air, such as adsorption-type oxygen enrichment device. The oxygen-enriched gas to say this way, in the present invention, means an oxygen-enriched <br/> air. The adsorption-type oxygen enricher obtains oxygen-enriched air from the air using an adsorbent having a difference in adsorption capacity between oxygen and nitrogen. At this time, moisture is also separated to remove the enriched air. It is necessary to add more humidifiers if the humidified air is dried . As a specific example of the adsorption-type oxygen enricher, which is one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, at least one adsorbent bed filled with an adsorbent for selectively adsorbing nitrogen gas is provided in the adsorbent bed. Compressor means for flowing pressurized air,
And a conduit means in the enricher for removing oxygen-enriched air from the adsorbent bed and flowing the air to the outlet (that is, the conduit means 21 illustrated in FIG. 1). A pressure swing adsorption type oxygen enricher which is operated so as to repeat a pressurization-decompression cycle singly or alternately. In any oxygen-enriched gas generating means,
It is desirable to have means for adjusting the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched air to be used. Further, the apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the humidifier is attached to the oxygen-enriched gas generating means, particularly the oxygen-enriched device, by means of a one-touch type plug-in connector on the outlet pipe of the oxygen-enriched gas obtained as described above. The operability of driving can be further improved by facilitating the attachment and detachment of the humidifier. In this case, it is preferable to provide a cover on the outside of the humidifier and the plug-in type connector, because unnecessary force can be prevented from being applied to the humidifier from the outside. In addition, if there is a means to detect the pressure inside the humidifier, such as by detecting the pressure inside the humidifier, and issue an alarm when the connector is not properly connected, more reliable operation is possible Become. Further, any type of supply means for using the oxygen-enriched gas in the apparatus of the present invention may be used, and specific examples thereof include a nasal cannula type and a mask type in which the tip of a thin tube is inserted into the nasal cavity. Are given. Depending on the case, the humidifier may be one in which only a tube is attached to the gas outlet, or one having a joint to which a nasal cannula or the like is further attached. That is, the supply means referred to in the present invention means a conduit means or the like attached to the gas outlet of the humidifier. The device of the present invention also includes conduit means between the oxygen-enriched gas generating means and the humidifier, and in some cases, the humidifier can be positioned very close to the user by lengthening the conduit means. At least, the formation of water droplets there may be further prevented by shortening the conduit means downstream of the humidifier. The oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus of the present invention is very easy to attach and detach the humidifying means. Particularly, in the case of a medical adsorption type oxygen gas supply apparatus, a burden is imposed on the user. There are small advantages. Further, when the device is mounted in such a manner that the humidifying means is suspended with the fitting type connector in a vertical direction, an excessive force due to its own weight of the humidifying means is hardly applied to the connector, and the connector uses its own weight to utilize the connector. It is very easy to remove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 relates to a reference example of an oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention, in which a portion in which humidifying means is connected using a fitting type connector is shown by a cross-sectional view of each member. Things. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating another preferred male connector according to a reference example of the device of the present invention.

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (56) References JP-A-5-154200 (JP, A)                 JP-A-61-92676 (JP, A)                 JP-A-54-22992 (JP, A)                 JP-A-53-114296 (JP, A)                 60-533 (JP, U)                 Tokiko Hei 6-104123 (JP, B2)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A means for generating an oxygen-enriched gas having an oxygen concentration higher than that of air and a lower humidity, a humidifying means for humidifying the oxygen-enriched gas, and a supply means for using the humidified oxygen-enriched gas for use In the pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus for a patient with respiratory disease, the inlet-side conduit means and the outlet-side conduit means of the humidifying means are connected to the generating means through a double-tube type plug-in connector means. Connected to the conduit means and the conduit means to the supply means, each male connector means comprising an outer tubular male member and an inner tubular male member, the inner tubular male member being connected to the outer tubular male member. And can be fitted with a seal.
The two mating connector means are integrated in parallel, and are released into the outer peripheral groove provided on the inner tubular mating member in one of the mating connector means to fix the sealed state. call, characterized in that the fixing means which can pushed in a state capable of those that allowed provided on the outer tubular fitting member
Pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen-enriched gas supply device for patients with inhaler disease .