JPH09192223A - Oxygen-enriched air supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an oxygen-enriched air supply device which allows the oxygen concentration of oxygen-enriched air to be controlled easily. SOLUTION: This device has an oxygen-enriched air generation means 1 having a pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator, a flow control means 2, and a supply amount setting means 3 having an oxygen-enriched air supply means and capable of setting oxygen concentration. The oxygen concentrator has an adsorption tower having at least either of plural air inlets and air outlets 41 to 43 so that a plurality of gas retention times on an adsorption floor 31 can be set, and a combination of either of the plural air inlets and outlets is selected to correspond to the oxygen concentration set by the supply amount setting means 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for supplying oxygen-enriched air separated from the atmosphere and containing oxygen at a concentration higher than that of air, and more particularly to oxygen flowing into the supply means for use. The present invention relates to an oxygen-enriched air supply device capable of controlling enriched air to a desired oxygen concentration.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Oxygen inhalation is one of the most effective treatments for respiratory diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. In recent years, an oxygen-enriched air supply device has been used for this therapy. It has started to be done. For patients who use this oxygen-enriched air supply device, when the required oxygen amount is small, the flow rate may be about 0.1 to 0.5 liter / minute, and when it is large, 4 to 6 liter / minute. There may be a degree.

[0003]

In such a conventional oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus, since the necessary change in the oxygen supply amount can be dealt with by changing the oxygen supply amount by changing the flow amount, particularly when the flow amount is small. In some cases, patients could not feel that they were being supplied with oxygen-enriched air. Further, since the flow rate is controlled with an extremely small amount, the variation is likely to be large, and the control is difficult.

[0004] In general, these gases have almost no moisture in oxygen gas, and therefore a humidifying operation is required to provide them for breathing. When humidification is required, generally, at a low flow rate, it is difficult to adjust the humidification in the humidifier, and the humidification tends to be relatively excessive and drainage is likely to occur. This drain is generated because the oxygen is cooled in an extension tube or a cannula serving as an oxygen supply conduit and may enter the nose of the patient, which is not preferable and is often provided with some removing means. In any case, the generation of drainage is neither hygienic nor visually preferable.

[0005]

As a result of intensive studies conducted by the present inventor in order to solve the above-mentioned inconveniences in the conventional oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus, it was found that the concentration variable system is adopted instead of the conventional flow rate variable system. The present invention has been achieved by finding that inconvenience can be solved.

That is, the present invention provides an oxygen-enriched air generating means having a pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator, a flow rate control means provided in a flow path for supplying oxygen-enriched air from the generating means to a user, and In an oxygen-enriched air supply device having an oxygen-enriched air supply unit provided on the downstream side of the flow rate control unit, the device further sets a supply amount capable of setting the oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched air supplied from the supply unit. The oxygen concentrator has an adsorption column having a plurality of at least one of an air supply port and an outlet for oxygen-enriched air so that a plurality of residence times of gas in the adsorption bed can be set, and An oxygen-enriched air supply device characterized in that any one of the plurality of air supply ports and the outlet for oxygen-enriched air is selected in accordance with the oxygen concentration set by the setting means. I will provide a.

Although the present invention essentially controls to vary the oxygen concentration, the formulation provided to the user may not be the oxygen concentration but the flow rate. Therefore, not only the case where the supply amount setting means itself directly sets the oxygen concentration, but the method in which the setting is the flow rate but the control is the oxygen concentration is also conceivable.

Thus, in the present invention, when the oxygen concentration is set to be lowered by the supply amount setting means, the set concentration causes the gas flow path of the adsorption bed to be located on the downstream side and / or on the upstream side. The gas concentration is changed to take out gas from the outlet, and the oxygen concentration decreases while the amount of oxygen-enriched air generated is almost maintained. Further, if the setting to reduce the flow rate is made, it is regarded as equivalent to the instruction to reduce the oxygen concentration, and the switching of the air supply port and / or the extraction port as described above is performed.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings as necessary.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the oxygen-enriched air supply device of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which one air supply port is provided and a plurality of oxygen-enriched air extraction ports are provided.

Pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator 1 according to the present invention
As an adsorbent-type oxygen concentrator, an oxygen-enriched air is generated by concentrating oxygen in the air by passing through an adsorption bed that preferentially adsorbs nitrogen over oxygen such as zeolite.

The oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus of the present invention is such an adsorption-type oxygen concentrator, which is an adsorption tower having an air feed port and / or an oxygen-enriched air take-out port at a plurality of points on the adsorption bed. And an oxygen concentrator having. The residence time of the gas in the adsorption bed is changed by changing the combination of the air supply port and the extraction port. In an adsorption tower having a plurality of air outlets and a single outlet, if pressurized air is introduced from the air outlets downstream of the flow passage of the pressurized air among the air inlets, the inside of the adsorption bed The gas residence time is short, and oxygen-enriched air with a lower oxygen concentration flows out from the outlet of the oxygen concentrator. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in the adsorption tower in which the air supply port is provided at one location and the outlets for oxygen-enriched air are provided at a plurality of locations, the oxygen-enriched air flowing out from the further downstream outlet is increased. It becomes the oxygen concentration. Furthermore, a plurality of air supply ports and a plurality of air discharge ports may be provided, and they may be combined. The flow path switching valve 8 is required as a means for switching these flow paths.

In the present invention, the supply amount setting means 3 capable of setting the oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched air in accordance with the oxygen supply amount to be used by the patient, which is determined by the doctor's prescription, for example, generates oxygen-enriched air. Means and an electric signal as a medium, and the desired air inlet and outlet of the pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator are selected in conjunction with the oxygen concentration set by the setting means, and the oxygen enriched air of the set oxygen concentration is selected. Are introduced into the feeder. For convenience, the switching valve 8 is controlled by the control, but this control may of course be manual.

Specifically, for example, in the case of an oxygen-enriched air supply device of a type in which one air supply port is provided and a plurality of oxygen-enriched air extraction ports are provided, the oxygen-enriched air extraction port side of the adsorption tower is provided. A flow path switching valve 8 is provided, and when the oxygen concentration is lowered in the supply amount setting means 3, the switching valve 8 is switched so as to be taken out from the air supply port on the more upstream side, and the oxygen concentration of the lower concentration is increased. Oxygen-enriched air having a desired set oxygen concentration is introduced into the supply device.

The relationship between the oxygen concentration set in the supply amount setting means 3 and the generation amount and oxygen concentration of oxygen-enriched air in the pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator of the generating means corresponds to the performance of the oxygen concentrator 1. Then, it can be determined by measuring in advance for each of the air supply port or the air outlet.

The supply amount setting means 3 is, for example, a panel on which a display showing a specific oxygen concentration, buttons, knobs, etc. are present,
A control system that switches the switching valve 8 in synchronism therewith, or one in which the oxygen concentration can be directly set by a display provided on the switching valve itself, and further, corresponds to the case where the prescription is flow rate Then, instead of the above-mentioned oxygen concentration, the flow rate is displayed, and the flow rate can be set formally.

The oxygen concentrations that can be set by the supply amount setting means 3 are, for example, 40%, 50%, 60% and 7%.
In order to supply oxygen-enriched air stably, it is desirable to be able to set the concentration in a narrow range centered on each level of 0% and 80%, for example, a range of 20% or less.

The oxygen-enriched air supply device of the present invention is
The supply amount of oxygen-enriched air in the supply means is 1.0 to 6.0.
It is desirable to be able to feed at a level of liter / min, particularly preferably about 1.5 to 5.5 liter / min.

In the oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched air flowing out of the generating means and introduced into the flow rate control means 2 is substantially constant. Further, in order to absorb the fluctuation of the generated amount in the oxygen concentrator 1, it is provided downstream of the oxygen concentrator 1 and upstream of the flow rate control means.
For the flow rate control, it is preferable to provide a tank 9 or the like for temporarily storing the oxygen-enriched air, or in some cases, to provide a release control valve for slightly releasing the air.

It is desirable that the sum of the amount of oxygen-enriched air released by the flow rate control means 2 and the amount of oxygen-enriched air supplied from the supply means to the patient is substantially constant. This allows good control of the feed rate to be achieved.

As the flow rate control means 2 in the present invention,
For example, an orifice type flow rate setting device with a structure in which the sum of the supply amount and the discharge amount is constant (equipped with two or more outlets,
For example, there is a rotor meter with a needle valve (with a purge mechanism) and the like, which is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 7-733333, attached FIG. 2). Alternatively, two flow meters may be used together. Further, there is a mass flow meter type flow setting device having a purging mechanism.

The use of the oxygen-enriched air supply device of the present invention is not particularly limited, and is suitable for medical use such as home use.

By adopting such a configuration, even if the amount of oxygen to the user changes, the oxygen concentration can be correspondingly changed to make the supply amount substantially constant, and the user's discomfort can be reduced. be able to.

[0024]

EXAMPLES Specific examples of the oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus of the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart schematically showing a preferred embodiment of the oxygen-enriched air supply device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 has an adsorption bed 31 filled with an adsorbent such as a molecular sieve 5A which is more likely to adsorb nitrogen than oxygen, and the adsorbent bed 31 is provided in the middle, upper and top regions of the adsorption bed.
This is a pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator which is an adsorption tower having three outlets 1, 42 and 43, and a compressor 4 is connected to the oxygen concentrator 1 by a conduit via a flow path switching valve 5. A conduit is attached to each of the outlets of 41, 42, and 43, and they are connected to a flow path switching valve 8, and a surge tank for temporarily storing oxygen-enriched air by a conduit 13 via an automatic opening / closing valve 12. It is connected to 9.

Further, the flow path switching valve 5 is provided with an intake pipe having an intake muffler and the like and an exhaust pipe having an exhaust muffler and the like. It should be noted that the compressor 4 to the surge tank 9 constitute oxygen-enriched air generating means in this embodiment.

Further, the flow passage switching valve 8 is linked to the supply amount setting means 3 (oxygen concentration setting means) by an electric circuit, and the oxygen concentration setting is given as an electric signal in the supply amount setting means 3. .

An oxygen-enriched air passage conduit 14 having a pressure reducing valve 19 and the like is attached to the surge tank 9, and an orifice type flow rate setting device is provided as the flow rate control means 2 in the conduit 14, An oxygen-enriched air supply means (not shown) is connected by 23.

The pressure detecting means 21 is the flow rate controlling means 2
And transmits information to a means (not shown) for generating an alarm when an abnormality occurs in the pressure. Further, the conduit 14 is further provided with an automatic opening / closing valve 1
It is preferable from a practical point of view that it is equipped with 8, a sterilization filter 20, a humidifier 7 and the like, and is connected by a conduit 23 to an oxygen-enriched air supply means such as a nasal cannula and a mouth mask.

As an operation mode of the oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus of FIG. 1, the flow passage switching valve 8 is switched to the outlet of oxygen-enriched air corresponding to the set oxygen concentration, for example, 43, and the solenoid valves 12 and 18 are opened. In this state, compressed air is introduced into the oxygen concentrator 1 by the compressor 4 via the valve 5 as shown in FIG. 1 to adsorb nitrogen, and the obtained oxygen-enriched air is taken out from the outlet 43 via the conduit 13. And stored in the surge tank 9. After adsorption is continued for a predetermined time, the valve 12 is closed and the valve 5 is switched to use the compressor 4 as a vacuum pump to reduce the pressure in the oxygen concentrator 1 for desorption. After desorption for a predetermined time, the valve 5 is switched to introduce pressurized air into the oxygen concentrator 1, and the valve 1
The oxygen enriched air is caused to flow backward from the surge tank 9 by opening the valve 2 to re-pressurize the oxygen concentrator 1, and then the adsorption step is carried out while introducing pressurized air into the oxygen concentrator 1. By repeating such adsorption and desorption steps, oxygen-enriched air is obtained and stored in the surge tank 9.

When the oxygen concentration setting is lowered by the supply amount setting means 3, the flow path switching valve 8 connected to the supply amount setting means 3 by an electric circuit is correspondingly activated.
According to the set oxygen concentration, the upstream outlet, 42
Or switched to the conduit connected to 41.

The oxygen-enriched air stored in the surge tank 9 passes through the pressure reducing valve 19 and the sterilization filter 20, and is then adjusted to a predetermined flow rate by the flow rate control means 2 to be supplied to the humidifier 7.
And is supplied to a patient or the like having a respiratory disease through a nasal cannula or the like connected to the conduit 23.

In this way, oxygen-enriched air having a desired oxygen concentration is supplied from the oxygen-enriched air supply means.

When the flow rate control means 2 sets a desired flow rate for the user, even if the supply amount changes thereafter, this control means may be hardly touched.

As a preferred embodiment of the oxygen-enriched air supply apparatus of the present invention, the compressor 4 and the blower 6 are housed in a sound deadening box, and a partition plate having an opening is provided in the box to upstream the cooling air flow. Blower 6 in the side room
The compressor 4 is disposed in the chamber on the downstream side, and the open end of the intake side conduit of the flow path switching valve 5 is positioned in the chamber accommodating the blower. In addition, it is desirable that a filter is provided at an inlet for cooling air of the apparatus.

In such a configuration, the flow of the cooling air from the cooling blower-side chamber to the compressor-side chamber is one-way, and by positioning the compressor's intake port in the blower-side chamber, the surrounding air is released. Clean air can be inhaled at a temperature close to the temperature. The temperature of the room on the compressor side easily rises due to heat radiation from the compressor, and introducing air from there to the intake port of the compressor may be disadvantageous in terms of performance.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the flow rate is kept substantially constant,
It is possible to change the oxygen concentration, improve the patient's feeling of use, and adjust the humidification with a humidifier to prevent drainage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart schematically showing a preferred embodiment of an oxygen-enriched air supply device of the present invention, in which oxygen-enriched air outlets are provided at a plurality of positions in an adsorption bed. is there.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Oxygen concentrator (adsorption tower) 2 Orifice type flow rate setting device (flow rate control means) 3 Supply amount setting means 4 Compressor 5 Flow path switching valve 8 Flow path switching valve 31 Adsorption bed 41, 42, 43 Removal of oxygen-enriched air Mouth 45 Air supply port

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An oxygen-enriched air generating means having a pressure fluctuation type oxygen concentrator, a flow rate control means provided in a flow path for supplying oxygen-enriched air from the generating means to a user, and the flow rate control means. An oxygen-enriched air supply device having an oxygen-enriched air supply means provided on the downstream side of the device, the device further comprising a supply amount setting means capable of setting the oxygen concentration of the oxygen-enriched air supplied from the supply means. The oxygen concentrator has an adsorption tower having a plurality of at least one of an air supply port and an outlet for oxygen-enriched air so that a plurality of residence times of gas in the adsorption bed can be set, and the setting means. An oxygen-enriched air supply device, characterized in that any one of the plurality of air supply ports and the outlet for oxygen-enriched air is selected in accordance with the oxygen concentration set by. 2. The oxygen-enriched air supply device according to claim 1, wherein the oxygen concentration is set within a range of 20%.