Portable oxygen-enriched air device based on membrane separation technology

Abstract

The invention discloses a portable oxygen-enriched air device based on a membrane separation technology, and belongs to the technical field of gas separation and health equipment. The device comprises a low-noise oilless air compressor, an air purification unit, a membrane separator and an oxygen-enriched air output unit which are communicated in sequence. A hollow fiber membrane assembly with high selectivity to oxygen is arranged in the membrane separator. Ambient air enters the membrane separator after being compressed and purified, oxygen and water vapor as fast air preferentially permeate through the membrane wall and are enriched on the permeation side of the membrane to form warm and wet oxygen-enriched air, and the warm and wet oxygen-enriched air is output for a user to breathe after being sterilized and subjected to humidity adjustment; and slow gas such as nitrogen is discharged as waste gas. The oxygen-enriched air preparation device has the advantages that safe (oxygen-enriched air is produced instead of pure oxygen), comfortable (warm and moist gas) and adjustable-concentration (28-40%) oxygen-enriched air preparation is realized through simple single-stage membrane separation, and the oxygen-enriched air preparation device is free of moving parts and chemical substances, low in energy consumption, good in portability and particularly applicable to non-medical application scenes such as family health care, office environments and exercise recovery.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of gas separation technology and health care equipment, and particularly relates to a miniaturized and portable device for enriching oxygen from air by using a gas separation membrane. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the increasing demand for healthy life quality, people are increasingly in need of breathing oxygen-enriched air in a closed environment (such as an office or bedroom) or after exercise to relieve fatigue and promote recovery. At present, the main ways to obtain oxygen-enriched air are as follows:

[0003] 1. High-pressure oxygen cylinder: storing high-pressure pure oxygen, which has the problems of high storage pressure, potential explosion risk, regular replacement, inconvenience, etc.

[0004] 2. Pressure swing adsorption oxygen generator: which can produce high-concentration oxygen (> 90%), but the device is usually large in size, high in energy consumption, noisy and vibrates during operation, and the output gas is dry and cold, which is not comfortable. It is mainly used for medical purposes and has a high cost.

[0005] 3. Chemical oxygen generator: which produces oxygen through chemical reaction, has high use cost, and generates chemical waste, which is not suitable for long-term daily use.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need in the art for a non-medical grade oxygen-enriched air preparation technology that can balance safety, comfort, portability and low energy consumption. SUMMARY

[0007] 1. Objectives The present application aims to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide a portable oxygen-enriched air device based on membrane separation technology. The device can safely and efficiently produce oxygen-enriched air with appropriate concentration, warm and humid, and has the advantages of simple structure, low energy consumption, low noise, portability and easy use.

[0008] 2. Technical solutions To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present application adopts the following technical solutions: a portable oxygen-enriched air device, the core of which is to use the high permeability of hollow fiber membrane to oxygen to separate and enrich oxygen from air. The device comprises, in sequence, a low-noise oil-free air compressor, an air purification unit, a membrane separator and an oxygen-enriched air output unit.

[0009] The air purification unit ensures that the air entering the membrane assembly is clean, prolonging the service life of the membrane.

[0010] The membrane separator is the core, after the compressed air enters, oxygen and water vapor (fast gas) preferentially permeate through the membrane wall to enrich on the permeation side, forming oxygen-enriched humid air; nitrogen and other gases (slow gas) are discharged as waste gas.

[0011] The oxygen-enriched air output unit includes a one-way valve, a bacterial filter and a humidification bottle, ensuring that the output gas is safe and comfortable. By adjusting the exhaust valve, the concentration (28%-40%) and flow of the output oxygen-enriched air can be flexibly controlled. Optionally, a heater is added to prevent condensation in the membrane and stabilize performance.

[0012] 3. The benefits of the present application compared with the prior art are:

[0013] High safety: The output is oxygen-enriched air, not pure oxygen, and there is no high-pressure container, which physically eliminates the risk of oxygen poisoning and combustion associated with high-concentration oxygen.

[0014] Good comfort: The membrane separation process naturally warms and humidifies the product gas, making the output gas warm and humid, which is friendly to the respiratory tract.

[0015] Portable and low noise: The device is compact in structure and has no valve with violent movement (such as PSA), and runs quietly, suitable for desktop and bedroom use.

[0016] Energy saving and environmental protection: The energy consumption mainly comes from a small power air compressor, which is much lower than that of a PSA oxygen generator. There is no chemical pollution, and the exhaust gas is clean air.

[0017] Concentration controllable: By adjusting the exhaust valve, users can flexibly adjust the concentration of oxygen-enriched air within a certain range according to their needs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 The system principle diagram of the portable oxygen-enriched air device of the present application.

[0019] Figure 2 The structural schematic diagram of one specific embodiment of the present application.

[0020] (Brief description of the drawings)

[0021] Figure 1 Clearly shows the overall process of ambient air passing through the air compressor, filter and membrane separator in turn, and finally separating into oxygen-enriched air and nitrogen-rich exhaust gas.

[0022] Figure 2 A specific product shell design can be shown, and the relative positions of the air compressor, filter tank, membrane assembly, control panel, output interface and other components are marked. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] A preferred embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to Figure 1 ​​, ambient air is compressed to 0.3-0.8 MPa by a low noise oil-free air compressor (1). The compressed air is first buffered by a storage tank (2), then passes through a pre-filter (3), a precision filter (4) and a depth purification unit composed of an ultra-fine filter (5) and an activated carbon adsorber (6) in sequence, completely removing oil, water and particulate matter. The purified air can be heated to about 40℃ by an electric heater (7), then enters the shell side of the membrane separator (8) tangentially. In the membrane separator (8), millions of polysulfone hollow fiber membranes are installed. Oxygen and water vapor quickly permeate the membrane wall into the lumen (permeate side), then flow through a one-way valve (9), a bacterial filter (10) and a humidification bottle (11), and finally through a nasal cannula (12) for the user to breathe. The nitrogen-rich waste gas is discharged from the other end of the membrane separator (8) through a muffler (13) with a regulating valve (14). The user adjusts the opening of the waste gas regulating valve (14) by rotating the knob on the control panel (15). The knob has "high concentration" (large opening, large waste gas discharge, high purity and small quality) and "high flow" (small opening, low purity and large flow) settings. The flow meter (16) and oxygen concentration display (17) on the panel display the current status in real time. This embodiment can stably produce oxygen-enriched air with an oxygen concentration of 30%-38% and a flow rate of 1-5 liters / minute.

Claims

1. A portable oxygen enriched air device, characterized in that, The device comprises: an air intake and compression unit for sucking and compressing ambient air; an air purification unit connected to the air intake and compression unit for removing impurities and oil stains from the compressed air; a membrane separation unit connected to the air purification unit, which is provided with a hollow fiber membrane assembly having high selective permeability to oxygen, for enriching oxygen in the air; an oxygen-enriched air output unit connected to the permeation side outlet of the membrane separation unit for outputting oxygen-enriched air; an exhaust unit connected to the retention side outlet of the membrane separation unit for discharging nitrogen-rich exhaust air.

2. The portable oxygen enriched air device of claim 1, wherein, The oxygen-enriched air output unit comprises, in sequence, a one-way valve for preventing backflow of gas, a bacteria filter for sterilizing the oxygen-enriched air, and a humidification device for adjusting the humidity of the output gas.

3. A portable oxygen enriched air device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The device further comprises a concentration and flow rate adjustment mechanism, which comprises an adjustment valve provided on the exhaust pipe and / or a flow meter provided on the oxygen-enriched air output unit; by adjusting the opening degree of the adjustment valve, the exhaust amount of the retention side of the membrane separation unit is changed, thereby adjusting the oxygen concentration and flow rate of the output oxygen-enriched air.

4. The portable oxygen enriched air device of claim 1, wherein, The air purification unit at least comprises a precision filter and an activated carbon adsorber for deeply removing particulate matter, oil mist and oil vapor in the compressed air.

5. The portable oxygen enriched air device of claim 1, wherein, A heater is further provided between the air purification unit and the membrane separation unit for heating the compressed air entering the membrane separation unit to a predetermined temperature to prevent condensation in the membrane assembly.

6. The portable oxygen enriched air device of claim 1, wherein, The material of the hollow fiber membrane is polysulfone or polyimide.

7. The portable oxygen enriched air device of claim 1, wherein, The oxygen volume concentration of the oxygen-enriched air output by the device is 28% to 40%.

Images