Portable Oxygen Concentrator Using PSA Extraction for Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional oxygen concentrators for medical use are bulky, heavy, and not portable enough for patients to use outside their homes, posing challenges with safety, storage, and ongoing medical expenses, especially when compared to pressurized oxygen tanks.
Innovation Solution
A compact, lightweight oxygen concentrator using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) or vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) principles, integrated with a flow controller, capable of delivering high-purity oxygen in predetermined doses up to 3 liters per minute with over 90% concentration, designed for easy transport and use by patients with limited physical capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional oxygen concentrators are used to provide high-purity oxygen for medical use, then oxygen concentration and purity are improved, but device weight and bulkiness increase, reducing portability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes unnecessary components from conventional oxygen concentrators, keeping only the essential PSA mechanism (compressor, adsorbent beds, valves) while eliminating bulky housing, excessive filtering systems, and redundant control electronics. This extraction principle allows the device to maintain high oxygen concentration capability while significantly reducing weight to approximately 5 pounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by using high-density adsorbent materials specifically in the PSA beds where oxygen separation occurs, while other parts of the device use lightweight materials. The adsorbent beds are locally optimized for maximum oxygen concentration output, while the housing and support structures minimize weight, achieving both high purity and portability.
2Weight of moving object
If oxygen concentrator size is reduced for portability, then device weight and bulk are decreased, but oxygen delivery capacity and purity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic operation of the PSA system with rapidly cycling compressors (operating at 60-120 cycles per minute) that adapt to patient breathing patterns. The system dynamically adjusts compression ratios, valve timing, and adsorbent bed regeneration cycles to maintain high oxygen delivery capacity (up to 3 liters per minute) despite the compact size, ensuring productivity is not compromised by weight reduction.
3Weight of moving object
If pressurized oxygen tanks are used for portability, then mobility is improved, but safety hazards and storage restrictions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the potentially harmful high-pressure storage method into a safe ambient-pressure generation system. Instead of storing oxygen under high pressure in tanks (which creates explosion and fire hazards), the device uses a low-power compressor to generate oxygen on-demand at atmospheric pressure through PSA. This transforms the harmful high-pressure storage approach into a beneficial safe, on-demand generation system that eliminates safety hazards while maintaining portability.
4Quantity of substance
If conventional oxygen concentrators are designed for high purity output, then oxygen concentration is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses porous adsorbent materials (zeolites or carbon molecular sieves) in the PSA beds that naturally separate nitrogen from oxygen based on molecular size and polarity differences. These porous materials provide high oxygen purity (90-95%) through their inherent selective adsorption properties, eliminating the need for complex multiple-stage separation systems, advanced filtering, or sophisticated control mechanisms, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining high purity output.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a highly portable and efficient oxygen delivery system that is lightweight (approximately 5 pounds), capable of delivering high-purity oxygen in pulse doses, addressing the limitations of traditional oxygen concentrators and tanks by enhancing user mobility and reducing medical expenses.
Implementation Method 1
a first adsorber fractionates the feed stream into a product gas... the balance of the product gas... is timed to be diverted... to flow through the other adsorber in a counter-current direction... to purge the other adsorber
Implementation Method 2
each having a fixed sieve bed of adsorbent material to fractionate at least one constituent gas from a gaseous mixture by adsorption into the bed
Implementation Method 3
a feed air compressor... mounted to the product manifold to pressurize the ambient air feed stream
Data Source
AI summary
A compact and highly portable combination pressure swing adsorption apparatus and product gas conservation device for medical use, to produce efficiently a gas with a high concentration of oxygen and to deliver the oxygen concentrated gas to a user at selectable times and in selectable doses, in which the operating components are detachably mounted together as a single unit.