Oxygen Concentrators ?

Oxygen Concentrators are one of the trending technologies these days, but beside being trending it is scarce in the market when people in India need it the most, at the time of writing of this India reported almost 4,02,000 new COVID-19 infections in last 24 Hours. So lets take a minute of silence for those who are in distress and pray for their speedy recovery so that our brave country India could emerge strong once again.

Now, before beginning let me clear some common misconception,

1. Oxygen concentrators are only beneficial for the mild COVID-19 patients whose oxygen saturation levels are above 85 %.

2. It can only produce around 95 % pure oxygen whereas severe of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) patients need 99 % pure Liquid Medical oxygen (LMO).

3. Oxygen Concentrators produce oxygen at the rate of 5L-10L per minute whereas severe and ICU (Intensive Care Units) patients require oxygen to the tune of 95-100L Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) per minute.

Disclaimer: The above facts are mentioned on the basis of data available. The author does not intend to make any independent claim about the said facts.

Now by the name "Oxygen Concentrator" you might be making a guess that is some kind of device used to concentrate oxygen, well you correct 😉.

Philips Respironics EverFlo

Image Courtesy: Philips

The above image is a Philips Respironics EverFlo oxygen concentrator.

Working Principle:

Simply in total 5 processes are involved,

1. Take oxygen from the surrounding

2. Take Nitrogen out of it

3. Adjusting the air delivery pressure

4. Delivering it to the patient

Before beginning the detailed explanation of the working, at first please understand the following thing,

What are sieve bed filters ?

Ans: In context to the oxygen concentrators, the sieve beds are filtering unit of the oxygen concentrators which are embedded with zeolite (know for nitrogen absorbent property )

Now when the compressor of the oxygen concentrator pulls up the air from the surroundings, it is then rushed into primary sieve bed where nitrogen is trapped in the sieve beds and oxygen then undergo further filtering when it passes through the secondary sieve bed, from where the oxygen is stored in the tank and then supplied to the patient and nitrogen is released back in the environment.

GIF Credit: oxygenconcentratorstore (What a brilliant GIF for easy understanding 😉)

(Note I have skipped some intermediate process to make this blog understandable by all, as I have always said that rest its upon the interest of the individual).

I think you must have got the concept of Oxygen Concentrators, please share this blog with as many people as you can since there is a lot of confusion going on, and anything related to it please do contact me immediately via the box below as I would be more than happy to help you in these tough times and it is my sincere request please help the people who are in distress since this is a time when people face deep stress, anxiety and require morale boost.