JP5612834B2 - Oxygen concentrator and its operation control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of an oxygen concentrator that separates and produces oxygen from the air.

Various oxygen concentrators have been proposed that are used by patients with illness in the lungs to draw high-concentration oxygen. A part of the atmosphere is used to create compressed air using a compressor, and the compressed air is used for adsorption. Patent Document 1 discloses a relatively compact oxygen concentrator that uses a nasal cannula to feed a patient with oxygen produced by feeding into an adsorbent cylinder and adsorbing nitrogen to the adsorbent in the adsorption cylinder. It has been known.
Conventionally, in the oxygen concentrator as described above, zeolite is incorporated in the adsorption cylinder, and if this zeolite is in contact with the atmosphere for a long time, moisture in the atmosphere is adsorbed and deterioration proceeds. was there.

JP 2004-188123 A

Therefore, an oxygen concentrator 10 having a structure as shown in FIG. 4 can be considered.
FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of an oxygen concentrator not included in the present invention. In the figure, the oxygen concentrator is provided with a filter 1 and a compressor 2 as an air compressor is connected to another air intake pipe L1. A cooling fan 3 is provided in the vicinity of the compressor 2 so that the temperature rises as the pressure increases.
From the compressor 2, a feed pipe L <b> 4 including a branch pipe L <b> 4-1, L <b> 4-2 is extended from a compressed air feed pipe L <b> 2 connected to the safety valve 4 and the heat exchanger 5. The pipe L4-2 is connected to the second three-way valve 8, and the branch pipe L4-1 is connected to the normally closed ports 7a and 8a of the three-way valves 7 and 8, respectively.

That is, the pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-1 is connected to the normally closed port 7a of the first three-way valve 7, and the bypass pipe L5 is connected to the normal open port 7b of the first three-way valve 7. Yes. The bypass pipe L5 is connected to the atmosphere release pipe L6.
Similarly, the pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-2 is connected to the normal close port 8a of the second three-way valve 8, and the normal open port 8b is connected to the atmosphere release pipe L6 connected to the bypass pipe L5. Yes.
A check valve 26 and a silencer 9 are arranged downstream of the air release pipe L6 so that the air does not enter.

The outlet ports 7c and 8c of the three-way valves 7 and 8 are connected to the suction cylinders 11 and 12, respectively. Pipe lines L9 and L10 extending on the outlet side of the adsorption cylinders 11 and 12 are connected to one equal pressure valve 13. Further, a product tank 16 for storing the generated oxygen is arranged downstream of each adsorption cylinder 11, 12. A pressure sensor 17 is connected to the product tank 16.
A pressure regulator 18, a filter 19, an oxygen sensor 21, a flow rate controller 22, a pressure sensor 23, a humidifier 24, and a flow rate sensor 25 are sequentially connected to the downstream pipe L <b> 13 extending from the product tank 16 and connected to the oxygen outlet. .

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing an operation example of the oxygen concentrator in FIG.
Prior to activation, when the zeolite contained in the adsorption cylinders 11 and 12 comes into contact with the atmosphere, the zeolite deteriorates due to its humidity. In order to prevent this, the outlet ports 7c and 8c of the three-way valves 7 and 8 are connected to a bypass pipe L5 and an atmosphere release pipe L6, respectively. The atmosphere release pipe L6 is provided with a check valve 26 that prevents the atmosphere from entering the inside so that the gas passes only when the adsorption cylinder is opened to the atmosphere.

Therefore, when the oxygen concentrator 10 is started, the three-way valves 7 and 8 and the equal pressure valve 13 are closed and the compressor 2 is also stopped in steps S1 to S4 in FIG.
Next, in step 5 (S5), which is an adsorption step of the adsorption cylinder 11, the three-way valve 7 on the adsorption cylinder 11 side to be used is energized to open the three-way valve 7 which is an electromagnetic valve, and the port connected to the outlet port 7C is normal. Change to closed port 7a. Thereby, the three-way valve 7 connects the suction cylinder 11 to the feed pipes L4 and L2 via the branch pipe L4-1. However, since the three-way valve 8 and the equal pressure valve 13 are in the off state, the feed pipes L4 and L2 are not communicated with each other. At this stage, the compressor 2 starts to be driven.
Next, in the purge process (S6) of Step 6, since the equal pressure valve 16 is opened, oxygen in the connected pipe line is purged.

Subsequently, in step 7, since the three-way valve 8 is also energized, the suction cylinder 12 is also communicated with the feed pipes L4 and L2, and an equal pressure process is performed in which the pressures of the suction cylinders 11 and 12 are equalized ( S7).
Next, as step 8, the energization of the three-way valve 7 is turned off and closed, and the equal pressure valve 13 is also closed, so that compressed air is sent only to the adsorption cylinder 12 and the adsorption process (S8) of the adsorption cylinder 12 is performed.
Thereafter, S9 and S10 are the same as the purge process and the equal pressure process already described.

By the way, in such an oxygen concentrator 10, since the atmosphere enters the adsorption cylinders 11 and 12 from the silencer 9 through the three-way valves 7 and 8, when the three-way valves 7 and 8 are not energized, As shown in FIG. 4, the check valve 26 must be provided, which causes a problem of increasing the manufacturing cost.
Even if a check valve is provided, there is still a drawback that moisture absorption from the atmosphere cannot be completely blocked.
In addition, since the atmosphere release pipe L6 is connected directly or with the bypass pipe L5 and the normal open ports 7b and 8b of the three-way valves 7 and 8, the three-way valves 7 and 8 are always energized when the apparatus is not used. From the viewpoint of power saving.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem, and an oxygen concentrator that can more reliably absorb moisture in the adsorption cylinder when the apparatus is stopped, and can reduce the activation risk of the compressed air generation unit during activation, and the oxygen concentrator An object is to provide an operation control method.

The present invention includes a compressed air generating unit that generates compressed air, and two adsorbing units that separate and generate oxygen by adsorbing nitrogen using an adsorbent filled therein and introducing the compressed air therein. In the oxygen concentrator provided with supply path switching means having two three-way valves for alternately supplying the high-pressure air from the compressed air generating section to the two adsorbing sections at a predetermined cycle, an oxygen concentrating gas is provided. In order to supply the suction part to the suction part during decompression and use it as a purge gas, an equal pressure valve connected between the outlets of the two suction parts is provided, and the normal open port of each three-way valve has the compression The configuration is such that a pressurized air port from the air generation unit is connected.
According to the above configuration, since the pressurized air port from the compressed air generating unit is connected to the normally open port of each three-way valve, the atmosphere open pipe side is the normal close port of each three-way valve when the device is not used. Since it is closed, moisture in the atmosphere does not enter the two adsorbing portions, and it is possible to reliably prevent deterioration of the adsorbent.
In addition, since it is not necessary to provide a check valve in the atmosphere release pipe in order to prevent the atmosphere from entering the two adsorption parts, the manufacturing cost can be reduced accordingly.
Furthermore, since it is not necessary to energize the two three-way valves constituted by electromagnetic valves when the device is not used, it is possible to save power.

Preferably, at least a compressor as the compressed air generation unit and a control unit for driving and controlling the two three-way valves and the equal pressure valve are provided, and the control unit starts starting the compressor as the compressed air generation unit Before being carried out, the adsorbing portion and the outside air are communicated with each other.
According to the above configuration, the path from the three-way valve to the adsorbing portion is degassed when the compressor is started, so the load at the time of starting the compressor can be greatly reduced, the cause of failure can be reduced, and durability can be improved. .

Preferably, the control unit is configured to communicate the adsorption unit and outside air at the end of the operation.
According to the above configuration, since the path from the three-way valve to the adsorption portion is degassed prior to the end of the operation, the pressure on the discharge side of the compressor is reduced, and a structure in which a load is difficult to be applied after the operation is completed can be achieved.

  The present invention also provides a compressed air generating section for generating compressed air, and two adsorbing sections for separating and producing oxygen by adsorbing nitrogen by an adsorbent introduced into the interior and filled in the compressed air. A three-way valve 2 having a configuration in which a pressurized air port is connected to a normal open port in order to alternately supply high-pressure air from the compressed air generation unit to the two adsorption units at a predetermined cycle. Oxygen concentrator operation control method comprising supply path switching means having a plurality of gas, at least before starting the air compressing means to supply pressurized air, and at the time of start-up gas that alternately opens each adsorption unit to the atmosphere It has the extraction process, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  Preferably, an end degassing step of alternately releasing each adsorption unit to the atmosphere is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an oxygen concentrating device and an operation control method thereof that can reduce the starting risk of the compressed air generating unit at the time of starting while preventing moisture absorption of the adsorption bed when the device is stopped. can do.

1 is a system diagram showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen concentrator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The time chart which shows the operation example of the apparatus of FIG. The time chart which shows the operation example of the apparatus of FIG. The system diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of the conventional oxygen concentration apparatus. The time chart which shows the example of a driving | operation of the apparatus of FIG.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise stated, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a schematic configuration of an oxygen concentrator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the oxygen concentrator 50 includes a control unit 30. The control unit 30 has a function of switching to an optimum operation mode according to the amount of oxygen to be generated. As will be described later, the compressor and the blower fan are automatically operated at a high speed when a large amount of oxygen is generated. At the time of generating a small amount of oxygen, it is controlled to rotate at a low speed.

  Further, the control unit 30 includes a motor control unit that performs drive control of a motor that is a rotating body of the compressor and a motor of the blower fan, and a control unit that is directly or added to each movable unit and sensors in FIG. The connection lines are omitted because they make it difficult to see FIG. 1 and hinder understanding. The controller 30 is connected to an internal battery 32 and an adapter 31 incorporating a converter for home AC power supply. For the internal battery 32, for example, a secondary battery such as lithium ion is used.

  The control unit 30 has a built-in ROM storing a predetermined operation program, and is further connected to a storage device, a volatile memory, a temporary storage device, a real-time clock, and the like. It is configured to be able to access the stored contents by connecting to.

In FIG. 1, an oxygen concentrator 50 takes in air from the piping pipe start end inside the apparatus, and a filter 51 is provided in the air intake pipe L1 to connect a compressor 52 as an air compressing unit. A blower fan 53 for cooling the compressor (motor) is provided in the vicinity of the compressor 52 so that the temperature rises as the compressor is boosted.
A compressed air feed pipe L2 to which a safety valve 54 and a heat exchanger 55 are connected extends from the compressor 52. In the downstream, a feed pipe L4 including two branch pipes L4-1 and L4-2 extends, the branch pipe L4-1 is connected to the first three-way valve 57, and the branch pipe L4-2 is connected to the first pipe L4-2. 2 three-way valve 58.

Here, a pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-1 is connected to the normal open port 57a of the first three-way valve 57, and a bypass pipe L5 is connected to the normal close port 57b of the first three-way valve 57. ing. The bypass pipe L5 is connected to the atmosphere release pipe L6.
Similarly, the pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-2 is connected to the normal open port 58a of the second three-way valve 58, and the normal close port 58b is connected to the atmospheric release pipe L6 connected to the bypass pipe L5. Yes.
A silencer 59 is arranged downstream of the atmosphere release pipe L6 to mute the sound when the atmosphere is released.

The outlet ports 57c and 58c of the three-way valves 57 and 58 are connected to the suction cylinders 61 and 62, respectively. Pipe lines L9 and L10 extending from the outlet side of the adsorption cylinders 61 and 62 are connected to one equal pressure valve 63. Further, a product tank 66 for storing the generated oxygen is arranged downstream of each adsorption cylinder 61, 62. The product tank 66 is connected with a pressure sensor 67 for measuring the pressure in the tank.
A pressure regulator 68, a filter 69, an oxygen sensor 71, a flow rate controller 72, a pressure sensor 73, a humidifier 74, and a flow rate sensor 75 are sequentially connected to the downstream pipe L13 extending from the product tank 66 and connected to the oxygen outlet. .

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing an operation example of the oxygen concentrator in FIG.
Prior to activation, when the zeolite contained in the adsorption cylinders 11 and 12 comes into contact with the atmosphere, the zeolite deteriorates due to its humidity. In order to prevent this, as already explained, the normal open port 57a of the three-way valve 57 is connected to the pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-1, and the normal close port 7b of the first three-way valve 7 is connected. Is connected to a bypass pipe L5. The bypass pipe L5 is connected to the atmosphere release pipe L6. A pressurized air port at the tip of the branch pipe L4-2 is connected to the normal open port 58a of the three-way valve 58, and a bypass pipe L6 is connected to the normal close port 58b of the second three-way valve 58. As a result, the atmosphere in the adsorption cylinders 61 and 62 is deteriorated because the atmosphere does not enter the adsorption cylinders 61 and 62 through the three-way valves 57 and 58 when not activated, that is, not operating. Is effectively prevented (step 10, S10).

Steps 11 to 13 are a start-up gas venting process (G1) in which air is purged from the closed pipe line as described above.
Specifically, in step 11, when the three-way valve 58 is not energized and the valve 57 connected to the adsorption cylinder 61 is energized, the branch pipe L5 and the atmospheric open pipe L6 connected thereto are connected to the normal close port 57b of the three-way valve 57. Since they are connected, the adsorption cylinder 61 is opened to the atmosphere and becomes atmospheric pressure. At this time, the equal pressure valve 63 is also opened. (S11)
In the next step 12, when the three-way valve 57 is turned off and the three-way valve 58 is turned on, the normal close port 58b of the three-way valve 58 and the atmosphere release pipe L6 are connected, so that the adsorption cylinder 62 is also at atmospheric pressure. The equal pressure valve 63 remains open (start-up step) (S12).

  Subsequently, in step 13, the three-way valve 57 is de-energized and the three-way valve 58 is energized. Thereby, the pressurized air port is connected only to the three-way valve 57. In this state, the equal pressure valve 63 is closed by being turned off, and the compressor 52 has not been started yet (ST13).

Subsequently, in step 14, the operation of the three-way valves 57 and 58 is left as it is, the equal pressure valve 63 is closed by being turned off, and the compressor 52 is started. Thereby, the compressed air from the compressor 52 is passed only through the adsorption cylinder 61, and the adsorption cylinder 61 adsorbs nitrogen and generates oxygen (ST14).
Here, since the downstream side of the compressor 52 is purged in advance when the compressor 52 is driven, the load upon starting the compressor can be greatly reduced, the cause of failure can be reduced, and the durability can be improved.
Next, in step 15, when the equal pressure valve 63 is turned on and opened and the pipes L9 and L10 are connected, the inside of the adsorption cylinder 62 is purged (purge process, S15).
Next, since the three-way valve 58 is also turned off in step 16, it is connected to the pressurized air port side in the same way as the three-way valve 57. (S16).

Next, in step 17, when the three-way valve 57 is turned on and connected to the atmosphere release side, only the three-way valve 58 is turned off and connected to the pressurized air port side, and the equal pressure valve 63 is turned off and the connection is released. Compressed air is supplied only into the adsorption cylinder 62, and nitrogen adsorption and oxygen generation are performed (S17).
Next, when the equal pressure valve 63 is turned on and opened and the pipes L9 and L10 are connected, the inside of the adsorption cylinder 61 is purged (purge process, S18).
Next, since the three-way valve 57 is also turned off in step 19 and is connected to the pressurized air port side in the same manner as the three-way valve 58, both the adsorption cylinders 61 and 62 are evenly pressurized by the action of the uniform pressure valve 63. (S19).
As described above, the operation is continued by repeating S14 to S19.

The time chart of the left half of FIG. 3 is the same as that of FIG. 2, and the time chart of the right half shows a case where the operation described above is continued and ended.
In the figure, step 21 is the same as the adsorption process of the adsorption cylinder 62, and steps 22 to 24 are the end-time degassing process G2.
That is, in step 22, the compressor 52 stops moving for about 1.5 seconds, the three-way valve 57 is turned off and connected to the pressurized air port side, and conversely, the three-way valve 58 is energized and connected to the atmosphere release side. To do. The equal pressure valve 63 is turned on and opened to connect the pipes L9 and L10 (S22).

As a result, the atmosphere is released from the adsorption cylinder 62 side, and in step 23, the three-way valve 57 is turned on for about 1.5 seconds and connected to the atmosphere release side, and the three-way valve 58 is energized to connect to the pressurized air port side. Although connected, the compressor is stopped and no pressurized air is supplied.
Once again, in step 24, the compressor 52 stops moving for about 1.5 seconds, and the three-way valve 57 is turned off and connected to the pressurized air port side. Conversely, the three-way valve 58 is energized and connected to the atmosphere release side. To do. The equal pressure valve 63 is turned on to open and connect the pipes L9 and L10 (S24).
In this way, by performing the degassing step G2 at the end, the path from the three-way valve to the adsorption portion is degassed prior to the end of the operation. Therefore, the pressure on the discharge side of the compressor is lowered, and the compressor is discharged after the operation ends. It is possible to make the structure in which the load is difficult to be applied to 52.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide an oxygen concentrator that can supply stable raw material air to the adsorbing portion immediately after startup even when it is started in a low rotation region.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above.
In the above-described embodiment, the adsorption portion is an adsorption cylinder and zeolite is accommodated therein, but the shape is not limited to the cylinder.
A part of the matters described in the above embodiments may be omitted, and the scope of the present invention is not deviated by combining with other configurations not described above.

  50 ... Oxygen concentrator, 52 ... Compressor, 57, 58 ... Three-way valve, 61, 62 ... Adsorption cylinder

Claims (2)

A compressed air generating section for generating compressed air, and two adsorbing sections for introducing oxygen into the interior by adsorbing the compressed air and adsorbing nitrogen with the adsorbent filled therein, thereby generating the compressed air. In an oxygen concentrator having a supply path switching means having two three-way valves for alternately supplying high-pressure air from a generating unit to the two adsorbing units in a predetermined cycle, a part of oxygen-enriched gas is being decompressed In order to supply the gas to the adsorbing part and use it as a purge gas, an equal pressure valve connected between the outlets of the two adsorbing parts is provided, and a normal open port of each of the three-way valves is connected to the compressed air generating part. Is connected to the pressurized air port
A compressor serving as the compressed air generating unit, and a control unit that drives and controls the two three-way valves and the equal pressure valve, the control unit before the start of the compressor and at the end of the operation, It is configured to communicate the adsorption part and the outside air,
2. The oxygen concentrator according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to execute a start-up degassing step of alternately releasing each adsorption unit to the atmosphere before driving the compressor and supplying pressurized air . The oxygen concentrator according to claim 1, further comprising a degassing step at the end of alternately releasing each adsorption unit to the atmosphere.

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