Method of controlling the rate of oxygen produced by an oxygen concentrator
First Claim
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5-1. The method of claim 1 wherein delivering the product gas to the patient occurs during a portion of the patients inhalation.
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Abstract
A method of providing concentrated oxygen product gas to a patient. The method comprises producing product gas by a vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) process with an oxygen concentrator comprising a plurality of separation columns connected to a vacuum source driven by a motor. Separated product gas is then pumped to a product reservoir. The pressure of the reservoir is monitored and used to adjust the speed of the motor based on the reservoir pressure. The separated gas is then delivered to the patient.
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Citations
22 Claims
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5-1. The method of claim 1 wherein delivering the product gas to the patient occurs during a portion of the patients inhalation.
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6. An oxygen concentrator comprising:
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an oxygen reservoir;
a plurality of adsorbent columns, each having an inlet, an outlet and a bed of adsorbent material;
a vacuum pump for removing separated nitrogen rich gas from the column inlets;
a product control pump for pumping oxygen rich gas from the column outlets to the oxygen reservoir;
a control valve for controlling flow of fluids in and out of the columns;
a motor for driving the vacuum pump and control valve to produce vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) cycles in which oxygen-rich product gas is separated and accumulated in the reservoir;
a pressure sensor for providing a signal as a function of gas pressure in the oxygen reservoir; and
an electric control module (ECM) that receives a signal from the pressure sensor, and adjusts the speed of the motor based on the signal. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An oxygen concentrator comprising:
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an oxygen gas separator for producing oxygen-rich product gas from air;
a reservoir for storing product gas from the separator;
a delivery system for delivering product gas from the reservoir to a patient; and
a control for controlling production of product gas by the separator as a function of product gas delivered from the reservoir. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification