JP5129525B2 - Oxygen concentrator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an oxygen concentrator for separating oxygen in air and supplying it to a user. More specifically, the present invention relates to maintenance and inspection of an oxygen concentrator that can be used at home for medical purposes.

  In the maintenance and inspection of the oxygen concentrator, it is important to check the accumulated usage time of the device and perform various maintenance management. As a method of checking the accumulated usage time, use the hour meter provided in the device. A method and a management method using an external terminal (Patent Literature 1, Patent Literature 2) are widely used. When an oxygen concentrator is equipped with an hour meter, it is common to display the total accumulated usage time, which is the operating time after production of the device, and the accumulated usage time after installation at the user's home on one or two hour meters. Is. The accumulated usage time of main parts such as compressors and adsorbents that require periodic replacement or maintenance is displayed on the hour meter and the information described in the checklist attached to each main part or information obtained from the management data database. It is possible to confirm by checking the accumulated usage time. When an external terminal is used, the accumulated use time of the main part can be taken out by storing data necessary for calculating the accumulated use time after replacement (maintenance) of the main part in the memory inside the apparatus.

JP 2002-306601 A JP 7-227516 A

  The operation load of the oxygen concentrator is generally the largest in an operation that generates a high flow rate of oxygen. Therefore, conventionally, the maintenance cycle of the apparatus is determined assuming the maximum operating load. When the oxygen concentrator is operated at a low flow rate setting, it can be expected that the maintenance cycle will be extended. However, since the user's device is not necessarily operated under certain conditions, its management is cumbersome and difficult.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an oxygen concentrator capable of performing maintenance management more efficiently by providing appropriate maintenance cycle information according to the load of the operation history of the oxygen concentrator.

  As a result of intensive studies on this problem, the present inventors have found the following oxygen concentrator. That is, the present invention provides an oxygen concentrator that separates oxygen in the air and separates concentrated oxygen, and an oxygen concentrator equipped with a flow rate setting unit that supplies concentrated oxygen to a user at a predetermined flow rate. Provided is an oxygen concentrating device comprising an operation time measuring means for measuring, and storage means for storing an operation time for each set flow rate of the flow rate setting means.

  According to the present invention, the operation time measuring means is a real-time clock, and the operation time measured by the storage means is stored for each year, and the operation is performed for each set flow rate recorded in the storage means. There is provided an oxygen concentrating apparatus comprising a calculating means for calculating a maintenance cycle of the apparatus based on time.

  Further, the present invention provides an oxygen concentrator, wherein the calculating means is means for correcting the maintenance cycle based on the monthly information of the operation time recorded in the recording means.

  The present invention further includes an oxygen concentration means for separating oxygen in the air and separating concentrated oxygen, and a flow rate setting means for supplying the concentrated oxygen to the user at a predetermined flow rate, and an operating time measuring means for measuring the operating time of the apparatus. And an oxygen concentrator provided with a storage means for storing the operation time for each set flow rate of the flow rate setting means, and a transmission means for transmitting the information stored in the storage means to the management center via a communication line, An information management center comprising receiving means for receiving information, calculating means for calculating the maintenance period of the apparatus based on the received operation time for each set flow rate, and output means for outputting the maintenance time of the apparatus based on the calculation result An oxygen concentrator management system is provided.

  As the oxygen concentrator of the present invention, for example, at least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen rather than oxygen, an air supply means for supplying air to the adsorption bed, and the air supply means An adsorption process for supplying air from the adsorption bed to extract concentrated oxygen, a flow path switching means for repeating the desorption process for depressurizing the adsorption bed and regenerating the adsorbent at a fixed timing, and the generated concentrated oxygen to the user The present invention is applied to a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator equipped with a flow rate setting means to be supplied.

  The oxygen concentrator of the present invention can realize a maintenance cycle without waste by storing the operation time for each set flow rate corresponding to the magnitude of the operation load in the apparatus and checking this information at the time of maintenance. Further, the maintenance period can be further optimized by storing the operation time for each operation time (year and month) as stress information applied from the use environment. Further, by sequentially transmitting the stored information to the center server through the communication line, it becomes possible to centrally manage whether or not maintenance is required for each apparatus, and the maintenance efficiency can be further increased.

An embodiment example of the oxygen concentrator of the present invention will be described.
Such an oxygen concentrator comprises oxygen concentrating means for separating oxygen in the air to produce concentrated oxygen, flow rate setting means for supplying concentrated oxygen to a user at a predetermined flow rate, and operating time measuring means for measuring the operating time of the apparatus. And a storage means for storing an operation time for each set flow rate of the flow rate setting means.

  Oxygen concentrating means include an adsorption-type oxygen concentrator that uses an adsorbent that adsorbs nitrogen and oxygen in the air, and a membrane-type oxygen concentration that uses a polymer oxygen-enriched membrane that selectively permeates oxygen in the air. The present invention can be applied to various devices such as a device, an electrochemical oxygen concentrator that electrochemically separates oxygen using a solid electrolyte membrane or a room temperature molten salt. In particular, pressurized air is supplied by a compressor to at least one adsorption bed filled with zeolite such as 5A, 13X, Li-X, and MD-X as an adsorbent that can selectively adsorb nitrogen over oxygen. Then, an adsorption process that adsorbs nitrogen and separates unadsorbed oxygen to extract it as concentrated oxygen, and a desorption process that depressurizes the adsorption bed and desorbs nitrogen to regenerate the adsorbent is performed at a certain timing by a flow switching valve. It can be applied to a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrating device that is continuously generated by switching and switching.

  The produced concentrated oxygen is temporarily stored in the product tank, and after pressure adjustment, is supplied to a respiratory disease patient who is a user at a set flow rate determined by a doctor by a flow rate setting means. The flow rate setting means includes an orifice type and mass type mass flow controller. For example, in the case of a device having a supply capacity of 5 L / min, a predetermined flow rate determined between 5 L / min, for example 0.5 L / min, 1 L It can be supplied to users at flow rates of / min, 2L / min, 3L / min, 4L / min, 5L / min.

  Regardless of the oxygen concentrator, the equipment must be overhauled and checked for performance and replacement of parts when a predetermined time has passed since parts wear and performance deteriorates due to use. If the set flow rate of oxygen is different, the amount of air supplied to the compressor, which is the raw air, is different, and the load conditions on the apparatus are also different. For devices that can variably adjust the set flow rate, such as an oxygen concentrator, it is difficult to fully grasp the user's usage conditions. The maintenance time is determined based on the performance deterioration information when oxygen is supplied.

  However, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator equipped with two adsorption beds having a supply capacity of 5 L / min was used at a set value of 5 L / min and at 3 L / min. In this case, there is a double difference in performance degradation time, and inefficiency occurs when maintenance is performed based on the degradation time when all devices are used at the maximum supply capacity.

  The oxygen concentrator of the present invention is provided with an operation time measuring means for measuring the operation time of the apparatus, and a memory for storing the operation time for each set flow rate value of the flow rate setting means. Computation means for computing the maintenance period of the apparatus based on the operation time for each set flow rate recorded in the storage means is provided. It is also possible to automatically calculate the maintenance cycle based on the relational expression between the oxygen flow rate and the maintenance cycle or database information.

  As the operating time measuring means, a real-time clock is mounted, and the operating time can be stored for each year based on not only the usage time of the apparatus but also the date information. Temperature and humidity, which are environmental factors of the device, greatly affect the performance degradation of the device. At high temperatures, the wear rate of the piston cup of the compressor in the apparatus proceeds, and at low temperatures, the wear progresses slowly. Further, under high temperature and high humidity conditions such as the rainy season, the deterioration of the adsorbent due to moisture adsorption is accelerated. It is possible to monitor the usage environment of the concentrator by installing a temperature sensor and humidity sensor in the oxygen concentrator, but it is difficult to uniquely determine the relationship with the performance maintenance of the final oxygen concentrator. It is. Based on the usage date information of the device recorded by the operating time measuring means, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a database of the relationship between the set oxygen flow rate for each season and the maintenance cycle based on the operating month is created. The maintenance cycle can be corrected and determined.

  Of course, based on statistical analysis data by measuring the temperature and humidity data around the detailed installation location and inside the device with a sensor mounted inside the device and storing it as information related to the operation history of each set flow rate It is also possible to correct the maintenance cycle. In particular, since the environment varies greatly depending on the prefecture in which it is installed, it is possible to further improve the correction accuracy by identifying the installation area information with characters, symbols, etc. in the stored information.

  Based on the information stored in the device, the maintenance time can be displayed on the device based on the calculation result, so that the maintenance time can be notified from the user side to the contractor side. It is also possible to take a method of sucking up information from a storage memory when a person or a maintenance person visits a patient's home regularly.

  Further, the information processing apparatus includes a transmission unit that transmits the information stored in the storage unit to the management center, receives the transmitted information at the management center, and determines the maintenance cycle of the apparatus at the management center based on the received operation time for each set flow rate. By providing an output means for calculating and outputting the maintenance time of each device based on the calculation result, it is possible to realize an oxygen concentrator management system via a communication line. It becomes possible to grasp, and it becomes possible to raise maintenance efficiency further, such as a plan arrangement of a person in charge.

The relationship diagram of the oxygen flow rate of an oxygen concentrator and a maintenance cycle.

Claims (6)

Oxygen concentrating means for separating oxygen in the air to generate concentrated oxygen, and an oxygen concentrating apparatus provided with a flow rate setting means for supplying concentrated oxygen to a user at a predetermined flow rate, an operating time measuring means for measuring the operating time of the apparatus , operating with a measuring means for measuring a state of use environmental factors, as well as provided with a storage means for storing the operating time for each set flow rate of the measurement result and the flow rate setting means of the use environment factors, recorded in the storage means An oxygen concentrating apparatus comprising a calculating means for calculating a maintenance cycle of the apparatus based on the date information of the time measuring means, the measurement result of the use environment factor and the information of the operation time for each set flow rate . Oxygen concentrator according to claim 1 wherein said operating time measurement means and said real time clock der Rukoto. 3. The oxygen concentrator according to claim 2 , wherein the calculation means is means for correcting the maintenance cycle based on information on operation time or operation time for each season recorded in the recording means.   2. The oxygen concentrator according to claim 1, wherein the measuring means for measuring the state of the use environment factor is a means for measuring temperature or humidity around the installation location of the apparatus or inside the apparatus.   The oxygen concentrating device has at least one adsorption bed filled with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen over oxygen, air supply means for supplying air to the adsorption bed, and air from the air supply means. An adsorbing step for supplying the adsorbent bed to extract concentrated oxygen, a flow path switching means for repeating the desorption step for reducing the adsorbent bed and regenerating the adsorbent at a fixed timing, and a flow rate setting for supplying the generated concentrated oxygen to the user The oxygen concentrator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator provided with means. Oxygen concentrating means for separating oxygen in the air to produce concentrated oxygen, flow rate setting means for supplying concentrated oxygen to the user at a predetermined flow rate, operating time measuring means for measuring the operating time of the apparatus , measuring means for measuring the status transmission, and storage means for storing the operating time for each set flow rate of the measurement result and the flow rate setting means of the use environment factors, to the management center via a communication line information stored in said storage means Oxygen concentrator provided with transmitting means for receiving, receiving means for receiving transmitted information and date information of operating time measuring means recorded in the received storage means, measurement results of use environment factors and each set flow rate An information management center having a calculation means for calculating the maintenance cycle of the apparatus based on the operation time of the apparatus and an output means for outputting the maintenance time of the apparatus based on the calculation result Oxygen concentrator management system according to claim.

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