JPH02289262A - Oxygen enriching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform efficient vaporization through effective utilization of a space in a device by a method wherein a surface active agent is located in a receiver part for water separated by a moisture content separating means, and by using air heated by means of an exhaust heat from a pump means, water held by a water holding means is vaporized. CONSTITUTION:Water separated by a moisture content separating means 13 is fed to a moisture content holding mechanism part 11 after the passage of it through a water draining means 17. Through the passage of at least a part of water through atmospheric air C, gasification is promoted for vaporization, and water incapable of being vaporized at a current time is received by a receiver 3. Water in the receiver 3 passes through a conduit 4 under gravity and fed to the receiver 5 or a water holding means 11 itself mounted to the receiver 5 and capable of sucking up water therein by means of capillary phenomenon to hold it. Through the passage of air heated by means of an exhaust heat from a pump means 10 with an electric motor through the surface of a part of the water holding part 11, water is vaporized from the water holding means. In which case, a kind of a surface active agent located in a water receiver 3 part may be a substance capable of being dissolved in water residing therein, whatever it may be.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application] The present invention relates to an oxygen enricher for obtaining oxygen-enriched air with increased oxygen concentration using an oxygen selectively permeable membrane. More specifically, even during long-term use, the oxygen enricher has been improved to efficiently and reliably evaporate excess water removed from oxygen-enriched air whose water concentration has been increased by permeation through the membrane. Regarding oxygen enrichers.

[Prior art] In conventional demolding oxygen enrichers, oxygen-enriched air is cooled by a cooling pipe to condense excess water, and then passed from a water separator to a water discharge pipe filled with fiber bundles to deoxidize the oxygen-enriched air. taking out the converted air outside the conduit route, holding the taken out water in a water-retaining member provided on the outer surface of the cooling pipe, and evaporating it;
A method has been adopted in which the extracted water is received in a shallow container with an opening at the top, and is drawn up from the container by capillary action to a water-retaining member made of a fiber aggregate, where it is evaporated.

However, with these methods alone, for example, if the oxygen enricher is operated under high temperature and humidity conditions for a long period of time,
The water retention property of the water retention member decreases, and the water that is removed after being concentrated into oxygen-enriched air becomes more than the moisture field where it can evaporate, and the water that cannot evaporate wets the bottom of the enrichment device. Or,
There was a problem that caused problems such as leakage outside the enrichment device.

Particularly in medical oxygen enrichers, when used for a long period of time, the bottom of the oxygen enricher is wetted by stably evaporating water under various conditions, including high temperature and humidity, throughout the year.
It was strongly desired to prevent water from leaking outside the enricher.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention provides a demolding oxygen enricher that is not used for a long period of time, even when the amount of moisture separated from oxygen-enriched air becomes large due to operation under high temperature and humidity conditions. It is an object of the present invention to provide an oxygen enricher that prevents water from leaking out of the oxygen enricher by ensuring that all M of water removed in the oxygen enricher is effectively evaporated. Still another object is to provide a compact oxygen enricher incorporating an excellent evaporation function that can efficiently evaporate water by effectively utilizing the space inside the oxygen enricher.

[Structure of the Invention] As a result of intensive research to achieve these objectives, the present inventors have discovered that it is possible to prevent the water wicking ability of the water evaporation function from decreasing even when used for a long period of time. The present invention was achieved by discovering that this is effective.

That is, the present invention provides a membrane element equipped with an oxygen selectively permeable membrane, a pump means with an electric motor for taking out oxygen-enriched air from the membrane element, a means for cooling the oxygen-enriched air, and a means for cooling the oxygen-enriched air. comprising a means for separating moisture condensed in the enriched air, a receiver means for receiving at least a portion of the water separated by the water separating means, and a receiver means for drawing up and retaining water from the receiver means by capillary action. In the oxygen enricher, the oxygen enricher has a water retaining means for evaporating the water retained in the water retaining means using air warmed by the exhaust heat of the pumping means. The present invention provides an oxygen enricher characterized in that a surfactant is present in the container.

The present invention will be explained in detail below using the drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of the oxygen enricher according to the present invention. That is, in the figure, a membrane element 1 is equipped with an oxygen selectively permeable membrane, and the shape of the membrane may be either a flat plate type, a cylindrical type, a hollow fiber type, or the like. For example, a pump means 10 with an electric motor, such as a vacuum pump.
By creating a vacuum inside the sampling element using a pump, etc., enriched air with increased oxygen concentration is obtained through the membrane through the collecting pipe 2, and after passing through the pumping means, the water retaining function is Cold section means 12 having section 11 Water separation means 1
3. Pressurizing means such as an orifice 14. After passing through the flow G adjustment means 15 and the flow rate measurement means 16, it is used as enriched air A. Atmospheric air C, on the other hand, is drawn into the device via a filter by fan means 18 and cooled by cooling means 12.
After sequentially passing through the membrane element 1 and pump means 10,
It is discharged outside the device. Further, the water separated by the water separating means 13 is supplied to the water retaining function section 11 by passing through a water discharging means 17 which is filled with, for example, m string bundles to generate pressure loss, and at least part of the water is supplied to the water retaining function section 11. water is atmospheric air C
The water that could not be evaporated is collected by the receiver 3. A portion of the water accumulated in the receiver 3 may be allowed to evaporate there through passage of the atmospheric air C.

In the oxygen enricher of the present invention, for example, the water in the receiver 3 is made to pass through the inside of the 8J pipe 4 by gravity or the like, and the water in the receiver 5 or the receiver 5 is equipped with the water in the receiver 3 by capillary action. Water is supplied to the water retaining means itself capable of sucking up and retaining water, and the water is evaporated from the water retaining means by passing air warmed by the exhaust heat of the electric pump means over the surface of at least a portion of the water retaining means. It is a thing,
It is characterized in that a surfactant is present in the water receiver.

The type of surfactant to be present in the water receiver portion of the water receiver means in the oxygen enricher of the present invention may be any surfactant as long as it can be dissolved in the water accumulated in the receiver. . From the viewpoint of ease of dissolution, it is preferable to pour a liquid surfactant into the receiver rather than having a solid surfactant present in the receiver. In addition, since oxygen enrichers are often used for medical purposes by patients with respiratory diseases at home or in hospitals, it is desirable that the surfactant used is non-toxic. Detergents are practical.

The structure of the water retaining means in the oxygen enricher of the present invention is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to have a 4IM aggregate, a sponge structure, etc. on both sides or one side of a support such as a net or flat plate. Examples include those equipped with a water retention function member. The fiber H aggregate is preferably mainly composed of hydrophilic fiber aggregates, and specific examples thereof include woven fabrics or non-woven fabrics such as gauze 6 rayon braids. Among such water-retaining function members,
In particular, gauze, netrance boat fabrics, and the like are preferred as materials that have high water absorption and a high ability to develop moisture into an M film. Further, the support may be made of insulators as long as it can maintain its shape with such a water-retaining member provided, and examples thereof include metals and plastics.

Among these, materials made of materials with particularly high thermal conductivity are preferred because they allow heat to easily transfer from the surroundings and promote water evaporation. Further desirable characteristics of the support include being lightweight and compact in order to reduce the overall weight and size of the oxygen enricher. For these reasons, the support is preferably made of metal, such as stainless steel, copper, or brass.

It is made of gun metal or the like, and its form is preferably a net-like material, that is, a wire mesh. Among these, those that are resistant to rust are preferred, and stainless steel wire mesh is particularly good.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing an actual embodiment of the water receiver means with a water evaporation function in the oxygen enricher of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 25 is a wire mesh, and 26 is gauze wrapped around 25. Drain is guided onto the gauze 26 and evaporated by hot exhaust air 28, but the gauze is warmly exhausted over time. It becomes dirty with dirt and dust. Gauze 26 when dirty
The wettability of the drain is poor, the penetration of the drain is reduced, so-called water is repelled, and it becomes difficult to evaporate with the hot exhaust air 28. Therefore, in order for the drain to soak into the case 26 and the case basin 24 well, if a suitable amount of surfactant (for example, a general commercially available liquid detergent, etc.) is poured into the inside of the evaporating dish 22, the gauze 26 and the gauze basin 24 can be soaked. It was confirmed that the wettability of No. 24 was improved and the evaporation ability was improved. It has also been found that as a pre-use treatment for the gauze 26 and the case drape 24, it is an effective method to soak them in a detergent solution and dry them so that the detergent remains on the gauze. Reference numeral 27 in FIG. 2 is a knob for taking in and out the evaporating dish.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of FIG. 2.

Figures 4 to 6 show the results when a new gauze is used as a member for sucking up water in the water receiving means using the model M enrichment device "Mild Sanso" (trademark) manufactured by Mr. The amount of water evaporation in the enricher after 0 hours of operation, 330 hours of operation, and 3500 hours of operation, with and without surfactant "MamaRoyal" (trademark) injected into the water receiver. is shown in relation to evaporation time. As described above, in the oxygen enricher of the present invention, even after long-term operation, the evaporation rate does not decrease much, indicating that appropriate water evaporation is possible.

[Effects of the Invention] The oxygen enricher of the present invention can ensure proper water evaporation even when used for a long period of time, and prevents water from getting wet at the bottom of the enricher or leaking out of the device even under high temperature and high humidity conditions. It has excellent effects that do not cause any problems.

Although such an enricher has an excellent evaporation capacity, it has the advantage that the overall size and increase in [1 are small, and it is easy to make it compact and lightweight.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates, by means of a block diagram, a preferred embodiment of the oxygen enricher according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a preferred embodiment of the water receiver means with a water evaporation function in the oxygen enricher of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view thereof. . 4 to 6 illustrate the evaporation status of water under various conditions in order to show the effects of the oxygen enricher of the present invention. Third

Claims (1)

[Claims] a membrane element comprising an oxygen selectively permeable membrane; a motorized pump means for extracting oxygen-enriched air from the membrane element; a means for cooling the oxygen-enriched air; Receiver means having condensed water separation means and for receiving at least a portion of the water separated by the water separation means; and water retention means for drawing up and retaining water from the receiver means by capillary action. In the oxygen enricher, which uses air warmed by the exhaust heat of the pump means to evaporate the water held in the water retention means, the water receiver portion of the receiver means is provided with a surfactant. An oxygen enricher characterized by containing an agent.