Oxygen concentrators are not a new concept but they have gained popularity owing to their contribution to handling the situation across the globe during the second wave of Covid-19.

There are mainly two types of oxygen concentrators namely:

Continuous flow oxygen concentrators: These oxygen concentrators provide the same static flow of oxygen unless turned off.

Pulse oxygen concentrators: These oxygen concentrators supply oxygen when they detect a breathing pattern and inhalation by the person using them.

People have known about the advantages and benefits of these concentrators but what many people are unaware of is the types of equipment that come with these concentrators that make their usage convenient.

It is important to educate yourself about all the equipment of oxygen concentrators as this knowledge will guide you in using these concentrators with the utmost efficiency. This will help you in using them more conveniently and without any hassle while taking or giving oxygen therapy.

But if you are not aware of the different equipment of oxygen concentrators then you don’t need to worry as we will be guiding you about them in this article. So, let’s begin.

Different Equipment of Oxygen Concentrators

Air compressor of oxygen concentrator

One of the important parts of these concentrators is the air compressor. It is important as the core purpose of these concentrators is to purify the air.

It takes in the air that’s made of 80 percent oxygen and 20 percent oxygen. This air moves to the sieve bed filters and their six-sided microscopic perforated cube (Zeolite) that remove its nitrogen content, bacteria, and dust and release the nitrogen back into the air.

An oxygen concentrator has an air compressor, two cylinders filled with zeolite pellets, a pressure-equalizing reservoir, and some valves and tubes. In the first half-cycle, the first cylinder receives air from the compressor, which lasts about 3 seconds.

Sieve bed of oxygen concentrators

A sieve bed is a filter inside the oxygen concentrator which separates the nitrogen from the oxygen in the air. This sieve bed uses a material called Zeolite to collect all the nitrogen in the air. 

TYPES OF SIEVE

Molecular sieve JLOX-101A and JLOX-501Aadsorbents are patented products specially designed for use in medical oxygen concentrators that employ a pressure swing cycle to generate high purity oxygen.

Newer concentrators use multi-bed molecular sieves. The advantage of the multi-bed technology is the increased availability and redundancy, as the 10 L/min molecular sieves are staggered and multiplied on several platforms. 

With this, over 960 L/min can be produced. The ramp-up time - the elapsed time until a multi-bed concentrator is producing oxygen at >90% concentration - is often less than 2 minutes, much faster than simple two-bed concentrators.

Summary

All types of equipment for oxygen concentrators are responsible for running these concentrators with ease. You need to understand their usage to further understand the entire concentrator. In the case of any issue, you can call the certified technicians to help you in dealing with the concern regarding these concentrators or their equipment.