阅读说明：本技术 氧浓缩装置 (Oxygen concentration device ) 是由 山本健太 近藤启太 岩亀诚 藤原猛 于 2019-06-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种氧浓缩装置(A),包括三个以上的多个吸附筒(1a、1b、1c)、向各吸附筒(1a、1b、1c)供给加压空气的压缩机(2)、从各吸附筒(1a、1b、1c)吸引气体的真空泵(3)。具有连通管(8a、8b、8c)以及控制阀(21a、21b、21c),连通管与各吸附筒(1a、1b、1c)的入口侧管路(11a、11b、11c)连接,使各吸附筒(1a、1b、1c)与外部气体连通,控制阀打开、关闭该连通管(8a、8b、8c)的管路。(An oxygen concentrator (A) comprises three or more adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c), a compressor (2) for supplying pressurized air to the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c), and a vacuum pump (3) for sucking gas from the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1 c). The adsorption apparatus is provided with communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8c) connected to inlet-side pipes (11a, 11b, 11c) of the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c) to communicate the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c) with outside air, and control valves (21a, 21b, 21c) for opening and closing the pipes of the communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8 c).)

1. An oxygen concentrator (A) comprising three or more adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c), a compressor (2) for supplying pressurized air to the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c), and a vacuum pump (3) for sucking gas from the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c),

the oxygen concentrator (A) has communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8c) and control valves (21a, 21b, 21c), the communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8c) are connected to inlet-side pipes (11a, 11b, 11c) of the adsorption cartridges (1a, 1b, 1c) to communicate the adsorption cartridges (1a, 1b, 1c) with outside air, and the control valves (21a, 21b, 21c) open and close the pipes of the communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8 c).

2. The oxygen concentrator (A) of claim 1,

the communication pipes (8a, 8b, 8c) have first lines (22a, 22b, 22c) that suck outside air into the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1c), and second lines (23a, 23b, 23c) that discharge air from the adsorption cylinders (1a, 1b, 1 c).

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an oxygen concentrator. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an oxygen concentrator that generates and supplies an oxygen-concentrated gas having a concentration higher than that of oxygen in air.

Background

There is known an oxygen concentrator which generates an oxygen-concentrated gas having a concentration higher than that of oxygen in air, stores the oxygen-concentrated gas in an oxygen tank, and supplies the oxygen-concentrated gas from the oxygen tank to a desired portion.

As the oxygen concentration device, there is a PSA (pressure swing adsorption) type device that performs pressure swing between a pressure of increased pressure and atmospheric pressure using two to three adsorption cylinders. In this PSA-type oxygen concentrator, the pressure inside the adsorption cylinder fluctuates in a pressure range higher than atmospheric pressure, and therefore, there is a problem in that the adsorption efficiency of the adsorbent contained in the adsorption cylinder is low.

In order to improve the adsorption efficiency, a VPSA (vacuum pressure swing adsorption) type apparatus has been proposed in which an adsorption cylinder in which oxygen-concentrated gas is supplied to an oxygen tank is not opened to the atmosphere and depressurized, but the pressure of the adsorption cylinder is reduced to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure by sucking the adsorption cylinder with a vacuum pump (see, for example, patent document 1).

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2017-202447

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

In recent years, it has been desired to generate oxygen-concentrated gas with high efficiency in an oxygen concentrator. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the air supply capacity of the compressor and the air suction capacity of the vacuum pump, and the volume, weight, and power consumption of the oxygen concentrator become large.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide an oxygen concentrator capable of generating oxygen with higher efficiency.

Technical scheme for solving technical problem

The oxygen concentrator of this disclosure includes:

(1) a plurality of adsorption cylinders; a compressor for supplying pressurized air to each adsorption cylinder; a vacuum pump for sucking gas from each adsorption cylinder,

the oxygen concentration device is provided with a communicating pipe and a control valve, wherein the communicating pipe is connected with an inlet side pipeline of each adsorption cylinder to communicate each adsorption cylinder with external gas, and the control valve opens and closes the pipeline of the communicating pipe.

In the oxygen concentrator of the present disclosure, since the communication pipe for communicating each adsorption cylinder with the outside air is provided, when there are, for example, three adsorption cylinders, while the pressurization step is performed in the first adsorption cylinder and the depressurization step is performed in the second adsorption cylinder, the remaining third adsorption cylinder and the outside air can be opened by operating the control valve, and the inside of the third adsorption cylinder can be changed from the pressurized state to the atmospheric pressure state or the inside of the third adsorption cylinder can be changed from the negative pressure state to the atmospheric pressure state. That is, the pressure in the third adsorption cylinder can be returned to the atmospheric pressure by using the pressure difference between the pressure in the third adsorption cylinder and the atmospheric pressure, not by using the power of the compressor or the vacuum pump. Therefore, when the third adsorption cylinder is pressurized in the subsequent step, the compressor only needs to be set to the atmospheric pressure state to the pressurized state, and therefore, the air supply capacity required for the compressor can be reduced as compared with the case of starting pressurization from the negative pressure state. On the other hand, when the third adsorption cylinder is depressurized in the subsequent step, the vacuum pump only needs to set the atmospheric pressure state to the negative pressure state, and therefore, the air suction capacity required for the vacuum pump can be reduced as compared with the case where depressurization is started from the pressurized state. By reducing the required air supply capacity of the compressor and the air suction capacity of the vacuum pump, the oxygen concentrator can be reduced in size and weight, and the power consumption can be reduced. In other words, oxygen can be generated with higher efficiency.

(2) On the basis of the oxygen concentration device in (1), the communication pipe may have a first pipe that sucks external gas into the adsorption cylinder and a second pipe that discharges gas from the adsorption cylinder. In this case, the first pipe line can supply the outside air into the adsorption cylinder, and the second pipe line can discharge the air in the adsorption cylinder.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment of the oxygen concentrator of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the valve opening period and the pressure fluctuation of each adsorption cylinder in the oxygen concentrator shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial view of fig. 2, showing a pressure change of one cycle of the first adsorption cylinder and an open state of the on-off valve.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, the oxygen concentration apparatus of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the present disclosure is not limited to these examples, but is shown in the form of claims, and is intended to include meanings equivalent to the claims and all changes within the scope thereof.

Fig. 1 is an explanatory view of an oxygen concentrator a according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The oxygen concentrator a is a VPSA-type oxygen concentrator, and includes three adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c, a compressor 2, a vacuum pump 3, and an oxygen tank 4. Reference numerals 1a, 1b, and 1c denote a first adsorption cylinder, a second adsorption cylinder, and a third adsorption cylinder, respectively.

The compressor 2 pressurizes air introduced into the apparatus through an air introduction port 5 and sends the air to a pipe 6. The pressurized air sent to the pipe 6 is sent into the adsorption cylinders from the lower sides of the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c through the pipes 11a, 11b, and 11 c. The adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c contain an adsorbent for adsorbing nitrogen in the pressurized air.

By passing pressurized air through the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c containing the adsorbent, oxygen-concentrated gas having a concentration higher than the oxygen concentration in the air can be generated. The oxygen-concentrated gas obtained from the upper side of each of the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c is stored in the oxygen tank 4 through the lines 12a, 12b, and 12c and the line 7. The piping 16 shown in the lower part of fig. 1 is a path for discharging the gas in the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the outside by the vacuum pump 3.

The opening/closing valves (control valves) 13a, 13b, 13c, 15a, 15b, 15c, 18a, 18b, 18c, 21a, 21b, and 21c are valves for opening and closing the passage of gas in the pipes disposed in the valves, and are opened and closed at predetermined timings by a control unit (not shown). More specifically, the on-off valves 13a, 13b, and 13c contribute to a sending operation of sending pressurized air to the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1 c. The opening/closing valves 15a, 15b, and 15c facilitate a discharge operation of discharging the gas in the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the outside. The open-close valves 18a, 18b, 18c facilitate the purge operation. The on-off valves 21a, 21b, and 21c are connected to the inlet-side pipelines 11a, 11b, and 11c of the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c, and open and close the pipelines of the communication pipes 8a, 8b, and 8c that communicate the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c with the outside air. The opening/closing valves 21a, 21b, and 21c facilitate a pressurization operation of increasing the pressure from a negative pressure state to an atmospheric pressure state, which will be described later, and a depressurization operation of reducing the pressure from the pressurized state to the atmospheric pressure state.

Check valves 17a, 17b, and 17c are provided in the pipes 12a, 12b, and 12c from the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the oxygen tank 4. These check valves 17a, 17b, and 17c are valves that allow only oxygen to flow from the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the oxygen tank 4. The check valves 17a, 17b, and 17c are provided so as to be able to send the oxygen-concentrated gas sent from the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the oxygen tank 4 when the oxygen-concentrated gas is at or above a predetermined pressure (e.g., 100 kPa). In addition, a general opening/closing valve (control valve) may be used instead of the check valve.

Pressure gauges 9a, 9b, and 9c for monitoring the internal pressure are attached to the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c, respectively. Further, a pressure gauge 10 for monitoring the internal pressure is also attached to the oxygen tank 4.

Each communication pipe 8a, 8b, 8c has a first pipe line 22a, 22b, 22c for supplying outside air into the adsorption cylinder, and a second pipe line 23a, 23b, 23c for discharging gas from the adsorption cylinder, 22a, 22b, 22c, 23a, 23b, 23 c. Accordingly, the outside air can be supplied into the adsorption cylinder through the first pipe lines 22a, 22b, and 22c, and the gas in the adsorption cylinder can be discharged through the second pipe lines 23a, 23b, and 23c, which are different from the first pipe lines 22a, 22b, and 22 c. The first pipes 22a, 22b, and 22c are provided with check valves 24a, 24b, and 24c, respectively, which allow only flow from the outside into the adsorption cylinders. The second pipes 23a, 23b, and 23c are provided with check valves 25a, 25b, and 25c that allow only the flow from the adsorption cylinder to the outside, respectively.

In order to prevent the outside air having a lower oxygen concentration due to the mixing of the outside air in the vicinity of the outside air introduction port with the outside air discharged from the exhaust port (having an oxygen concentration lower than that in normal air) in the outside air introduction port (not shown) of the first pipe line 22a, 22b, 22c and the exhaust port (not shown) of the second pipe line 23a, 23b, 23c, it is preferable that the exhaust port and the outside air introduction port are connected to different spaces. In contrast, the air outlet may be separated from the external air inlet by a certain distance as long as the air outlet is an open space in which sufficient air circulation can be performed.

Next, an example of the operation of the oxygen concentrator a having the above-described structure will be described with reference to fig. 2 to 3. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an opening period of a valve and pressure fluctuations or changes of each adsorption cylinder in the oxygen concentrator a shown in fig. 1, and fig. 3 is a partial diagram of fig. 2 and is a diagram showing pressure changes of one cycle of the first adsorption cylinder 1a and an open state of an on-off valve. In FIGS. 2-3, time passes from left to right. In fig. 2, the upper diagram shows the open period of each on-off valve, and the lower diagram shows the change in pressure inside each adsorption cylinder. The pressure in the adsorption cylinder changes from a negative pressure state to a pressurized state.

In the upper diagram, the period shown by hatching indicates the open period of the on-off valves 13a, 13b, and 13c provided in the conduits from the discharge port of the compressor 2 to the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c, and is the period (pressurization period) during which the pressurized air pressurized by the compressor 2 is sent into the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1 c. The periods shown by the double-hatched lines indicate the open periods of the on-off valves 15a, 15b, and 15c provided in the lines from the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c to the suction port of the vacuum pump 3, and are periods (negative pressure periods) during which the gas in the adsorption cylinders 1a, 1b, and 1c is discharged by the vacuum pump 3. In the lower diagram, a thick solid line indicates changes in the internal pressure of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, and a thin solid line and a broken line indicate changes in the internal pressures of the second adsorption cylinder 1b and the third adsorption cylinder 1c, respectively.

In the example shown in fig. 2, the pressurizing step in the adsorption cylinder is performed in the order of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, the second adsorption cylinder 1b, and the third adsorption cylinder 1 c. In addition, the treatment of one cycle of the first adsorption cylinder 1a is performed during a period shown by "T" in fig. 2. The one-cycle process includes a pressurization process of the compressor 2, a suction process of the vacuum pump 3, a pressure reduction process of changing the pressurized state to the atmospheric pressure state using the communication pipes 8a, 8b, and 8c, and a pressurization process of changing the negative pressure state to the atmospheric pressure state.

Next, the opening and closing of the open/close valve and the change in pressure in the adsorption cylinder will be described in detail with respect to the first adsorption cylinder 1 a. In addition, since the opening and closing of the on-off valves of the second adsorption cylinder 1b and the third adsorption cylinder 1c and the pressure change in the adsorption cylinders are varied with time as shown in fig. 2, the contents thereof are the same as those of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, and therefore, for the sake of simplicity, the description thereof will be omitted.

As previously described, in FIGS. 2-3, time passes from left to right. When the on-off valve 13a is opened (opened) at time t0, the pressurized air pressurized by the compressor 2 is supplied into the adsorption cylinder 1a, and the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a rises.

When the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a rises and becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined pressure, the check valve 17a of the pipe line 12a provided on the outlet side (oxygen tank side) of the adsorption cylinder 1a is opened. The check valve 17a is opened at time t 1. When the check valve 17a is opened, the oxygen-concentrated gas in the adsorption cylinder 1a is supplied into the oxygen tank 4 through the pipe line 7. In the state where the check valve 17a is open, even if pressurized air is supplied from the compressor 2 into the adsorption cylinder 1a, the outlet side of the adsorption cylinder 1a is open, and therefore the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a is constant.

The on-off valve 13a is closed at time t2, and the supply of pressurized supply air from the compressor 2 to the adsorption cylinder 1a is stopped. At the same time as the pressurized air supply is stopped, the open/close valve 18a serving as a purge valve is opened, and a part of the oxygen-concentrated gas in the adsorption cylinder 1a is supplied to the second adsorption cylinder 1b to increase the oxygen concentration in the second adsorption cylinder 1b that enters the pressurization step. When the on-off valve 18a is in the open state, the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a gradually decreases until time t3 at which the on-off valve 18a is in the closed state. The check valve 17a is brought into a closed state with a pressure lower than a predetermined pressure almost at the same time as the opening/closing valve 18a is brought into an open state.

Next, at time t3, the on-off valve 18a is in the closed state and the on-off valve 21a is in the open state, and at this time, the adsorption cartridge 1a is brought into the communication state with the atmosphere via the communication pipe 8a (see fig. 1). In this way, since the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is in a pressurized state at time t3 and the atmosphere is at the atmospheric pressure, the gas inside the adsorption cylinder 1a (gas having an oxygen concentration lower than that in the air) is discharged to the atmosphere through the check valve 25a provided in the second pipe line 23a by the pressure difference between the two. Thereby, the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a is reduced to almost atmospheric pressure.

Next, at time t4, the on-off valve 21a is closed and the on-off valve 15a is opened, and at this time, the gas in the adsorption cylinder 1a is sucked by the vacuum pump 3 and discharged into the atmosphere. Thereby, the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a is reduced to a predetermined negative pressure.

At time t5, the on-off valve 15a is closed and the on-off valve 21a is opened, and at this time, the adsorption cartridge 1a is brought into a communication state with the atmosphere via the communication tube 8 a. In this way, since the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is in a negative pressure state at time t5 and the atmosphere is atmospheric pressure, air in the atmosphere is supplied into the adsorption cylinder 1a through the check valve 24a provided in the first pipe line 22a by the pressure difference between the two. Thereby, the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a is increased to almost atmospheric pressure.

Next, at time t6, the on-off valve 13a is opened, and the pressurized air pressurized by the compressor 2 is supplied into the adsorption cylinder 1a, so that the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a rises, similarly to the above-described time t 0. Then, the above-described steps described with respect to the times t1 to t5 are repeated.

As is apparent from the upper diagram in fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the on-off valve 13 is in an open state in the order of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, the second adsorption cylinder 1b, and the third adsorption cylinder 1 c. In other words, the pressurized air is supplied from the compressor 2 to the first adsorption cylinder 1a, the second adsorption cylinder 1b, and the third adsorption cylinder 1c in this order.

In the present embodiment, similarly, the opening/closing valve 15 is opened in the order of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, the second adsorption cylinder 1b, and the third adsorption cylinder 1 c. In other words, the gas in the adsorption cylinders is sucked out by the vacuum pump 3 in the order of the first adsorption cylinder 1a, the second adsorption cylinder 1b, and the third adsorption cylinder 1 c.

In the present embodiment, the opening/closing valve 21a is opened for a certain period immediately before the pressurized air is supplied from the compressor 2 into the adsorption cylinder 1a (the period from t5 to t6 in the above description), and the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is set to a communication state in which the atmosphere communicates with the atmosphere. Accordingly, the outside air is supplied into the adsorption cylinder 1a through the communication pipe 8a by the pressure difference between the negative pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a and the atmospheric pressure, and the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a becomes almost the atmospheric pressure. In the conventional VPSA-type oxygen concentration device, at the time t5, the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is set to the atmospheric pressure state or the pressurized state by supplying pressurized air into the adsorption cylinder 1a using the compressor 2. However, in the present embodiment, since the pressure increase from the negative pressure state to the atmospheric pressure is performed by the pressure difference between the negative pressure and the atmospheric pressure in the adsorption cylinder, even if the adsorption cylinder having the same volume is used, the inside of the adsorption cylinder can be set in the pressurized state even if the capacity is smaller than that of the conventional compressor, and the power consumption of the compressor 2 can be reduced.

In the present embodiment, the opening/closing valve 21a is opened for a certain period of time (the period from t3 to t4 in the above description) immediately before the vacuum pump 3 sucks air into the adsorption cylinder 1a, and the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is set to a communication state in which the atmosphere communicates with the atmosphere. As a result, the gas in the adsorption cylinder 1a is discharged to the outside through the communication pipe 8a by the pressure difference between the pressurization pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a and the atmospheric pressure, and the pressure in the adsorption cylinder 1a becomes almost the atmospheric pressure. In the conventional VPSA-type oxygen concentration device, at the time t3, the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is sucked by the vacuum pump 3, and the inside of the adsorption cylinder 1a is set to an atmospheric pressure state or a negative pressure state. However, in the present embodiment, since the pressure reduction from the pressurized state to the atmospheric pressure is performed by the pressure difference between the pressurized pressure in the adsorption cylinder and the atmospheric pressure, even if the adsorption cylinder having the same volume is used, the inside of the adsorption cylinder can be set to the negative pressure state even if the capacity is smaller than that of the conventional compressor, and the power consumption of the vacuum pump 3 can be reduced.

(other modification examples)

The present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

For example, in the above embodiment, the oxygen concentrator including three adsorption cartridges is provided, but the number of adsorption cartridges may be three or more, and for example, four adsorption cartridges may be included.

Description of the symbols

1 a: an adsorption cylinder (first adsorption cylinder);

1 b: an adsorption cylinder (second adsorption cylinder);

1 c: an adsorption cylinder (third adsorption cylinder);

2: a compressor;

3: a vacuum pump;

4: an oxygen tank;

5: an air introduction port;

6: a pipeline;

7: a pipeline;

8a, 8b, 8 c: a communicating pipe;

9a, 9b, 9 c: a pressure gauge;

10: a pressure gauge;

11a, 11b, 11 c: a pipeline;

13a, 13b, 13 c: an opening and closing valve;

15a, 15b, 15 c: an opening and closing valve;

16: a pipeline;

17a, 17b, 17 c: a check valve;

18a, 18b, 18 c: an opening and closing valve;

21a, 21b, 21 c: an opening and closing valve;

22a, 22b, 22 c: a first pipeline;

23a, 23b, 23 c: a second pipeline;

24a, 24b, 24 c: a check valve;

25a, 25b, 25 c: a check valve;

a: an oxygen concentration device.