Portable Oxygen Concentrator based on

Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA)

Presented by:

Team Vision
1.Nim Bahadur Khatri
2.Narayan Khanal
3.Mausam Bista
Oxygen Concentrator
 A medical device to provide oxygen to patients having breathing problems.
 Concentrates the oxygen from ambient air selectively removing the nitrogen.

Types:
1.Continuous Flow Oxygen Concentrators
2. Intermittent Flow or Pulse dose Oxygen Concentrators
Why Portable Oxygen Concentrators
are suitable for country like Nepal?
• Geographical structures
• Difficult to transport and refill oxygen
cylinders
• Least Oxygen production plants
 Air Separation Process

1.Cryogenic air separation process

• Based on low temperature distillation

• Huge in size , high production with high purity

• E.g. Liquid oxygen generation plant

Liquid oxygen generation plant

2.Non-Cryogenic air separation process
• Based on physical property differences like adsorption affinity
• Smaller in size for small scale production at moderate purity
• E.g. Adsorption based , membrane based and chemical based process
a. Adsorption based air separation process
• Based on selective adsorption of gases
• Requires adsorbent materials like zeolite , carbon molecular sieves
• For oxygen separation , maximum purity level obtained is 95%
• E.g. PSA , VSA , VPSA etc.

Zeolite Crystals
Zeolite as Adsorbent
• Zeolite are porous , aluminosilicate minerals naturally .
• Most zeolites produced synthetically can be used as adsorbent.
• Based on selective adsorption of nitrogen over oxygen .

Selection of Zeolite
Different synthesized zeolites have different
Fig: Adsorptivity of zeolite 5A vs 13X
adsorption affinity with nitrogen. Among them,
zeolite 13X is very suitable for Nitrogen Separation.
 V7 V6
O2 V5
O2 to Patient
Pressure
Regulator Product Tank
(95% O2)
Zeolite Zeolite
Bed 1 Bed 2

Compressor V1 V3 V2 V4

Vacuum Pump
Feed Air
Air Filter Dryer
V8
Waste N2

Fig: Block diagram of Oxygen Concentrator based on VPSA

Working Mechanism
Firstly , the feed air is passed through air filtration unit.
Air Filter :
• Removes dust and particulates present in air
Compressor :
Feed Air
• Compress air near ambient pressure. Air Filter Compressor Dryer

Dryer : Fig: Air Filtration Unit

• Silica gel present in dryer removes moisture in air

• Very essential for life of zeolite beds.
Nitrogen separation unit
Compressed air is then passed through Nitrogen separation unit .
The cycle completes in two steps :

1.Adsorption cycle (First half cycle)

• Valves V1 , V4 and V5 , V7 are opened.
• Adsorption of N2 takes place at bed 1 while
desorption at bed 2 through blower.

2.Desorption cycle (Second half cycle) Compressed air

• Valves V2, V3, V5 and V6 are opened.

• Adsorption at bed 2 while desorption at bed 1.

Fig: Nitrogen Separation Unit

Oxygen Regulation Unit
The product oxygen is provided to patients through this unit.

Product Tank
• Store oxygen for a while & provide steady & continuous flow.

Pressure Regulator
Fig: Oxygen Regulation Unit
• Provides oxygen to patient at controlled pressure.
Other Specifications
Maximum Output Capacity :5 Litre/Min
Power :Both AC ( 80-120 W) & DC (Batteries)
Weight :5-8 Kg
Flow type : Continuous flow type
Lifespan of Zeolite : More than 5 years
Challenges
• Regeneration of zeolite bed after adsorption of each cycle
• Recovery rate of oxygen
• More power consumption

Solutions
• Under vacuum pressure using blower , almost N2 is desorbed.
• Lower operating pressure results in high recovery
• Coupling of compressor and vacuum pump RPM Reduction Using Spur Gear
Advantages
• High purity of oxygen upto 95%.
• Smaller size of Compressor and Adsorption column.
• Long lifespan of zeolite beds.
• Low power consumption by compressors.

Disadvantages
• Limited production.
• Cannot supply to multiple patients.
• Mostly rely on AC.
• Production rate is relatively low at higher altitudes
References
Thesis of Vemula Rama Rao , National Institute of Singapore
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48655747.pdf
Adsorption Based Portable Oxygen Concentrator for Personal Medical Applications – CORE

Technical Specification for Oxygen Concentrators by WHO

portable oxygen concerntrator pdf1.pdf

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_oxygen_concentrator
Conclusion
Among all of the adsorption process for separating nitrogen , VPSA is best technique.
Most of the problems and challenges arises in PSA or VSA is solved by this process.
Thank You!
Any Queries?