Oxygen Concentrator: Does it really help to breathe in difficulty?

Which medical equipment do you need in breathing difficulty?

You might have heard about an oxygen concentrator. Certain queries raise in your mind like exactly what it is? How does it work? There are Oxygen machines that provide a sort of relief to the patients having lower blood oxygen levels.

Those machines are too bulky, which really made it difficult for the patients in need of oxygen therapy to get the services in hospitals.

Thanks to the medicine’s great advancement, modern advanced oxygen generators are much compact, smaller, lightweight, quiet, portable, and provide high performance. In this blog, we will discuss about the types of oxygen concentrator, their working, and availability.

What is an oxygen concentrator?

It is a type of medical device used for delivering oxygen to the patients having breath related issues. Oxygen Concentrator balance the oxygen level required in case of low percentage of oxygen in the blood of an individual.

How Oxygen Concentrator works?

Oxygen concentrator pulls the surrounding air into a compressor that compresses the air to a required density. This compressed air then passed through a sieve bed filter system with two prongs.

Nitrogen is removed and oxygen is filled into the tank when compressed air passed the first sieve bed. Compressed air is shifted to the second sieve bed after the filling of nitrogen in first bed.

Extra nitrogen and little bit of oxygen from first bed is sent into the atmosphere. When the second bed also filled with nitrogen the whole process switches back.

It ensures the continuous flow and delivery of purified medical grade oxygen into a system of pulse-dose delivery also known as continuous stream system to the patient.

Patient efficiently inhale oxygen which came from the product tank and passes through the tubes reaches the nasal cannula or a special mask.

Types of Oxygen Concentrator:

• Continuous flow oxygen concentrator
• Pulse Dose or Intermittent flow oxygen concentrator

How to use an oxygen concentrator?

Most people don’t know how to use an oxygen concentrator, it seems to be difficult sometime. On the contrary, it is so easy that anyone can set it up. You just need to switch on the machines and then need to adjust the oxygen flow rate before putting the nasal cannula or a mask.

Few things to keep in mind:

• Positioning of oxygen generator should be little away from any sort of furniture.
• Keep the machine ON for 15 – 20 minutes before using it, to get the accurate concentration of pure air.
• Also, you need to check any bends or kinks in the tubing before taking the treatment.
• Use mask for low level of oxygen intake, and use nasal cannula for high level.

Condition requiring Oxygen Concentrator:

Doctors could advice their patients an oxygen therapy in different medical conditions. So, there could be numerous reasons to use an oxygen. Generally, our lungs inhale and absorb the oxygen from the air and transport it to the whole body through blood.

If you have gone through some kind of pulse oximetry to find the oxygen saturation levels and resulted in low level of blood oxygen, then you could be advised for short term or long-term oxygen therapy by the doctor.

Conditions that require short term oxygen therapy are

Asthma
• Pneumonia
• Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
• After surgery in some cases
Conditions that require long term oxygen therapy are
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Cystic fibrosis
• Sleep Apnea
• Other serious respiratory or chronic conditions

Standard specification of Oxygen Concentrator:

Electrical / Power Requirements: Standard concentrators used a home usually run only on AC power. A portable oxygen concentrator runs on batteries, DC and AC power. In India AC220±20V, 50±1 Hz

Weight: Weight of the OC varies as per the model and type of product.

Dimensions: Dimensions of oxygen concentrator depends on the manufacturer and the type of product.

Noise Level: The unit for the measurement of noise level in decibel. The latest units for quiet devices are around 45 decibels or below, but previous concentrators not used to have the noise of 50 – 60 decibels.

Temperature Operating Range: Home OCs operates in between 45 degrees F and 90 degrees F.

Altitude Operating Range: Because of low oxygen on high altitudes oxygen concentrator is specified to operate up to 7500 – 8000 feet.

Oxygen Concentration: Medical grade oxygen i.e. at least 88% pure oxygen and above should be supplied. Now, OCs supply 92 – 95% pure oxygen (+/- 3%).

How to get the right oxygen concentrator?

Your first step is to take the recommendation from the doctor for the right OC. Then you can visit our website to find one of the world class oxygen concentrators.

We will fully assist you to purchase the right one with the best specification under the budget. The delivery will be done on your doorstep within the time frame promised. Also, we will guide and train you on how to use the OC in the best possible way. For more info you can check our plans