Technical Specifications For Oxygen Concentrators

The purpose of this guidance document is for the appropriate selection procurement utilization and maintenance of oxygen concentrators. This document also focuses on recommendations for the appropriate use and maintenance of oxygen concentrators in an effort to increase the availability management and quality of oxygen concentrators and ultimately to improve health outcomes in LRS. This document is intended to serve as a resource for the planning and provision of local and national oxygen concentrator systems for use by administrators clinicians and technicians who are interested in improving access to oxygen therapy and reducing global mortality associated with hypoxaemia.

Air transport engineering, Electrical medical equipment, Medical equipment, Inhalation therapy equipment, Portable, Oxygen, Concentrators, Assembling, Performance, Hazards, Design, Purity, Impurities, Ratings, Temperature, Pressure, Instructions for use

Supplying medical oxygen at high altitude sites is a major logistical problem. Oxygen concentrators based on molecular sieve technology provide an almost inexhaustible source of medical grade oxygen at a relatively low cost. However, data on the functional characteristics of O2 concentrators at high altitudes are minimal. Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of the oxygen concentrator at moderate and high altitudes. The study measured the maximum sustained O2 flow rate, O2 concentration O2 and internal temperature (Ti) of the O2 concentrator for up to 8 hours at altitudes ranging from SL to 18,000 ft. in a hypobaric chamber maintained at 20 deg C and 40% relative humidity. At SL through 18,000', the O2 concentrator provided an O2 of 95.3% +/- 0.1% at a steady-state flow rate of 4.5 LPM +/- 0.1 LPM, with Ti of 50.6 deg C +/- 1.1 deg C. At each time interval over the 8-h period, the values for flow and O2 did not fluctuate significantly. However, Ti increased slightly and steadily (approx. 4 deg C rise) over the first 2 hours before stabilizing. The consistent pattern observed at each altitude was a low O2 at the lowest and highest flow rates, with the highest O2 producing middle range of flow rates. We conclude that from sea level to 18,000', molecular sieve based O2 concentrators are capable of providing medical grade supplemental O2 for at least 8 hours.

"Hypoxaemia is a major contributor to child deaths that occur worldwide each year; for a child with pneumonia hypoxaemia increases the risk of death by up to 5 times. Despite its importance in virtually all types of acute severe illness, hypoxaemia is often not well recognized or well managed, more so in settings where resources are limited. Oxygen therapy remains an inaccessible luxury for a large proportion of severely ill children admitted to hospitals in developing countries. This is particularly true for patients in small district hospitals, where, even if some facility for delivering oxygen is available, supplies are often unreliable and the benefits of treatment may be diminished by poorly maintained, inappropriate equipment or poorly trained staff with inadequate guidelines. Increasing awareness of these problems is likely to have considerable clinical and public health benefits in the care of severely ill children. Health workers should be able to know the clinical signs that suggest the presence of hypoxaemia and have more reliable means of detection of hypoxeamia. This can be achieved through more widespread use of pulse oximetry, which is a non-invasive measure of arterial oxygen saturation. At the same time oxygen therapy must be more widely available; in many remote settings, this can be achieved by use of oxygen concentrators, which can run on regular or alternative sources of power. Having effective systems for the detection and management of hypoxaemia are vital in reducing mortality from pneumonia and other severe acute illnesses. Oxygen therapy is essential to counter hypoxaemia and many times is the difference between life and death. This manual focuses on the availability and clinical use of oxygen therapy in children in health facilities by providing the practical aspects for health workers, biomedical engineers, and administrators. It addresses the need for appropriate detection of hypoxaemia, use of pulse oximetry, clinical use of oxygen and delivery systems and monitoring of patients on oxygen therapy. In addition, the manual addresses practical use of pulse oximetry, and oxygen concentrators and cylinders in an effort to improve oxygen systems worldwide."--Publisher's description.