Oxygen Concentrator

For many years, hospitals in low and middle-income countries have used medical oxygen concentrators to treat patients with pneumonia, hypoxemia and, more recently, severe COVID-19.

These devices take in air from the room and filter out nitrogen, providing patients with extra oxygen to compensate for the restricted breathing caused by their illness.

Concentrator reactor

The challenge

Oxygen concentrators are more suitable and cost-effective than oxygen cylinders or Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants in places with limited infrastructure.

However, most medical oxygen concentrators are designed for home use in developed countries with temperate climates and reliable access to electricity. When these devices are used in harsh environments with unstable power supply, they often can’t produce the flow rate and concentration of oxygen that patients need.

Another disadvantage of most oxygen concentrators is that key components are easily damaged, requiring maintenance. Spare parts are often not available locally. This means the oxygen concentrators stop working until the required parts are imported from international manufacturers, which can be a lengthy process.

COVID-19 and oxygen access

COVID-19 has made access to medical grade oxygen in low- and middle-income countries even harder. The pandemic has highlighted the critical need for a high-flow oxygen concentrator which suits the environment and limited infrastructure of low-resource hospitals and clinics.

Our response

We are developing an oxygen concentrator that can:
  • Produce 10 LPM (litres per minute) of >85% concentrated oxygen
  • Operate fully in temperatures up to 40oC, humidity of 95%, altitudes of 2000m, and poor air quality from dust or pollution
  • Perform reliably despite an electricity supply characterised by power fluctuations and short outages
  • Easily be maintained using locally available spare parts.
Unlike oxygen concentrators presently available on the market, the OVSI concentrator will be a robust, low-cost, high-quality instrument that will function reliably in challenging environments with limited infrastructure.

Our design

Our O2 Concentrator's distinctive design features include:

  • A robust rotary control valve in place of typical solenoid valves which are susceptible to failure
  • A large-capacity passive inlet filtration system in place of typical gross particle filters which are susceptible to blockages
  • Enhanced device monitoring to identify preventable issues quickly and provide detailed diagnostics information for technicians to schedule maintenance
  • Durable power conditioning and backup to prevent damage caused by voltage fluctuations and to enable the device to operate in short outages
  • Efficient internal cooling to ensure continual operation in elevated temperatures
  • Support for in-country supply chain development with components that can be sourced or manufactured locally.

Questions?

If you have questions about our O2 Concentrator, please contact us