O2 Concentrator instead of O2 tank

Hi Tom,

I'm a pilot and I sell concentrators. I'm not too sure they will work
well at 14000 feet. The new (expensive) little ones are pretty
marginal at best.


tom wrote:
Does anyone use an oxygen concentrator to supply pilot and passengers
in a light plane flying over 14000 feet? A quick google did not turn
up anything but home units and a recent ruling that they can be used on
commercial airlines, but I did not find anything about their use on
private planes.

They don't require more than about 100 watts, so an aircraft electrical
system could keep them going as long as the engine was running.
Internal batteries would keep it alive in an emergency.

Seems like a nice solution to elimination of messing with refilling
tanks.

tom

GomezAddams wrote:
Hi Tom,

I'm a pilot and I sell concentrators. I'm not too sure they will work
well at 14000 feet. The new (expensive) little ones are pretty
marginal at best.

There have been tests of portable units and the major issue with
them going up in altitude is not that they don't work, but they
get a lot because the compressor works harder.

There have been tests of portable units and the major issue with
them going up in altitude is not that they don't work, but they
get a lot because the compressor works harder.

That is really an interesting point. Prior to this thread--I had never
given any thought to the possibility of anyone using a portable concentrator
in the cabin of an aircraft, as my interest had been to eliminate the use of
refillable bottles for normal use. I had simply presumed that the
compressor(s) would be driven directly by the engine(s) and that any
necessary intercooling would be provided prior to the concentrator unit; or
alternatively that a purpose build self contained unit would be installed.
Therefore, this thread has been something of a revelation.

Peter

On 1 Dec 2006 22:28:10 -0800, "tom" wrote:

Does anyone use an oxygen concentrator to supply pilot and passengers
in a light plane flying over 14000 feet? A quick google did not turn
up anything but home units and a recent ruling that they can be used on
commercial airlines, but I did not find anything about their use on
private planes.

They don't require more than about 100 watts, so an aircraft electrical
system could keep them going as long as the engine was running.
Internal batteries would keep it alive in an emergency.

Changing subjects slightly - what kind of maintenance is required on
an oxygen concentrator? Does the zeolite need to be replaced every so
often? I scanned the webpages of a few manufacturers, and it appears
to be a relatively maintenance free product.

Anyway, it seems an interesting concept to use an O2 concentrator vs
bottle in the plane.

Nathan Young writes:

Changing subjects slightly - what kind of maintenance is required on
an oxygen concentrator? Does the zeolite need to be replaced every so
often? I scanned the webpages of a few manufacturers, and it appears
to be a relatively maintenance free product.

Air filters need to be changed periodically. The zeolite lasts
indefinitely.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Does anyone use an oxygen concentrator to supply pilot and passengers
in a light plane flying over 14000 feet? A quick google did not turn
up anything but home units and a recent ruling that they can be used on
commercial airlines, but I did not find anything about their use on
private planes.

They don't require more than about 100 watts, so an aircraft electrical
system could keep them going as long as the engine was running.
Internal batteries would keep it alive in an emergency.

Changing subjects slightly - what kind of maintenance is required on
an oxygen concentrator? Does the zeolite need to be replaced every so
often? I scanned the webpages of a few manufacturers, and it appears
to be a relatively maintenance free product.

Anyway, it seems an interesting concept to use an O2 concentrator vs
bottle in the plane.


There is some periodic maintenance of the zeolite "beds", although I don't
know exactly what or how. And of course that is in additional to the
periodic inspection of pumps, valves, filters, etc. However, there is
little question that the O2 concentrators are both lighter and more
economical than bottled O2 when used extensively or frequently.

Peter

This thread has a lot of confusion.
I will try to resolve/simplify the confusion...


Suppose you are breathing 1 liter per minute.
(I'm using a round number not the correct one.)

If you are breathing normal air you get .21 liters of O2 at ambient pressure and .79 liters of nitorgen at ambient pressure.

If the concentrator takes in 4.76 liters of air and removes all the nitrogen (out to an exhaust port)
this leaves 1 liter of O2 at ambient presssure, you then breathe this 1 liter per minute of concetrated O2.

The keys are that the concetrator uses more air that you would (4.75 vs 1 liter) and
it exhausts most of that as pure nitrogen.

Notice that the concept of the concetrator is the same reguardless of altitiude,
it is increasing the concntration of O2 at sealevel this is 99% O2 at 14.7 PSI,
at 18000 ft this is 99% O2 at 7.3 PSI.

Paul