Apparatus and method for supplying oxygen

An apparatus for supplying oxygen comprising:

• a compressor that supplies compressed air;
• a first adsorption bed and a second adsorption bed for generating concentrated oxygen by alternately adsorbing nitrogen from the compressed air supplied by the compressor by a pressure swing adsorption method;
• a process control valve configured to adjust flow of the compressed air supplied to the first and second adsorption beds and passages for discharging adsorbed nitrogen discharged from the first and second adsorption beds;
• an upper equalization valve configured to selectively communicate with a first concentrated oxygen passage and a second concentrated oxygen passage for guiding the concentrated oxygen respectively discharged from the first and second adsorption beds;
• and
• a controller that controls the process control valve and the upper equalization valve respectively based on process pressures in the first and second adsorption beds,
• wherein the controller controls to perform a pressurization process in which the pressurized air is supplied to the first adsorption bed to pressurize the first adsorption bed and generate the concentrated oxygen, an upper equalization process in which the first and second oxygen passages are communicated with each other by the upper equalization valve to allow at least a portion of the concentrated oxygen discharged from the first adsorption bed to flow into the second adsorption bed, and an upper and lower equalization process in which lower ends of the first and second adsorption beds are communicated with each other,
• wherein the controller controls such that a ratio of a minimum pressure to a maximum pressure of a process pressure profile in the first adsorption bed during the upper equalization process is different from each other in a high flow rate region and a low flow rate region where a flow rate is lower than the high flow rate region, and
• wherein the controller controls such that a ratio of the minimum pressure to the maximum pressure of the process pressure profile within the first adsorption bed during the upper equalization process is set to be smaller in the low flow rate region than in the high flow rate region.

An apparatus for supplying oxygen comprising:

• a compressor that supplies compressed air;
• a first adsorption bed and a second adsorption bed for generating concentrated oxygen by alternately adsorbing nitrogen from the compressed air supplied by the compressor by a pressure swing adsorption method;
• a process control valve configured to adjust flow of the compressed air supplied to the first and second adsorption beds and passages for discharging adsorbed nitrogen discharged from the first and second adsorption beds;
• an upper equalization valve configured to selectively communicate with a first concentrated oxygen passage and a second concentrated oxygen passage for guiding the concentrated oxygen respectively discharged from the first and second adsorption beds;
• and
• a controller that controls the process control valve and the upper equalization valve respectively based on process pressures in the first and second adsorption beds,
• wherein the controller controls to perform a pressurization process in which the pressurized air is supplied to the first adsorption bed to pressurize the first adsorption bed and generate the concentrated oxygen, an upper equalization process in which the first and second oxygen passages are communicated with each other by the upper equalization valve to allow at least a portion of the concentrated oxygen discharged from the first adsorption bed to flow into the second adsorption bed, and an upper and lower equalization process in which lower ends of the first and second adsorption beds are communicated with each other,
• wherein the controller is configured to perform a process control based on usage flow rate calculated by the following equation
• F
• =
• L
• ⁢
• Δ
• ⁢
• P
• Δ
• ⁢
• t
• ⁢
• 60
• [
• Equation
• ]
• Here, L is a volume of an oxygen tank, ΔP is a difference between a maximum pressure and a minimum pressure in the oxygen tank during a consumption process of consuming oxygen, and Δt is a time interval between a point of a maximum pressure and a point of a minimum pressure with the oxygen tank during the consumption process.

A method for supplying oxygen using a first adsorption bed and a second adsorption bed each configured to produce concentrated oxygen by nitrogen adsorption, and an oxygen tank configured to store the concentrated oxygen produced by the first and second adsorption beds, to supply concentrated oxygen in a pressure swing adsorption method, comprising:

• a pressurization process in which pressurized air is supplied to the first adsorption bed to pressurize the first adsorption bed and generate the concentrated oxygen;
• an upper equalization process in which rear ends of the first and second adsorption beds are communicated with each other to allow at least a portion of the concentrated oxygen discharged from the first adsorption bed to move to the second adsorption bed;
• and
• an upper and lower equalization process in which lower ends of the first and second adsorption beds are communicated with each other,
• wherein the upper equalization process is performed such that a ratio of a minimum pressure to a maximum pressure of a process pressure profile in the first adsorption bed during the upper equalization process is different from each other in a high flow rate region and a low flow rate region where a flow rate is lower than the high flow rate region, and
• wherein a ratio of the minimum pressure to the maximum pressure of the process pressure profile within the first adsorption bed during the upper equalization process is set to be smaller in the low flow rate region than in the high flow rate region.