Reliable oxygenation conceivable with new design for portable
concentrators
Simulation-based optimization determines most favorable design for oxygen concentrators

Date:
August 30, 2021
Source:
Texas A&M University
Summary:
Anticipating the increased need for better oxygen concentrators
as the fight against COVID-19 rages on, researchers have laid a
computational framework to design the most optimal concentrator
to filter ambient air and produce oxygen that can scale with
patient demand.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As health workers around the world provide care to those infected
with SARS- CoV-2 and its many variants, the shortages in medical oxygen continue to deeply impact hospitals already stretched thin. While portable oxygen concentrators have provided some relief to many with respiratory distress, these machines sometimes do not generate enough medical oxygen
to meet the fluctuating demands of a patient with worsening symptoms,
requiring them to be rehospitalized.


========================================================================== Anticipating the increased need for better oxygen concentrators as the
fight against COVID-19 rages on, researchers at Texas A&M University have
laid a computational framework to design the most optimal concentrator to filter ambient air and produce oxygen that can scale with patient demand.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant stress to our medical and emergency facilities and a surge of people requiring medical attention,
and hospitals have a limited number of ventilation equipment," said
Dr. Faruque Hasan, associate professor and the ?Kim McDivitt '88 and
Phillip McDivitt '87 Endowed Faculty Fellow in the Artie McFerrin
Department of Chemical Engineering. "But we could prevent some cases
of hospitalization if we designed a more advanced, compact and portable
oxygen concentrator that has flexible operating conditions to deliver as
much oxygen as the patient requires." The researchers noted that oxygen concentrators based on their design would also help those suffering from
other respiratory conditions, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia and asthma.

A description of the study appeared online in the journal NatureScientific Reports.

Unlike oxygen tanks that provide patients with a continuous supply of
pure oxygen, portable oxygen concentrators remove nitrogen from ambient
air. The stripping away of nitrogen is due to a process called adsorption, whereby certain species of air molecules get trapped on the surface of
solids. Among the many options available for adsorbents, naturally or synthetically made materials known as zeolites act like sieves, holding
on to the nitrogen while allowing oxygen to pass through.

But despite their overall advantages, oxygen concentrators are often
designed with fixed specifications, thereby limiting their use in meeting oxygen demands caused by a change in a patient's medical condition
or activity. For example, a patient's oxygen needs could vary both in
terms of flow rate and purity, and current oxygen concentrators cannot
be used for several different patients within the same hospital setting
who require very different ventilation.

"In the ideal case, we need a system that can rapidly switch between
different operating regimes for on-demand oxygen production while
fulfilling different product specifications," said Dr. Akhil Arora, former graduate student in Hasan's laboratory and lead author on the study.

To enhance the design of current medical oxygen concentrators, Arora first selected three types of zeolites -- LiX, LiLSX and 5A -- for his analysis.

Next, he ran a physics-based simulation that modeled different properties
of the zeolites along with characteristics of the oxygen concentrator, including the size of the adsorption chamber and the different stages
within the adsorption process.

Then, using a high-performance computing cluster at Texas A&M, he varied
all these inputs of the simulation simultaneously to arrive at the most
optimal operating range that would yield a compact, easy-to-transport and
high- performance medical oxygen concentrator. In particular, he found
that the LiLSX performed better than LiX and 5A zeolites, producing 90%
pure oxygen at a high rate. In addition, researchers found the LiLSX-based system could be used to generate different levels of oxygen purity and
flow rates.

The experts said their study is also a first step in creating portable
cyber- physical systems for home use that can change oxygen supply
depending on the patient's needs. So, if a patient requires more oxygen
as symptoms worsen, built-in algorithms could analyze data from oxygen
sensors to predict if more ventilation is needed, relay that information
to off-site physicians who can then use their judgement to remotely
change settings on the medical oxygen concentrator.

"Right now, medical professionals are needed to administer oxygen based
on the condition of the patient, so at-home monitoring is not possible,"
said Hasan.

"We hope to design a more cost- effective,
flexible, controllable medical oxygen concentrator
that can provide a personalized oxygen supply at home." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Texas_A&M_University. Original
written by Vandana Suresh.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Akhil Arora, M. M. Faruque Hasan. Flexible oxygen concentrators for
medical applications. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI:
10.1038/ s41598-021-93796-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210830152906.htm

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