Electrochemical Oxygen Concentrator

项目摘要 氧气供应对住院病人至关重要。资源、运输和供应链的限制 COVID-19疫情的中断带来了一些独特的挑战。提供氧气的简单过程 在农村小医院、有临时医院的大医院、 在紧急运送到医院的过程中，在医院运送感染患者的过程中，在发展中国家， 医院资源不足的国家或在家中为出院患者提供服务。我们打算开发一种新的氧气 通过电化学原理产生氧气的浓缩器。电化学制氧机 由于其相对于现有设备的独特优点， 在合理的流速（1 LPM - 5 LPM）下显著更高的氧气纯度（>99%），更低的功耗， 更轻的重量、更小的噪音和易于制造。这是一个跨学科团队的合作努力， 电化学、医疗器械设计和重症监护医学方面的专业知识。在这个为期两年的项目中， 目标1涉及用于医院使用的电化学氧气浓缩器的开发，其包括 电化学核心、流量控制系统和具有用户界面的外部塔。在具体目标2中， 我们将进行严格的测试，以记录功能原型的各种性能类别-氧气 浓度、流量、操作时间、功耗和用户界面-如WHO规范所述。 最后，我们将进行技术经济分析，以促进商业化和快速翻译， 新型电化学制氧机的实践。

PROJECT SUMMARY Oxygen supply is essential for hospitalized patients. The limitation of resources, transport, and supply chain disruptions in the COVID-19 pandemic created some unique challenges. The simple process of providing O2 supplementation has become very challenging in a rural small hospital, a large hospital with makeshift hospital rooms, during emergency transport to the hospital, during in-hospital transport of infected patients, in developing nations with low-resource hospitals or at home for discharged patients. We propose to develop a novel oxygen concentrator that generates oxygen through electrochemical principles. The electrochemical oxygen concentrator can be especially valuable during the pandemic crisis owing to its unique merits over existing devices such as significantly higher oxygen purity (>99%) at reasonable flow rates (1 LPM – 5 LPM), lesser power consumption, less weight, less noise, and ease of manufacturing. This is a collaborative effort by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in electrochemistry, medical device design, and critical care medicine. In this two-year project, specific aim 1 involves the development of the electrochemical oxygen concentrator for in-hospital use, which includes the electrochemical core, the flow control system, and the external tower with a user interface. In specific aim 2, we will conduct rigorous tests to document various performance categories of the functional prototype – oxygen concentration, flow, operation time, power consumption, and user interface – as laid out by WHO specifications. And finally, we will conduct a technoeconomic analysis to facilitate commercialization and a quick translation to practice of the novel electrochemical oxygen concentrator.