Portable oxygen machines and specially portable oxygen concentrator s have changed the way many people, who must have continuous or semi continuous oxygen therapy, are now living.
It was previously that mobility for COPD patients was severely restricted. This meant being house bound or overly influenced by a hospital or clinic.
With the advent of much more practical and better quality portable machines, patients mobility has increased dramatically and you may now find people on supplemental oxygen doing many things they wouldn't have imagined only a few years ago.
This has happened because of the new portable tanks, due to more complex conserving devices (that regulate the delivery rates) and, possibly the most important reason of all - the introduction of portable oxygen concentrators.
An oxygen concentrator is really a machine that extracts oxygen from the surrounding air, it concentrates it and delivers it - directly to the patient (in a home concentrator machine it can also be used to refill an oxygen cylinder). At https://www.pathofthesage.com/members/inogen281/activity/319910/ and when air pollution is not a concern, ambient air is composed of approximately 21% oxygen, 88% nitrogen and a reduced amount of various gases. The oxygen concentrator extracts oxygen, concentrates it and delivers it to the patient.
Things You HAVE TO KNOW:
You will need a power source to use, that can be both with rechargeable batteries and a plug in option (including for vehicle).
There is a continuous rumble from the concentrators motor.
You can adjust the flow level according to your prescription.
There are the latest models of with differing weights the give enable your mobility.
Check your battery durability and as a safety precaution you ought to have an extra and charged battery.
Portable oxygen concentrators arrived around 2002 and since then have had an excellent impact in the portable oxygen delivery area.
The major difference between an oxygen concentrator and an oxygen cylinder or tank, is that the concentrator is not a storage device but a supplier of oxygen. Which means that so long as the energy source is uninterrupted, oxygen will still be delivered so long as needed. In a tank there will always be the limitation in line with the amount of oxygen that is stored, whether liquid or gas.
The brand new designs have both a direct plug in option (so that you can plug them in cars, for example) together with being battery operated. They're smaller, lighter and for that reason easier to carry and have a primary and positive effect on peoples mobility.
It seems as though each new model is smaller and has more durable rechargeable batteries.
An important benefit is that they have increased the possibility of travel for patients on extra oxygen, and actually one of the more important aspects of that is that by May, 2009, the FAA authorized the utilization of some portable oxygen concentrators on board airlines that cross US airspace (this implies all arriving and departing flights). This change is of great consequence as flights was a problem. It really is still, however, a good idea to check with your airline before a flight.
Although living and needing to depend on supplemental oxygen isn't something anyone would willingly choose to do, POC's (portable oxygen concentrators) have really changed people's lives. The much greater selection of activities that may now be practiced, together with increased mobility in general, have had an extremely positive impact on long term oxygen therapy patients.
