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.
engineering.tamu.edu/news/2...
Nature, Scientific Reports. Study Paper:
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