Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Simple Guide To An Industrial Oxygen Generator

By Janine Hughes


For those of us who have been unfortunate to fall ill at one time or another, we have used oxygen when we could not breathe. This was facilitated by an industrial oxygen generator which made the gas. However, it is not only hospitals that use the gas. Industries involved in catalytic oxidations, biological treatment of water, incineration, thermal cycling and ozone regeneration also require oxygen. This means that mining industries and the armed forces all require this vital gas.

PSA and high volume VPSA generators are the two types of technologies associated with industrial generators. They both use an almost similar process to make and package the gas. They use a combination of steps to move the purity level of oxygen from 95% to almost 99%. PSA stands for Pressure Swing Adsorption, which functions by concentration of oxygen from atmosphere extraction to ensure a high level of purity.

PSA works by a simple principle of getting the molecules of the required gas away from other molecules present in the compressed air. The set up for this is based on a certain type of pellet system which adsorbs molecules which are not required while letting only required molecules, in this case oxygen, pass through. The level of purity achieved by this system ranges between 93% and 99%. The system is also equipped with low pressure alarms, maintenance advisories, low purity alarm and analyzers.

On the other hand, high volume VPSA is able to get a purity level of almost 93%. The deal with this kind is the high level of automation. There are remote monitoring, control and communication capabilities. However, both of these technologies have a high degree of reliability and low maintenance costs, considering maintenance issues like cleaning of the inlet air filters can be done every six months. In addition, they are not only space efficient, they also support on-site supply; a new trend in the market.

Indeed, compressed air cylinders have been the norm among users for many years. More people however, have turned to on-site installation for reduction of transport costs and cylinder rentals. In addition, on-site supply also gets rid of the long contract terms that had to be signed between stakeholders. Lastly, they have empowered users to be in control of their systems.

So what parameters do you use to determine the best tank to buy? There are different models sold by different manufacturers across the globe. A user should consider the air requirement, output and the tank size of the model. Also, the delivery capacity and rate of flow should be critical when making the purchase decision. These parameters are different, but vary from 0.6 to 56 l/s for delivery capacity and flows may be between 2 and 200Nm3/h.

A user should also look out for functionalities before purchase. These include a digital hour meter, customized flow gauges and controls, on and off switches and an integrated control panel. They give the user an easy installation and operation time as all they have to do is set up and control. In other words, user friendliness should be a very important factor to consider when making the decision.

Industrial generators should have low buying and operating cost as air is free, really. A buyer should be keen on the efficiency, power usage and functions. Most importantly, however, is the purpose of purchase. You have to buy the right tool for the right job; otherwise all other factors are irrelevant.




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