The current oxygen supply for home oxygen therapy relies on high pressure compression, cryogenic liquid oxygen, or oxygen concentrators. These methods have limitations of inconvenience, high cost, or non-ambulation. The overall aim of this research program is to develop a coupled low pressure oxygen generation and storage system for home oxygen therapy applications. The proposed systeM can be used either as stationary or portable systeM, and can be refilled at heme safely. During Phase I study, the feasibility of developing the coupled system has been successfully demonstrated.
The specific aims of this program are to use the knowledge gained during Phase I work for the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the proposed system. That is the oxygen storage materials will be characterized and optimized, the detailed engineering design of fullerene-oxygen storage system and high efficiency oxygen generation system will be performed, the coupled oxygen generation and storage prototype will be fabricated and tested, the suitability of the system for medical applications will be studied, and the commercial markets of the developed technology will be explored. The Phase II work will eventually result in a superior oxygen supply system, which can be readily commercialized in the hoc oxygen therapy market during Phase III.
The proposed system will be superior for home oxygen therapy applications. With a low pressure oxygen generation and refill station at home, expensive refill service of both stationary and portable systems, high pressure hazards, and requirement of different systems for home and outdoor uses can be avoided. This system may also be ideal as oxygen supply for civilian and military aircraft.
