An oxygen concentrator is often referred to as an oxygen generator, but the correct name is an oxygen concentrator. Oxygen has long been used as a feed gas for ozone generators. The ozone yield and ozone concentration with oxygen are higher and the maintenance costs considerably lower. An oxygen concentrator consists of 2 cylinders filled with a molecular sieve and works on the basis of “pressure swing absorption”. Air is pumped under pressure through one of the cylinders. The molecular sieve will absorb most of the nitrogen present in the air. The gas that flows out of this cylinder usually has an oxygen percentage of 90~95%. After a short period of time, the molecular sieve will be saturated with nitrogen. The airflow is now switched to the other cylinder where the whole process starts all over again. The saturated cylinder is now pressure-less, so that the nitrogen is released into the air flowing through. This process is fully automated and repeats itself several times per minute.
An additional advantage of an oxygen concentrator is that moisture is also removed from the air at the same time. To what extent this happens depends on the working pressure and the type of molecular sieve. A cheap oxygen concentrator usually has a dew point of -10 to -15 degrees Celsius. A good oxygen concentrator achieves a dew point of -50 to -60 degrees Celsius and equal or lower power consumption as the cheaper variants. Drying the supply air of an oxygen concentrator results in a lower dew point, so the oxygen becomes drier.
This difference in dew point does not seem significant, but in practice it is. Not only is the ozone yield tens of percents higher with a good oxygen concentrator, it also drastically reduces the maintenance of an ozone generator.
We offer HiCon ozon generatord which should only use oxygen with a dew point of -45 degrees Celsius. A higher dew point would cause premature maintenance and possible malfunctions.
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