Oxygen and PSA
UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
Open Critical Care, in an answer by Assist International, advises a small 1 kW UPS (uninterruptible power supply), a battery-backed power unit, feeding the control circuit and PLC of a PSA oxygen plant, and calls it inexpensive protection.
PATH and CHAI (July 2021) list generators or an uninterruptible power supply as back-up power sources that can help provide oxygen from concentrators during power outages, and the WHO-UNICEF technical specifications for oxygen therapy devices (14 January 2019) say a concentrator needs a continuous AC power source, such as solar power, battery, or mains electricity with or without backup, for example a generator, UPS or battery.
In another FAQ answer, Open Critical Care says that a UPS with online double conversion can also provide voltage stabilisation and protection for sensitive equipment, and advises checking the voltage and frequency of the device and the power supply: a 110 V 60 Hz UPS may not charge its internal batteries if supplied at 110 V 50 Hz.
For the plant as a whole, UNDP's requirements (effective 1 January 2025) say a PSA plant requires reliable, continuous primary and backup power supply sources, and PATH and CHAI (2021) say a backup supply such as cylinders is required to maintain oxygen flow in case of a power outage or mechanical failure. ULTRAOX plants can be connected to a diesel-electric generator, according to the ULTRAOX datasheet (2022).
Sources
- Open Critical Care Oxygen FAQ (answer by Assist International): Is it advisable to have UPS as well as generators for a PSA plant?
- Open Critical Care Oxygen FAQ: What are common power related challenges and workarounds in resource-variable settings?
- PATH and CHAI, Oxygen Generation and Storage: Oxygen Concentrator (July 2021)
- WHO-UNICEF, Technical specifications and guidance for oxygen therapy devices (14 January 2019)
- UNDP, REQ-OXY-001 v01, Technical and regulatory requirements for oxygen plants (effective 1 January 2025), section 6.4
- PATH and CHAI, Oxygen Generation and Storage: Pressure/Vacuum Swing Adsorption Plant (July 2021)
- ULTRAOX datasheet (2022), p. 9
Ultra Controlo figures come from its technical datasheets. Third-party facts were read at the source on the date shown.