Army engineers come up with innovative solution for conversion of liquid oxygen to bedside oxygen Covid-19 patients

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 19

Indian Army engineers have come up with an innovative solution for efficient conversion of liquid oxygen to low pressure oxygen for administering it to Covid-19 patients.

Since oxygen was transported in liquid form in cryogenic tanks, quick conversion of liquid oxygen to oxygen gas and ensuring availability at the patients’ bed was a critical challenge faced by all hospitals managing Covid patients. 

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A specialised task force was quickly put together for the early execution of an innovation to ensure that oxygen is made available without the use of gas cylinders, thus obviating the need to refill them frequently.  

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Over a period of seven days, a team under Maj Gen Sanjay Rihani, in-direct consultation and material support from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, put together a working solution using vaporisers, PRVs and liquid oxygen cylinders, according to an official statement.

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In order to ensure continuous conversion of liquid oxygen into oxygen gas at the requisite pressure and temperature at the Covid bed, the team used a self pressuring liquid oxygen cylinder of small capacity (250 litres) and processed it through a specially designed vaporiser and directly usable outlet pressure (4 Bar) with requisite leak proof pipeline and pressure valves. 

A prototype with two liquid cylinders capable of feeding oxygen gas for 40 beds for a period of two to three days has been made functional at Base Hospital, Delhi Cantonment. 

The team has also tested a mobile version to cater for typical shifting requirements in hospitals. The system is economically viable and is safe to operate since it obviates high gas pressure in the pipeline or cylinders and does not require any power supply to operate. The system is capable of replication in a quick time frame.