One of the purposes of this weekly blog series is to answer some of the most common questions we often encounter in the gas enrichment industry. But in saying that, the main aim of these series of blogs is to answer technical questions in a manner that everyone understands what is being discussed without being so technical that most people could be put off by feeling it’s too difficult to understand.
A particularly frequent flyer is the “What is the difference between an Oxygen concentrator and generator? It’s the same thing isn’t it?”. Well, to some this might be a silly question, but as my one Professor used to say – There are no silly questions if you learn something to better yourself. There is a difference between the two terms and the confusion often comes in by the purpose they fulfill. They both take in air from the atmosphere and purify it so that the output gas has a higher concentration of Oxygen in it. But the real difference between the two is down to what the Oxygen’s final use is for specifically and how much output gas can produced in certain period of time.
Oxygen concentrator is the term used for a small and portable Oxygen generating device that is used for Oxygen therapy in certain patients or for a continuous Oxygen supply to patients who desire to be mobile. So as the last statement said, an Oxygen concentrator is almost entirely used for medical purposes and has a limited use for only one person at any given time due to the mobile nature of the generator – i.e. its small size.
Oxygen generator is a term that is used for larger generators that provide Oxygen to more than one person at a time and for other large-scale uses. Another factor that is very specific to the term generator is the fact that they are fixed units. They do not have the capability to be moved around very easily like their smaller concentrator counterparts. Oxygen generators have the capacity to produce so much more enriched Oxygen than the concentrators.
So, the next time you are told there’s no difference, you can be sure, there really actually is a difference; as small as it is. If you require any further information on this topic and how it is relevant to your Oxygen supply needs, please do get hold of us at PrepAir!