Abstract:
Oxygen breathing devices, as well as methods of providing oxygen to passengers or crew members of aircraft, are detailed. The devices may include an oxygen flow path with an oxygen buffer connected thereto.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/057,248 filed on May 30, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The invention relates to an oxygen breathing device, in particular for providing oxygen to passenger or crew of an aircraft, the device comprising a chemical oxygen source, wherein oxygen is stored in chemically bound form, a first oxygen flow path connecting the chemical oxygen source to a flow control valve and a second oxygen flow path connecting the flow control valve to at least one oxygen outflow port, wherein the flow control valve is adapted to control the oxygen pressure at the oxygen outflow port. A further aspect of the invention is a method for supplying oxygen to a passenger or crew member. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Oxygen breathing devices of the aforementioned type are used for a number of purposes where temporary or permanent supply of oxygen to a human person is necessary. A particular field of application of such oxygen breathing devices is the field of aircraft, wherein a pressure drop within an aircraft flying at high altitude may make it necessary to supply supplemental oxygen to the passengers and the crew members to ensure sufficient oxygen supply to these persons. Usually, an oxygen breathing device is provided for each crew member and passenger or a group thereof and is usually arranged above the passenger. In case of an emergency, such oxygen breathing device is activated, for example automatically by a cabin pressure monitoring system or manually by a crew member, whereafter an oxygen mask connected via a hose to an oxygen source falls from above the passenger downwards and can be used by the passenger. The flow of oxygen may be started automatically by activation of the system or by the crew member or may be activated by a particular action undertaken by the passenger, e.g. by pulling the mask towards himself to thus activate the device by a pulling force transferred via the hose guiding the oxygen flow or an additional lanyard coupled to the oxygen mask. 
         [0004]    Oxygen breathing devices having a chemical oxygen source are particularly attractive for a number of applications since they provide high reliability and are maintenance-free. Such chemical oxygen sources comprise chemical oxygen cores which are adapted to create a complete oxygen descent profile for a person like a passenger or crew member. By this, the oxygen required by a person in certain, predetermined flight conditions or flight profiles can be provided in each flight condition to the person. 
         [0005]    However, a particular problem of such oxygen breathing devices having a chemical oxygen generator lies in the fact that specific flight conditions may require other profiles of the amount of oxygen delivered over time. In particular, in a condition where an aircraft travels at low altitude, only a small flow of oxygen is required, whereas at high altitudes a large flow of oxygen is required. 
         [0006]    It is known to provide chemical oxygen generators which are capable to provide large amounts of oxygen over a long period of time. Oxygen breathing devices comprising such large oxygen generators are able to supply oxygen to a person in each specific flight condition, whereby the oxygen flow must be reduced using a flow control valve at low altitude flight conditions. However, such oxygen breathing devices are heavy and bulky and thus provide considerable drawbacks in modern aircraft design. Further, pressure increase due to permanent flow reduction may adversely affect the chemical reaction in the oxygen generator. 
         [0007]    In order to provide oxygen to a passenger or crew member in all possible emergency situations occurring in aircraft, it is known to provide oxygen breathing devices which are capable to produce a sufficient amount of oxygen even at very low or very high ambient temperatures and ambient pressure. Generally, such oxygen breathing devices will fulfil the requirements since they are designed to supply oxygen at any possible extreme situation. However, such designed breathing devices are rather heavy since their design must be adapted to fulfil the requirements in the worst situation. For example, the breathing device must be designed to produce sufficient oxygen for providing it to a passenger or crew member when flying at very high altitude thus in a very low ambient pressure situation. However, in case that such oxygen generator is activated in a low level flight situation, the oxygen generator will produce far too much oxygen. 
         [0008]    It is known to reduce the oxygen flow in such a situation to an oxygen flow rate required by the passenger or crew member in the specific situation at low level flight altitude. However, such flow reduction will result in a significant pressure increase and thus such oxygen breathing devices must be designed to be capable to handle such high pressure within the oxygen generator and the oxygen flow tubes thus resulting in increased weight of the system. 
         [0009]    It is further known to deliver a high amount of oxygen to a passenger in such low level flight condition. It is generally uncritical to supply more oxygen to a person than actually required as long as the amount of oxygen delivered to the person is below a specific toxic oxygen flow rate. By this, the pressure within the system may be kept on a reasonable level but a specific drawback of such solution is that the time period for supplying oxygen to the person is significantly shortened. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    It is a first object of the invention to provide an oxygen breathing device which is capable to supply a person like a passenger or crew member of an aircraft in a variety of different situations like flight profiles with a specific rate of oxygen as required and which is of light weight construction. 
         [0011]    It is a further object of the invention to provide an oxygen breathing device for supplying oxygen to a person like a passenger or crew member of an aircraft which is capable to supply the oxygen over a long period of time when flying at low altitude. 
         [0012]    It is a still further object of the invention to provide an oxygen breathing device for supplying oxygen to a person like a passenger or crew member of an aircraft capable to supply the person in a low ambient pressure situation. 
         [0013]    According to the invention, an oxygen breathing device as described in the introductory portion is provided, the oxygen breathing device having an oxygen buffer connected to the first oxygen flow path. According to the invention, an oxygen breathing device is provided having a chemical oxygen source. In the chemical oxygen source, one or more agents are provided which are adapted to produce oxygen in a chemical reaction. The chemical reaction is started in case of an emergency situation, wherein it is required to supply oxygen to a person like a passenger or crew member of an aircraft. The chemical oxygen generator is preferably adapted to supply such oxygen according to a predetermined descent profile, wherein an aircraft may reduce its flight level from a high altitude to a low altitude within short time in case of an emergency situation. The chemical oxygen source may be adapted to supply exactly such an amount of oxygen as required by the passenger when following such descent profile. In an alternative version, the chemical oxygen source may be adapted to provide a specific additional amount of oxygen than actually required when following such descent profile. In such case, the oxygen delivered from the oxygen source is more than the amount required by the passenger or crew member in the actual flight condition. 
         [0014]    The oxygen buffer is adapted to temporarily store an amount of oxygen. Preferably, the oxygen buffer is empty in the state of the oxygen breathing device as delivered. In certain applications, a small amount of oxygen may be provided within the oxygen buffer, i.e. in applications wherein an additional amount of oxygen is to be provided within the whole oxygen breathing device. Such small amount may serve to initially supply oxygen to the passenger or crew member as long as the chemical reaction is not as effective to produce sufficient oxygen. 
         [0015]    In certain applications it may even be preferable that the oxygen buffer is completely filled with oxygen in the state as delivered and is only adapted to serve as oxygen buffer after a certain amount of oxygen is delivered from the oxygen buffer to a passenger or crew member. In such case, the oxygen breathing device may be started by first activating an oxygen flow from the oxygen buffer to a passenger or crew member and after a predetermined amount of oxygen is delivered from the oxygen buffer or the oxygen buffer is substantially emptied, the chemical oxygen source is activated and oxygen is provided from the chemical oxygen source to the passenger or crew member. 
         [0016]    However, it is preferred that the oxygen buffer is at least partially adapted to store oxygen produced in the chemical oxygen source in the state as delivered, i.e. the oxygen buffer is not completely filled in such state. 
         [0017]    Any oxygen produced within the chemical oxygen source and not required by the passenger or crew member, e.g. oxygen produced from a chemical oxygen source adapted for a descent profile from high to low altitude when being started at low altitude or oxygen produced from an oxygen source adapted to provide an additional amount of oxygen over such descent profile when started at high or low altitude can be temporarily stored in the oxygen buffer according to the invention. By this, it is neither required to adapt the chemical oxygen source and the oxygen tubes to a potential high pressure within the system produced by a significant reduction of the flow rate in a high oxygen production state. Nor it is required to provide a higher rate of oxygen to the passenger or crew member than required to avoid such high pressure within the system thus not sacrificing the possibility of long term oxygen supply. 
         [0018]    According to the invention, any additional amount of oxygen which is produced within the chemical oxygen source but not required by the passenger or crew member can be temporarily stored within the oxygen buffer. Such temporarily stored oxygen can be released from the oxygen&#39;s buffer and provided to the passenger or crew member at a later stage of the oxygen supply and by this it is achieved that no oxygen is wasted during operation of the oxygen breathing device and the oxygen breathing device is adapted to supply oxygen to a passenger in each flight profile condition, including flying at high altitude or low altitude and descending from high altitude to low altitude or even ascending from low altitude to high altitude. 
         [0019]    According to a first preferred embodiment, the oxygen buffer is a pressure tank. A pressure tank according to this preferred embodiment can easily be adapted to the pressure occurring in operation of the system and its volume can be dimensioned such that the pressure tank is adapted to store a maximum amount of oxygen which may be additionally produced by the chemical oxygen source if started at low altitude and proceeding to fly at such low altitude or ascending to a high altitude. 
         [0020]    According to a further preferred embodiment, the oxygen buffer is connected to said first oxygen flow path via a first check valve adapted to direct oxygen from the chemical oxygen source to the oxygen buffer if the pressure within the first oxygen flow path and/or the pressure difference between the oxygen buffer and the first oxygen flow path exceeds a predetermined limit. Such first check valve may be a flow valve having a valve body which is pressed against a valve seat with a spring and being such biased to open at a predetermined pressure difference or absolute pressure on the valve side connected to the first oxygen flow path. By this, it is ensured that the oxygen provided by the chemical oxygen source is primarily provided to the flow control valve and thus to the passenger or crew member and only in case that an additional amount of oxygen is produced within the chemical oxygen source, such amount may induce an increase of pressure or pressure difference which acts to open the first check valve and thus allows filling of the oxygen buffer with such additional oxygen. This preferred embodiment further ensures that a predetermined pressure level is maintained in the first oxygen flow path and thus allows save operation of the flow control valve. This is of particular advantage since a number of flow control valve designs require a predetermined pressure level on the pressure side to ensure save operation and flow control. 
         [0021]    It is particularly preferred that the first check valve is adapted to direct oxygen to the oxygen buffer depending on an absolute pressure level in the first oxygen flow path. However, in particular embodiments, the first check valve may be adapted to open depending on a pressure difference between the pressure in the first oxygen flow path and the ambient pressure or a pressure difference between the pressure in the first oxygen flow path and the pressure within the oxygen buffer. 
         [0022]    This embodiment may be further improved in that the first check valve is adapted to shut off if the pressure within the oxygen buffer exceeds a certain limit. With such preferred embodiment it can be ensured that the pressure within the oxygen buffer does not exceed a predetermined limit thus allowing to design the oxygen buffer in a light weight construction. The shut off-function is preferably integrated into the first check valve but it is to be understood that the function may be provided by a separate valve as well. 
         [0023]    According to a still further embodiment, the oxygen buffer is connected to said first oxygen flow path via a second check valve adapted to direct oxygen from the oxygen buffer to the first oxygen flow path if the pressure within the first oxygen flow path and/or the pressure difference between the oxygen buffer and the first oxygen flow path is below a predetermined limit. With this embodiment, a constant flow of oxygen from either the chemical oxygen source, the oxygen buffer or both can be provided to the passenger or crew member. This is achieved by selectively providing oxygen from the chemical oxygen source and/or the oxygen buffer. In particular, oxygen from the oxygen buffer is provided to the first oxygen flow path in case that the oxygen provided by the chemical oxygen source is not sufficient for supplying the passenger or crew member with the required amount of oxygen. Thus, the second check valve may be particularly adapted to supply oxygen to the first oxygen flow path if the oxygen pressure or the total pressure within the first oxygen flow path is below the oxygen pressure or total pressure, respectively, within the oxygen buffer. 
         [0024]    Still further, it is preferred that the oxygen buffer is connected to said second oxygen flow path via a safety check valve adapted to direct oxygen from the oxygen buffer to the second oxygen flow path if the pressure within the oxygen buffer exceeds a predetermined limit. With this embodiment, a simple and light weight safety mechanism is provided to avoid excessive pressure within the system. According to the embodiment, excessive oxygen which may cause such excessive pressure situations is supplied to the passenger or crew member via a safety check valve and a safety oxygen flow path. As discussed beforehand, the supply of excessive oxygen to the passenger or crew member is not critical as long as the amount of oxygen delivered is below a certain toxic flow rate. Thus, the safety check valve may be adapted to only allow an oxygen flow which is below such toxic flow rate. This embodiment allows to design the whole system in a light weight construction since an overpressure situation can be safely avoided by releasing the excessive oxygen which may cause such overpressure situation to the passenger or crew member and bypassing the flow control valve with such excessive oxygen. 
         [0025]    According to a still further preferred embodiment, a control unit is provided for controlling the flow control valve. Such control unit is particularly useful for exactly controlling the oxygen flow provided to the passenger or crew member and to additionally initiating oxygen production within the chemical oxygen source or even controlling the first or second check valve, if provided. The control unit may further serve to control timed release of oxygen from a prefilled oxygen buffer before initiating chemical oxygen production in the chemical oxygen generator. 
         [0026]    Such embodiment may be further improved in that the control unit comprises a ambient pressure sensor for detecting the ambient pressure and is adapted to control the flow of oxygen through the flow control valve depending on the signals of said ambient pressure sensor. Such improved embodiment is able to provide improved control of the oxygen flow to the passenger or crew member by detecting the ambient pressure and controlling the flow control valve in dependency of such ambient pressure. 
         [0027]    According to a final preferred embodiment, the oxygen breathing device may be further improved in that the oxygen buffer is connected to said first oxygen flow path via a first check valve adapted to direct oxygen from the chemical oxygen source to the oxygen buffer if the pressure within the first oxygen flow path exceeds a predetermined limit, and via a second check valve adapted to direct oxygen from the oxygen buffer to the first oxygen flow path if the pressure difference between the oxygen buffer and the first oxygen flow path exceeds a predetermined limit, in particular if the pressure in the first oxygen flow path is below the pressure in the oxygen buffer, wherein said first and second check valve are functionally arranged in parallel. In such preferred embodiment, at least one flow path is provided connecting the first oxygen flow path the oxygen buffer. In this flow path, a first and a second check valve are provided in parallel arrangement. By this, oxygen may either flow from the first oxygen flow path via the first check valve to the oxygen buffer or from the oxygen buffer via the second check valve to the first oxygen flow path. The flow of oxygen from the chemical oxygen source via the first oxygen flow path to the oxygen buffer is allowed by the first check valve if the absolute pressure within the first oxygen flow path exceeds a predetermined limit. Such predetermined limit may be set to the minimum pressure required for a safe operation of the flow control valve. The flow of oxygen from the oxygen buffer to the first oxygen flow path may be allowed by the second check valve if a predetermined pressure difference between the oxygen buffer and the first oxygen flow path is exceeded. In particular, such flow may be allowed if the pressure within the first oxygen flow path is below the pressure within the oxygen buffer. However, in an improved embodiment, a flow of oxygen from the oxygen buffer to the first oxygen flow path may only be allowed if the pressure within the first oxygen flow path is below a predetermined limit, e.g. the below minimum pressure required for a safe operation of the flow control valve. It is to be understood that generally oxygen may only flow from the oxygen buffer to the first oxygen flow path if at the same time the pressure within the oxygen buffer is above the pressure within the first oxygen flow path, i.e. the pressure difference of oxygen buffer pressure minus first oxygen flow path pressure must be positive. 
         [0028]    According to this invention, the first and second check valve are functionally arranged in parallel. This is to be understood that the first and second check valve may be separate units which are coupled in parallel to each other, thus allowing the oxygen flow to either flow through the first check valve thus bypassing the second check valve or vice versa. However, the first and second check valve may alternatively be provided as one single unit incorporating both functions in a parallel relationship. 
         [0029]    According to a further aspect of the invention, a method for providing oxygen to a passenger or crew member of an aircraft is provided, the method comprising the steps of producing oxygen in a chemical reaction within a chemical oxygen source, directing at least a part of said oxygen to an oxygen outflow port, controlling the pressure at the oxygen outflow port by a flow control valve, wherein a part of said oxygen is directed into an oxygen buffer if said oxygen produced within said chemical oxygen source is above the amount required for establishing said pressure at the oxygen outflow port. Such method of providing oxygen allows to supply a passenger or crew member over a long time with oxygen from a particularly light weight oxygen breathing device. Such method avoids any waste of oxygen in case of excessive production of oxygen within a chemical oxygen source. Such method further allows to adapt oxygen flow to different flight profiles like e.g. descending or ascending profiles or flying at constant high or low altitude over a longer period of time. 
         [0030]    The method may be further improved by the step of directing oxygen from said oxygen buffer to said oxygen outflow port if the pressure before the flow control valve is below the pressure in the oxygen buffer. By this, a parallel or serial supply of oxygen over time may be accomplished to ensure a long time supply of oxygen to a passenger or crew member. 
         [0031]    Still further, the method may be further improved by the step of directing oxygen from said oxygen buffer to said oxygen outflow port if the pressure in said oxygen buffer exceeds a certain value. By this, additional oxygen may be provided to the flow control valve or the flow control valve may even be bypassed to avoid excessive pressure with the system and providing excessive oxygen which may cause such excessive pressure directly to the passenger or crew member. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0032]    A preferred embodiment of the invention is described referring to the FIGURE, wherein a schematical arrangement of an oxygen breathing device according to the invention is shown. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0033]    The oxygen breathing device shown in the FIGURE comprises a chemical oxygen generator  10 , which is connected to a flow control valve  20  via a main oxygen tube  11 . Oxygen provided to the flow control valve  20  enters the flow control valve at an inlet  20   a  and exits the flow control valve at an outlet  20   b.  The outlet is connected to a short oxygen tube  21 , which is directing the oxygen from the flow control valve  20  to a manifold  30 . The manifold  30  is connected via oxygen hoses to three oxygen masks  40   a - c  and thus supplies oxygen from the flow control valve  20  to each of the oxygen masks  40   a - c.    
         [0034]    The flow control valve  20  is coupled to a control unit  50  via a signal line  51 . The control unit  50  includes an ambient pressure sensor and controls the flow of oxygen through the flow control valve  20  in an inverse relationship to the ambient pressure. This is to be understood in that the flow of oxygen through the flow control valve is higher at low ambient pressure and is lower at high ambient pressure detected by the ambient pressure sensor within the control unit  50 . 
         [0035]    The control unit  50  is further coupled to an electrical starter  12  via a starting signal line  52 . By this, the control unit  50  may activate the chemical reaction within the chemical oxygen source  10  by sending an electrical signal to the electrical starter  12 . 
         [0036]    Still further, the control unit  50  is connected to the electrical system of an aircraft via a signal line  53 . This allows activation of the whole oxygen breathing device by an external signal transmitted by the signal line  53 . 
         [0037]    The oxygen breathing device according to the preferred embodiment shown in the FIGURE further comprises an oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 . The oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  is connected to the main oxygen tube  11  via a first oxygen tube  61 . The first oxygen tube  61  couples the main oxygen tube  11  with the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  via a first check valve  62 . This first check valve  62  is adapted to allow oxygen flow only in the direction towards the oxygen buffer and is further adapted to open if a predetermined amount of pressure is exceeded in the main oxygen tube  11 . This predetermined amount of oxygen pressure is equal to the minimum pressure required for a save operation of the flow control valve  20 . 
         [0038]    Still further, the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  is connected to the main oxygen tube  11  via a second oxygen tube  63  which is arranged in parallel to the main oxygen tube  61 . The second oxygen tube  63  connects the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  to the main oxygen tube  11  via a second check valve  64 . The second check valve  64  is adapted to allow flow of oxygen only in the direction towards the main oxygen tube  11 , i.e. in a direction out of the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 . The second check valve is adapted to open if the pressure within the main oxygen tube  11  is below the pressure within the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 . 
         [0039]    Still further, the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  is connected to the short oxygen tube  21  via an excess pressure line  65 . The excess pressure line  65  connects the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  via a safety check valve  66  with the short oxygen tube  21  and thus directly with the oxygen masks  40   a - c . The safety check valve  66  is adapted to open in case that a predetermined pressure within the oxygen buffer pressure tank is exceeded. This predetermined pressure limit is set to the maximum pressure allowed for the oxygen buffer pressure tank. 
         [0040]    The method of supplying oxygen to a passenger or crew member works as follows: In case of an emergency, an activating signal is transmitted via signal line  53  to the control unit  50 . Control unit  50  then starts the chemical reaction within the chemical oxygen source  10  by sending a respective starting signal to the electrical starter  12  via signal line  52 . Following this, control unit  50  controls the flow of oxygen depending on the ambient pressure by sending respective control signals via signal line  51  to the flow control valve  20 . 
         [0041]    In a first stage of the chemical reaction the oxygen supplied by the chemical oxygen source  10  is sufficient to supply the three passengers wearing the oxygen masks  40   a - c . After this first stage a second stage may occur, wherein the chemical oxygen source  10  produces excessive oxygen, i.e. too much oxygen than required for the actual needs of the three passengers supplied by the oxygen breathing device. In such case, the oxygen pressure within the main oxygen tube  11  will increase and the first check valve  61  will open so that oxygen is both supplied to the flow control valve  20  and the passengers via oxygen masks  40   a - c  and the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 . Thus, the oxygen buffer pressure tank is filled with excessive oxygen in this second stage. 
         [0042]    In case that the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  is completely filled and the pressure within the main oxygen tube  11  is still above the pressure allowed for the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 , the safety check valve  66  will open and oxygen will flow through the excessive pressure line  65  directly towards the oxygen masks  40   a - c . In this case, which is usually only present in outstanding conditions for short time, the passengers may be supplied with more oxygen than required for their actual needs. 
         [0043]    In a subsequent third stage, the chemical reaction within the chemical oxygen source  10  may produce less oxygen than required by the passengers. In this case, the pressure within the main oxygen tube  11  will decrease and the first check valve  62  will shut off. As soon as the pressure within the main oxygen tube  11  is below the pressure within the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60 , the second check valve  64  will open thus allowing oxygen to flow from the oxygen buffer pressure tank to the flow control valve  20 . In this third stage, the passengers are supplied with oxygen from the chemical oxygen source  10  and the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  simultaneously. 
         [0044]    In a subsequent fourth stage, the chemical reaction within the chemical oxygen source  10  may be terminated, i.e. the chemical oxygen source  10  does not produce any oxygen anymore. In this stage, the passengers at oxygen masks  40   a - c  are provided with oxygen from the oxygen buffer pressure tank  60  only.