Patent ID: 8020553

Claim:
An oxygen concentrator comprising: an oxygen reservoir; a first adsorbent column having a first inlet, a first outlet and a first bed of adsorbent material; a second adsorbent column having a second inlet, a second outlet and a second bed of adsorbent material; a third adsorbent column having a third inlet, a third outlet and a third bed of adsorbent material; an air inlet; an exhaust outlet; a vacuum pump for pumping nitrogen rich gas from one of the column inlets to the exhaust outlet; a product control pump connected to all of the first, second, and third adsorbent columns for pumping oxygen rich gas from one of the column outlets to the oxygen reservoir; a singular control valve for controlling flow in and out of the columns by selectively connecting the air inlet to one of the first, second, or third column inlets, and simultaneously connecting the vacuum pump to another of the first, second, or third column inlets, and connecting the product control pump to one of the first, second, or third column outlets; a single motor for driving both the vacuum pump and the singular control valve to produce vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) cycles in which oxygen-rich product gas is separated and accumulated in the reservoir.