Ngk Spark Plug Company, Limited

Takahito Kojima

Hideaki Yagi

Katsuhiko Horii

Junichi Akiyama

A small oxygen enriching apparatus which can supply oxygen-enriched gas at high flow rate without imparting unnatural sensation to a user, as well as a controller and recording medium therefore. In step, a judgment is made as to whether a flow rate set by use of a flow-rate setting unitis equal to or less than a continuous base flow rate (2 liters/min). When the set flow rate is a low flow rate of not greater than 2 liters/min, breath-synchronized operation is not performed (continuous supply is to be performed), and therefore, in step, oxygen-enriched gas is supplied continuously at the set flow rate. When the set flow rate is a high flow rate of greater than 2 liters/min, breath-synchronized operation is to be performed (supply during the inhalation period only of each breathing cycle), and therefore, in step, oxygen-enriched gas is continuously supplied at the continuous base flow rate. In step, in order to perform breath-synchronized operation, control for opening and closing an electromagnetic valveis performed. That is, oxygen-enriched gas is supplied during the inhalation period only of each breathing cycle, and supply of oxygen-enriched gas is stopped during the exhalation period.

Oxygen enriching apparatus, controller for the oxygen enriching apparatus, and recording medium for the controller

A humidity detector using a ceramic sensor and a heater to periodically clean the sensor. The output of the sensor is sampled and held while the heater is on. When the detector is turned on, the heater is not started until the sensor has been sampled and held. The timer controlling this operation can be externally reset. When the ceramic sensor is temperature corrected, the humidity output indicates a dew point at a fixed temperature. By adjusting this fixed temperature dew point output according to a sensed temperature, the dew point can be detected.

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Aichi, Japan

Takahito Kojima