T-Works, GE appliances collaborate for oxygen concentrators

Five oxygen concentrators designed and developed by T-Works and assembled by a small group of employees of Haier firm GE Appliances are ready to be donated to those in need.

The oxygen concentrators can consistently deliver 90% oxygen concentration at 5 litres per minute. A synthetic chemical substance called zeolite selectively adsorbs nitrogen from the air under the right conditions. The device uses a process called Pressure Swing Absorption to output oxygen-rich air, T-Works said in a release on Friday.

It said the devices were designed and developed with support from a wide network of vendors and suppliers. As part of the initiative, GE Appliances employees assembled five concentrators with training from T-Works. Some of the technical challenges that were overcome include handling and packing zeolite, protecting it from moisture, thermal management and reduction of noise and vibration.

T-Works CEO Sujai Karampuri said the hardware incubator facilitates innovators in the idea-to-product journey, which extends far beyond proofs-of-concepts and prototypes. “We must inculcate in our culture the importance of balancing creativity and discipline and the need for strong fundamentals in science. Most importantly, we must allow ourselves to fail, learn from them and become better innovators. The partnership with GE Appliances is a stamp of validation not only for this product but also for our process.”

After the PoC and prototype stages, multiple devices were assembled and tested, clocking hundreds of hours of runtime. Test data was used to compare performance with the best-in-market O2 concentrators. This provided a solid foundation towards productising the device, the release said. The Hindu