Does anyone in the UK know whether there are any regulators that deliver more than 15 litres per minute?  I'm with Air Products, whose service is excellent, but they say the max they do is 15 litres/min.

And if I can't get a bigger regulator, is there a mixer  available where I can draw 15 lpm from one tank and say, 5 lpm from another...

You might be able to just buy one on ebay or something to fit your tank.

Hey Buzz,

Contact the Flotec Inc. Authorized Representative in Europe at the following:

Emergo Europe
Address: Molenstraat 15   2513 BH
City: The Hague
Country: The Netherlands

Tel:  (31) (0) 70 345-8570
Fax:  (31) (0) 70 346-7299

You should be able to buy one of the Flotec InGage™ series or a similar series 0-60 liter/minute oxygen regulator from them with the BS No.3 fitting for the oxygen cylinders used in the UK. 

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I've two of the US versions of the InGage™ 0-60 liter/minute regulators with CGA-540 fittings and they work great!

Take care,

V/R, Batch

If you were to get two regulators that go to 15 lpm and connect them to one hose via a "Y" or "T" -type connection, you would have the capability to push 30 lpm. No mixer needed.

Thanks guys, Brew the "T" or "Y" is what I'm looking for as the suppliers here won't let us tamper with the tanks or the regs they have on them... I will have to make one from an old bicycle or washing machine. Or Microwave.

you can even find boxes of "parts"  on e bay.  Make anything ya want. I modified an 8 LPM to flo 25+  ;) It works great

Two tanks. Two regulators. Connect the hoses together. No need to get fancy.

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$1.80

Got a "Y" piece and now breathe o2  at 30 litres/minute. I'm still not sure that the o2 works for me, but better to breathe it and maybe it helps than to not breathe it and it doesn't...

Thanks to all of you for your advice. ;D

You may want to read the following about O2.

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Don

Brew wrote on Jun 10^th, 2010 at 10:40pm:

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Do the math McGyver,  If the outlet of the Y is equal to the inlets ya don't increase the volume at all.  It's still gonna be 15 lpm.

           Potter

Depends on if the maximum flow possible for the ID  has been reached or not.





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Potter wrote on Jun 15^th, 2010 at 11:39am:

Do the math McGyver,  If the outlet of the Y is equal to the inlets ya don't increase the volume at all.  It's still gonna be 15 lpm.            Potter

You're assuming the inputs and the outlet are at 100% capacity, McGruber.

You can do the math on that one. ;)

Leave it to an engineer to determine the real answer...  Michael Berger a.k.a. Wildhaus, tried the "Y" fitting between two 15 liter/minute integrated oxygen cylinder regulator systems at my suggestion last year as the Swiss doctors would not spring for an oxygen flow rate higher than 15 liters/minute.

After increasing the diameter of final oxygen tube to twice that of the two feeds coming into the "Y" fitting and using special hose clamps, Michael used lab test equipment from work to measure the final flow rate very accurately at 24 liters/minute.

                     Per. Batch

              Potter

Which means that the output was carrying close to 100% capacity. That's all. Once 100% capacity is exceeded, back-pressure would build, holding the output steady.

My question then becomes, what do people who use high-flow regulators achieve as their final output, especially if they're using standard tubing? In other words, the regulator might be set at 30 or 40 lpm, but the actual output would be somewhat less? No?

This is where I bow out cuz as soon as the question moves to...a  train left detroit at 5:00 at 20 MPH.....my eyes glaze over. Thank God for engineers! ;)

Joe

From a physics perspective, trying to calculate flow rates of gases through even a relatively simple system like that gets pretty complicated. So the easy answer is to rig it up and measure it.

And if the flow rate you get works, does it really matter what the actual flow rate is?

Mike NZ wrote on Jun 16^th, 2010 at 12:27am:

And if the flow rate you get works, does it really matter what the actual flow rate is?

Yes. Engineers can't just be pain free. They have to be right.

Bill,

My understanding of the fluid mechanics and the Reynolds numbers involved here are a bit rusty, but I do know that the standard oxygen tubing that comes with the O2PTIMASK™ has more than sufficient capacity to handle a flow rate of 60 liters/minute from my Flotec InGage™ oxygen regulator.

The reason it may not be possible to double the flow rate to the NRB mask by ganging two 15 liter/minute oxygen regulators into a "Y" or "T" fitting has to do with the maximum flow rate and regulated pressure of the regulator itself along with line (oxygen tubing) ID and length that determine the pressure drop and resulting flow rate at the mask.

Constant flow regulators are obviously not all the same... For example an oxygen regulator that supports a DISS fitting for a demand valve requires maximum flow rates of 140 to 160 liters/minute with some as high as 200 liters/minute and regulated pressures of 50 to as high as 70 psi (3.4 to 4.8 Bars). 

A 0-15 liter/minute constant flow regulator without a DISS capability has a much lower maximum flow rate and regulated pressure. 

I got most of this from the engineers at Flotec.  They indicated a regulator's maximum flow rate is determined by the diameter of the calibrated orifice between the cylinder attach fitting and the internal pressure regulator valve that regulates cylinder pressures down to a pressure 20% greater than that required to maintain the maximum selectable flow rate.  There's another set of graduated openings down stream from the internal regulator in the “click style” flowmeter module that provide the selected flow rates.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Thank you, Batch.

I think the bigger lesson here is that you don't necessarily need to have one regulator that goes beyond 15lpm. Jury-rigging two tanks with regulators whose max flow rate is 15lpm each is going to result in a combined flow rate greater than either of the tanks alone.

Which means faster and more complete relief.

Brew wrote on Jun 17^th, 2010 at 11:07am:

Thank you, Batch. I think the bigger lesson here is that you don't necessarily need to have one regulator that goes beyond 15lpm. Jury-rigging two tanks with regulators whose max flow rate is 15lpm each is going to result in a combined flow rate greater than either of the tanks alone. Which means faster and more complete relief.

If the output side is at least twice the diameter of the input?

                     Potter

Potter wrote on Jun 17^th, 2010 at 11:46am:

If the output side is at least twice the diameter of the input?                      Potter

No. Don't make the assumption that any of the tubing has reached capacity. It's like turning on your garden hose only part way. It still has the capability of accommodating more. And even if it was turned all the way on, its the valve at the spigot that is limiting the flow, not the hose. The hose can still take more.


Quote:

...standard oxygen tubing that comes with the O2PTIMASK™ has more than sufficient capacity to handle a flow rate of 60 liters/minute