LARGO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dr. Donald Marks, MD, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Universal Oxygen, Inc. announced today that they have selected Dynax, Inc., a Sarasota, Florida manufacturer of medical and mechanical devices, as the licensed producer of Universal Oxygen's line of "Univox" on-site, oxygen generation and storage systems.
Universal Oxygen, Inc., a Florida-based company dedicated to the commercialization of proprietary medical oxygen technologies, has developed a method to produce and store a low-cost, efficient supply of medical-grade oxygen through the integration of standard technology along with the development of specialized unique hardware and software solutions. Oxygen has been obtained through many different techniques over the years each with their benefits and detriments. Within these techniques, various purities have been available. Universal Oxygen technology builds upon existing components with the development of new devices to safely and efficiently separate, compress and store oxygen. Medical grade oxygen with a 99.2% to 99.5% purity rate is produced and stored in quantity in a cascade of cylinders at up to 5000 psig. for future or concurrent use.
Plans are being made to produce test units that will be evaluated in Tampa Bay hospitals for the FDA. In addition, presentations to the U.S. Army are scheduled for February 27, 2001 in San Antonio, Texas and with the U.S. Navy in March at a site yet to be determined.
According to Dr. Marks, the ability to produce medical grade oxygen economically and safely virtually anywhere in the world will substantially improve the oxygen therapy capabilities for the hundreds of millions of people currently unserviced or underserviced.
For a brief description of the process consider the following:
Air containing 79% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen and 1% inert gases is compressed to a moderately low pressure of approximately 125 psig. At the appropriate time, this air is directed to a parallel set of molecular sieves where the media absorbs the Nitrogen and allows the Oxygen and inert gases to pass through. As the media saturates in the first sieve, the direction is changed to direct the air to the second sieve, allowing the first to purge by releasing the Nitrogen and cleansing the filter. Once past the first pair of sieves, the gas is now comprised of Oxygen and inert gases in a volumetric ratio of approximately 20:1, which equates to 95% Oxygen. This Oxygen will be at a pressure of between 45-55 psig.
At this point, the Oxygen can be used for many applications. The Oxygen can be blended with air for enriched air called Nitrox for breathing or any number of commercial or industrial uses. If the remaining gas is passed through a second media designed to absorb the Oxygen, allowing the inert gases to pass through, the result will be 99.2% to 99.5% pure Oxygen. This Oxygen, however will be at 0 psig as it will be in the media and will need to be extracted. Here, as with the 95% Oxygen, a high-pressure compressor is used to extract the Oxygen and compress it up to 5000 psig.
The Univox line of Oxygen Systems provides this service in ranges from 50-1,000 cubic feet per hour at the suction end. The system uses PSA (pressure swing absorption) technology to separate the Oxygen, and a patent-pending compressor design using state-of-the-art materials to safely compress the Oxygen to 5000 psig. Along with the compression, the systems constantly monitor the purity and blending of the gas through real-time gas monitors onboard the system in constant communication with the processor.
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CONTACT: Universal Oxygen, Inc., Largo
Norm Dickson
727-587-0503
Fax: 727-588-0238