Noise muffler for oxygen concentrator

1. A noise muffler for a gas handling apparatus, comprising:

a core with two ends and defining a central blind bore extending in an axial direction and having an inlet at one core end to receive waste gases into the blind bore in the axial direction and a plurality of radial bores between the core ends to redirect the waste gases to flow from the blind bore through the radial bores in directions substantially lateral to axial direction;

a filter surrounding the core for filtering the waste gases, the filter having a side and two ends;

a cap having a side wall covering the filter side and an end wall covering at least one end of the filter;

the core further comprising an integral flange at the other core end to cover the other filter end; and

means for defining multiple outlets for discharging the waste gases, the outlet defining means causing the waste gases flowing through the radial bores first to flow in directions lateral to the axial direction, then to flow through the filter in the axial direction and then be redirected again to exit the muffler indirections substantially lateral to the axial direction.

2. The noise muffler for of claim 1 wherein the core and the cap side wall are substantially cylindrical.

3. The noise muffler of claim 2 wherein said filter comprises woven polymer fibers.

4. The noise muffler of claim 1 wherein said flange is substantially circular and said filter is substantially cylindrical and abuts against said flange.

5. The noise muffler of claim 1 wherein said cap side wall is substantially cylindrical and one of said cap and flange comprises a plurality of clips opposite to the covered end of said cap to retain the cap on the core by engagement of the clips with the other of said cap and flange.

6. A noise muffler according to claim 1 wherein the core and the cap are cylindrical in shape and the filter substantially fills the interior of the cap between the cap side wall and the core.

7. A noise muffler according to claim 1 wherein the cap and flange are interconnected to prevent the waste gases from exiting other then by the outlet defining means.

8. A noise muffler according to claim 6 wherein the outlet defining means a plurality of slots in the side wall of the cap, the slots being displaced both radially from the direction of flow of the waste gases through the core openings and axially from the radial bores.

9. A noise muffler for use with a gas handling apparatus, comprising:

a core with two ends and having a central piece defining a central blind bore extending in an axial direction with an inlet at one end to receive waste gases into the blind bore in the axial direction and a plurality of radial bores between the ends to redirect the waste gases to flow from the blind bore through the radial bores in directions substantially lateral to the axial direction, the one core end having means for attaching the muffler to the apparatus and the other core end comprising a flange and tool receiving means for enabling attachment of the muffler to the apparatus;

a filter surrounding the central of filtering the waste gases, the filter having a side and two ends with one of the filter ends covered by the core flange; and

a cap having an end wall covering the other filter end and a side wall covering the side of the filter and the core central piece, the cap side wall defining a plurality of outlets displaced radially from the directions in which the waste gases pass through the core openings;

the cap end wall defining a hole through which the one core end is slidably passed, and the core flange and cap side wall comprising interconnecting means for releaseably affixing the flange and the cap side wall together and enclosing the filter by which to cause the waste gases flowing through the radial bores to be redirected to flow axially through the filter and then to exit the muffler only through the outlets in a direction substantially lateral to axial direction.

10. The noise muffler of claim 9 wherein the flange is substantially circular and the cap and the filter are substantially cylindrical in shape.

11. The noise muffler of claim 9 wherein the outlets are positioned in the cap side wall adjacent to the flange.

12. The noise muffler of claiem 11 wherein the radial bores are positioned to direct the waste gases in multiple radial directions and the outlet are positioned radially midway between the radial directions of the radial bores.

13. The noise muffler of claim 9 wherein the radial bores are positioned to direct the waste gases in multiple radial directions and the outlets are positioned radially midway between the radial directions of the radial bores.