Portable oxygen enrichment device and method of use

1. A method, comprising:

compressing in a device an ambient air flow comprising oxygen and nitrogen to form a compressed air flow;

transporting said compressed flow through an adsorbent bed and adsorbing at least a portion of said nitrogen to form an oxygen-enriched gas flow;

wherein the pressure drop across said adsorbent bed during said transporting is less than about 50 kPa;

removing said oxygen-enriched gas flow to form an oxygen-enriched product;

transporting said oxygen-enriched product to a first vessel and a second vessel;

wherein said first vessel and said second vessel are arranged in series;

retaining a defined volume of oxygen-enriched product in said second vessel;

desorbing from said adsorbent bed said portion of said nitrogen;

purging said adsorbent bed with at least a portion of said oxygen-enriched product from said first vessel and without oxygen-enriched product from said second vessel;

repeating said previous steps until a predetermined pressure is achieved in said second vessel; and

purging any remaining volume of said oxygen-enriched product from said first vessel through said adsorbent bed and an air storage vessel upon shutdown.

2. A method, comprising:

compressing in a device an ambient air flow comprising oxygen and nitrogen to form a compressed air flow;

transporting said compressed flow through an adsorbent bed and adsorbing at least a portion of said nitrogen to form an oxygen-enriched gas flow;

wherein the pressure drop across said adsorbent bed during said transporting is less than about 50 kPa;

removing said oxygen-enriched gas flow to form an oxygen-enriched product;

transporting said oxygen-enriched product to a first vessel and a second vessel;

wherein said first vessel and said second vessel are arranged in series;

retaining a defined volume of oxygen-enriched product in said second vessel;

desorbing from said adsorbent bed said portion of said nitrogen;

purging said adsorbent bed with at least a portion of said oxygen-enriched product from said first vessel and without oxygen-enriched product from said second vessel; and

repeating said previous steps until a predetermined pressure is achieved in said second vessel;

wherein the duration of said adsorbing period lengthens as a function of increasing pressure in said second vessel; and

wherein the duration of said desorbing remains substantially constant.

3. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising:

permitting rapid delivery of said defined volume of said oxygen-enriched product from second vessel as a bolus to a user in a user or device defined frequency.

4. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 ,

wherein said desorbing occurs after said transporting a defined volume of said oxygen-enriched product to said second vessel.

5. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 ,

wherein said pressure of said defined volume of said oxygen-enriched product in said second vessel is about 102 kPa absolute to about 200 kPa absolute.

6. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein the volume of said bolus of said oxygen-enriched product in said second vessel is about 50 cc to about 400 cc at standard temperature and pressure.

7. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said bolus of said oxygen-enriched product comprises at least about 90% by weight, based on the total weight of said oxygen-enriched product, of oxygen.

8. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery comprises topically treating a wound or a burn with said oxygen-enriched product.

9. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery is delivered in a continuous mode.

10. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery is delivered in a pressure pulsating mode.

11. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery comprises treating a wound or a burn with said oxygen-enriched product in combination with using a gas permeable biologically augmented material as the wound or burn covering.

12. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery comprises treating a wound or a burn with said oxygen-enriched product in combination with a moisturizing or other therapeutic agent.

13. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising:

oxygenating a beverage with said oxygen-enriched product.

14. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising:

delivering said oxygen-enriched product to a distribution network in a garment.

15. A method of claim 14 ,

wherein said garment is a shoe, a glove, or a body part covering.

16. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising:

mixing said oxygen-enriched product with at least one modifying component;

wherein said modifying component is volatile; and

wherein said modifying component is a material selected from the group consisting of a moisturizing agent, a fragrance, a flavor, an herbal compound, a therapeutic compound, a drug and combinations thereof.

17. A method of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising;

placing a point source of high voltage corona in said oxygen-enriched product to create ozone and delivering said ozone to a microporous distributor for the disinfection of water.

18. A method of claim 3 ,

wherein said delivery is switchable from bolus mode to continuous mode.