COVID-19: Indian Army engineers find solution to convert liquid O2 to low-pressure O2 gas

As India continues to reel under the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Indian Army Engineers' team under Major General Sanjay Rihani undertook an initiative to find a solution to this challenge. The Indian Army has fired a specialised task force to quickly put together for ab early execution of innovation to ensure that oxygen is made available without the use of gas cylinders, thus obliviating the need to refill them frequently. 

COVID: India Army works towards resolving oxygen shortage challenge

Over 7 days, the team of the Indian Army Engineers in-direct consultation and material support from CSIR & DRDO put together a working solution using vaporisers, PRVs, and liquid oxygen cylinders. In order to ensure continuous conversion of liquid oxygen into oxygen gas at the requisite pressure and temperature at the COVID bed, the team used a self pressuring liquid oxygen cylinder of small capacity (250 litres) and processed it through a specially designed vaporiser and directly usable outlet pressure (4 Bar) with requisite leakproof pipeline and pressure valves. 

A prototype with two liquid cylinders capable of feeding oxygen gas for 40 beds for a period of two to three days has been made functional at Base Hospital, Delhi Cantt. The team has also tested a mobile version to cater to typical shifting requirements in hospitals. The system is economically viable and is safe to operate since it obviates high gas pressure in the pipeline or cylinders and does not require any power supply to operate. The system is capable of replication in a quick time frame. 

This innovation is another example of the Indian Army's commitment to promoting innovations in bringing simple and practical solutions to complex problems. The Indian Army stands steadfast with the nation in this fight against COVID-19. 

COVID-19 situation in India

India so far has recorded over 2,54,96,330 positive cases, out of which, 2,19,86,363 have successfully recovered and 2,83,248 have died. As per the latest information from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 2,67,334 new cases, 3,89,851 fresh recoveries and 4,529 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 32,26,719. 

(Image: Unsplash, https://pib.gov.in/)