Oxygen

http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

This oxygen system looks interesting but is only certified to 15k and
battery life is only 6 hours. It would be nice to do away with filling
bottles. Does anybody know of any other systems available or on the
horizon that would be more useful to glider pilots?

Jim

"Jim" wrote in message
...
http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

This oxygen system looks interesting but is only certified to 15k and
battery life is only 6 hours. It would be nice to do away with filling
bottles. Does anybody know of any other systems available or on the
horizon that would be more useful to glider pilots?

This is the first time that I have seen POCs (Portable Oxygen Concentrators)
pitched to the general aviation market. I believe Inogen was the first to
market POCs in the medical field. I am familiar with Inogen equipment, but not
this particular unit. In my opinion, they make good stuff. In the medical
world, Inogen now has a few competitors who also make good POCs. I believe
that GA is a tiny market compared to medical oxygen, so it will be interesting
to see if any other manufacturers jump into the GA game.

On 9/27/2011 3:49 PM, Jim wrote:
http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

This oxygen system looks interesting but is only certified to 15k and
battery life is only 6 hours. It would be nice to do away with filling
bottles. Does anybody know of any other systems available or on the
horizon that would be more useful to glider pilots?

I could see an advantage for unassisted safaris of several days
duration, where getting refills could be real hassle, or trying to stuff
more or bigger bottles into the glider.

You can use an external battery, but at the nominal 40W power draw,
that's 3 amps out of a 12 volt battery. $2700 seems pricey, too.

For people that return to their trailer/hangar/motorhome after a flight,
it might be better to own several glider bottles and one large oxygen
cylinder for transfilling. I can get 15-20 hours out of my 14 CF bottle,
using an EDS, so that's enough for two days of flying, which could
include an overnight stop away from the home airport.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On Sep 28, 11:49*am, Jim wrote:
http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

This oxygen system looks interesting but is only certified to 15k and
battery life is only 6 hours. It would be nice to do away with filling
bottles. Does anybody know of any other systems available or on the
horizon that would be more useful to glider pilots?

Jim

And worst of all, the operating temperature is 5C to 40C, which isn't
much use at 15,000ft if the temperature is 0.

--
Philip Plane

On Sep 27, 11:18*pm, Phil wrote:

And worst of all, the operating temperature is 5C to 40C, which isn't
much use at 15,000ft if the temperature is 0.

--
Philip Plane

Would the temperature be zero inside the cockpit where the POC will
reside?

No worse of all is above around 15,000 feet there is not enough O2
partial pressure to let this already power hungry, expensive and
cumbersome (for our needs) product work.

It is a solution looking for a problem. Maybe in GA where there is no
local FBO/refill station but even then it'snot hard to maintain your own
O2 refill cylinders. I am seriously surprised the manufacturer is
marketing this to the aviation market.

Darryl

Phil wrote:
On Sep 28, 11:49 am, Jim wrote:
http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

This oxygen system looks interesting but is only certified to 15k
and
battery life is only 6 hours. It would be nice to do away with
filling
bottles. Does anybody know of any other systems available or on the
horizon that would be more useful to glider pilots?

Jim

And worst of all, the operating temperature is 5C to 40C, which isn't
much use at 15,000ft if the temperature is 0.

--
Philip Plane