By Sun Gaoju
BEIJING, April 27 -- Recently, a high-efficiency and cost-saving diffusive oxygen enrichment technology for the breathing zone of sleep environment developed by the Air Force Medical University of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was tested in plateau areas, winning unanimous praise from the troops with its excellent performance.
In 2022, Zhai Mingming, associate professor of the military biomedical engineering department under the PLA Air Force Medical University, conducted a study among the training troops in the plateau areas. Many pilots told Zhai that although the oxygen supply via nasal catheter could meet the oxygen demand, the high airflow would irritate the nasal cavity, making the nasal mucosa vulnerable to swelling and bleeding and thus resulting in breathing difficulties, which in turn degraded sleep quality.
To create a better sleep environment for the pilots training on the plateau and efficiently relieve their fatigue after training, Zhai and his team started relevant research and developed the high-efficiency and cost-saving diffusive oxygen enrichment technology for the breathing zone of sleep environment.
"Compared to regular oxygen supply methods, the local diffusive oxygen enrichment technology will not only enable a more comfort sleep environment, but also maintain a more stable oxygen concentration," said Zhai. By controlling the airflow path, the technology can deliver oxygen with evenly mixed concentration to the breathing zone of the sleeping pilots to generate the effect of local diffusive oxygen enrichment.
It is learned that the technology has been tested among multiple training troops. Next, Zhai and his team will further standardize the technology and expand the scope of application to benefit as many plateau troops as possible.
