HVO gives you a choice between a basic, reliable product, dubbed the Classic Plus™️, and the Pro Plus™, which has a built-in ultrasonic oxygen sensor, and is “cloud-connected”, with sophisticated data tracking, monitoring, and configuration options. In this post, you’ll learn the differences between them, and how to decide which is best for your application.
Continue reading How to Choose the Best HVO Model
In previous posts, we’ve examined the electrical usage of a large studio setup and a medium studio setup. In this article, we’re looking at a small High Volume Oxygen system for a single torch – the Mighty Mite 20 gallon system with two HVO Pro Gen 10 lpm oxygen concentrators.
This small setup works great for someone working with a Bethlehem Bravo or GTT Phantom. It could handle a couple of folks working on smaller torches like Bethlehem Alphas or GTT Lynxs. High Volume Oxygen systems are modular and expandable, so you can always add more concentrators or additional storage if you upgrade or need more oxygen, but this setup is a great starter system.
Continue reading How much will I pay in electricity? (Part Three)
When considering a High Volume Oxygen system to replace your dependence on compressed or liquid oxygen tanks, there are various considerations. Knowing how much oxygen you go through in a set period of time is a great way to figure out which High Volume Oxygen system will work best for you. It helps to know how long a tank of oxygen lasts you, but short term usage is also helpful to make sure you get a system that can keep up with you. How do you figure out your short term usage? Start with your torch(es).
Continue reading How much oxygen does my torch use?
When considering a High Volume Oxygen system to replace your dependence on compressed or liquid oxygen tanks, there are various considerations. One of the most important things to consider is your typical overall oxygen usage vs your peak oxygen usage (the highest volume of oxygen you might need during certain time periods). When making your initial investment, sometimes it makes more sense to plan for your typical oxygen usage and supplement with compressed oxygen for the rare occasions that your usage is much higher than normal (like for events or classes).
Continue reading Using Compressed Oxygen to Supplement for Glass Blowers
High Volume Oxygen of Lincoln, Nebraska was selected by the Ford Motor Company to help in the development of a portable emergency oxygen generating trailer that can be deployed strategically to field hospitals and other locations where oxygen supply may be disrupted. High Volume Oxygen is an industrial oxygen equipment manufacturing company based in Lincoln, Nebraska that serves the veterinary, aquaculture and glass blowing markets with state-of-the-art oxygen systems that closely monitor metrics in the cloud, such as volume, flow, and oxygen purity, that are essential for life supporting oxygen systems
With the invocation of the Defense Production Act, Ford has pooled its resources to connect the Roush corporation in Detroit, Michigan with the High Volume Oxygen team to address the nationwide effort in supplying medical personnel on the frontline with the tools to save lives.
“We were very honored to get the call and have been working around the clock to make this happen. It gave our company a powerful sense of purpose to be able to do something significant and potentially life-saving during this time.” says Marc Kornbluh, president of High Volume Oxygen.
The Defense Production Act of 1950 is a United States federal law enacted on September 8, 1950 in response to the start of the Korean War. It was part of a broad civil defense and war mobilization effort in the context of the Cold War.
This current mandate is to get non-medical equipment manufacturers engaged in the process of quickly developing equipment to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many companies have risen to the call by developing ventilators, masks, oxygen systems and anything that might help to address the pressing medical needs caused by the pandemic.
Additional References:
10/11 Now article : Lincoln oxygen company helps Ford with COVID-19 aid project
NPR Interview with Adrian Price, Ford’s director of manufacturing: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/16/835710036/ford-motor-companys-car-production-shifted-to-make-ventilators
Is it feasible and beneficial to run an HVO oxygen generating system with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels? That is the topic I’ll be exploring in this post. I consulted with professional solar installers on the technical questions regarding modern PV solar systems.
The cost of PV solar power has come down 99% over the past 40 years. Meanwhile, “conversion efficiency“, which represents the amount of sunlight that is converted to electricity, is now as high as 22.8%. To bring the cost down even further, state and federal governments offer Renewable Energy Tax Credits.
Continue reading Generate Oxygen with Solar Power
In the continuing discussion of the electrical usage and costs of a High Volume Oxygen system, I wanted to share a modified configuration of the Lincoln Hot Glass system with different torches working on it. The configuration of the system and the torches working on it will affect the electrical costs. A larger system that needs to turn on fewer times to refill will have lower electrical costs than a smaller system that runs more often.
The HVO configuration for this graph is a MAX 60 gallon system with a 60 gallon storage tank and five 10 lpm oxygen concentrators (or 50 lpm).
Continue reading How much will I pay in electricity? (Part Two)
Have you ever thought that you’d like to set up an oxygen generation and compression system so you could make oxygen on site, but you’ve wondered how much you would end up paying in electricity? Many people are curious to know if their electrical bill will skyrocket after making the switch to High Volume Oxygen. When the HVO System is properly specified, it will cycle on and off. For most glass studios, the system may run for half of the workday, or it may run for a couple of hours. The size of the system, the components being run and the amount of oxygen being used are all considerations when figuring out how much you’ll be paying in electrical costs. This three part series will examine a large, medium and small studio setup.
Continue reading Estimating electrical costs of generating your own oxygen (Part One)
You just made an investment in an HVO system because you want to save money on oxygen, have a safe work environment, and you like the idea of flipping a switch to make all the oxygen you need. Now you can focus on your business rather than having to check your tank levels, place orders, schedule delivery, replace empties, and pay oxygen bills.
To capitalize on your investment, put your system in a proper space and care for it so it can live a long and happy life. The things you need to do are pretty straightforward, especially if you begin with a little planning.
Continue reading How to Care for your HVO System
In part 1, we talked about the density of oxygen, gas measurement standards, and how to calculate gas volume for a container of a given size at a given pressure. In this post, we’re going to use that knowledge to configure an HVO system that is capable of producing the amount of oxygen that you require.
Continue reading How much oxygen do you need? (Part 2)
When you buy a container of ice cream, you may think that a quart is a quart until you learn that one brand contains a lot more air than another. You can weigh the two containers and you’ll know that the heavier one contains more product. The same is true for gases: two tanks may be “full” from the top to the bottom, but the volume of stored gas is based on density, which is mostly determined by pressure.
Like most common gases, oxygen expands to fill its container. But how much oxygen is actually inside? You may know that an oxygen cylinder contains some number of cubic feet of oxygen, but the cylinder doesn’t look like it could possibly hold that much. It’s the compressibility of oxygen that makes it possible to squeeze a mass of gas into a small space.
Continue reading How much oxygen do you need? (Part 1)
