Abstract. A mathematical model of the build-up of oxygen and carbon dioxide in an oxygen tent, under standard conditions of use, has been constructed and verified experimentally. The mathematical analysis has been used both to demonstrate that large oxygen tents cannot give a satisfactorily high percentage of oxygen, even under ideal conditions, and in the design of a new oxygen tent. This has been found to function satisfactorily both in the laboratory and on the ward. A method is given for evaluating the gas exchange rate of an oxygen tent from experimental data. The effects of varying the three main factors which affect oxygen build-up in a tent (tent gas volume, tent gas exchange rate, and oxygen inflow rate) have been demonstrated graphically. The performance of an oxygen tent can only be described when all three are quantified.

Print publication: Issue 1 (January 1969)
Received 5 July 1968