During the years of the pandemic, oxygen concentrators made by O2 Concepts were in high demand. This presented a great opportunity to help patients in need, but also to innovate. Unfortunately, those same years came with myriad product development and supply chain challenges. During that chaotic time, O2 Concepts sought help from Nexus to design and develop their next generation of portable oxygen concentrator. 

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The new oxygen concentrator would be a smaller, wearable product that was more economical and simpler to produce. The design of the product needed to facilitate O2’s plan to manufacture in the US, thereby avoiding the worst of Pandemic supply chain issues. The product also had to deliver for the user, with a low overall weight and volume that still provided improved oxygen generation capacity.

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While O2 focused on electronics and software, the Nexus team improved the physical design, endeavoring to add value through a strategy of subtraction.

 

As design work progressed, exterior and interior components were simplified whenever possible. Where feasible, some initially separate components were merged as single molded parts. Gasketing for air seals was designed as co-molded features on rigid components to reduce part count and assembly complexity. A focus on simplifying the overall design and its complexity ultimately helped reduce the risk of delays during production–

a key priority of the project.

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As the design for Liberty reached maturity, Nexus continued to help complete the improved user experience. A protective carrying case was designed that offers versatile transport options to improve comfort while on the go, ensuring patient mobility and independence.  

The successful design of the Oxlife LIBERTY has since been used by O2’s internal engineering team as a foundation to create a premium performance model. The Oxlife LIBERTY, with continuous flow oxygen of up to 1.5 LPM is now part of a family of products that includes the Oxlife LIBERTY2, with continuous flow oxygen of up to 2 LPM. Nexus is proud to have helped O2 Concepts design and develop a solid product, now grown to a family of products, which all provide health and happiness to their customers.