Oxygen Concentrating and Application for Railway Tunnel Construction in High Altitude Area and It´s Physiological Effects on the Construction Workers

In order to solve the hypoxia problem in Qinghai-Tibet railway tunnel construction, on the Qinghai-Tibet Pleatu, a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) cycle to concentrate oxygen from the low pressure atmosphere at high altitude had been developed. Two PSA oxygen generation stations were constructed which located in Fenghuoshan about 5000m high above sea level. Furthermore, a system of disperse oxygen supply in tunnel construction section was brought forward. After the system was used, the oxygen partial pressure of the tunnel section could be enhanced by 2~3kPa and the difficulty of the lack of oxygen in the tunnel development was solved efficiently. An observation of the incidence of acute mountain sickness (AMS) and the physiologic responses in the workers before and after oxygen supply in the tunnel have also been studied. After supplying oxygen, it was showed the incidence of AMS decreased significantly, the arterial oxygen saturation increased, and the labor efficiency raised.