I have used both stationary oxygen concentrators and portable oxygen concentrators as well as tanks with pulse Regulators and continuous regulators. I have or was diagnosed with severe COPD and eventually due to a little spike in my arm ended up with a massive heart attack which took forever to recover from and it's still an ongoing process. During my process of recovery I was on continuous 02 as high as 6 L per minute. I'm now during the daytime on a pulse rate of 1 to 2 L as required/ I personally prefer the pulse dose as it is much easier on my nasal cavities. I find The Continuous Flow very irritating to the inner cavities or Linings of my nose. The use of the oxygen is regulated to get you to have an arterial blood oxygen level of between 94% and 97% if you have COPD. The portable oxygen concentrator that I use has breath detection and sends the pulse a couple of milliseconds after I start to inhale. Occasionally it'll go all Goofy and it needs to be reset so I pull the battery out and put it back in and then it goes back to normal detection levels. sudden changes in temperature like going outside in the cold weather will sometimes affect it or sometimes coming inside from outside so it can be aggravating to keep up with it at times. The portable oxygen concentrator is far more convenient than the tanks as it only requires being plugged in to charge the battery once every 5 to 6 hours probably. I have a BIPAP machine and I have a stationary oxygen concentrator at 5 l a minute while I sleep when I'm having a really good time or a good day that may be reduced to 3 or 4 L per minute The Continuous Flow is required to overcome the pressure of the CPAP machine or BIPAP machine in my case. There is a book with the title BREATH which I highly recommend as it approaches breathing from the point of view of recovery and healing as opposed to symptom relief.

Ok, I’ve given @A MyCOPDTeam Member three days to reply since this question was posted, and since all we’re hearing are crickets, here goes, @A MyCOPDTeam Member…

PF or Pulsed Flow does not work for everyone. While there is supposed to be an inhalation trigger to spark the pulsed flow reaction, in multiple tests, the inspiration or inhalation was not deep enough to trigger a responding burst of oxygen. While there is also supposed to be an automatic pulse if no inhalation trigger is detected, a pulse delivered at the wrong time during your inhale / exhale process can be too small to be effective, and useless for meeting your needs.

SF or Continuous Flow / Steady Flow is supposed to provide a continuous flow of oxygen (up to 5 liters per minute, if that’s your Rx), so that the oxygen is there when you inhale. There is no need to “time” the inhale to trigger oxygen release, and there is a belief that some oxygen is wasted in order to ensure that you, the user, gets a minimum amount of oxygen to meet your needs, regardless of breathing patterns.

While conclusions are limited to the POC unit tested (as every unit needs to be tested using the same tools and methods to have a truly accurate pool of data), using the Philips Respironics SimplyGo shows a difference in oxygen intake from PF vs SF.

REF: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC55...

To quote: PF delivered consistently lower amounts of oxygen than SF at flow rates equivalent to nominal PF settings. Differences were largest when the higher PF setting was combined with breathing parameters typical of sleeping patients. We hypothesize that this difference is primarily due to two factors: 1) the increased effect of oxygen pooling for SF in the anatomic reservoir during slower, shallower breathing, and 2) a delay in the arrival of the pulse, which leads to retention in the upper airways and exhalation of part of the oxygen bolus.

There’s my 2 cents until @A MyCOPDTeam Member is able to offer her own insight. Picture included from many available in the NIH article as it illustrates the problem most succinctly.

Happy Saturday, 30-SEP-23

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@A MyCOPDTeam Member Well technically Regardless of what type you use, You inhale the same and exhale the same, depending on the flow. The pulse regulates when you get that shot of o2, So if you miss that pulse you miss the o2. I couldn't use the pulse, Too much work breathing and timing the pulse regulator. You have to inhale at the same time the pulse gives that shot or you miss that o2 and get nothing from the device. That's why I couldn't use the Inogen, It memorizes a pattern, And if you deviate it has to re-calibrate to your breathing again. I don't want to have to remember when to inhale. But it doesn't Waste o2 like the continuous flow does. JMO

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I do the same. Constant during night. The pulse dose alarm kept coming on and I couldn't sleep.

Okay I never should have had the initial question sound like I didn't know the difference between the two types, or why there are two types, or why you can't get a really light POC with continuous flow. The good news is there is lots of good info here explained all different ways and that is what I love about the Q&A 😃 There's that saying that "curiosity killed the cat" and they were talking about me too! Serious thanks to all of you for posting replies and links and photos for me, you all made my day and taught me a few things too.

9/27/2023