JP4645528B2 - Electrostatic atomizer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrostatic atomizer that generates charged liquid fine particles by applying a high voltage to a liquid.

  A high voltage generation circuit, an atomization electrode to which a high voltage generated by the high voltage generation circuit is applied, a counter electrode facing the atomization electrode, and a liquid supply for supplying the liquid to be atomized to the atomization electrode There is an electrostatic atomizer that generates charged liquid fine particles by atomizing the liquid (water) on the atomizing electrode by electric discharge between the atomizing electrode and the counter electrode. The electrostatic atomizer that generates charged liquid fine particles contains superoxide radicals and hydroxy radicals in the obtained charged liquid fine particles, and has deodorizing effect, sterilizing effect, allergen inactivating effect, and agrochemical decomposing effect. Therefore, it has been attracting attention in recent years.

In order to increase the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles in this electrostatic atomizer, the voltage value of the DC high voltage generated by the high voltage generation circuit and applied to the atomization electrode is increased. In addition, there is a possibility that a short circuit may occur and the charged liquid fine particles cannot be stably generated, and the amount of ozone generated increases.
JP 2006-026629 A

  The present invention has been invented in view of the above-described conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrostatic atomizer capable of stably increasing the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles while suppressing the generation amount of ozone. It is what.

In order to solve the above problems, an electrostatic electrification apparatus according to the present invention should be atomized by a high voltage generation circuit, an atomization electrode to which a high voltage generated by the high voltage generation circuit is applied, and the atomization electrode consists of a liquid supply means for supplying a liquid, a discharge electrostatic atomizer that generates charged fine droplets by atomizing by the liquid (water) on the atomization electrode in the atomization electrode, the high The voltage generation circuit applies a high voltage obtained by superimposing a pulse voltage on a constant DC voltage to the atomization electrode, and has a feature that the frequency of the pulse voltage is equal to or higher than the generation frequency of electrostatic atomization. Yes. Charged liquid fine particles can be stably generated while suppressing the amount of ozone by superimposing the pulse voltage.

Moreover the frequency of the pulse voltage to be higher occurrence frequency of the electrostatic atomization, it can more efficiently utilize the energy given by the pulse, which is effective in the generation of stable charging liquid particles.

The DC constant voltage is preferably a voltage value for starting discharge. In this case, it is possible to maximize the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles while suppressing the generation amount of ozone. The DC constant voltage to be applied varies depending on the structure of the atomization electrode, the distance between the atomization electrode and the counter electrode, and the amount of liquid to be supplied, but about ± 2 kV to 5 kV is preferable. When the temperature is lower than this range, the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles is reduced, and when it is higher, the generation amount of ozone is increased as in the case where the pulse voltage is not superimposed.

  The pulse width of the pulse voltage is preferably 10 to 50% of the pulse generation period in terms of increasing the generation amount of charged fine particles while suppressing the ozone amount. More specifically, it is desirable to set it to 10 to 30%, but it is not particularly limited.

The high voltage generating circuit, when the electric displacement in the circuit composed of the high voltage generating circuit and the atomizing electrode is intended to change the frequency of the pulse voltage, can be sustained stably atomized It is also possible to adjust the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles.

The high voltage generation circuit may change the frequency of the pulse voltage according to the output of the sensor that detects the environmental change. In this case, the amount of atomization can be adjusted according to the surrounding environmental change. It becomes possible to maintain the atomization stably. As the above sensor, a temperature detection sensor, a humidity detection sensor, a gas detection sensor, a detection sensor for the amount of liquid to be atomized, etc. can be used, but the atomization electrode is cooled to condense liquid components in the air. In the case of supplying a liquid, it is particularly effective to control the frequency of the pulse voltage by detecting the external temperature and humidity. Moreover, what comprises the counter electrode which opposes an atomization electrode, and discharges between an atomization electrode and a counter electrode is preferable.

  In the present invention, since the high voltage obtained by superimposing the pulse voltage on the constant DC high voltage is applied to the atomizing electrode, the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles can be increased and at the same time the increase in the ozone generation amount can be suppressed. For this reason, the above-described effects due to the charged liquid fine particles are improved.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a heat exchanging portion, and a cooling portion 3 on a flat plate is connected to the heat absorption side of a Peltier element 2 which is a semiconductor electronic heat exchanging element In addition, a fin-shaped heat radiation portion 4 is connected to the heat radiation side of the Peltier element 2. The heat dissipating part 4 is made of a material having high heat conductivity (in this example, aluminum), and the cooling part 3 is made of a material having high heat conductivity and low electric conductivity (insulating).

The atomizing electrode 6 is erected on the cooling part 3 by embedding the base end part 6b of the atomizing electrode 6 in the base part 5 that is raised in the shape of a truncated cone in the center of the cooling part 3. . The atomizing electrode 6 is a cylindrical member formed using a material having high thermal conductivity and high electrical conductivity (copper in this example ), and the tip 6a has a sharp conical shape. Yes.

  The ring-shaped counter electrode 7 is positioned by being held by the casing 8 on the side facing the tip portion 6 a of the atomizing electrode 6. The counter electrode 7 and the atomizing electrode 6 are connected to a high voltage generating circuit including a constant high voltage applying unit 9 and a pulse voltage applying unit 10, and the tip 6 a of the atomizing electrode 6 is formed by the high voltage generating circuit. A high voltage is applied to the tip 6a of the atomizing electrode 6 and the counter electrode 7 so that the side becomes a negative electrode.

In this device, when DC power is supplied to the Peltier element 2 of the heat exchanging unit 1 by the cooling control unit 11, heat is generated in the Peltier element 2, and atomization is performed via the cooling unit 3 connected to the heat absorption side. electrode 6 is cooled, condensation liquid on the surface of the atomization electrode 6 is caused by the air around the atomization electrode 6 reaches below the dew point is cooled.

  The condensed liquid generated on the atomizing electrode 6 gathers at the tip 6a by a high voltage applied to the atomizing electrode 6, in particular, a constant DC high voltage, and by discharge triggered by the superimposed pulse voltage, Nanometer-sized charged liquid particles are generated by repeating Rayleigh splitting.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the constant DC high voltage Vd is set to a voltage value Vh for starting discharge, and a higher voltage is applied to the atomizing electrode 6 by superimposing the pulse voltage Vp. Thus, the discharge shown by the electrostatic atomizing discharge waveform in the lower part of FIG. 1 is generated, the generation amount of charged liquid fine particles can be increased, and the generation amount of ozone can be reduced. The amount of charged liquid fine particles generated increases as the discharge current value increases. Incidentally, FIG. 7 shows a case where electrostatic atomization is performed only with a conventional DC constant high voltage. In this case, when compared with the case where a pulse voltage is superimposed, the same charged liquid fine particles can be obtained. The amount generated is considerably increased.

FIG. 3 shows a case where the DC constant high voltage Vd is higher than the voltage value Vh. At this time, the amount of charged liquid fine particles generated is large and the amount of ozone generated is also large. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 4, when the constant DC high voltage Vd is lower than the voltage value Vh, the amount of charged liquid fine particles and the amount of ozone generated decrease, so the constant DC high voltage Vd starts discharging. It is preferable that the voltage value Vh be approximately equal to the voltage value Vh.

  The frequency of the pulse voltage Vp is preferably set to be equal to or higher than the generation frequency of electrostatic atomization. This is because the energy given by the pulse can be used more efficiently. When the generation frequency of electrostatic atomization is 1 MHz, the frequency of the pulse voltage is desirably 1 to 10 MHz. The pulse voltage application unit 10 may be capable of changing the frequency of the pulse voltage. In this case, the amount of charged liquid fine particles generated can be controlled by changing the frequency.

The pulse width W of the pulse voltage Vp is preferably 10 to 50% of the pulse generation period P. Preferably it is 10 to 30%. The generation amount of charged fine particles can be increased while suppressing the amount of ozone. By the way, when it becomes 50% or more, the amount of ozone generation increases rapidly, and the value of [generation amount of charged liquid fine particles / ozone amount] decreases as shown in FIG.

  The discharge current value is detected by an ammeter 12 installed between the counter electrode 7 and the high voltage generation circuit, and the control circuit 13 determines the frequency of the pulse voltage generated by the pulse voltage application unit 10 according to the detected discharge current value. You may make it change, At this time, stable continuation of atomization can be aimed at.

  The temperature sensor 14, humidity sensor 15 and gas sensor 16 installed in the external environment detect the external temperature, external humidity, the presence or absence of gas, and the like, and the control circuit 13 generates pulses according to these values and the presence or absence of gas. By controlling the frequency of the pulse voltage output from the voltage application unit 10, the atomization can be maintained more stably and the generation amount of the charged liquid fine particles can be adjusted.

  In the electrostatic atomizer shown in FIG. 3, the heat exchange unit 1 that cools the atomizing electrode 6 constitutes a liquid supply unit. As shown in FIG. 6, the liquid supply unit stores a liquid. A tank configured to supply the liquid to the atomizing electrode 6 may be used. In this case, a hollow or porous material is used for the atomizing electrode 6 so that the liquid can be fed to the tip 6 a of the atomizing electrode 6.

It is operation | movement explanatory drawing in an example of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram same as the above. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the other example same as the above. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of another example same as the above. It is explanatory drawing same as the above. It is a block diagram of another example. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heat exchange part 6 Atomization electrode 7 Counter electrode 10 Constant high voltage application part 11 Pulse voltage application part

Claims (6)

A liquid on the atomization electrode, comprising a high voltage generation circuit, an atomization electrode to which a high voltage generated by the high voltage generation circuit is applied, and a liquid supply means for supplying the liquid to be atomized to the atomization electrode An electrostatic atomizer that generates charged liquid fine particles by atomizing (water) by discharge at an atomizing electrode, wherein the high voltage generation circuit atomizes a high voltage obtained by superimposing a pulse voltage on a constant DC voltage. An electrostatic atomizing device characterized in that the frequency of the pulse voltage is equal to or higher than the frequency of electrostatic atomization and applied to the electrode. 2. The electrostatic atomizer according to claim 1, wherein the constant DC voltage is a voltage value for starting discharge . 3. The electrostatic atomizer according to claim 1, wherein a pulse width of the pulse voltage is 10 to 50% of a pulse generation period . 4. The high voltage generation circuit according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of the pulse voltage is changed by an electrical displacement in a circuit comprising the high voltage generation circuit and the atomizing electrode. The electrostatic atomizer described in the paragraph . The electrostatic atomization according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the high voltage generation circuit changes a frequency of a pulse voltage in accordance with an output of a sensor that detects an environmental change. apparatus. The electrostatic atomization according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a counter electrode facing the atomizing electrode is provided to discharge between the atomizing electrode and the counter electrode. apparatus.

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