JP7569679B2 - Air Purifier - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an air purifier that has the functions of sterilization, deodorization, dust removal, and gas removal.

Conventionally, air purifiers have a spray device that sprays circulating water into the air to be sterilized that flows through the housing's air passage, a circulation tank that receives the circulating water that descends from the air passage, and a circulation system that supplies the circulating water from the circulation tank to the spray device, and a disinfectant is added to the circulating water at the beginning of operation to generate a disinfectant solution.

In addition, in the air purifier described in Patent Document 1, a relay tank for storing slightly acidic electrolyzed water is provided above the circulation tank, and the slightly acidic electrolyzed water is dripped from the relay tank into the circulation tank at a small flow rate to maintain the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution in the circulation tank.

JP 2017-35274 A

However, when a disinfectant solution is generated by adding a disinfectant to the circulating water at the beginning of operation, the disinfectant concentration, which is high at the beginning of operation, decreases as the operation time progresses, and the disinfectant concentration becomes low at the end of operation, and a stable disinfecting power cannot be maintained throughout the operation period.

Even when slightly acidic electrolyzed water is dripped into the circulation tank at a small flow rate to maintain the available chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution in the circulation tank, the flow rate of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water dripped into the circulation tank becomes an issue.

In other words, if the amount of slightly acidic electrolyzed water replenished to the circulation tank is greater than necessary, the available chlorine concentration will be excessive, and clean air with a chlorine odor will be supplied to the space to be sterilized.

In addition, if the inside of the circulation tank becomes contaminated with biological membranes (slime, biofilm, slag), simply operating the system while maintaining a constant effective chlorine concentration will not eliminate the contamination in the circulation tank, and incompletely purified air will be supplied to the space to be sterilized.

The present invention aims to solve the above problems and provide an air purifier that can control the available chlorine concentration of a disinfectant solution to an appropriate value.

In order to solve the above problems, the air purifier of the present invention comprises a housing forming a purification air passage through which air to be sterilized flows from an upstream air inlet to a downstream air outlet, a spraying device for spraying a germicide solution onto the air to be sterilized flowing through the purification air passage, a circulation tank for receiving the germicide solution descending from the purification air passage, a circulation system for supplying the germicide solution in the circulation tank to the spraying device, a chemical supply system for supplying the germicide solution to the circulation tank, and a control device. The chemical supply system comprises a generating device for generating slightly acidic electrolyzed water, a preparation supply unit for supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the generating device to a relay tank and supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water overflowing from the relay tank to the circulation tank at a large preparation flow rate, a dilution water supply system for supplying dilution water to the circulation tank, a replenishment supply unit for supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the relay tank to the circulation tank at a small replenishment flow rate, and a contamination level detector for detecting the contamination level of the germicide solution stored in the circulation tank. The control device has an outlet for supplying a predetermined amount of slightly acidic electrolyzed water to the circulation tank by the preparation supply unit and a predetermined amount of dilution water to the circulation tank by the dilution water supply system, thereby preparing a sterilant solution having a set effective chlorine concentration in the circulation tank, dripping the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the refill supply unit into the circulation tank at a small refill flow rate of 0.00015 to 0.005 of the amount of spray water per unit time of the sterilant solution sprayed from the spray device, thereby maintaining the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank, changing the set value of the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank according to the degree of contamination detected by the contamination level detection unit, controlling the small refill flow rate of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water according to the new set value, and maintaining the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank at the new set value .

In the air purifier of the present invention, the replenishment supply unit has a constant flow relay pump, and the control device drives the relay pump intermittently to supply slightly acidic electrolytic water from the relay tank to the circulation tank, and controls the small replenishment flow rate per unit time by adjusting the operation time of the relay pump and the operation frequency per unit time.

As described above, according to the present invention, the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution can be controlled to an appropriate value by dripping slightly acidic electrolytic water from the refill supply unit into the circulation tank at a small refill flow rate of 0.00015 to 0.005 of the spray water volume to maintain the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank.

In addition, by driving the relay pump intermittently and adjusting the operation time of the relay pump per cycle and the operation frequency per unit time, the small replenishment flow rate per unit time can be precisely controlled in small increments using a constant flow relay pump.

In addition, the set value of the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution is changed according to the level of contamination detected by the contamination level detection unit, and the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank is maintained at the new set value by controlling the small flow rate of the replenishment of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water, thereby controlling the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution in accordance with the change over time in contamination in the sterilant solution and the circulation tank.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an air purifying device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an air purifying device according to the embodiment; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an electrolytic cell of the air purifying device according to the embodiment;

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Figures 1 to 3, the air purifier has an air intake 502 at a lower position and an air outlet 503 at an upper position on a door body 501 on the front exterior of the housing 500, and forms a purification air passage 52 inside the housing 500 through which the air to be sterilized 51 flows from the air intake 502 on the upstream side to the air outlet 503 on the downstream side.

In the middle of the purification air passage 52 of the housing 500, a first dustproof net 504, a dry filter 505, media 506, a spray device 53, an eliminator 507, a fan device 600, and a second dustproof net 508 are provided in this order from upstream to downstream in the flow direction of the air to be sterilized 51.

The first dustproof net 504, dry filter 505, and media 506 are installed in the wind tunnel 509.

The air tunnel 509 forms the purification air passage 52, and contains the media 506 to form an air-liquid contact area where the air to be sterilized comes into contact with the sterilizing solution, forming an air current change area where the air current of the air to be sterilized changes from lateral to upward.

The spray device 53 sprays a disinfectant solution, which is a dilution of the slightly acidic electrolytic water, as spray water along the media 506 into the air to be sterilized flowing through the purification air passage 52, and is equipped with multiple spray nozzles 531. The spray nozzles 531 may be arranged to face diagonally downward or upward, and the spray device 53 may also be arranged in a position opposite the media 506.

The slightly acidic electrolyzed water used here is an aqueous solution whose main active ingredient is hypochlorous acid (HClO), with a pH of 5.0-6.5 and an effective chlorine concentration of 10-80 mg/kg.

The media 506 is a mat of conductive material that holds the water sprayed from the spray device 53 and promotes gas-liquid contact between the air to be sterilized and the sterilant solution. The eliminator 507 captures water droplets and mist and removes them from the airflow, and is located above the air tunnel 509 that contains the media 506.

A circulation tank 54 is provided below the media 506, and the circulation tank 54 receives and stores the disinfectant solution descending from the purification air passage 52. A relay tank 541 is provided inside the circulation tank 54, and a descending liquid guide plate 542 is provided to cover the relay tank 541. The circulation tank 54 is provided with a lower limit liquid level gauge 54a, a middle level gauge 54b, an upper limit liquid level gauge 54c, and a contamination level detection unit 701 that detects the contamination level of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank 54.

In this case, the contamination level detection unit 701 is made up of a means for detecting biological films (slime, biofilm, slag), and includes, for example, a device that measures biofilms attached to a sample plate such as quartz glass using reflected light, a device that detects changes in vibration frequency caused by the attachment of biofilms to a sample plate, and a device that detects changes in the vibration frequency of a probe incorporating a rotating oscillator caused by the attachment of biofilms to the probe.

A circulation system 55 is provided between the circulation tank 54 and the spray device 53, and the circulation system 55 has a circulation pump 550 and supplies the disinfectant solution from the circulation tank 54 to the spray device 53.

In the circulation system 55, a circulation pump 550 that both sprays and discharges the disinfectant solution is located below the circulation tank 54, and a three-way flow path switching valve 551 and a check valve 552 are installed downstream of the circulation pump 550. A drainage system 567 branches off from the three-way flow path switching valve 551, and by switching the three-way flow path switching valve 551, one circulation pump 550 can be used for both circulating and discharging the disinfectant solution.

In addition, when the circulation pump 550 is stopped, the check valve 552 prevents the backflow of the disinfectant solution in the circulation system 55. Therefore, if the spray nozzle 531 of the spray device 53 is positioned facing upward, the inside of the circulation system 55 will be filled with disinfectant solution when the circulation pump 550 is stopped, and no abnormal noise caused by air being discharged will be generated when the circulation pump 550 is restarted.

The chemical supply system 56 that supplies the mildly acidic electrolyzed water of the disinfectant solution includes a generator 561 that generates mildly acidic electrolyzed water, a water supply system 562 that supplies water to the generator 561 from the outside at a specified water pressure, a dilution water supply system 563 that branches off from the water supply system 562 and supplies dilution water to the circulation tank 54, the relay tank 541 mentioned above, a preparation supply unit 564 that supplies mildly acidic electrolyzed water from the generator 561 to the relay tank 541 and supplies the mildly acidic electrolyzed water overflowing from the relay tank 541 to the circulation tank 54 at a large preparation flow rate, and a replenishment supply unit 566 equipped with a constant flow relay pump 565 that drips mildly acidic electrolyzed water from the relay tank 541 to the circulation tank 54 at a small replenishment flow rate.

In this embodiment, the relay tank 541 is placed inside the circulation tank 54, but it can also be placed outside the circulation tank 54.

A three-way flow path switching valve 564b is installed in the dispensing supply unit 564, and the external removal unit 564c is connected to the three-way flow path switching valve 564b via a flow rate adjustment valve 564d. The external removal unit 564c is provided on the front surface of the door body 501 of the housing 500, and can swing up and down between an upper horizontal position where the tip faces horizontally and a lower inclined position where the tip faces downward, and can be tilted at any angle within the angle range (0-90°) set between the horizontal position and the inclined position.

The generator 561 has a solenoid valve 653, a flowmeter 654, and an electrolytic cell 655 in the path from a water supply port (strainer) 651 that communicates with a water supply system 562 to an outlet port 652 that communicates with a drug supply unit 564, and a hydrochloric acid cartridge 657 for the raw drug is connected to the electrolytic cell 655 via a drug pump 656.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electrolytic cell 655 has a water-passing structure with an opening 801 that communicates with the pipeline of the water supply system 562, and an electrode 802 is disposed inside the cell. The electrolytic cell 655 electrolyzes the hydrochloric acid of the raw chemical solution supplied to the cell with the electrode 802 to generate chlorine gas G, which is then mixed into the water flowing through the pipeline of the water supply system 562 from the opening 801 of the electrolytic cell 655, to obtain slightly acidic electrolyzed water.

A control device 900 that controls the operation of the air purifier is provided on the front side of the door body 501, and the control device 900 has an operation panel 901 that is a touch panel.

The control device 900 has an air purification operation mode section that supplies a disinfectant solution containing the slightly acidic electrolyzed water generated by the generation device 561 to the spray device 53, and a disinfectant water operation mode section that extracts the slightly acidic electrolyzed water generated by the generation device 561 from the external extraction section 564c. Depending on the operation of the three-way flow path switching valve 564b, the operation mode is either the air purification operation mode section or the disinfectant water operation mode section.

The operation of the above-mentioned configuration will now be described.
(Normal operation mode of the air purification operation mode section)
The liquid level in the circulation tank 54 is maintained between the medium set level of the medium level gauge 54b and the high set level of the upper limit level gauge 54a, and in this state, the disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 is supplied to the spray device 53 by the circulation pump 550, and the disinfectant solution whose concentration has been adjusted in the circulation tank 54 is sprayed at a predetermined spray water volume from the spray nozzle 531 of the spray device 53 into the air to be sterilized 51 flowing from the upstream to downstream through the purification air passage 52 of the housing 500.

The control device 900 controls the chemical supply device 56 to supply the slightly acidic electrolyzed water at a small replenishment flow rate from the relay tank 541 to the circulation tank 54 via the replenishment supply unit 566 by the relay pump 565. Here, the slightly acidic electrolyzed water is dripped from the replenishment supply unit 566 to the circulation tank 54 at a small replenishment flow rate that is a ratio of 0.00015 to 0.005 of the amount of sprayed water per unit time of the disinfectant solution sprayed from the spray device 53, thereby maintaining the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank 54 and keeping the disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 at a dilute concentration suitable for disinfection.

The control device 900 drives the relay pump 565 intermittently to supply the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the relay tank 541 to the circulation tank 54, and controls the small replenishment flow rate per unit time by adjusting the operation time of the relay pump 565 per operation and the operation frequency per unit time.

When the disinfectant solution is sprayed, foreign matter such as airborne bacteria and dust contained in the air to be sterilized 51 collides with the sprayed disinfectant solution, is captured, and sterilized. Furthermore, when the sprayed disinfectant solution reaches the media 506, it carries down the airborne bacteria and dust adhering to the media 506, and also picks up the airborne bacteria, dust, and other foreign matter contained in the air to be sterilized 51, and flows into the circulation tank 54.

Dilution water is supplied to the circulation tank 54 from the dilution water supply system 563 as necessary to make up for the amount lost through spraying. In addition, slightly acidic electrolyzed water is dripped from the refill supply unit 566 into the circulation tank 54 at a small refill flow rate of 0.00015 to 0.005 of the amount of sprayed water per unit time of the disinfectant solution sprayed from the spray device 53, so that the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 is always maintained at a concentration suitable for disinfection.

The control device 900 also changes the set value of the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank 54 according to the level of contamination detected by the contamination level detection unit 701, controls the small refill flow rate of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water according to the new set value, and maintains the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank 54 at the new set value. This ensures that bacteria flowing into the circulation tank 54 are sterilized reliably.

The sterilized air that has passed through the media 506 passes through an eliminator 507 and is supplied into the room by a fan device 600 .
(Preparation operation mode of air purification operation mode section)
The control device 900 operates the three-way flow path switching valve 551, and causes the circulation pump to discharge the old disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 to outside the system through the drain system 567, and operates the three-way flow path switching valve 551, and causes the circulation pump to discharge the old disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 to outside the system through the drain system 567, and lowers the liquid level in the circulation tank 54 to the lower setting level of the lower limit liquid level meter 54a.

Next, the three-way flow switching valve 551 is returned to its original position so that the circulation system 55 is connected to the spray device 53. The chemical supply system 56 supplies water from the water supply system 562 to the generator 561 at a predetermined water pressure, generates slightly acidic electrolyzed water in the generator 561, supplies the slightly acidic electrolyzed water at the concentration at the time of generation to the relay tank 541 through the preparation supply unit 564, and supplies the slightly acidic electrolyzed water overflowing from the relay tank 541 to the circulation tank 54 at a large preparation flow rate, filling the circulation tank 54 with a predetermined amount of slightly acidic electrolyzed water. The supply amount of this slightly acidic electrolyzed water is controlled based on the measurement value of the flow meter 654.

Slightly acidic electrolyzed water at the concentration at the time of generation is supplied, and a predetermined amount of dilution water is supplied from the dilution water supply system 563 to the circulation tank 54. The amount of dilution water supplied is controlled using as an index the water supply time under a predetermined water supply pressure, etc.

Then, a new batch of disinfectant solution with an available chlorine concentration adjusted to a set value is prepared and stored in the circulation tank 54. The liquid level in the tank is maintained between the middle level set by the middle level gauge 54b and the high level set by the upper limit level gauge 54a.
(Cleaning operation mode of the air purification operation mode section)
In the cleaning operation mode, the three-way flow path switching valve 551 is operated, the old disinfectant solution in the circulation tank 54 is discharged outside the system through the discharge system 567 by the circulation pump 550, the disinfectant solution is supplied to the circulation tank 54 from the preparation supply section 564, and the circulation tank 54 is filled with a predetermined amount of disinfectant solution to chemically clean the circulation tank 54.
(Operation of the sterilizing water operation mode)
When the slightly acidic electrolyzed water is to be extracted from the air purifier as sterilizing water, the three-way flow switching valve 564b is operated to connect the preparation supply unit 564 to the external extraction unit 564c, and the slightly acidic electrolyzed water is extracted.

As described above, according to the air purifying device of this embodiment, the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution can be controlled to an appropriate value by dripping the slightly acidic electrolytic water from the refill supply unit 566 into the circulation tank 54 at a small refill flow rate of 0.00015 to 0.005 of the spray water volume, thereby maintaining the effective chlorine concentration of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank 54.

In addition, by driving the relay pump 565 intermittently and adjusting the operation time of the relay pump 565 per operation and the operation frequency per unit time, the small replenishment flow rate per unit time can be precisely controlled in small increments using the constant flow relay pump 565.

In addition, the set value of the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution is changed according to the level of contamination detected by the contamination level detection unit 701, and the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank 54 is maintained at the new set value by controlling the small flow rate of the replenishment of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water, thereby controlling the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution in accordance with the change over time in contamination in the sterilant solution and in the circulation tank 54.

51 Air to be sterilized 52 Purification air passage 53 Spray device 54 Circulation tank 54a Lower limit liquid level gauge 54b Middle level gauge 54c Upper limit liquid level gauge 55 Circulation system 56 Chemical supply system 500 Housing 501 Door body 502 Air intake 503 Air supply port 504 First dustproof net 505 Dry filter 506 Media 507 Eliminator 508 Second dustproof net 509 Wind tunnel 531 Spray nozzle 541 Relay tank 542 Descending liquid guide plate 550 Circulation pump 551 Three-way flow path switching valve 552 Check valve 561 Generation device 562 Water supply system 563 Dilution water supply system 564 Preparation supply section 564b Three-way flow path switching valve 564c External outlet 564d Flow rate control valve 564e Water supply port 565 Relay pump 566 Refill supply section 567 Discharge system 600 Fan device 651 Water supply port (strainer)
652 Outlet 653 Solenoid valve 654 Flow meter 655 Electrolytic cell 656 Chemical pump 657 Hydrochloric acid cartridge 701 Contamination level detector 801 Opening 802 Electrode 900 Control device 901 Operation panel G Chlorine gas

Claims (2)

The apparatus comprises a housing forming a purification air passage through which air to be sterilized flows from an upstream air inlet to a downstream air outlet, a spraying device which sprays a germicide solution onto the air to be sterilized flowing through the purification air passage, a circulation tank which receives the germicide solution descending from the purification air passage, a circulation system which supplies the germicide solution in the circulation tank to the spraying device, a chemical supply system which supplies the germicide solution to the circulation tank, and a control device;
The chemical supply system includes a generator for generating slightly acidic electrolyzed water, a preparation supply unit for supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the generator to a relay tank and supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water overflowing from the relay tank to the circulation tank at a large preparation flow rate, a dilution water supply system for supplying dilution water to the circulation tank, a make-up supply unit for supplying the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the relay tank to the circulation tank at a small make-up flow rate, and a contamination level detection unit for detecting the contamination level of the disinfectant solution stored in the circulation tank .
The contamination level detection unit comprises a means for detecting a biofilm,
The control device supplies a predetermined amount of slightly acidic electrolyzed water to the circulation tank by the preparation supply unit, and supplies a predetermined amount of dilution water to the circulation tank by the dilution water supply system, to prepare a sterilant solution having an effective chlorine concentration of a set value in the circulation tank, drips the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the make-up supply unit into the circulation tank at a small make-up flow rate that is 0.00015 to 0.005 of the amount of spray water per unit time of the sterilant solution sprayed from the spray device, to maintain the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank, changes the set value of the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank according to the degree of contamination detected by the contamination level detection unit, controls the small make-up flow rate of the slightly acidic electrolyzed water according to the new set value, and maintains the effective chlorine concentration of the sterilant solution stored in the circulation tank at the new set value . The supplementary supply unit has a constant flow relay pump,
The air purifier according to claim 1, characterized in that the control device intermittently drives the relay pump to supply the slightly acidic electrolyzed water from the relay tank to the circulation tank, and controls the small replenishment flow rate per unit time by adjusting the operation time of the relay pump and the operation frequency per unit time.

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