JP7747283B2 - Ozone Generator - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an ozone generator.

Air sterilization and deodorization can be easily achieved by utilizing the oxidizing properties of ozone. Ozone can be generated using oxygen present in the air as a raw material, and is ultimately reduced to oxygen without producing any harmful residues. For this reason, ozone generators that can be used in living spaces are becoming increasingly common.

Ozone generators are typically installed in spaces where sterilization is to be performed. They have an agitator such as a fan motor to efficiently disperse ozone within the space, and even when ultraviolet light is used to generate ozone, it is easy to create a structure that suppresses ultraviolet light exposure to the outside of the ozone generator and releases only ozone. However, when an agitator such as a fan motor is used, noise and reliability become issues.

When an ozone generator is constructed without using a stirring device such as a fan motor to reduce noise and improve reliability, it is necessary to utilize limited convection to exhaust and diffuse ozone from the ozone generator, and the inside of the ozone generator cannot be designed to hinder convection. This results in the problem of being unable to prevent the ultraviolet light used to generate ozone from reaching the outside of the ozone generator.

In order to release ozone without using a stirring device such as a fan motor and without irradiating the outside of the ozone generator with ultraviolet rays of a harmful intensity, it is necessary to reduce the ultraviolet rays to a level that is harmless to the human body after ozone generation.

To solve the above problems, we propose a safe and quiet ozone generator that is comprised of an ultraviolet light source 3, a circulation port 6, an ozone passage 4, and an ultraviolet light attenuation plate 5. UV light 7 generated by the ultraviolet light source 3 generates ozone 9 in the ozone passage 4, and the ozone 9 is discharged from the circulation port 6. The ultraviolet light 7 that contributed to the generation of ozone is attenuated to a harmless level by the ultraviolet light attenuation plate 5 installed in the ozone passage 4, and the ultraviolet light 7 irradiated from the circulation port 6 is also attenuated to a harmless level by the ultraviolet light attenuation plate 5 installed in the ozone passage 4, and this achieves spatial sterilization.

This invention makes it possible to create an ozone generator that is safe and quiet.

1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a cross-sectional view of a lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; Ozone generation and UV path diagram in one embodiment of the present invention Ozone performance evaluation conditions in one embodiment of the present invention Ozone performance evaluation conditions in one embodiment of the present invention Ozone performance evaluation conditions in one embodiment of the present invention Ozone performance evaluation results in one example of the present invention The relationship between the amount of UV exposure and exposure time that is generally considered to have no effect on the human body 1 is a block diagram of a sterilization and deodorization system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Evaluation results of a sterilization and deodorization system according to an embodiment of the present invention Evaluation results of a sterilization and deodorization system according to an embodiment of the present invention Evaluation results of a sterilization and deodorization system according to an embodiment of the present invention Evaluation results of a sterilization and deodorization system according to an embodiment of the present invention

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

Figure 1 shows an ozone generator 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ozone generator 1 shown in Figure 1.

The ultraviolet rays 7 generated by the ultraviolet source 3 have a wavelength that generates ozone. The ultraviolet source 3 is composed of an ultraviolet lamp 31 and a lamp case 32, and the lamp case 32 has an ultraviolet irradiation port 33. It is preferable that the ultraviolet lamp 31 used to generate ozone has both wavelengths of 185 nm and 253.7 nm, or only a wavelength of 185 nm.

Figure 3 is a diagram of ozone generation and ultraviolet light paths in an embodiment of the present invention. The ozone passage 4 is a space connecting two circulation ports 6 and has an ultraviolet attenuation plate 5 installed inside. It is separated from the ultraviolet generation source 3 by an ultraviolet lamp case 32. Ultraviolet light 7 generated by the ultraviolet lamp 31 passes through an ultraviolet irradiation port 33 installed in the ultraviolet lamp case 32 and is irradiated into the ozone passage 4, generating ozone 9 from oxygen 8 present inside the ozone passage 4. The generated ozone is released to the outside of the ozone generator 1 through the circulation port 6, and new oxygen 8 is supplied from the circulation port 6 into the ozone passage 4 of the ozone generator 1. The circulation of ozone 9 and oxygen 8 continuously sterilizes and deodorizes the indoor space.

In this configuration, when used in a sealed room, the ozone generator 1 does not have a stirring device, so the diffusion rate of the discharged ozone is slow.
Therefore, the ozone concentration becomes high near the ozone generator 1 and the oxygen concentration decreases, which reduces the amount of oxygen supplied to the ozone generator 1 and the amount of ozone generated. As a result, the amount of ozone generated is limited according to the ozone diffusion rate. By eliminating the agitator, the amount of ozone generated can be expected to automatically adjust.

One ozone generator 1 was installed in a 45 ^m3 room, two on the ceiling of a 90 ^m3 room, and three in a 120 ^m3 room, and after 12 hours of continuous operation, the ozone concentration was measured at each measurement point shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6. The results shown in Figure 7 demonstrate that the ozone generator 1 of this example can diffuse ozone 9 throughout the room. It also demonstrates that rooms of various volumes can be accommodated by determining the number of ozone generators 1 according to the room volume. The measurements were performed using a gas sampler GV-100 and an ozone detector tube 18L manufactured by Gastec Corporation.

The UV rays 7 emitted from the ozone generator 1 into the room must be kept at a level harmless to humans. The impact on the human body is considered based on the safety standard values established by the American Conference of Government Occupational Hygienists. Figure 8 shows the relationship between UV exposure and exposure time. Without the UV irradiation slit 34 and UV attenuation plate 5 shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, the UV intensity at the circulation port 6 is 1.6 μW/ ^cm² , which is considered to be harmful to humans after 30 minutes of use. The UV irradiation slit 34 and UV attenuation plate 5 are necessary to efficiently reduce the UV intensity to a harmless level. While using a black material is desirable to achieve a sufficient UV attenuation rate, careful consideration must be given to selecting an appropriate material due to continuous exposure to ozone 9 and UV rays 7. In this example, black-anodized aluminum was used. As a result, when a black-anodized aluminum UV attenuation plate 5 was used, the UV intensity at the circulation port was 0.004 μW/ ^cm² , which is considered to be hazardous to humans.

The configuration of this embodiment makes it possible to suppress the intensity of ultraviolet light emitted from the ozone generator 1 to a level that is harmless to the human body, while ensuring the ozone concentration required for space sterilization.

As an example of the use of the ozone generator 1 according to the present invention, an evaluation was carried out using the sterilization and deodorization system shown in Figure 9.

As shown in Figure 9, the ozone generator 1 of this embodiment is used as the sterilization and deodorization device 101 of the indoor sterilization and deodorization system, and the air conditioner 102 is a wall-mounted package air conditioner with air intakes 103 on the top and sides and an exhaust vent 104 on the bottom. Ozone is widely used for sterilization and deodorization purposes, and ozone generators are usually installed in relatively low locations indoors, such as on the floor or on a table. However, in order to efficiently sterilize the inside of the air conditioner 102, it is desirable to install it on the ceiling or wall near the air intake 103 of the air conditioner 102, and in this case, the ozone generator was installed on the ceiling.

The operating modes of the air conditioner 102 include stop, fan, cooling, heating, and dehumidification. The basic principle is the same during dehumidification and cooling operations: the temperature of the air taken into the air conditioner 102 is lowered, the moisture in the air is removed, and the air is then released to the outside. For this reason, the installation distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101 was changed during fan, cooling, and heating operations, and the ozone concentration was measured in the indoor space 105, the air intake 103 and exhaust 104 of the air conditioner 102, and near the sterilization and deodorization device 101. When the air conditioner 102 was stopped, only the indoor ozone concentration was measured. The measurement results are shown in Figures 10 to 13.

From these results, when the air conditioner 102 was stopped, the average ozone concentration in the indoor space 5 was approximately 0.05 ppm, regardless of the installation distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101. Since it is said that viruses can be inactivated at an ozone concentration of 0.025 ppm and that ozone concentrations of 0.1 ppm or less do not have a harmful effect on the human body, it can be said that there is no problem with the space sterilization ability when the air conditioner is stopped.

When the air conditioner 101 is operating in ventilation and heating mode, the shorter the distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101, the higher the average ozone concentration in the indoor space 105; as the distance increased, the concentration approached the concentration when the air conditioner was stopped. This is because the shorter the distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101, the greater the influence of convection by the air conditioner 102 compared to the ozone concentration near the air intake 103 and exhaust vent 104 of the air conditioner 102 and the ozone concentration near the sterilization and deodorization device 101, resulting in more ozone being taken in by the air conditioner 102. This reduces the ozone concentration near the sterilization and deodorization device 101 and increases the relative oxygen concentration, increasing the amount of ozone generated by the sterilization and deodorization device 101, and reducing the amount of ozone consumed within the air conditioner 102.

When the air conditioner 102 is in cooling operation, the average ozone concentration in the indoor space 105 drops significantly. This is because there is a larger difference in ozone concentration near the air intake 103 and exhaust 104 of the air conditioner 102 compared to when it is in fan or heating operation, and because the shorter the distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101, the lower the indoor average concentration, resulting in ozone being consumed inside the air conditioner 102.

From the results of this example, it is predicted that the average ozone concentration in the indoor space 5 will fall below 0.025 ppm when the distance between the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101 during cooling operation is less than 0.5 m, and at 2.0 m the ozone concentration near the exhaust port 104 of the air conditioner 101 will fall below 0.025 ppm. Therefore, by installing the air conditioner 102 and the sterilization and deodorization device 101 at a distance of 0.5 m or more and 1.5 m or less, it is possible for the sterilization and deodorization device 101 to sterilize and deodorize both the inside of the air conditioner 2 and the indoor space 105.

1... ozone generator 2... control device 3... ultraviolet source 31... ultraviolet lamp 32... ultraviolet lamp case
33: Ultraviolet irradiation port 34: Ultraviolet irradiation slit 4: Ozone passage 5: Ultraviolet attenuation plate 6: Circulation port 7: Ultraviolet light 8: Oxygen 9: Ozone 101: Sterilization and deodorization device 102: Air conditioner 103: Air intake 104: Air exhaust 105: Indoor space

Claims (3)

An ozone generator comprising an ozone generator having an ultraviolet light source and an ozone passage, the ozone passage being separated from the ultraviolet light source, and the ozone passage having a circulation port and an ultraviolet light attenuation plate. The ozone generator of claim 1, further comprising an ultraviolet lamp case, the ultraviolet source and the ozone passage being separated by the ultraviolet lamp case, and the ultraviolet lamp case having multiple slits as ultraviolet irradiation ports. 2. The ozone generator according to claim 1, which is installed in a ceiling or wall.