JPH0683770B2 - Air purifier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention collects sea salt particles and mold spores by a medium and high performance filter and prevents the growth and corrosion of sea salt particles and mold spores. The present invention relates to an air purifying device having a regeneration mechanism.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Hitherto, it has been proposed to collect sea salt particles with a high-performance or ultra-high-performance filter. Corrosion due to salt damage has been dealt with by using corrosion-resistant materials for materials such as filter frames, adhesives, and gaskets.

However, the interaction between sea salt particles and fungal spores has been highlighted as a major problem. In other words, in the air-conditioning equipment in the beach area, mold is abnormally generated and becomes a transmission route to the human body. It has been found that this is because the sea salt particles have deliquescent property, so that the temperature and humidity conditions suitable for the implantation and growth of bacteria are formed at the places where the sea salt particles are accumulated. This phenomenon is prominent in the air system, particularly in a portion composed of petrochemical products. Up to now, no air purification device has been found that interrupts the interaction between sea salt particles and mold formation.

Regarding antibacterial and mildew-proof, there is an example in which sterilized glass paper is used as the filter material, but no measures have been taken against sea salt particles. For the collection of sea salt particles, it has been proposed to use high-performance or ultra-high-performance filter materials (particle size 0.1 to 0.3 μm) as described above, but of course the treated air volume becomes small. , Width 610mm x
The volume of air processed by a filter unit with a height of 610 mm and a depth of 290 mm is about 25 m ³ / min, which has problems with pressure loss and service life, and is not suitable as a large air volume filter for intake of the outside air of a building. Moreover, even if the sea salt particles are completely collected,
If it is not removed, it will also provide a place for mold growth, leading to spore diffusion and contamination downstream of the air system. In this case, it has been newly demonstrated that mold growth occurs in the duct system.

According to the results of research so far, the size of sea salt particles ranges from 1 to 15 μm, but the frequency is 4 to 6 μm at the coastal area and inland area. It has been found that the number of particles with a slightly larger particle size has increased, and the frequency of particles with a smaller particle size is high in the coastal areas. On the other hand, fungi are cellular and float in the air, and exist at a minimum of 0.7 μm, but most of them are 1.0-2.0 μm and generally change depending on the season, but there is little change in subtropical regions such as Okinawa. It is said that the number of filamentous fungi and pollen in the sky above 25 m is 2000 to 3000 per m ³ . On the other hand, the problem of corrosion due to sea salt particles is severe under the climatic conditions where the temperature is 20 ° C or higher and the humidity is 70% or higher. In Okinawa, this period extends from April to November for 8 months. There is also data that Okinawa has three times as many sea salt particles as Choshi, which shows how large the correlation between sea salt particles and spores is in Okinawa.

Regarding the condition of mold, soil fungus and plant pathogen are mainly
Airborne spores settle and propagate in various parts of the air conditioner, but it is said that 2 billion to 3 billion spores are generated in an area of 100-yen hardening, which is also a fungal disease. It is becoming apparent. As described above, the deliquescent action of sea salt particles contributes to the reproduction, and it is further promoted by the presence of insect carcasses that have jumped in.

The present invention is aimed at solving serious problems caused by such sea salt particles and fungal spores.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention is based on the finding that sea salt particles and mold spores can be sufficiently collected by using a medium / high performance filter material having a collection efficiency of 92 to 93% or more for particles having a particle size of 0.5 to 1.0 μm. The present invention is to provide an air purifying device which is capable of repeatedly performing cleaning and water removal while using such a medium to high performance filter material. The gist of the present invention is to provide a frame inside a rectangular filter frame having a front opening and a rear opening. The front opening is directed downward so that the sheet of medium-performance filter material having an area larger than the inner area is folded back in a zigzag shape and stretched to pass the air to be treated upward from below. And a means for supplying cleaning water upward to the lower surface of the air filter, and ultrasonic vibration is applied to the indenter in the filter created by the zigzag folding. An air purification device formed by arranging the child. Here, the means for supplying the purified water upward is a spray nozzle or an ultrasonic atomizer. The present invention also provides an air purifying apparatus which additionally includes an ultraviolet lamp installed so that ultraviolet rays are radiated to the filter surfaces on the air suction side and / or the air blowing side of the apparatus.

Examples of the medium / high performance filter material that can be used in the present invention include sheets of polyolefin-based or grass paver-based polar fibers. This filter material is used as a high-performance filter or ultra-high-performance filter for air treatment that requires a high degree of cleanliness, with a collection efficiency of 92-93% or more for particles of 0.1-0.3 μm. The surface is dense and the outflow surface is water-proofed before use. In the present invention, even if the material is the same as that of the high-performance or ultra-high-performance filter material available on the market, the collection efficiency for particles of 0.5 to 1.0 μm of a grade lower than that of the high-performance or ultra-high-performance filter material can be obtained.
Adopt 92 to 93% or more, and use the water-repellent water-repellent surface as the air inflow surface, contrary to the normal usage. Then, the air inflow surface is directed downward, and the air flow is made to flow from the bottom to the top, and the downwardly directed air inflow surface is supplied with cleaning water upward to intermittently clean and remove water. And sterilized. It is clear from the above-mentioned investigation results regarding the particle size that the mold spores and sea salt particles can be collected with almost 100% collection efficiency by using such a medium-performance filter material. In the present invention, the filter material is housed in a zigzag shape in a filter frame to increase the excess area and reduce the pressure loss, and the depressions of the filter material are effectively used in a space for removing water, ultrasonic cleaning and sterilization. It is something that can be done.

The contents of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of the air purification apparatus of the present invention. 1 is a filter unit, 2 is a wash water receiving plate, and 3 is a spray nozzle. The illustrated apparatus shows an example in which the filter units 1 are installed in the casing 4 in three stages in the vertical direction, and all the stages have substantially the same arrangement configuration. The filters in each stage are formed by arranging two filter units 1 of the same shape in parallel. In addition to the example shown in the figure, any number of filter units can be used in combination based on the processing air volume, and the number of stages is not limited to that shown in the figure. In FIG. 1, the method of use is such that the air to be treated flows from the front to the back of the drawing. Each filter unit 1 is installed so that its air intake surface 5 faces downward and is inclined slightly downward. A wash water receiving plate 2 is attached below each filter unit 1, and it has a downward slope with a slope opposite to that of the filter unit 1, and its upper edge is below the back of the filter unit 1. The gutter 6 connected to the edge and the lower edge in front of it is installed horizontally.
Is connected to one edge. The spray nozzle 3 is attached so that upward spraying can be performed toward the entire downward air intake surface 5 of the filter unit 1. In the example of FIG. 1, the water supply header 7 is arranged above the side groove 6 substantially in parallel therewith, and a large number of nozzle branch pipes 8 are attached to the water supply header 7 to provide a large number of spray nozzles 3 at equal intervals. is there.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the same structure as the apparatus of FIG. 1 except that the water supply header 7 is exposed to the outside of the front of the casing 4 and the nozzle branch pipe 8 is elongated toward the lower surface of the filter. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same elements as those in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, an air intake opening 9 is provided on the front surface of the casing 4, and an air extraction opening 10 is provided on the rear surface of the casing 4 for each stage. More specifically, the air intake opening 9 is located below the filter unit 1 so that the air flows toward the lower surface of the filter unit 1, and the air intake opening 10 is designed to remove the air discharged from the filter unit 1. The upper edge of the filter unit 1 is provided above the filter unit 1 so that the cleaning water receiving plate 2 serves as a partition plate for separating the air passages of the filter units 1 of the respective stages from each other. The lower edge of the unit 1 and the lower edge of the unit 1 are airtightly connected to the upper edge of the front of the lower filter unit 1 through the side groove 6. Therefore, the air to be treated taken into the machine from the air intake opening 9 of the casing 4 changes its direction upwards by the wash water receiving plates 2 of each stage and flows from the bottom to the top in the filter unit 1. After being purified, the second and third stages use the wash water receiving plate 2 in the upper stage, and the first stage uses the casing 4
The air is taken out from the air extraction opening 10 by changing its direction in the horizontal direction by the ceiling surface of.

FIG. 3 shows an apparatus of the present invention having the same configuration as that of FIG. 2 except that an ultrasonic atomizer 17 is used instead of the spray nozzle.
That is, as means for supplying washing water upward to the air intake surface 5 of the filter, an ultrasonic fog having a structure similar to that of an ordinary ultrasonic humidifier for generating fog by radiating ultrasonic waves from the water surface to the water surface. The carburetor 17 is installed in the vicinity of each air intake opening 9 of the casing 4. Each ultrasonic atomizer 17 supplies water from a city water supply pipe 18, which is automatically supplied by a liquid level detector (not shown). When this ultrasonic atomizer 17 is used, the mist can be attached to the entire surface of the filter material by appropriately adjusting the mist ejection direction and the air flow.

One feature of the apparatus of the present invention is that the filter unit 1 is installed with the air intake surface 5 facing downward as described above, and the air to be treated passes through the inside of the filter unit 1 from bottom to top. Then, the washing water is sprayed upward from the spray nozzle 3 toward the downward air intake surface 5 or is sprayed by the ultrasonic atomizer 17, and the sea salt particles and the bacteria collected on the air intake surface 5 The spores are washed out with the washing water, and the washed water is forcibly released from the filter material by the action of the ultrasonic transducer to be dropped onto the washing water receiving plate 2 and collected in the side groove 6 as described later. And discharge it out of the device. This cleaning operation can be automatically controlled by timer management and detection of filter pressure loss. For example,
The degree of pressure loss of the filter can be detected by measuring the differential pressure before and after the filter, and the cleaning water can be supplied to the filter surface when the value exceeds the threshold value.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway view showing an enlarged part of the filter unit 1 shown in FIGS. As shown,
In the present invention, a sheet-shaped medium-performance filter material 12 having a larger area than the inner area of the frame is provided in a rectangular filter frame 11 having a front opening serving as an air inlet and a rear opening serving as an outlet.
The filter unit 1 is constructed by folding back and zigzag. As described above, the front opening of the frame 11 that serves as an air inlet is installed downward so that the flow of air to be treated passes upward from below. The medium and high performance filter material 12 is made of a sheet of polyolefin fiber or glass paper type ultrafine fiber.
The collection efficiency for particles of 10 μm is 92 to 93% or more. That is, a high-performance or ultra-high-performance product, such as the one proposed to collect the sea salt particles of 0.1 to 0.3 μm, which has been proposed, is not used. Contrary to normal use, the air inflow surface (air intake surface 5 in FIG. 1) is used as a water-proof surface and the dense surface is used as an air outflow surface. Although the filter material 12 is drawn using straight lines in FIG. 4, the surface is actually rough and slightly jagged. Since the drawing becomes complicated, the filter material is drawn by using straight lines in the subsequent drawings including FIG.

The medium- and high-performance filter material 12 is installed in the filter frame 11 in a zigzag shape. At that time, the folding line is not linear or semicircular as in the conventional case,
It folds back into a box with a turning angle of 0 °. This state is shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the medium-high performance filter material 12 is folded back into a square shape in a zigzag shape in a filter frame 11 shown by a broken line, and the front opening 13 of the frame 11 is located below and the rear opening 14 is formed.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the above with the arrow indicating the flow of the air to be treated. This example shows an example in which the front side of the opening 13 and the rear side of the rear opening 14 have the same pitch width when folded back into a square zigzag shape. This makes it possible to remove water by ultrasonic waves and ultrasonic cleaning as described below. It can facilitate treatment and irradiation of radiation for sterilization or sterilization treatment,
It is possible to simplify the arrangement of various facilities for recovering the regeneration function of the material and improve the efficiency. Here, the air-intake-side rectangular groove-shaped depressions formed by folding back in a zigzag rectangular manner are referred to as suction-side grooves 15, and the air-blowing-side groove-like depressions are referred to as blow-out-side grooves 16. In the example shown,
The suction side groove 15 and the blow-out side groove 16 have mutually symmetrical shapes except for those at both ends.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 which is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 6 show a configuration in which three ultrasonic transducer units 20 are inserted in each of the outlet side grooves 16. As shown in FIG. 7, the ultrasonic transducer unit 20 is a linear unit along the longitudinal direction of the blow-out side groove 16. As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 8, this is because a large number of ultrasonic transducers 21 are arranged in a pipe line 22 at predetermined intervals, and where each ultrasonic transducer 21 is located, tapered horns 23 are provided on both sides thereof. Is attached, and the tip opening of the horn 23 is brought into contact with the material 12 or positioned in the vicinity thereof. Each ultrasonic transducer 21 is connected to a transmission circuit (not shown) attached to the apparatus body of the present invention by a lead wire arranged in the conduit 22. In the illustrated example, three linear ultrasonic transducer units 20 configured in this manner are housed in the blow-out side groove 16 in parallel with each other in the depth direction. In this accommodation, as shown in FIG. 7, the ends of the three units are supported by a common frame 24,
A rail 19 in which this frame 24 is previously attached to the inner surface of the frame body 11
It can be easily done by inserting into. In this way, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 21
By propagating the surface of the material through 23, if the material is a wet surface, the water on the wet surface can be evaporated as a mist, and it stayed in the material due to the coagulation effect of ultrasonic waves. So-called ultrasonic cleaning can be performed by collecting fine particles on the material surface. Therefore, after the cleaning operation by the spray nozzle 3 or the spray cleaning operation by the ultrasonic atomizer 17 is completed, the operation by the ultrasonic vibrator 21 is continued for a short time, so that the filter material 12 can be easily regenerated. Can be done

9 and 10 show the same structure as the embodiment described in FIGS. 6 to 7, except that the suction side groove 15 of the filter material 12 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. That is, the slit 25 is provided in the frame 11 on one side of the suction side groove 15, the ultraviolet lamp 26 is installed outside the slit 25, and the reflecting mirror 27 is installed in the frame 11 on the opposite side of the suction side groove 15. Indicates. UV lamp
Details of mounting 26 are as shown in the partial perspective view of FIG.
A transparent plate 28 is attached to the outside of the slit 25 to hermetically close the slit 25, a reflecting mirror 29 is attached to the outside of the transparent plate 28, and an ultraviolet lamp is provided between the transparent plate 28 and the reflecting mirror 29.
Install 26. As a result, when the ultraviolet lamp is turned on, ultraviolet rays are radiated from the slit 25 to the suction side groove 15 through the transparent plate 28, and are reflected by the reflecting mirror 27 on the opposite side so that the entire ultraviolet ray is applied to the filter material 12 constituting the suction side groove 15. By being irradiated, the fungi inhabiting the filter material 12 can be killed. In addition, on the outside of the ultraviolet lamp 26,
Although not shown, a power distribution box is provided so as to be joined to the frame body 11, and each ultraviolet lamp 26 is energized. Further, the reflecting mirror 27, which is attached to the opposite surface to the opposite side of the ultraviolet lamp 26, is provided with the slit 30 in the frame body and is provided outside the slit 30, so that replacement and cleaning can be easily performed.

The ultraviolet irradiation may be performed in parallel with the drying operation after cleaning, but may be performed independently of the cleaning or ultrasonic operation before the cleaning or while the apparatus performing the air cleaning operation is operating.

The air purification apparatus of the present invention configured as described above effectively collects sea salt particles and mold spores by using a medium-high performance filter material, and cleans when the collected amount exceeds a certain amount. It can be regenerated, and a drying treatment and a sterilization treatment for speeding up the regeneration can be performed together. Therefore, it is possible to effectively solve the above-mentioned problems due to the interaction between sea salt particles and mold spores. In particular, the device of the present invention has the advantages that it is free from the problems of pressure drop and processing air volume reduction, the device configuration is simple, and that the control is simplified because the physical action of ultrasonic waves is used. ， It exerts great power as an outside air treatment air purification device when outside air is taken into a building.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire air purifying device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the main structure of the air purifying device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is another air purifying device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of an essential part of an example, FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a filter unit portion according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a schematic view for explaining a zigzag folded state of a filter material according to the present invention. Sectional view, FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing a state in which an ultrasonic transducer is inserted in the blowout side groove of the filter material, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 is an ultrasonic wave. FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing a layout of the vibrators, FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a structure in which an ultrasonic vibrator is inserted in the blow-out side groove of the filter material and the suction side groove is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, FIG. Is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the ultraviolet lamp portion in FIG. That. 1 ... Filter unit, 2 ... Wash water receiving plate, 3 ... Spray nozzle, 4 ... Equipment casing, 5 ... Air suction surface of filter unit, 6 ... Gutter for collecting wash water, 7 ... Water supply header, 9 ... Air inlet, 10 ... Air outlet, 11 ... Filter frame (frame), 12 ... Medium and high performance filter material, 15 ... Suction side groove, 16 ... Outflow side groove, 17 ... Ultrasonic atomizer, 20 ... Ultrasonic transducer unit, 21 ... Ultrasonic transducer, 2
2 …… Pipe with ultrasonic transducer, 23 …… Horn, 26…
… UV lamp, 27 …… Reflector, 28 …… Transparent plate, 29 …… Reflector.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An air filter comprising a sheet-shaped medium-performance filter material having an area larger than the inside of the frame folded back in a zigzag shape and stretched in a rectangular filter frame having a front opening and a rear opening. Is installed with the front opening facing downward so that the flow of air passes from below to above, and means for supplying washing water upward toward the bottom surface of this air filter is provided, and the zigzag folds An air purifier that has an ultrasonic transducer installed in a hollow inside the filter. 2. The air purifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for supplying the washing water upward is a spray nozzle. 3. The air purifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for supplying the washing water upward is an ultrasonic atomizer. 4. An air filter formed by folding a sheet-shaped medium-performance filter material having an area larger than the inside of the frame back into a zigzag shape and stretching it in a rectangular filter frame having a front opening and a rear opening. The front opening is installed so as to pass downward from above to the above, and a means for supplying washing water upward toward the lower surface of this air filter is provided, and it is generated by zigzag folding. Place an ultrasonic transducer in the hollow in the filter,
Then, an air purifying apparatus is provided in which an ultraviolet lamp is installed so that ultraviolet rays are radiated to the indenter in the filter on the air blowing side and / or the indenter in the filter on the air suction side generated by the zigzag folding.