Claims
- 1. An air cleaner for removing dust from the air comprising:
a) at least one ion source; b) a cylindrical support located in opposition to and aligned with said ion source to serve as an airflow guide; c) a collector electrode having a conductive dust collecting surface formed on at least a portion of the inside of said cylindrical support; and d) a high voltage power supply of ionizing potential connected between said source and said dust collecting surface wherein said conductive dust collecting surface, acting as a counter-electrode, is positioned to induce the release of ions from said source and cause an ionic wind of air generated by said ion source to pass through said cylindrical support whereby said dust collecting surface may collect from the air dust that has been charged by ions emitted by said ion source.
- 2. An air cleaner as in claim 1 wherein the outside surface of said cylindrical support at least in the region of its upstream edge proximate to the ion source is of a material which is a non-conductive with the capacity to receive and hold charge originating from the ion source and thereby reduce the extent of flow of the ionic wind of air over the outside of the cylindrical support, directing said flow in the direction of said collecting surface.
- 3. An air cleaner as in claim 1 wherein said ion source is carried by an associated insulative electrode base which electrode base is positioned and is of a material to become charged by the ions emitted by said ion source and to thereby direct said ionic wind in the direction of said collecting surface.
- 4. An air cleaner as in claim 3 wherein said collecting surface is mounted in a spaced relationship to said ion source to substantially eliminate any flow of the ionic wind of air otherwise than through said cylindrical support surface.
- 5. An air cleaner as in claim 1 wherein said cylindrical support is carried on a unit base and is detachable from said unit base to permit separate cleaning of the dust collecting surface.
- 6. An air cleaner as in claim 1 wherein the dust collecting surface is mounted above said ion source.
- 7. An air cleaner as in claim 1 wherein said ion source and cylindrical support are both mounted on a unit base and said dust collecting surface is directly accessible by a user to permit cleaning of the dust collecting surface.
- 8. An air cleaner as in claim 7 comprising a protective circuit said circuit being:
(a) connected to the collector electrode to detect a discharge occurring on the conductive collecting surface, and; (b) connected to the high voltage power supply to correspondingly shut off the high voltage power supply when a discharge is detected on the collector electrode.
- 9. An air-cleaner as in claim 8 comprising a flip-flop circuit with a Re-set switch input, said Re-set switch input being connected to the collector surface through a capacitor to respond to a discharge occurring on the collector surface, disabling the high voltage power supply by switching to ground a portion of the high voltage power supply.
- 10. An air cleaner as in claim 9 wherein said flip-flop circuit includes a Set switch and further comprising circuit means whereby, by activating the Set switch the flip-flop circuit will re-enable the high voltage power supply.
- 11. An air cleaner as in claim 10 wherein said Set switch is a single momentary action switch which is connected to the flip-flop circuit through an ON-OFF circuit means to serve as both said Set switch and as an ON-OFF switch for the high voltage power supply.
- 12. An air cleaner for removing dust from the air comprising:
a) at least one ion source; b) a support located in opposition to and aligned with said ion source; c) a collector electrode having a conducting dust collecting surface formed on a side of said support; d) a high voltage power supply of ionizing potential connected between said source and said dust collecting surface, and e) an insulative, charge-fixing electrode base for the ion source wherein said conducting dust collector surface, acting as a counter-electrode, induces the release of ions from said source and causes an ionic wind of air generated by said ion source to pass by said dust collector surface whereby said dust collecting surface may collect from the air dust that has been charged by ions emitted by said ion source, and wherein said ion source is carried by said electrode base which electrode base is positioned to become charged by the ions emitted by said ion source and to direct said ionic wind in the direction of said collecting surface.
- 13. An air cleaner as in claim 12 wherein said collecting surface is mounted in a spaced relationship to said ion source to substantially eliminate any flow of the ionic wind of air otherwise than by said collecting surface.
- 14. An air cleaner as in claim 13 wherein said ion source is a needle that is directly accessible to a user.
- 15. An air cleaner as in claim 14 comprising a protective circuit said circuit being:
(a) connected to the collector electrode to detect a discharge occurring on the conductive collecting surface, and; (b) connected to the high voltage power supply to correspondingly shut off the high voltage power supply when a discharge is detected on the collector electrode.
- 16. An air-cleaner as in claim 15 comprising a flip-flop circuit with a Re-set switch input, said Re-set switch input being connected to the collector surface through a capacitor to respond to a discharge occurring on the collector surface disabling the high voltage power supply by switching to ground a portion of the high voltage power supply.
- 17. An air cleaner as in claim 16 wherein said flip-flop circuit includes a Set switch and further comprising circuit means whereby by activating the Set switch the flip-flop circuit will re-enable the high voltage power supply.
- 18. An air cleaner as in claim 17 wherein said Set switch is a single momentary action switch which is connected to the flip-flop circuit through an ON-OFF circuit means to serve as both said Set switch and as an ON-OFF switch for the high voltage power supply.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application SN 10/067,433 filed Feb. 7, 2002.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10067433 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
Child |
10355198 |
Jan 2003 |
US |