Patent Application
20210348776
The present invention relates to an air purifier, especially to an air disinfector and humidifier combo with humidification, disinfection and air purification functions.
Ozone is a strong oxidant and disinfectant with good ability in disinfection and degradation of organic contaminants and disinfection effect of ozone on wastewater is enhanced by being used in combination with ultrasonic waves, as revealed in the research by HE Shi-Chuan, ZHU Chang-Ping, SHAN Ming-Lei, & FENG Ruo (2005.09), “Recent advances in wastewater treatment with ultrasonic-ozone method”, Journal of Technical Acoustics, Vol. 24, No. 3 pp. 173-177.
Ozone can be produced via UV (ultraviolet) light, corona discharge (electrical discharge), or electrolysis. The most common ways are corona discharge (electrical discharge) and electrolytic ozone production. The corona discharge method produces gas mixture containing ozone (not pure ozone) and toxic nitrogen oxides as a by-product. There are two types of corona discharge ozone generators: the parallel-plate type and the shell and tube type. The parallel-plate type is used in small-capacity generator while the shell and tube type is employed in high-capacity commercial ozone generators. Recently electrolytic ozone production is widely used in ozone generators with hydrogen gas evolved in the cathode and oxygen gas evolved in the anode. The electrolytic ozone generator creates ozone with high concentration and no poisonous nitrogen oxides byproducts. Thus the electrolytic ozone generation technology has wide and promising applications.
The conventional sterilization and disinfection technology that combines ozone and ultrasonic waves has been used. Air is passed through an ozone generator to create ozone gas and then ozone gas is introduced into water to get ozone water. Next the ozone water is treated by ultrasonic atomization or spray head atomization for being applied to disinfection. Refer to Chinese Pat. Pub. No. CN1317344A, “disinfection method combining ultrasonic waves with ozone and device of the same”, Chinese Utility Patent with the number of announcement of grant of patent right CN201006030 “ultrasonic atomized ozone disinfector” and Chinese Utility Patent with the number of announcement of grant of patent right CN2646601 “ultrasonic humidifier with disinfection function”, all reveal similar techniques.
Moreover, refer to Chinese Utility Patent with the number of announcement of grant of patent right CN203413756U “disinfector and humidifier combo”, a device in which ozone water is generated by hydrolysis and used for humidification and disinfection is revealed. The device includes a tank, an electrolytic cell, an atomizer (non-ultrasonic), a pneumatic member, a control circuit, etc. The tank and the electrolytic cell are communicating by a pipeline so that water is cycled between the tank and the electrolytic cell. Ozone water generated by hydrolysis in the electrolytic cell is turned back to the tank. A water outlet of the tank is connected to the atomizer for turning the ozone water into mist which is exhausted to the air by the pneumatic member. The electrolytic cell is a divided cell provided with an anode compartment and a cathode compartment separated from each other. The volume ratio of the anode compartment to the cathode compartment can be changed. The water in the cathode compartment is set to be collected in another tank. After being used for a period of time, the tank with the water collected needs to be drained and cleaned. Thus there is room for improvement and there is a need to provide an air disinfector and humidifier combo with novel structure.
Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an air disinfector and humidifier combo which provides humidification, disinfection and air purification functions.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above, an air disinfector and humidifier combo according to the present invention includes a tank, an electrolytic oxygen generator, an ultrasonic oscillator, an air pump, a bubble refiner and an electronic control unit. The tank is used for storing water and provided with an air outlet. The electrolytic oxygen generator is mounted in the tank for hydrolysis of water in the tank to generate ozone water. The ultrasonic oscillator is arranged at the tank for atomizing the ozone water in the tank into small droplets to get ozone water mist. An air vent of the air pump is connected to the bubble refiner which is disposed in the tank for producing fine bubbles in the tank. The electronic control unit is connected to the electrolytic oxygen generator, the ultrasonic oscillator, and the air pump for driving the electrolytic oxygen generator, the ultrasonic oscillator, and the air pump to work and also controlling their operating time.
Preferably, the tank consists of a main body with an opening and a detachable cover disposed on the opening. At least one air outlet is arranged at the cover.
Preferably, the bubble refiner produces the fine bubbles in submicron scale.
Preferably, an air inlet of the air pump is provided with a dust filter while a check valve is arranged between the air vent of the air pump and the bubble refiner.
Preferably, the ultrasonic oscillator is disposed on an outer side of the tank and the outer side of the tank includes an outer surface of a lateral side of the tank and an outer surface of a bottom side of the tank.
Preferably, the ultrasonic oscillator is disposed on an inner side of the tank and the inner side of the tank includes an inner surface of a lateral side of the tank and an inner surface of a bottom side of the tank.
Preferably, the electrolytic oxygen generator includes an anode plate and a cathode plate, both electrically connected to the electronic control unit. The electronic control unit controls operating time of the electrolytic oxygen generator to produce nano-scale ozone by hydrolysis of water at the anode plate and further generate the ozone water.
Preferably, the anode plate is made of active electrode materials with anti-oxidative activity selected from the group consisting platinum, stainless steel, titanium, insoluble anode materials (dimensionally stable anode (DSA)), graphite, graphene, doped and undoped oxides, nitrogen-doped or boron-doped diamond, and a combination thereof. The cathode plate is made of a material selected from the group consisting of platinum, stainless steel, titanium, graphite, graphene, stainless steel with a coating that promotes hydrogen generation, titanium with a coating that promotes hydrogen generation, and a combination thereof.
Preferably, the anode plate incudes a stainless steel electrode coated with the active electrode materials with the anti-oxidative activity and a titanium electrode coated with the active electrode materials with the anti-oxidative activity.
Preferably, an air intake is arranged at the bottom side of the tank and is connected to an outlet end of the check valve while the bubble refiner is connected to the outlet end of the check valve by the air intake. An inlet end of the check valve is connected to the air vent of the air pump by a tube connector. The inlet end of the check valve can be either connected to or separated from the tube connector.
Preferably, the air disinfector and humidifier combo further includes a base used for loading the tank and the tube connector is mounted on the base. The electrolytic oxygen generator and the ultrasonic oscillator both disposed on the tank are electrically connected to a first electrical connector while the electronic control unit is electrically connected to a second electrical connector. The first electrical connector is disposed on the outer side of the tank and the second electrical connector is arranged at the base while the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are able to be plugged in and coupled to each other to form a circuit. The inlet end of the check valve on the bottom of the tank is directly connected to the tube connector when the tank is disposed on the base while the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are plugged in and coupled to each other.
The present air disinfector and humidifier combo features on that the air disinfector and humidifier combo provides multiple functions including humidification, disinfection and air purification. The bubble refiner creates submicron fine bubbles which make ozone water interact better with dirty air to improve disinfection and cleaning effect of the ozone water on the dirty air. Moreover, the collision and mixture of the submicron bubbles with ozone nanobubbles are further enhanced by the ultrasonic oscillator. The disinfection is achieved by means of strong oxidizing power of the ozone.
The embodiments, advantages and functions of the present invention are described as follows with reference to the figures.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The relative positions descried in the following embodiments, including upper, lower, left and right, unless otherwise specified, are based on the directions indicated by the components in the figures.
Refer to
The tank 10 is used for storing water or aqueous solution containing electrolytes. In a preferred embodiment, the tank 10 includes a main body 11, a detachable cover 12 and at least one air outlet 13. The main body 11 has an opening 110 while the detachable cover 12 is disposed on the opening 110 and the air outlet 13 is arranged at the cover 12.
The electrolytic oxygen generator 20 is arranged at the main body 11 of the tank 10 for hydrolysis of the water in the tank 10 to generate ozone water. The electrolytic oxygen generator 20 basically includes an anode plate 21 and a cathode plate 22, both electrically connected to the electronic control unit 60, and a direct voltage or current is applied to two ends of both the anode plate 21 and the cathode plate 22. The electronic control unit 60 is used to drive the electrolytic oxygen generator 20 to work and control operating time of the electrolytic oxygen generator 20. Nano-scale ozone is produced on the anode plate 21 by hydrolysis and ozone water is further generated. There is no limit on the shape of the anode plate 21 and the cathode plate 22. The anode plate 21 and the cathode plate 22 shown in
The anode plate 21 is preferably to be made of active electrode materials with anti-oxidative activity including platinum, stainless steel, titanium, insoluble anode materials (such as dimensionally stable anode (DSA)), graphite/or graphene, doped and undoped oxides (such as RuO2, IrO2, PbO2, SnO2, TiO2, etc.), nitrogen-doped or boron-doped diamond, or their combinations. The main anode materials used in electrolysis that generates ozone water are PbO2, SnO2, and B-doped (boron-doped) diamond. Compared with platinum, the three materials all have high oxygen evolution overpotential (OEP) so that they can inhibit the oxygen evolution reaction, increase the voltage and improve the ozone generation efficiency. In a preferred embodiment, the anode plate 21 includes a stainless steel electrode/or a titanium electrode coated with the active electrode materials with anti-oxidative activity mentioned above. As to the cathode plate 22, it is preferably made of platinum, stainless steel, titanium, graphite/or graphene, stainless steel with a coating that promotes hydrogen generation (such as platinum), titanium with a coating that promotes hydrogen generation (such as platinum), or their combinations.
The ultrasonic oscillator 30 is arranged at the tank 10 for atomizing the ozone water in the tank 10 into small droplets to get ozone water mist with functions of humidification and disinfection. In a preferred embodiment, the ultrasonic oscillator 30 is disposed on the outer side of the tank 10 and the outer side includes the outer surface of the lateral side and the outer surface of the bottom side of the tank 10. Refer to
An air vent 41 of the air pump 40 is connected to the bubble refiner 50 which is disposed in the tank 10 for producing fine bubbles. In a preferred embodiment, a check valve 44 is arranged between the air vent 41 of the air pump 40 and the bubble refiner 50 for preventing the water in the tank 10 from returning to the air pump 40. The check valve 44 is not required once the height of the air pump 40 is above the highest water level in the tank 10. An air inlet 42 of the air pump 40 is preferably provided with a dust filter 43 which is used for filtering larger particles in the air. Thus the amount of pollutants, dust and particulates flowing from the air to the tank 10 is reduced. In a preferred embodiment, the bubble refiner 50 generates submicron bubbles. Thus the bubbles of the ozone water interact better with dirty air to improve disinfection and cleaning effect of the ozone water on the dirty air. Moreover, the collision and mixture of the submicron bubbles with ozone nanobubbles are further enhanced by the ultrasonic oscillator 30. The ozone water mist generated is exhausted to the environment through the air outlet 13. Thereby the disinfection function is provided by means of strong oxidizing power of the ozone.
The electronic control unit 60 is electrically connected to the electrolytic oxygen generator 20, the ultrasonic oscillator 30, and the air pump 40 for driving the electrolytic oxygen generator 20, the ultrasonic oscillator 30, and the air pump 40 to work. Moreover, the electronic control unit 60 can also control the operating time of the electrolytic oxygen generator 20, the ultrasonic oscillator 30, and the air pump 40 separately.
In a preferred embodiment, the tank 10 is designed in a detachable manner and users can easily take off the tank 10 for cleaning. As shown in
Refer to
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalent.
