GB2252739A

GB2252739A - A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device

Info

Publication number: GB2252739A
Application number: GB9200147A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Toshimi Kuma
Original assignee: Seibu Giken Co Ltd
Current assignee: Seibu Giken Co Ltd
Priority date: 1991-01-26
Filing date: 1992-01-06
Publication date: 1992-08-19
Also published as: KR100204346B1; DE4201518A1; KR920015089A; GB9200147D0

Abstract

In humidifying air by heating water and by generating water vapour, water is rapidly evaporated by heat generated in a plane heater and at the same time water is intermittently evaporated rapidly responding to the intermission of heat generation. Thus maintenance of desired humidity and saving of heat energy are intended. A plane heater 1 is provided with floats 7 and is floated on a calm surface of water 10. It is regulated so that a thin layer of water 11, one to several mm thick, covers the upper face of the plane heater. Water is evaporated in a short time by heat generated in the plane heater and at the same time by the intermission of heat generation desired humidifying amount is obtained, to regulate relative humidity of air. Heat insulating material 12 may be equipped on the under face of the plane heater 12 to prevent heat conduction to a large volume of water below the plane heater and to prevent a waste of ineffective heat energy. <IMAGE>

Description

2 2 5 -,.7 "'3 1 A RaiDid-HumidificationRespondent Float-Ty-pe Humidifvinq

Device

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a humidifying device which can perform rapid humidification.

Description of the Prior Art

As a method of humidifying air, there has been a method of evaporating water in an open vessel by heating by a heater and a method of giving a supersonic wave to water to scatter minute water drops in the air and evaporating said water drops naturally.

In the former method, as all of the water in the vessel is heated, regardless of the method of heating for example heating with electric resistance, and is evaporated from the surface, it takes a long time before evaporation starts after heating, and evaporation of water does not cease right away even if heating is stopped to stop evaporation. Thus it is not possible to minutely control humidity of the air. In the latter method, water drops scattered by the supersonic wave have various evaporation speeds in the air and sometimes dews are produced on the inner surface of ducts and precise regulation of humidity is difficult. And also, it has a fatal defect that bacteria proliferate, are mixed in the air and are scattered when the water drops scattered by the supersonic wave form dews on the inner surface of the ducts.

2 Summary of the Invention

The present invention is a rapid-humidificationrespondent f loat-type humidifying device in which a plane heater is floated on a calm surface of water and the floating power is regulated so that a layer of water, one to several mm thick, covers the upper face of said plane heater, and which intermittently evaporates a small amount of water on the plane heater in a short time of heating by regulating heating generation amount of the plane heater, thus regulating humidity of the air. It eliminates defects of prior methods and provides a humidifying method in which humidification can be quickly and precisely controlled and no heat energy is consumed wastefully.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of a rapid- humidif i cation-re spondent float-type humidifying device of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing another example of a rapid- humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device of the present; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rapid-humidificationrespondent floattype humidifying device shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a plan view of another example of the rapid- humidificationrespondent float-type humidifying device shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing still another example of a rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device of the present invention; Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the essential part of the rapid- humidificationrespondent float-type humidifying device shown in Fig. 4; 3 Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the essential part of still another example of a rapid- humidi f icat ionrespondent float-type humidifying device of the present invention; Fig. 8 is an explanatory view showing a using example of a rapid- humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device of the present invention; and Fig. 9 is a graph showing ef f iciency comparison of a rapid-humidif ication-respondent f loat-type humidifying device of the present invention and a prior humidifying device.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Example 1

It is a rapid-humidif ication-respondent f loat-type humidifying device prepared as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 by standing side-walls 2, 3, 41 5 on the circumference of a plane heater 1, by providing facing side-walls 2, 4 with cuttings 6, 6..., by installing to the outsides of side walls 3, 5 floats 7, 7 made of appropriate material such as cylindrical hollow body or synthetic resin foam, by connecting lead wires 9, 9 to resistor wire 8 of the plane heater, by floating it on the calm surface of water 10 and by regulating the floating power of the floats so that a thin layer of water 11, one to several mm deep, constantly covers the upper face of the plane heater 1.

Example 2

It is a rapid-humidif ication-respondent f loat-type humidifying device prepared as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 by providing the plane heater 1 of Example 1 with heat insulating material 12 at the bottom, by floating them 4 on the calm surf ace of water 10 and by regulating the floating power of the floats 7 so that a thin layer of water 11, one to several mm deep, stably covers the upper f ace 'of the plane heater 1. When heat insulating material 12 has sufficient floating power, heat insulating material 12 can also serve as f loats and floats 7 can be omitted.

Instead of the plane heater with resistor wire, a plane heater using a heated fluid may also be used. As shown in Fig. 4, a pipe 8a is arranged in a zigzag line on a plate la, and a high-temperature fluid such as gas or steam is intermittently introduced into the pipe 8a as indicated by arrows.

Example 3

It is a rapid-humidif ication-respondent f loat-type humidifying device prepared as shown in Fig. 6 by fixing a plane heater 1 in a tray 14 whose side-walls 13, 13... are provided with a certain depth of cuttings 6, 6... and/or holes 6a, 6a..., by equipping the four corners of the side-walls 13, 13..., with floats 7a, 7a..., and as shown in Fig. 5 by equipping with heat insulating material 12 the bottom of the tray 14 which is floated on water in a vessel 15, and by regulating floating power of the floats so that a thin layer of water 11, one to several mm deep, stably covers the upper face of the plane heater.

It is also possible to install heat insulating material 12a to the sidewall 13, for example on all surfaces of the side-wall 13, in addition to the heat insulating material 12 equipped at the bottom of the tray 14 as shown in Fig. 6.

When water in the vessel 15 decreases by evaporation, it is necessary to supply water by a pipe 16, etc. In this case it is convenient to use a float switch 17 which automatically supplies water when its level is decreased, for example, to an appointed position 17a and which stops supplying water when its level is elevated to an appointed level 17 by supplying water.

So far in Example 1-3, examples using a rectangular plane heater 1 are described. It is also possible to use a round plane heater la and ringshaped floats 7b, 7b, shown in Fig. 7 for example.

In the use, as soon as electric current or a gas or steam of high temperature is applied to the plane heater 1, the thin layer of water 11, one to several mm deep, covering the upper face of said plane heater 1 evaporates to produce highly humid air on the water surface, and as soon as electric current or supply of a gas or steam of high temperature is stopped, water evaporation stops to decrease humidity of the air on the water surf ace. Thus humidity regulation is quickly performed.

As an application, a method of keeping humidity of room air constant is described: As shown in Fig. 8 a vessel 5 of the float-type humidifying device of the present invention, consisting of a plane heater 1, floats 7 and heat insulating material 12 and floated on the water 10, is sealed tight. Air on the water 10 and outer air 18 are sent mixed by a duct to a room 19 to be humidity-controlled. A humidity sensor 20 is installed at the open end of the inlet duct. The plane heater 1, a control box 21, the humidity sensor 20 and a power source are connected by lead wires 9. Humidity is sensed by the humidity sensor 20 and the signals of the sensor 20 are given to the control box 21 to make the plane heater 1 generate heat intermittently in proportion to the minute change of air humidity in the 6 room 19 and to control evaporation amount of water so that the relative humidity rests in an appointed range. In the drawing 22 is exhaust air.

In the present invention it is possible to produce atmosphere containing volatile liquid vapours of a certain concentration, i.e. of a certain vapour pressure consisting of solvents such as organic solvents or other volatile liquids instead of water and to use it is chemical reactions and insecticide in vapour phase.

Effect of the Invention As the present invention is comprised as described above, a layer of water 11, 1 to several mm deep, is constantly kept on the plane heater 1, water of said part having very little heat capacity, evaporates very quickly after electric current is applied or a heated fluid is supplied, and water evaporates intermittently and quickly responding even to the intermission of electric current or heated fluid supply. Thus air controlled to the desired humidity can be obtained very quickly and relative humidity of the air can be accurately regulated and maintained in error range of around 1%. In this case it is better to avoid hardly boiling conditions of the layer of water 11 to prevent the scattering of the water drops.

It takes about 10 minutes to heat 1 litre of water from 200 to 1001C with a plane heater (170mm long, 120mm wide and 2.5mm thick) of 1 kw. sunk to the bottom of a vessel. When a float-type humidifying device of the present invention is floated on 1 litre of water and the layer of water 11 on the plane heater 1 (of the same size as above) of 1 kw. is 3mm deep, about 30 seconds is enough to heat said layer of water from 200 to 1000 C. Fig. 8 shows this comparison. The curve A shows 7 temperature increase of the thin layer of water 11 on the plane heater of the f loat-type humidifying device of the present invention and the curve B shows temperature increase of water by the prior method.

When a layer of insulating material 12 is installed on the lower face of the plane heater 1, energy is saved as most heat energy radiated from the plane heater 1 is consumed only for heating the thin layer of water 11 and little heat energy is used for heating a large amount of water below the plane heater, and the temperature of water in the vessel 15 rises little, therefore the loss of heat from the outer surface of the vessel is very little.

8

Claims

Claims

A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device consisting of a plane heater, sidewalls with cuttings or openings standing around said heater, floats installed around said side-walls, and a calm surface of water floating said plane heater, said plane heater being connected to a heat supply, and said device being regulated so that a thin layer of water, one to several mm deep, stably covers the upper face of said plane heater.
2. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device according to claim 1, wherein a heat insulating material is provided on the under surface and/or on the surface of said side-walls of said plane heater.
3. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device according to claim 1, wherein a heatinsulating float is provided on the under surface of said plane heater.
4. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device consisting of a plane heater fixed in a tray with cuttings or openings on side-walls, a calm surface of water floating said plane heater, and floats installed around said tray, said plane heater being connected to a heat supply, and said device being regulated so that a thin layer of water, one to several mm deep, stably coves the upper face of said plane heater.
5. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device according to claim 4, wherein a heatinsulating material is provided on the under surface of said tray.
6. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device according to claim 4, wherein a heat- 9 insulating f loat is provided on the under surf ace of said tray.
7. A rapid-humidificationrespondent float-type humidifying device according to claims 1 to 6, wherein the humidity of air is precisely controlled to a desired value by sensing the humidity of air with a humidity sensor and by controlling the calorific value of said plane heater.
8. An evaporating device according to claims 1 to 6, wherein a volatile liquid is used instead of water.
9. A rapid-humidification-respondent float-type humidifying device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.