IE902611A1 - Ultrasound dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

The ultrasonic dryer utilizes the energy of a beam of ultrasounds in order to evaporate liquids for drying hair, hands, clothes, dishes, etc. It can be assisted with hot or cold air, with a continuous partial vacuum or an intermittent total vacuum or with air stream, or with infrared rays, etc. It is provided with power amplifier and/or oscillator supply circuits, transducer and device for transmission and/or focusing the ultrasonic beam. Alternatingly, it is provided with a pressure air source and with a ultrasonic whistle for the drying. The device allows to iron clothes with the advantages that it does not produce burns, consumes energy only when in operation, allows to iron extremely wet clothes and, self-generates the steam necessary for humidifying clothes before ironing.

Description

ULTRASOUND DRYER DESCRIPTION SUBJECT OF THE INVENTION The subject of the present description is to 5 describe devices in which, using the energy of certain ultrasound frequencies, it is possible to vaporise water in very different material systems without the need for any heating.

Naturally, and as a function of the effects 10 produced, they can be used for drying the hands, the hair or even the body of people and, of course, clothing, crockery etc. Their versatility of use is very wide since, in addition to the above applications, mention must be made of those of any type of industrial drying or, alternatively, those relating to ironing, either industrial or domestic.

As regards the latter supposition the advantages are very significant since ironing may be done on totally damp clothing without the iron cooling or being damaged, since there is no thermal ehock. Likewise, any type of burn risk is eliminated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The background of the invention lies in the physical phenomenon of the absorption of ultrasound energy such that in the case of water or other liquids which are moderately volatile the liquid/vapour phasechange is produced at ambient temperature. In popular physics, it is known that, by means of an ultrasound whistle, water boils at normal temperature and pressure.

It is also known that, by means of ultrasound, it is possible to control environmental humidification.

Also known, especially in laboratories, is equipment for cleaning using ultrasound, consisting of a bath of water at normal temperature to which ultrasound is sent such that the energy thereof releases and leaves in suspension microscopic particles adhering to the - 3 equipment, which otherwise, would be very difficult to remove, with the risk of having to use higher temperatures and detergents.

All this background is based on the same physical 5 principle as our invention, but none of it may be applied nor is its subject those of the present invention. Perhaps the nearest is the whistle, but even this mechanism is unlike what is described here, assuming that equipment or a device is needed for more or less con10 tinuous air feed; as stated above, it is a mechanism used in popular physics, specifically to demonstrate the phenomenon on which this invention is based.

DESCRIPTION OP THE INVENTION The Invention is principally based, therefore, on an oscillator with a power output which can be obtained either directly or, alternatively, through a power amplifier generally working in the range of a few hundred kilohertz. The power output is applied at least to a suitable ultrasound transducer which will generate pressure oscillations, said oscillations being absorbed by the water, (or other liquid with a similar boiling point) which evaporates without heating under the effects of the ultrasound energy absorbed.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION As has been described, the invention consists essentially of four principal devices or elements: - An electrical feed circuit, - An oscillator and/or power amplifier, - An ultrasound transducer, - An element for focusing and/or transmitting ultrasound.

When combined, the four elements constitute the drying device which is the subject of this invention.

The electrical feed circuit can be totally conventional, including a plug pin and cable, at least one fuse and, optionally, an anti-interference filter. It may optionally Include a transformer and have a rectifier - 4 device with or without a filter in order to obtain the desired voltages and currents; likewise, it may be provided with current-limiting and/or discharge resistors for the filter capacitors, if any, a switch, a stabilizing circuit etc.

The power oscillator may be any of the following types: Colpitts, Hartley, Multivibrator, Wien relaxation bridge, double T, Pierce, UJT, etc. It is also possible to include an amplifier to supply the necessary power to the ultrasound transducer and a power control of the conventional type.

The ultrasound transducer may be any of the following known types: ceramic, quartz (or quartz + steel) magnetostriction, etc, capable of forming part of the actual oscillator, with the aim of obtaining the best possible resonance.

The invention is completed with the corresponding casing which can have various forms, although the most suitable may be parabolic haIf-cylinder, for example, in order correctly to focus the ultrasound on the object; it is advisable for it to be made from a suitable material which reflects ultrasound.

Moreover, it is possible to add a presence detection circuit (by means of infrared, earth capacity, echo from a short train of ultrasound pulses generated by the actual circuit and with the actual transducer, etc.), which will cause the apparatus to operate when the object to be dried is near, within the techniques in use, and/or a radiofrequency transformer for insulation.

To assist the system, it ie also possible to make use of heat, infrared radiation, etc., in order to assist the ultrasound in producing the drying effect desired, as well as of a hot or cold air current.

When drying inanimate objects (crockery, clothing, etc.) the ultrasound may be assisted with the periodic application of an ultrasound vacuum in an alternating manner (that Is to say, not coexisting, given that ultrasound cannot exist in a vacuum), or, alternatively, by eliminating the vapour which is formed - 5 continuously, by means of the use of a partial vacuum, by means of a vacuum pump suitable for each one of the two cases.

The oscillator and/or power amplifier may be 5 provided with standby or disconnection circuits capable of being controlled manually or automatically by a control circuit, in accordance with the current state of the art, in order to apply the ultrasound only when desired (for example, in order to prevent its production when applying the alternating vacuum referred to in the above paragraph, in order to be activated by a presence detector in a drying tunnel or, alternatively, by a timer in the case of drying the hands, etc.).

In the case of ironing, the transducer or transducers will be arranged such that they enter into contact with the clothing, either directly or by means of a suitable transmission surface, the actual casing, a metallic sheet or plate, for example. An alternative embodiment of great practical interest is that all or part of the ultrasound may be derived by means of electrical and/or mechanical transmission in order to produce the vapour which dampens the clothing before it is ironed, in accordance with currently used techniques.

The oscillator may be activated by means of a pressure sensor, a microswitch, for example, when the iron is pressed on the clothing, or, alternatively, when the iron is seized by the handle or when a button near to the handle is pressed. Obviously, the great advantage presented by this new iron is that it cannot cause burns.

In an alternative embodiment, the oscillator and the transducer may be replaced by a motor-driven compressor (as power generator) and a whistle as transducer, respectively, above all in the industrial applications of the dryer and in any special application such as the drying of a person's body in the bathroom of a hotel, which may have general compressor equipment to convey compressed air to the various rooms, with consequent economy and efficiency.

A description having been given of the nature of - 6 the invention, as well as the way in which it may be embodied in practice, it should be noted that the above arrangements may be modified in respect of detail provided that this does not alter its fundamental principle under any circumstances.

Claims (4)

1. Ultrasound dryer, characterized in that it has an electrical feed circuit; likewise a power oscillator circuit, or, alternatively, separate oscillator and power amplifier; possessing at least one ultrasound transducer, arranged in the air, which may form part of the actual oscillator and of the corresponding casing which may be reflecting and have a suitable form for focusing the ultrasound energy; or, alternatively, being provided with a transducer applied to a transmission sheet or surface; being equipped with power control and/or provided, in its feed circuit, with limiting and/or protection and/or stabilizing and/or filtering and/or rectifying elements and/or a feed transformer and/or a radio frequency transformer.

2. Ultrasound dryer characterized in that it is also provided with elements for producing an alternating and/or partial vacuum and/or elements for producing a current of hot or cold air and/or emitting infrared rays, as well as presence-detection circuits and/or a standby or manual or automatic disconnection circuit using the presence detector and/or at least one switch or pressure button.

3. Ultrasound dryer, characterized in that it Is provided with a source of compressed air and an ultrasound whistle.

4. . claims according to any one of hereinbefore described.