JP2000271517A - Ultrasonic spray apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make liquid scattering visually recognizable and reduce the particle size of a scattered liquid to decrease the amount of the liquid consumed by applying ultrasonic vibration to a liquid container for containing the liquid to be atomized by a piezoelectric element and blowing air from a spray port, allow the piezoelectric transducer to be oscillated intermittently at a specified frequency. SOLUTION: The bottom of a pore section 21A at the upper end to or from which the cap 12 of a housing 11 is attached or detached is sealed with a film 21B to form a liquid container 21 for a liquid A to be atomized, such as an ophthalmic drug. Further, an ultrasonic wave transfer medium B is charged into the container 21 and a piezoelectric transducer 22 is liquid-tightly fitted to the filling port 23A of the container 21. Ultrasonic vibration is applied to liquid A by the piezoelectric transducer 22 via the ultrasonic wave transfer medium B to atomize liquid A. The piezoelectric transducer 22 is caused to intermittently oscillate at a frequency of 1-5 MHz by a drive circuit arranged in a hollow section 11A. Thus, the particle size of atomized liquid A is reduced e.g. to about 1-10 μm.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic spraying device for atomizing and spraying a liquid such as a medicine, a fragrance or a deodorant, or a cosmetic.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a type in which a liquid containing a fragrance or the like is stored in a cartridge, and the liquid is gradually vaporized or sprayed by air spray.

[0003]

However, in the case where the fragrance or the like is gradually vaporized, the particle diameter of the vaporized particle is too small to visually confirm the volatilization.

In the case of spraying a fragrance or the like by air spray, the particle size of the spray is as large as about 50 μm, so that not only the amount of liquid consumed is large, but also the sprayed liquid is not vaporized in the air and the surroundings are not evaporated. And causes stains on clothes, floors, and the like.

[0005] Incidentally, it is conceivable to atomize the fragrance or the like by applying ultrasonic vibration to spray the same, but it is necessary to increase the oscillation frequency of the ultrasonic vibration to reduce the atomized particle diameter. This has the effect of increasing the input power to the vibrator and reducing the life of the vibrator due to heat generation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to visually confirm the spraying of a liquid, to reduce the spraying particle size, to reduce the consumption, and to prevent the surroundings from being stained. Power and long life are intended.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid container for storing a liquid to be atomized, a piezoelectric vibrator for applying ultrasonic vibration to the liquid container, and a piezoelectric vibrator. A drive circuit for the child and a blower that blows air from the spray port through the upper space of the liquid storage part are built in the housing, and the drive circuit causes the piezoelectric vibrator to intermittently oscillate at an oscillation frequency of 1 MHz to 5 MHz. It is like that.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, an ultrasonic spraying device 10 has a cap 11 which can be freely attached to and detached from a housing 11;
2. The ultrasonic wave propagation medium accommodating section 23, the drive circuit 24 of the vibrator 22, and the blower 25 are built in, and the spray nozzle 26 is built in the cap 12. Examples of the piezoelectric vibrator 22 include P2T (zirconic acid / lead titanate) and quartz (SiO 2).
₂ ), barium titanate (BaTiO ₃ ) or the like can be used.

That is, the housing 11 is provided with a hole 21A at the upper end where the cap 12 is attached and detached, and the bottom of the hole 21A is sealed with the film 21B to form the liquid container 21. The liquid container 21 detachably accommodates a cartridge 31 loaded with a liquid A to be atomized, such as an ophthalmic drug or an aromatic or deodorant, in a closely fitted state,
Alternatively, the liquid A without the cartridge 31 is directly stored.

The housing 11 is filled with an ultrasonic wave propagation medium B such as water or silicone oil from a filling port 23A provided at the bottom of the ultrasonic wave propagation medium housing part 23 in an inverted state. , This filling port 23A
The piezoelectric vibrator 22 is fitted in a liquid-tight manner
The fixing tool 22A integral with the housing 11 is fixed to the housing 11 with a set screw 22B.
Is fixed. The vibrator 22 applies ultrasonic vibration to the liquid A in the liquid container 21 via the ultrasonic wave propagation medium B,
The liquid A can be atomized. Note that the ultrasonic wave propagation medium B also functions as a cooling unit for the vibrator 22.

The bottom 31B of the cartridge 31 removably accommodated in the liquid container 21 and the bottom 21B (film) of the liquid container 21 are tightly connected to each other or via a liquid or gel-like substance. . At this time, the bottom 31B of the cartridge 31 can also be formed of a film. The films 21B and 31B are used for efficiently transmitting ultrasonic waves between the ultrasonic wave propagation medium B and the liquid A in the cartridge 31. The thickness of the films 21B and 31B is 10
It is preferable that the thickness be 0 μm or less, and it is preferable that the thickness be as thin as possible from the viewpoint of ultrasonic wave propagation efficiency unless there is a problem in strength.
As a result, the ultrasonic waves generated by the piezoelectric vibrator 22 are propagated to the ultrasonic wave propagation medium B in the ultrasonic wave propagation medium accommodating section 23 and further through the bottom film 21B of the liquid accommodating section 21 and the bottom film 31A of the cartridge 31. Cartridge 3
The liquid is propagated to the liquid A stored in the liquid. Note that a liquid or a gel substance may be interposed between the films 21B and 31B.

The housing 11 includes a piezoelectric vibrator 22.
The driving circuit 24 of the vibrator 22 is provided in the lower cavity 11A such as
Is arranged. The drive circuit 24 drives the vibrator 22 at 1 MHz to
Oscillation is performed at an oscillation frequency of 5 MHz, and as a result, the atomized particle diameter of the liquid A is reduced to about 1 μm to 10 μm.

Further, the housing 11 has a blower (blower fan) 25 attached to the bottom of the hollow portion 11A, and the air blown by the blower device 25 is provided on the side of the hollow portion 11A and the ultrasonic wave propagation medium accommodating portion 23. From the blower passage 11B to the liquid container 21
Of the cartridge 3 in the present embodiment.
1 from the notch 31A provided on the upper edge side of the cartridge 31.
To be mixed with the atomized liquid in the cartridge 31. The air mixed with the atomized liquid in the cartridge 31 in this manner is blown to the outside from the spray port 26A through the spray nozzle 26 of the cap 12 attached to the housing 11.

When the cap 12 is attached to the housing 11, the lower opening end of the spray nozzle 26 provided in the cap 12 and the upper opening end of the cartridge 31 mounted on the housing 11 are communicated with each other.

Here, in the ultrasonic spraying device 10,
The drive circuit 24 of the piezoelectric vibrator 22 has an intermittent oscillation circuit 40 as shown in FIG. In this intermittent oscillation circuit, Q1 is an oscillation transistor, C1 to C4 are capacitors, L1 to L3 are inductors, R1 to R4 are resistors, V
R1 is a variable resistor, and the vibrator 22 is connected between the collector and the base of the oscillation transistor Q1 via the resistor R4. The intermittent oscillation circuit 40 generates an intermittent frequency (f = 1 / T) for intermittently oscillating the vibrator 22 and a duty ratio (T0 / T0) formed by the oscillation period T0 (FIG. 3) with respect to the intermittent cycle T (FIG. 3). A duty ratio and intermittent frequency variable circuit 41 for changing T) is provided.

Duty ratio and intermittent frequency variable circuit 41
The preferred intermittent frequency of the vibrator 22 selected by
1 Hz to 1 KHz, and a suitable duty ratio is, for example, 30% to 80%.

In the ultrasonic spraying device 10, the housing 11 is provided with an operation switch 35, an air flow path adjusting volume 36, and a power outlet 37.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following operation and effect can be obtained. (Functions and Effects Corresponding to Claims 1 to 6) Spraying is performed by spraying a liquid, and the atomized particle diameter is an appropriate size, so that the spraying can be visually confirmed.

By increasing the oscillation frequency of the vibrator 22 to 1 MHz to 5 MHz, the atomized particle diameter is reduced to 1 μm to 5 μm.
Can be reduced to about 10μm. Thereby, the liquid consumption per unit spraying time can be reduced. Further, the sprayed liquid is easily vaporized in the air, and it is possible to prevent the liquid from adhering to the surroundings in the liquid state and contaminating the liquid.

Although the oscillation frequency of the vibrator was increased as described above, at the same time, the
Since the intermittent oscillation occurs in the range of% to 80%, the input power to the vibrator can be reduced, the heat generation of the vibrator can be suppressed, and the life can be extended.

As described above, since the liquid consumption can be reduced, the volume of the liquid storage section can be reduced and the size of the apparatus can be reduced.
Can be reduced in weight.

The ultrasonic wave propagation medium container 2 of the liquid container 21
3 is formed of the thin film 21B, or the bottom of the cartridge 31 which is in contact with the bottom fill portion 21B of the liquid container 21 is formed of the thin film 31B, so that the propagation efficiency of ultrasonic waves can be improved.

When the liquid is, for example, an ophthalmic drug, the above does not give a sense of fear in application to a user because the liquid is in the atomized state with a small particle size. In addition, since the liquid does not adhere to the surroundings, the makeup of the user such as an eye shadow is not broken, and the clothes are not stained.

When the liquid is, for example, a fragrance or a deodorant, the liquid does not adhere to the periphery as described above.
Does not stain clothes, floors, etc.

Hereinafter, specific results of the present invention will be described. In the ultrasonic spray device 10, the piezoelectric vibrator 2
2, a disk-shaped piezoelectric element mainly composed of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and polarized in the thickness direction is used;
The film 21B at the bottom of the liquid container 21 is
The ET film is filled with 25 cc of water (ultrasonic wave propagation medium and cooling water) in the ultrasonic wave propagation medium storage part 23, and water (spray water) is stored in the liquid storage part 21 so as to have a water level of 20 mm.
When the operation switch 35 is turned on, the vibrator 22 and the blower 2 are turned on.
5 was simultaneously started to drive for 5 minutes continuously.
For each of Example 1 of the present invention and Comparative Examples 1 to 3,
Table 1 shows the operating conditions, the rising temperature of the cooling water (ultrasonic propagation material), the power consumption of the vibrator 22, and the atomization state of the spray water.

[0026]

[Table 1]

According to Table 1, the following (1) to (4) are recognized. (1) In Comparative Example 1, since the duty ratio is 100% and the oscillation is continuous oscillation instead of intermittent oscillation, the power consumption is large, the temperature of the cooling water rises excessively, and the oscillator 22 may be damaged.

(2) In Comparative Example 2, the duty ratio of the intermittent oscillation is
It is 20%, which is too small to confirm the atomization.

(3) In Comparative Example 3, the oscillation frequency of the vibrator 22 is
The frequency is excessively high at 6 MHz, and the atomization particle diameter is too small to confirm the atomization.

(4) In the first embodiment, the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 22 and the duty ratio of intermittent oscillation are within the range of the present invention, and the power consumption, heat generation (temperature) state, and atomization state of the oscillator 22 are good. is there.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the application of liquid can be visually confirmed, the particle size of the application can be reduced, the consumption can be reduced, and the periphery can be prevented from being stained. In addition, low power and long life of the device can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of an ultrasonic spraying device.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of a drive circuit.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing an example of an intermittent oscillation waveform.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Ultrasonic spraying device 21 Liquid storage part 22 Piezoelectric vibrator 24 Drive circuit 25 Blower

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Katsutoshi Hara 2606 Kabane-cho, Akaga-cho, Haga-gun, Tochigi Pref. In the Kao Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Seiki Osawa 2606 Kabane-cho, Kaga-cho, Haga-gun, Tochigi Prefecture F-term in Kao Corporation Research Laboratories (reference) 4C002 AA01 DD07 FF02 4D074 AA10 BB02 DD03 DD08 DD17 DD22 DD56

Claims (6)

[Claims] A liquid container for storing a liquid to be atomized;
A piezoelectric vibrator that applies ultrasonic vibration to the liquid storage unit, a driving circuit for the piezoelectric vibrator, and a blower that blows air from a spray port through an upper space of the liquid storage unit are built in the housing, The drive circuit is an ultrasonic sprayer that intermittently oscillates the piezoelectric vibrator at an oscillation frequency of 1 MHz to 5 MHz. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the duty ratio of the intermittent oscillation is 30% to 80%.
%. 3. An ultrasonic wave propagating medium accommodating portion is interposed between the piezoelectric vibrator and the liquid accommodating portion, and a bottom portion of the liquid accommodating portion in contact with the ultrasonic wave propagating medium accommodating portion is formed of a film. The ultrasonic spray device according to claim 1. 4. A cartridge filled with a liquid to be atomized is detachably accommodated in the liquid container, and the bottom of the cartridge and the bottom of the liquid container are connected closely or via a liquid or gel-like substance. The ultrasonic spraying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein 5. The ultrasonic spray device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid to be atomized is a medicine. 6. The ultrasonic spraying device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid to be atomized is a liquid containing a fragrance or a deodorant.