JP2001082789A - Air cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an air cleaner in which a user can be informed surely with the fact that the air cleaner has actually entered a special operation mode when it is selected. SOLUTION: When the operation mode of an air cleaner is switched to a special operation mode, e.g. a 'turbo mode' or a 'pollen mode', it is informed to a user by means of four LEDs 1-4 at an air volume indicating section 61. Preferably, it is also informed with sound using a buzzer 42 in combination with visual information. The special operation mode can thereby be informed surely to the user. It is especially beneficial when the operation mode is switched by means of a remote controller 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air purifier, and more particularly to an air purifier capable of executing a special operation mode in addition to a normal operation mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an air purifier which sucks air from a suction port, purifies the air while the air passes through a main body, and blows the purified air from an air outlet. In such an air purifier, generally, the operation mode can be switched, and the operation mode can be selected according to the degree of contamination in the room.

[0003] For example, the air volume of air that is sucked and blown out can be switched between weak, normal (medium) and strong, a "turbo mode" for removing dust and smell in a room in a short time, and a pollen removal mainly. "Pollen mode" to do
And an "energy saving mode" for saving electricity bills. Switching of the operation mode of the air purifier can be performed by operating an operation button provided on the main body of the air purifier, and in some recent devices, the operation mode can be switched by a remote control. Many.

[0004]

When the user switches the operation mode of the air purifier, there is a problem that the user wants to be surely notified that the operation mode has been switched. Especially, the operation mode is changed from the normal operation mode to the “turbo mode”.
Or when switching to a special operation mode such as "pollen mode"
There is a problem that the user wants to be informed of the special operation mode without fail.

[0005] In particular, in a model in which the operation mode is switched by a remote control operation, there is a problem that it is necessary to surely inform the user that the operation mode has been switched to a desired mode. Conventionally, for the purpose of solving such a problem, a configuration has been adopted in which, when an operation mode switching signal is received from a remote controller, the main body of the air purifier outputs an operation mode switching sound.

However, in such a conventional method of notifying the switching of the operation mode, for example, when the volume of the television in the room is large, the switching sound is difficult to hear, and the switching of the operation mode is sufficiently transmitted to the user. There was a problem that it was not possible. In particular, when the special operation mode is selected, there is a problem that the user is not reliably informed whether or not the special operation mode has actually been entered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and provides an improved air purifier that can surely notify a user that the operation mode has been switched. With the goal. Another object of the present invention is to provide an air purifier capable of reliably notifying a user that the air purifier has entered the selected special operation mode when the special operation mode is selected. It is.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air purifier capable of switching the operation mode to any one of a plurality of operation modes. An air purifier having an informing means for visually informing that the operation mode is the special operation mode when the operation mode is selected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the notifying means includes:
The air purifier according to claim 1, wherein the special operation mode is notified by sound together with the visual notification. The invention according to claim 3 is provided with a display unit on the outer surface of the main body housing of the air purifier, wherein the display unit is provided with a plurality of indicators for displaying a driving air flow rate. The air purifier according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit causes a display corresponding to the selected special operation to be performed by a plurality of indicators that display an operation air volume on a display unit.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the special operation mode, a first special operation mode in which a strong air volume is operated is provided.
And a second special operation mode in which the air flow is weaker than that of the special operation mode. If the selected special operation mode is the first special operation mode, a plurality of indicators are displayed. The air purifier according to claim 3, wherein the air cleaner makes a transition faster than in the second special operation mode.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the air purifier has a receiving unit for receiving a signal from a remote controller, and when a special operation mode selection signal is given from the remote controller, the notification unit makes the notification. The air purifier according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: According to the configuration of the first aspect, it is possible to visually notify the user that the mode has been switched to the special operation mode. Therefore, the user can surely recognize that the mode has been switched to the special operation mode by looking at the notification means.

According to the configuration of the second aspect, in addition to the visual notification, the notification by sound is also performed, so that the user can be more reliably notified that the special operation mode has been entered. According to the configuration of the third aspect, the selected special operation is displayed by changing the display mode of the plurality of indicators for displaying the operation airflow. In this case,
The change of the display mode of the air volume indicator is changed to correspond to the special operation.
By changing the display so as to associate the contents of the special operation, it is possible to surely inform the user of the selected special operation.

Further, since the air flow indicator is generally provided in the air purifier, the air flow indicator must be in the special operation mode without adding a special indicator to indicate that the air purifier is in the special operation mode. Can be visually reported to the user. When the special operation mode includes a first special operation mode with a strong air flow and a second special operation mode with a low air flow, the intensity of the air volume can be indicated by the display transition speed of the display. Therefore, it is possible to inform the user of which special operation mode is easy to understand.

When the user switches the operation mode using the remote controller, it is difficult to recognize that the user has switched to the special operation mode because the user is away from the air cleaner body. Therefore, if the special operation mode is notified by the visual notification means as in the configuration of claim 5, it is ensured that the user who is away from the air cleaner main body is set to the special operation mode. You can tell that it has become.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an air purifier capable of surely notifying a user of the switching of the operation mode, in particular, the switching to the special operation mode. it can.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an overall configuration of an air purifier 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The air purifier 1 has a main body housing 2 and a front panel 3 fitted to the front surface of the main body 2. The main body housing 2 is provided with a motor (not shown) and a blower fan rotated by the motor. It is blown out from 4. A display and operation unit 5 is provided below the front surface of the main body housing 2. The display and operation unit 5 includes an operation unit for turning on / off the power of the air purifier 1 and switching an operation mode, and a display unit for displaying an operation state.

An ionization / dust collection unit 6 is housed in the main body housing 2. Ionization / dust collection unit 6
Is provided with a pre-filter 7 on its front surface. The pre-filter 7 is for capturing relatively large dust and dirt. The ionization / dust collection unit 6 incorporates an ionization wire and a counter electrode for charging dust particles contained in air passing through the unit. On the rear side of the ionization / dust collection unit 6, a film filter 16 for capturing charged dust particles is mounted. The film filter 16 is pulled out from the roll filter 8.

Inside the main housing 2, further behind the ionization / dust collection unit 6, there are provided photocatalyst elements 9 arranged in two layers before and after, and an inverter lamp 10 arranged therebetween. The photocatalyst element 9 is a thin plate-shaped body having a honeycomb structure that passes air sucked from a front surface to the rear, and supports titanium oxide and other photocatalysts. The inverter lamp 10 emits light to the photocatalytic element 9 to activate the photocatalyst carried on the element. By activating the photocatalytic element, odor components in the air can be removed. It also has antibacterial and antiviral effects.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a specific example of the display and operation unit 5 provided below the front surface of the main body housing 2. The elements and the like arranged on the display and operation unit 5 will be sequentially described from top to bottom and from left to right. The cleaning sign indicator 51 blinks when the film filter 16 (see FIG. 1) for electrostatically adsorbing dust particles becomes very dirty. Filter refresh indicator 5
2 turns on when it is time to replace the membrane filter 16. After the dirty membrane filter 16 is separated, a new membrane filter 16 is pulled out from the roll filter 8 and set,
The reset button 53 is pressed. Pressing the reset button 53 turns off the filter refresh indicator 52.

The cut-off timer display 54 lights the set cut-off timer time and displays the remaining time. The energy saving display 55 indicates that the energy saving operation is being performed. The energy-saving operation is an operation in which the air volume is automatically changed according to the degree of air contamination. The pollen display 56 lights up in the pollen mode. The high power turbo indicator 57 lights up in the turbo mode.

The light operation lamp 58 is turned on during light operation.
The time of the light operation refers to a state in which the inverter lamp 10 (see FIG. 1) is turned on and the light is applied to the photocatalytic element 9 to be activated. When light is worrisome, such as at night, the user can turn off the light operation lamp 58. The clean monitor 59 is provided with four indicators for dust and odor, respectively, and notifies the degree of dust contamination and odor intensity by the number of lightings of the indicators. Each indicator row is green, yellow, orange, and red in order from the inside, and the degree of contamination of dust and the intensity of smell are displayed in an easy-to-understand manner.

The receiving section 60 receives a signal from a remote controller. Four indicators are arranged in the air volume display section 61, and the air volume increases in the order of "quiet", "weak", "standard", and "strong". The indicator of the set air volume lights up. The automatic operation indicator 62 is turned on when the air flow is automatically switched to operate. The operation switching / stop button 63 is a button for setting the switching of the stop / operation and the switching of the air volume.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration example of the remote controller 32. In the air purifier 1 according to this embodiment, all operations such as turning on / off the power and switching operation modes can be performed by the remote controller 32. Driving /
Stop button 32, light operation on / off button 34, air volume switching button 35, energy saving automatic button 3 for selecting energy saving automatic operation
6. A pollen mode button 37 for operating when removing pollen, a high power turbo button 38 for pressing quickly to remove the smell or smoke of cigarettes, and an off timer button 39 for pressing an off timer. I have. When each of these buttons is operated, a signal such as an infrared signal is emitted from the signal transmitter 40 at the tip.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control circuit configuration of a portion related to the present invention in the air purifier 1. The air purifier 1 is provided with a control unit 41 composed of a microcomputer or the like. The control unit 41 controls the air volume display unit 61, the buzzer 42, and the fan motor 43. The receiving unit 60 is connected to the control unit 41.
When the receiving unit 60 receives a signal from the remote controller 32, the signal is given to the control unit 41.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of the control operation related to the present invention executed by the control section 41. The control operation when the special operation mode is selected will be described according to the flow of FIG. When the receiving unit 60 determines that a signal from the remote controller 32 has been received (step S1), it is determined whether the signal is a turbo mode setting signal, which is one of the special operation modes (step S1).
2). When the high power turbo button 38 of the remote controller 32 is pressed and the turbo mode is selected, it is determined that the mode is the turbo mode, and the buzzer 42 notifies the user of the turbo mode by sound. The notification by the buzzer 42 is preferably a notification that gives a strong impression of, for example, "B, B, B" (step S3).

In addition to the sound notification, four indicators LED1 to LED4 provided in the air volume indicator 61 are provided.
However, the lighting / extinguishing control is performed in “aspect 1” shown in FIG. Specifically, all of the LEDs 1 to 4 are turned off for 0.1 second. The LED 1 is turned on for 0.1 second. The LEDs 1 and 2 are turned on for 0.1 second. The LEDs 1, 2, and 3 are turned on for 0.1 second. Is turned on for 0.1 second, and the display of the air volume display 61 is switched in "mode 1" (step S4), and after the display switching of the above is repeated five times (step S5 → S4 → S5), the air volume display section The four LEDs 1 to 4 are turned off (step S6), the fan motor 43 is driven in the turbo mode, that is, in the strongest operation state for 30 minutes, and thereafter, the operation shifts to the automatic operation (step S7).

By switching the LEDs 1 to 4 in a short time as described above, and by switching the LEDs to be lit up sequentially, it is possible to impress the user with a strong air flow and to give the user the turbo mode. It can be reliably visually notified. But step S
The air volume display performed in step 4 is not limited to the contents shown in FIG. 6, but may be any display mode as long as the display mode is such that the user feels that the air volume is strong and the mode is the turbo mode. It does not matter. Also, the number of repetitions may be any number as long as the user can recognize that the mode is the turbo mode.

If it is determined in step S2 that the received signal is not a signal for setting the turbo mode, it is determined whether or not the received signal is a pollen mode setting signal for setting another special operation mode (step S8). . If the mode is the pollen mode, the buzzer 42 informs by sound that the mode is the pollen mode (step S9). The notification of the pollen mode by the buzzer 42 is preferably a sound that gives an impression that the wind fluctuates, for example, “Pi, P, P”.

The four LEDs 1 to 4 of the air volume display 61
4 is switched in "mode 2" shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the pollen mode is set to “standard” operation every 5 minutes →
Repeat "weak" operation → "standard" operation. Therefore, the four LEDs 1 are controlled to be turned on / off as follows in association with the operation contents.

LED1 is turned on for 0.3 seconds LED2 is turned on for 0.3 seconds LED3 is turned on for 0.3 seconds LED4 is turned on for 0.3 seconds LED3 is turned on for 0.3 seconds LED2 is turned on for 0.3 seconds 4 are turned on one by one for 0.3 seconds and turned off, thereby visually displaying a state in which the wind fluctuates (step S10).

This display is repeated twice (steps S10 and S11). Finally, after LED1 is turned on for 0.3 seconds, all LEDs 1-4 are turned off (step S12). Then, control is performed so that the fan motor 43 is operated in the pollen mode described above (step S13). The display of the four LEDs 1 to 4 of the air volume display unit 61 in step S10 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 7, but may be another display as long as the display allows the user to image the pollen mode. No problem.

In the flowchart of FIG.
After the display of the special operation mode by 1 is displayed,
The operation state of the fan motor 43 has been described as being switched. However, as soon as the special operation mode setting signal is received, the special operation mode in which the fan motor 43 is set The mode may be controlled.

Although the turbo mode and the pollen mode have been described as the special operation modes described in this embodiment, when the other special operation modes can be set, for example, the "cleaning mode" can be set. In such a special operation mode, it may be possible to display that the mode has been set in accordance with the special operation mode. In this embodiment, the operation mode is switched by the remote controller 32. However, the same control may be performed when the operation mode is switched by operating the operation switch of the air purifier main body.

The present invention is not limited to the contents of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an overall configuration of an air purifier according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a specific example of a display and an operation unit provided below a front surface of a main body housing.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration example of a remote controller.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control circuit configuration of a part related to the present invention in the air purifier.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of a control operation related to the present invention executed by the control unit.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative view showing contents of switching of an air volume display of “aspect 1”;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative view showing contents of switching of an air volume display of “aspect 2”;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air purifier 2 Main body housing 5 Display and operation part 32 Remote control 37 Pollen mode button 38 High power turbo button 60 Reception part 61 Air volume display part

Claims (5)

[Claims] In an air purifier capable of switching an operation mode to any one of a plurality of operation modes, when a predetermined special operation mode is selected from among the plurality of operation modes, it is visually recognized that the operation mode is the special operation mode. An air purifier characterized by having a notifying means (61, 41) for making a notification. 2. The air purifier according to claim 1, wherein said notifying means (61, 41) notifies the special operation mode by a sound together with a visual notification. 3. A display unit (5) is provided on an outer surface of a main body housing (2) of the air purifier, and the display unit (5) has a plurality of indicators for displaying an operation air volume. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit performs a display corresponding to the special operation selected by the plurality of indicators that display the operating air volume on the display unit. 5. An air purifier as described. 4. The special operation mode includes a first special operation mode in which a strong air flow is operated and a second special operation mode in which an air flow is weaker than the first special operation mode. 4. The air according to claim 3, wherein when the selected special operation mode is the first special operation mode, the indications of the plurality of indicators change faster than in the second special operation mode. Cleaner. 5. The air purifier has a receiving section (60) for receiving a signal from a remote controller (32).
The air purifier according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the notification means (61, 41) performs the notification when a special operation mode selection signal is given from the control unit.