JP2002272826A - Air purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems that a residual smell and the aroma of an aromatic are mixed in the case of adding the aroma by using the aromatic and that a deodorant or an aromatic deteriorates a catalyst in the case of using the catalyst, etc., together. SOLUTION: By switching the flow of air to be introduced to the inside of an air purifier body 3 to the side of a filter 1 or the side of an aroma supplying means 2 for supplying the deodorizer or the aromatic with movable fins 9a and 9b provided at the first air suction port 4a and the second air suction port 4b, smelling substances are removed and the aroma is added. Thus, air containing the deodorizer or the aromatic is prevented from being introduced to the filter 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air purifying apparatus for removing odors such as toilets, pets, cigarettes, cooking and body odors in living spaces and adding fragrance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for removing odors in a room, a purifying filter having an adsorbent such as activated carbon is used, and a gaseous substance is removed by the adsorption, or a deodorant or an aromatic is used. A method of masking odors due to odors has been used. In addition, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-205929, there is a method in which an odor is deodorized by an ozone generator and a catalytic action, and a scent is added to the air by blowing out using a deodorant or an aromatic.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned masking method using a deodorant or a fragrance, since the odorous substance is not removed, the masking method is mixed with the odor of the deodorant or the fragrance, resulting in a more unpleasant odor. There is a problem that it is necessary to add a high concentration of scent in order to feel such a phenomenon or to prevent such a phenomenon.

On the other hand, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-205929, after deodorizing by an ozone generator and a catalytic action, a deodorant or an aromatic is added to the blowing air.
The problem of mixing the odors as described above has been solved. However, when operating indoors, the air in the space is circulated and purified, so the air to which the deodorant or fragrance is added is introduced again into the device and passes through the catalyst, There is a problem that the deodorant or the fragrance is adsorbed on the catalyst. In addition, the catalyst on which the deodorant or the fragrance is adsorbed also has a problem that the performance of removing odorous substances is significantly reduced due to deterioration.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to provide an air purifying apparatus capable of adding a deodorant or an aromatic without deteriorating the performance of removing odorous substances.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a method of controlling the flow of air introduced into an apparatus from an intake port by using a purifying means for purifying contaminated air, or a deodorant or fragrance. By having the switching means for switching to one of the supply means, the removal of the odorous substance and the addition of the deodorant or the fragrance are performed, and the air containing the deodorant or the fragrance is introduced into the purification means. To prevent that.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A purifying means for purifying contaminated air; a supplying means for supplying a deodorant or an aromatic; and an air purifying apparatus main body containing the purifying means and the supplying means, wherein the air purifying apparatus main body contains air therein. Switching means for providing an intake port for introduction and a discharge port for discharging air from inside the apparatus, and for switching a flow of air introduced into the apparatus from the intake port to one of the purification means side or the supply means side; It has.

With this configuration, when air is introduced into the purifying means, odorous substances can be removed, and the purified air can be discharged from the inside of the apparatus. When air is introduced into the supplying means, The air with the added deodorant or fragrance can be exhausted. Which of these means to introduce air can be selected by switching means, for example, by switching a movable fin provided in the intake port. With this, when a deodorant or a fragrance is added, no air is introduced into the purifying means, and the deodorant or the fragrance is removed by the purifying means. Deterioration of the means can be prevented.

[0009] The invention described in claim 2 of the present invention is claim 1.
In the described invention, the air inlet comprises a first air inlet for introducing air to the purifying means, and a second air inlet for introducing air to the supply means, wherein the first air inlet or the second air inlet. It is to introduce air from any one of, and by changing the first or second intake port for introducing air, it is possible to select whether to introduce air to the purification device or to introduce into the supply means. it can.

The third aspect of the present invention is the first aspect of the present invention.
In the invention described in the above, the switching means changes the angle of the movable fin provided in the intake port, thereby switching the flow of the air introduced into the apparatus to one of the purifying means side and the supply means side. However, by changing the angle of the movable fins, it is possible to select whether to introduce air into the purification device or supply air.

The fourth aspect of the present invention is the first aspect of the present invention.
In the invention according to any one of Items 1 to 3, the purifying unit may include at least one of manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, iron, and nickel.
It is a filter composed of at least one of metal oxides or composite oxides containing various kinds, zeolite, activated carbon, and silica gel. When an ozone generator is used as a purifying means, the problem is that ozone remains. However, in the adsorption or decomposition of odorous substances by the above-mentioned substances, purification is performed efficiently without leaving harmful substances in the purified air. be able to. In addition, the filter configuration facilitates replacement.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of an air purifying apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a filter of a purifying means for purifying contaminated air, 2 is a supplying means for adding a deodorant or an aromatic, and is hereinafter referred to as a fragrance supplying means. Reference numeral 3 denotes a box-shaped air purification device main body, in which the filter 1 and the fragrance supply means 2 are accommodated. 4a is provided on the front side wall of the air purification device main body 3 and has a first intake port for introducing air into the filter 1;
4b is an air purification device main body 3 which is on the same surface as the first intake port.
Air is introduced into the fragrance supply means 2 at a second air inlet provided on the front side wall of the fragrance. The first intake port 4a is disposed at a lower portion of the air purification device main body 3 so as to face the filter 1, and the second intake port 4b is located at an upper portion of the air purification device main body 3 so as to face the fragrance supply means 2. Are located in Reference numeral 6 denotes a discharge port provided on the upper side wall of the air purification device main body 3, and discharges the air purified by the filter 1 or the air from the fragrance supply means 2 to which the deodorant or the fragrance is added from the air purification device main body 3. Reference numeral 7 denotes a fan of blowing means for sucking the contaminated air from the first air inlet 4a or the second air inlet 4b, and 8 denotes a fan for removing particulate matter in the contaminated air entering from the first air inlet 4a. It is a dust collection filter.

Reference numeral 9a denotes a movable fin provided in the first intake port 4a, and 9b denotes a movable fin provided in the second intake port 4b. By operating the movable fins 9a and 9b to switch between opening and closing of the first intake port 4a and the second intake port 4b, air is discharged from either the first intake port 4a or the second intake port 4b. The air is sucked, and air is introduced into either the filter 1 or the fragrance supply means 2.

In this experimental example, the filter 1 has a volume of 80
A honeycomb core of 0 ml was filled with a granular material 10 having manganese dioxide and a granular material 11 of hydrophobic zeolite. Further, the fragrance supply means 2 has a container in which the deodorant or the fragrance is stored, a spray nozzle, and an electromagnetic valve. By controlling the electromagnetic valve, the deodorant or the fragrance is intermittently transmitted from the spray nozzle. The agent was supplied. As the deodorant or the fragrance, a commercially available liquid deodorant of a slight fragrance type was used.

Next, the operation of the air purifying apparatus thus configured will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 (a)
An operation in the case of purifying contaminated air by the filter 1 is shown. In an initial state, the movable fins 9a and 9b are in a closed state. When a button (not shown) (operation switch for starting the purifying operation) is pressed, the movable fin 9b provided on the first intake port 4a remains closed while the movable fin 9b provided on the second intake port 4b remains closed. Only the air blower is opened, the fan 7 of the blower is operated, and the airflow indicated by the arrow is generated. The contaminated air taken in from the first intake port 4a passes through the dust collecting filter 8 and the filter 1, and is purified. Particulate matter such as dust contained in polluted air is
Gaseous substances are removed by the filter 1 by the dust collection filter 8. Thereafter, the air is exhausted from the outlet 8.

FIG. 2B shows the operation in the case where the deodorant or the fragrance is added by the fragrance supply means 2. In an initial state, the movable fins 9a and 9b are in a closed state. When a button (not shown) (operation switch for starting the deodorizing or fragrance adding operation) is pressed, the movable fin 9a provided in the first intake port 4a remains closed.
Only the movable fin 9b provided in the second intake port 4b is operated to be in an open state, the fan 7 of the blowing means is operated, and the airflow indicated by the arrow is generated. The air taken in from the second air inlet 4b passes through the deodorant or fragrance supply means 2, is added with the deodorant or fragrance, and is exhausted from the outlet 8.

The purging of the contaminated air by the filter 1 and the addition of the deodorant or the fragrance by the fragrance supply means 2 can be performed by pressing one of the buttons (not shown) to start the operation. It is good, but if control is performed so that the deodorant or the fragrance can be added by the fragrance supply means 2 only after purification of the contaminated air by the purification means, the odor to be removed and the odor of the deodorant or the fragrance are removed. Mixing can be prevented. For this purpose, a timer function is provided, and after purifying the contaminated air by the filter 1 for a predetermined time by a timer control, the fragrance supply means 2 is operated, or the odor sensor is provided and the sensor value is set in advance. The control may be performed such that the purification by the filter 1 is stopped and the fragrance supply means 2 is activated when the value reaches the value equal to or less than the set value.

In this embodiment, the first air inlet 4a and the second air inlet 4b are arranged on the same surface, but one air inlet is arranged on the front surface and the other air inlet is arranged on the side surface. Has the same effect.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the structure of an air purifying apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description is omitted. Reference numeral 4 denotes an intake port provided in a front side wall of the air purification device main body 3 and introduces air into the filter 1 in the air purification device main body 3. Numeral 9 denotes a movable fin provided in the intake port 4, and introduces air into one of the lower filter 1 and the upper fragrance supply means 2 by changing the angle of the movable fin 9.

Next, the operation of the air purifying apparatus thus configured will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 (a)
An operation in the case of purifying contaminated air by the filter 1 is shown. In an initial state, the movable fin 9 is in a closed state. When a button (not shown) (operation switch for starting the purification operation) is pressed, the movable fins 9
Operates to open the filter 1 side (a state inclined to change the air flow so that the air introduced to the filter 1 side flows), and the fan 7 of the blowing means operates, and The indicated airflow occurs. The contaminated air sucked from the air inlet 4 passes through the dust collection filter 8 and the filter 1 and is purified. Particulate matter such as dust contained in contaminated air is filtered by the dust collection filter 8 and gaseous matter is filtered by the filter 1.
To be removed. Thereafter, the air is exhausted from the outlet 6.

FIG. 4B shows the operation in the case where the deodorant or the fragrance is added by the fragrance supply means 2. In an initial state, the movable fin is in a closed state. When a button (not shown) (operation switch for starting the deodorizing or fragrance adding operation) is pressed, the movable fin 9 provided in the intake port 4 is operated, and the movable fin 9 is opened toward the fragrance supply means 3 (the fragrance supply means 3). (The air is inclined so as to change the air flow so that the air introduced to the side flows), and the fan 7 of the blowing means operates to generate the air flow indicated by the arrow.
The air taken in from the intake port 7 passes through the deodorant or fragrance supply means 2, is added with the deodorant or fragrance, and is exhausted from the outlet 6. The purification of the contaminated air by the filter 1, the start of the addition of the deodorant or the fragrance by the fragrance supply means 2, and the operation control are performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

(Experimental Examples) Next, experiments performed for evaluating the deodorizing performance of Examples 1 and 2 will be described. First, the odor removal performance of the filter 1 was tested. 2 above
Each of the air purifiers is placed in a 28 m ³ test box, and after burning two cigarettes in the test box, movable fins 9 a are introduced to introduce air into the filter 1.
9b and 9 are operated, and the air volume of the fan 7 of the blowing means is 3 m ³
The operation was performed for 60 minutes at a setting of / min, and the decay of the tobacco odor was measured. For the measurement, an odor sensor (XP-329) manufactured by New Cosmos Electric was used. From the measured sensor value, the residual rate is calculated by (sensor value) / (initial sensor value) × 100
It was calculated as follows. FIG. 5 shows the change over time in the residual ratio. For comparison, in Example 1, the movable fin 9b was also opened, air was also introduced from the second air inlet 5, and the deodorant or fragrance supply means 3 was operated to release the deodorant or fragrance. The measurement was also performed when the addition of the agent was performed at the same time. In both Examples 1 and 2, the residual ratio was reduced to about 10% after 60 minutes. However, in Example 1, when the supply of the deodorant or the fragrance was performed at the same time, the residual rate was reduced to about 10% even after 60 minutes. It was only reduced to about 70%. This is because the increase in the sensor value due to the addition of the deodorant or the fragrance has an effect. After 60 minutes of operation, the person entered the test box and was evaluated by sensory evaluation. As for Examples 1 and 2, slight tobacco odor was still confirmed. In the case where the supply of the deodorant or the fragrance was performed simultaneously in Example 1, the smell was a mixture of the tobacco odor and the odor of the deodorant or the fragrance. In Examples 1 and 2, after the above-described experiment, the supply of the deodorant or the fragrance was performed for 60 minutes, and after 60 minutes, the sample was similarly entered into the test box, and the sensory evaluation was performed. Before the supply of the deodorant or the fragrance, a slight tobacco odor was still felt, but the supply of the deodorant or the fragrance made the tobacco odor almost disappeared.

In the present embodiment, the filter 1 is such that the honeycomb core body is filled with the granular material 10 containing manganese dioxide and the granular material 11 of hydrophobic zeolite.
Other metal oxides or composite oxides, zeolites,
Similar effects can be obtained by using activated carbon or silica gel particles. The same effect can be obtained by using a filter in which the above substance is supported on a base material of a honeycomb body using a binder.

In the present embodiment, the deodorant or the fragrance is also supplied to the fragrance supply means 2 by the spray nozzle. However, the deodorant is atomized by using an ultrasonic atomizer.
The same effect can be obtained by placing a vibrator in a deodorant container and vibrating the same with an oscillator, or by evaporating the deodorant by heating the deodorant with a heater.

As the deodorant or fragrance, a commercially available fine fragrance type liquid deodorant was used. However, when the fragrance supply means 2 is a vibration or heating system, a gel type or a solid type may be used. The same effect can be obtained. In addition, about the intensity of the fragrance of a deodorant or an aromatic,
It can be changed by adjusting the supply amount and frequency, or by adjusting the concentration of the deodorant or fragrance to be used (such as dilution with water).

[0027]

According to the air purifying apparatus of the present invention, both removal of odorous substances and addition of deodorants or fragrances can be performed. The air containing the deodorant or the fragrance is not sucked into the purifying means, and the removal performance of the purifying means is not reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an air purification device showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an air purification device showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the change over time in the residual ratio of tobacco odor when the air purification device of each embodiment of the present invention is operated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Purification means (filter) 2 Perfume supply means (supply means) 3 Air purification device main body 4 Intake port 4a First intake port 4b Second intake port 6 Discharge port 7 Blowing means (fan) 9 Movable fin 9a Movable fin 9b Movable fin

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Yu Fukuda 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Reference) 4C080 AA04 AA05 AA06 BB02 CC01 HH05 KK08 LL02 LL03 MM02 MM04 MM05 QQ17 4D019 AA01 BC05 BC10 CA01 CB03

Claims (4)

[Claims] A purifying means for purifying contaminated air; a supplying means for supplying a deodorant or an aromatic; and an air purifying apparatus main body accommodating the supplying means. An air inlet for introducing air and an outlet for discharging air from inside the device are provided, and the flow of air introduced into the device from the air inlet is switched to one of the purifying means side and the supply means side. An air purification device having switching means. 2. An air inlet comprises a first air inlet for introducing air to the purifying means, and a second air inlet for introducing air to the deodorant or fragrance supply means, and the switching means comprises the first air inlet. The air purification device according to claim 1, wherein air is introduced from one of the one intake port and the second intake port. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching means switches the flow of air introduced into the apparatus to one of the purifying means side and the supply means side by changing an angle of a movable fin provided in the intake port. Air purification device. 4. The filter according to claim 1, wherein the purification unit is a filter composed of at least one of a metal oxide or a composite oxide containing at least one of manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, iron, and nickel, zeolite, activated carbon, and silica gel. 1 to
The air purifying apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 7.