JP2008183217A - Sterilizer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sterilizer capable of activating a photocatalyst even in a wide range such as a gas or the like and performing sufficient sterilization. <P>SOLUTION: The sterilizer is equipped with a UV pipe 4 for emitting ultraviolet rays, a photocatalytic powder 5 and a photocatalytic powder driving means 3 for whirling a photocatalytic powder 5 in the periphery of the UV pipe 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sterilizer, and more particularly to a sterilizer that performs sterilization using UV (ultraviolet light) or a photocatalyst.

Conventionally, it is known that photocatalysts such as ultraviolet rays and TiO ₂ have a sterilizing effect and a sterilizing effect.

  For example, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, a medical device to which pathogenic microorganisms are attached is immersed in a liquid for mixing containing photocatalytic titanium oxide, nitric acid and alcohol, and then sterilized and washed by irradiating with UV. Is disclosed.

  Thus, conventionally, a sterilization method by UV irradiation and a sterilization method in which photocatalytic titanium oxide is activated by UV irradiation have been known.

JP 2003-339826 A

  However, the conventional sterilization and sterilization methods described above have the following problems.

  That is, in the sterilization method using only UV irradiation, the sterilization power is insufficient, and there are bacteria that survive.

  Further, as in the invention described in Patent Document 1, even in the case of a sterilization method in which photocatalytic titanium oxide is activated by UV irradiation, only sterilization in the vicinity of the portion to which photocatalytic titanium oxide is attached can be performed. When the range of sterilization targets is wide, such as when sterilizing gas, there is a problem that a sufficient sterilization effect may not be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sterilizer that can activate a photocatalyst even in a wide range such as a gas and can perform sufficient sterilization. To do.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention includes a UV tube that emits ultraviolet light, a photocatalytic powder, and a photocatalytic powder driving unit that moves the photocatalytic powder around the UV tube.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the photocatalytic powder driving means is a stirring fan that causes the photocatalytic powder to be swung by the generated air flow.

  The present invention also includes a main body having the UV tube and the photocatalytic powder in an internal space, a suction pipe for sucking gas into the internal space of the main body, and a discharge pipe for discharging gas from the internal space of the main body. It is characterized by comprising.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the suction pipe has a suction fan for sucking gas into the internal space of the main body.

  Further, the present invention provides a filter that does not leak the photocatalytic powder from the internal space of the main body at the boundary between the suction pipe and the internal space of the main body and the boundary between the suction pipe and the internal space of the main body. It is characterized by that.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that a reflecting surface is provided on the inner wall of the internal space of the main body.

  Moreover, the present invention is characterized in that the reflecting surface is a random surface.

Moreover, the present invention is characterized in that the photocatalytic powder is TiO ₂ powder.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a sterilization apparatus that can activate a photocatalyst even in a wide range such as a gas and can perform sufficient sterilization.

  In addition, according to the present invention, a high-efficiency oxidation sterilization apparatus with low power can be provided, and a larger amount of gas can be sterilized by using a multi-type including a plurality of UV tubes.

In addition, since TiO ₂ itself is harmless and safe, the sterilization apparatus according to the present invention is a safe apparatus as compared with the case of sterilization with chemicals.

  Moreover, since the present invention can be realized with a simple configuration, the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced and can be realized at low cost.

  Further, the present invention can be realized at low cost because each component used is inexpensive and the number of components is small.

  In addition, the present invention can be realized in a light weight.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a sterilizer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a side view that is cut out so that the inside can be seen.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the sterilization apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a main body 2 having a space inside, a suction pipe 8 that sucks a gas to be sterilized into the main body 2, and a discharge that discharges sterilized gas. And a tube 9.

Further, in the main body 2, a stirring fan 3 that stirs the gas in the space, a UV tube 4 that emits UV (ultraviolet light), and a photocatalytic powder (for example, powdered TiO ₂ ) 5. And are provided. The stirring fan 3 is preferably provided in the lower part of the main body 2, and the UV tube 4 is preferably provided on a path through which the gas to be sterilized passes.

  A suction fan 10 for sucking a gas to be sterilized is provided in a pipe line of the suction pipe 8. The suction pipe 8 sucks a gas to be sterilized from the outside by the suction fan 10, and Supply to the space. The sterilized gas existing in the space in the main body 2 is discharged from the discharge pipe 9 with the suction of the gas from the outside by the suction fan 10.

  A filter 8 a is provided at the boundary between the suction pipe 8 and the main body 2, and a filter 9 a is provided at the boundary between the main body 2 and the discharge pipe 9. Further, a filter 3 a is provided at the boundary between the lower part of the stirring fan 3 in the main body 2 and the space in the upper part of the main body 2. These filters 8a, 9a, and 3a serve to stop the photocatalytic powder 5 from leaking out of the space in the main body 2. For example, the filter 8a, 9a, 3a has a finer metallicity than the photocatalytic powder 5 ( For example, a SUS net or cloth or paper filter can be used. However, in order to allow the gas flow through the suction pipe 8 and the discharge pipe 9 and the air flow by the stirring fan 3 to pass therethrough, air permeability is provided. It is necessary to use one with

  The stirring fan 3 is driven by a power source 6 to generate an air flow, stirs the gas in the main body 2, and causes the photocatalytic powder 5 to float randomly in the gas.

  The UV tube 4 is driven by a power source 7 to emit UV light. A reflection surface 2a is provided on almost the entire inner wall of the main body 2, and the UV light emitted from the UV tube 4 is repeatedly reflected on the reflection surface 2a. As the reflecting surface 2a, aluminum foil or the like may be attached, but it is desirable that the reflecting surface 2a be a random surface on which the irradiated UV is irregularly reflected. In this case, an aluminum foil may be used as a ridge.

For example, the photocatalytic powder 5 such as TiO ₂ receives UV irradiated from the UV tube 4 and receives UV reflected by the reflecting surface 2a to generate active oxygen such as OH radical and superoxysite anion. To do.

The gas containing bacteria is supplied to the space in the main body 2 through the suction pipe 8 by the suction fan 10. In the space inside the main body 2, the bacteria in the gas adhere to the photocatalytic powder 5 such as TiO ₂ and are sterilized by a strong oxidizing power.

  Next, the principle of sterilization in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a view showing a state of the photocatalytic powder 5 floating around the UV tube 4 in the sterilization apparatus 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the photocatalytic powder 5 flying in the air by the stirring fan 3 moves randomly in the space in the main body 2 and also rotates, so that UV irradiation from the UV tube 4 is applied to the entire surface. Can be received efficiently.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how gas is sterilized in the sterilization apparatus 1 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

As is generally well known, the band gap energy of TiO ₂ which is the photocatalytic powder 5 is 3.2 [eV]. In addition, the energy of light is expressed by Equation 1. For this reason, as the UV irradiated by the UV tube 4, one that satisfies the conditional expression 2 is adopted so that its energy exceeds the band gap energy of TiO ₂ .

なお、数１および数２において、ｈ：プランク定数、ν：光の振動数、ｃ：光の速度、λ：光の波長である。

In Equations 1 and 2, h: Planck's constant, ν: frequency of light, c: speed of light, and λ: wavelength of light.

When an ultraviolet ray having a wavelength of about 390 nm, for example, that satisfies the conditional expression 2 is irradiated, electrons and holes are generated in TiO ₂ .

The generated electrons 21 combine with oxygen in the gas to generate superoxysite anions (O ₂ ⁻ ). Moreover, the hole from which the electron 21 is removed becomes a hole (H ⁺ ), which is combined with water molecules in the gas to generate OH radicals (OH ^* ).

The active oxygen such as O ₂ ⁻ and OH ^* generated in this way is combined with bacteria adhering to TiO ₂ and floating bacteria to perform strong oxidative sterilization. In addition, since the lifetime of active oxygen is as short as about 10 ⁻⁶ sec, the bactericidal effect is enhanced when bacteria are attached to TiO ₂ .

  In the above-described embodiment, the photocatalytic powder 5 is made to fly by the air flow generated by the stirring fan 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the main body 2 is continuously rotated. The photocatalytic powder 5 may be caused to flutter using the free fall of the photocatalytic powder 5 in the main body 2 or may be caused to flutter by applying vibration.

  In the above embodiment, only one UV tube 4 is provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of UV tubes may be provided. A large amount of gas can be sterilized.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the sterilizer by one embodiment of this invention, and is notched and shown so that the inside can be seen. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state of the photocatalytic powder 5 floating around the UV tube 4 in the sterilization apparatus 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows a mode that gas is sterilized in the sterilizer 1 of embodiment shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sterilizer 2 Main body 2a Reflecting surface 3 Stirring fan 3a Filter 4 UV tube 5 Photocatalytic powder 6 Power source 7 Power source 8 Suction tube 8a Filter 9 Discharge tube 9a Filter 10 Suction fan 20 Bacteria 21 Electron

Claims (8)

  A sterilizing apparatus comprising: a UV tube that emits ultraviolet light; a photocatalytic powder; and a photocatalytic powder driving unit that moves the photocatalytic powder around the UV tube.   The sterilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photocatalytic powder driving means is a stirring fan that causes the photocatalytic powder to be swung by the generated airflow.   A main body having the UV tube and the photocatalytic powder in an internal space; a suction pipe for sucking gas into the internal space of the main body; and a discharge pipe for discharging gas from the internal space of the main body. The sterilizer according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above.   The sterilizer according to claim 3, wherein the suction pipe has a suction fan for sucking gas into the internal space of the main body.   A filter that prevents the photocatalytic powder from leaking from the internal space of the main body is provided at a boundary between the suction pipe and the internal space of the main body and a boundary between the suction pipe and the internal space of the main body. The sterilizer according to claim 3 or 4.   The sterilizer according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein a reflective surface is provided on an inner wall of the internal space of the main body.   The sterilizer according to claim 6, wherein the reflecting surface is a random surface. The sterilizer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the photocatalytic powder is TiO ₂ powder.

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