JP3517646B2 - Humidifier and method for subdividing bubbles in humidifier - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a humidifier and a method for subdividing air bubbles in the humidifier, and more particularly to a humidifier for ejecting compressed air into water and humidifying the air using the generated air bubbles. And a method for subdividing bubbles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional humidifier, a so-called high-concentration humidifier that promotes separation of water vapor from the water surface by heating water or vibrating the water with ultrasonic waves, There is a so-called middle-concentration type humidifier that ejects compressed air into water to generate bubbles and takes water vapor into the bubbles before the bubbles reach the water surface. The present invention relates to the latter medium concentration type humidifier.

A conventional medium-concentration humidifier 20 has a cross section, as shown in FIG. 5, which comprises a water reservoir 1 for accommodating water and a pipe having a considerable number of through holes arranged at the bottom of the water reservoir 1. The air ejection means 2 is provided. When compressed air is ejected from the through hole of the pipe 2 to generate bubbles 8, the bubbles 8 rise in water toward the water surface 4 and take in water vapor during the rise. When the bubbles 8 reach the water surface 4, water vapor is released from the bubbles 8 toward the vapor pool 6. The water vapor is then released from the vapor reservoir 6 into the atmosphere through the outlet 9 of the humidifier to humidify the atmosphere.

[0004]

In order to enhance the moisturizing effect, it is necessary to incorporate as much water vapor into the bubbles 8 as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the time during which the bubbles come into contact with water, and to reduce the size of the bubbles 8 to increase the surface area. However, since the bubbles 8 rise almost vertically when ejected into water, the contact time with water is limited by the height of the water reservoir 1.

On the other hand, a porous body 7 such as a sponge is attached to the pipe 2 to cover the through hole. by this,
The bubble 8 immediately after the jet is made small. However, since the size of the bubble 8 has the property of becoming smaller when the water pressure is high,
The small bubbles 8 immediately after jetting gradually become larger as they rise, and expand greatly like the bubbles 8a near the water surface 4, and since the water vapor is difficult to evaporate at the bottom of the water reservoir 1 where the water pressure is high, it enters the bubbles. Since the amount of water vapor taken in is better as it gets closer to the water surface 4, even if the bubble 8 is made smaller, the amount of water vapor taken in the bubble 8 is actually small. In addition, as the bubble 8 becomes larger, the buoyancy acting on the bubble 8 increases and the rising speed of the bubble 8 increases, so that the bubble 8
The contact time with water becomes short, and the amount of water vapor taken in is also small from this point.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to prolong the contact time of bubbles with water in a water reservoir having a limited height.
Can give small bubbles even near the water surface,
A humidifier and a method for subdividing air bubbles in the humidifier.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following structure. Summary of the Invention in a first aspect, a basin containing water, and compressed air injection means located at the bottom of the basin, is ejected from the compressed air injection means, disposed rise path of bubbles rising in water A cell subdivided layer, and the cell subdivided layer is a spherical particle.
An additional feature characterized by being composed of granular layers in which the bodies are arranged in layers.
Exists in a moisturizer . The gist of the invention according to claim 2 is the granular material.
The outer diameter of the bubble is about 6.4 times the diameter of the bubble or less.
It exists in the humidifier of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. The gist of the invention according to claim 3 is that it is housed in a water reservoir of a humidifier.
It is a method of subdividing the bubbles of compressed air that jets into
The bubbles from the granular layer in which spherical granular particles are arranged in layers.
It is characterized in that the
It lies in the method of subdividing air bubbles in a moisturizer.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, parts having substantially the same functions as those of conventional parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIG. 1 in a sectional view and FIG. 2 schematically showing a rising path of water, the humidifier 10 has a water reservoir 1 for accommodating water and a jet of compressed air arranged at the bottom of the water reservoir 1. And means 2.

The water reservoir 1 has a steam outlet 9 at the center of the top. The water reservoir 1 is generally composed of a compressed air jetting means 2 and a bubble subdivision layer 3a, which will be described later, for the convenience of installation in the water reservoir 1.
Although it is formed by two container parts which are divided into an upper part and a lower part, and the two container parts are joined together with a packing interposed, they are shown as one body in the figure.

In the illustrated embodiment, the compressed air ejecting means 2 is composed of a pipe having one end covered, and a considerable number of through holes 2a are formed in the portion of the pipe 2 located in the water reservoir 1 to form a compressed air ejection port. Has become. When using the humidifier 10,
The other end of the pipe 2 is connected to a compressed air source (not shown) such as a compressor. It is not necessary to attach the porous body 7 shown in FIG. 5 to the pipe 2.

The humidifier 10 has a bubble subdivision layer 3a arranged in a rising path 5b of bubbles 5a which are jetted from the compressed air jetting means 2 and rise in water. In the illustrated embodiment, the cell subdivision layer 3a is composed of a granular layer in which glass spheres 3 having substantially the same diameter are arranged in layers.

Compressed air is supplied to the compressed air jetting means 2,
When compressed air is ejected from the through hole 2a, bubbles 5a are generated. While the bubbles 5a rise toward the water surface 4,
It passes through the slits between the glass spheres 3 in the bubble subdivision layer 3a arranged on the ascending path 5b, and is divided into a number of fine bubbles 5. The fine bubbles 5 thus split take in water vapor inside. When the fine bubbles 5 that have taken in the water vapor reach the water surface 4, they release the water vapor into the water vapor reservoir 6. The released water vapor is discharged from the water vapor reservoir 6 into the water outlet 1 of the water reservoir 1.
After being released into the atmosphere, it humidifies the atmosphere.

As can be seen from the above description, the bubble subdivision layer 3a creates a slit through which the bubbles 5a pass. Therefore, when the cell subdivision layer 3a is formed of a granular layer, the individual particles of the granular layer may have any shape as long as they can form a slit, and may be a polyhedron other than a spherical shape. it can. However, it is preferred that the individual grains of the grain layer are spherical, as the surface area of the sphere will be greatest at the smallest diameter.

Next, the process of forming the fine bubbles 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, when three glass spheres 3 having the same radius r ₂ (diameter d ₂ ) are in contact with each other, a circle (radius r which is in contact with the three glass spheres in a space surrounded by the three glass spheres 3 has a radius r ₁ , the diameter d ₁ ) is the same as the cross section of a sphere formed by surface tension when air passes between the glass spheres 3 in water, and {(r ₁ + r ₂ ) / r ₂ } = 2 / √3 The relationship is established. Therefore, d ₁ = {(2 / √3) -1} d ₂ . This means that when the diameter d ₂ of the glass sphere 3 is determined, the diameter d ₁ of the fine bubbles 5 is determined.

Next, the passing state between the glass balls 3 will be described with reference to FIG. Large bubbles 5c are glass balls 3,
When passing through 3, the fine bubbles 5 having a diameter d ₁ {(2 / √3) -1} times the diameter d ₂ of the glass sphere 3 are generated and rise. Even if the fine bubbles 5 expand in the process of rising, since the glass spheres 3 are arranged in layers, the diameters d ₁ of the fine bubbles 5 are substantially the same until they pass through the layer.
As a result, the smaller the diameter d ₁ of the fine bubbles 5, the larger the total surface area, and the larger amount of water vapor can be taken into the fine bubbles 5. In addition, when the bubbles 5a pass between the glass balls 3 and 3, as shown in FIG. 2, the bubbles 5a become fine bubbles 5 while moving not only in the upward direction but also in the left and right directions. Becomes longer and the contact time of the fine bubbles 5 with water becomes longer. From this point as well, the amount of water vapor taken into the fine bubbles 5 increases.

As is apparent from the above,
Bubbles 5a ejected from the through holes 2a of the compressed air ejection means 2
When the diameter of is greater than or equal to the diameter d _{1 of the} circle that is in contact with the three glass spheres 3 in the space surrounded by the three glass spheres 3, the bubbles 5a are divided and become the fine bubbles 5, It is possible to generate a plurality of fine bubbles 5 from one bubble 5a. The fine bubbles 5 generated in this way are kept at a substantially constant diameter d ₁ until they have passed through the narrow gap between the glass balls 3, 3 arranged in layers.

On the contrary, the diameter of the bubble 5a ejected from the through hole 2a of the compressed air ejecting means 2 is the diameter d _{1 of the} circle which is in contact with the three glass spheres 3 in the space surrounded by the three glass spheres 3. When it is smaller, the bubbles 5a pass through the narrow gaps between the glass balls 3 and 3. In this state, the fine bubbles 5 are not generated due to the splitting of the bubbles 5a. The bubble 5a passing through between the glass balls 3 and 3 gradually expands in volume as the water pressure decreases while rising along the ascending path 5b, so that the diameter becomes d ₁ or more at a certain ascending position. Then, the cells are split according to the above-mentioned points to form the fine bubbles 5.

[0019] The expression that indicates the relationship between the diameter d ₂ of the diameter d ₁ and the glass bulb 3 of fine bubbles 5, shows that the diameter d ₂ of the glass bulb 3 is restricted by the diameter d ₁ of the fine bubbles 5 There is. That is, since d ₂ ≈6.4d ₁ , the diameter d ₂ of the glass sphere 3 is preferably set to about 6.4 times the diameter d ₁ of the fine bubbles 5 or less. As a result, the fine bubbles 5 having a large intake of water vapor can be obtained.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the method of subdividing the compressed air bubbles according to the present invention is to subdivide the compressed air bubbles 5a ejected into the water stored in the water reservoir 1 of the humidifier 10. Yes, the bubbles 5a are raised through the bubble subdivision layer 3a. Then, the fine bubbles 5 reduced in the bubble subdivision layer 3a are obtained.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the cell subdivision layer 3a is a particle layer, and the particles in the particle layer are the glass spheres 3. As the particles in the particle layer, it is possible to select a substance that is inert to water, such as a ceramic sphere, a plastic sphere, or an aluminum sphere. Further, as the cell subdivision layer 3a, a cylindrical body layer such as a cylindrical column or a polygonal column can be used. That is,
1 so that the axis of the cylinder extends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG.
A considerable number of cylinders are arranged in the water reservoir 1 to form the cell subdivision layer 3a.

The height of the bubble subdivision layer 3a, that is, the fine bubbles 5
The range that can obtain the
Can be arbitrarily selected as long as

[0023]

According to the present invention, the bubbles ejected from the compressed air ejecting means become fine bubbles and the fine bubbles are kept substantially the same size while passing through the bubble subdivision layer. Therefore, the contact area with water becomes large, and more water vapor can be taken in. Further, when rising as fine bubbles, the fine bubbles move not only in the upward direction but also in the left and right directions, so that the moving time of the fine bubbles becomes long, and from this point, more water vapor can be taken in. As a result, the amount of water vapor released from the humidifier can be increased and the humidifying effect can be enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a rising path of bubbles.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a theoretical size of fine bubbles.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a state in which bubbles become fine bubbles and pass between two glass balls.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional humidifier.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 pool 2 Compressed air ejection means 2a through hole 3 glass balls 3a Cell subdivision layer 4 water surface 5 Micro bubbles 5a bubbles 5b climbing path 5c big bubbles 6 Steam pool 7 Porous body 8 bubbles 8a bubbles 9 outlet 10 Humidifier according to the present invention 20 Conventional humidifier

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Richard C. Ali United States California 95076 Watsonville Westridge Drive 200 Sierra Thermo Productions Furnace Incorporated (72) Inventor Thomas Earl. Stewart United States California 95076 Watsonville Westridge Drive 200 Sierra Thermo Productions in Furnace Incorporated (56) References JP 10-201847 (JP, A) JP 9-70435 (JP, A) JP JP 8-24606 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24F 6/00-6/18

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A water reservoir for containing water, a compressed air ejection means arranged at the bottom of the water reservoir, and an air bubble subdivided layer arranged in an ascending path of bubbles emanating from the compressed air ejection device and rising in water. And the cell subdivision layer is a particle layer in which spherical particles are arranged in layers.
A humidifier characterized by comprising. 2. The outer diameter of the granules is about the diameter of the bubbles.
6. The size is 6.4 times or less, and the size is 1.
Humidifier described in. 3. The pressure that is jetted into the water stored in the water reservoir of the humidifier.
A method for subdividing air bubbles of condensed air, which comprises a particle layer in which spherical particles are arranged in layers.
Humidifier characterized by rising through a cell subdivision layer
Method for subdividing bubbles in.