JP4407223B2 - Electrostatic atomizer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrostatic atomizer.

Conventionally, as an electrostatic atomizer, the liquid accumulated in the liquid reservoir is transported by capillary action in a transport section composed of a porous material, and a high voltage is applied between the liquid application electrode and the counter electrode by the voltage application section. Conventionally, a solution in which the liquid transported by the transport unit is charged and atomized is known. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
In the conventional use of electrostatic atomization, water is sprayed and deodorized substances such as indoor air and indoor walls are deodorized by a mist with the name of an active species (hydroxy radical, superoxycide, etc.). It was. In that case, immediately after putting the liquid into the liquid reservoir, it took time until the transport section sucked up the liquid in the liquid reservoir and atomized it, so that quick atomization is desired.

  Here, when the deodorization in the space is performed periodically, if the liquid to be atomized is water, the transport unit is wet with water when used while the water is in the liquid reservoir. Atomization can be started without the need for time, but when atomizing a liquid containing aroma oil or other agents, the user should atomize the favorite scent every time. Since a liquid containing a favorite agent is put in the liquid reservoir part before use, it takes time as described above until the liquid is transported by the transport part and atomization is started. In addition, aroma oils are always vaporized or oxidized, so they are rarely used after being used in the reservoir. Moreover, liquids with different viscosities, such as water and aroma oil, are transported by a transport section made of the same porous material. However, in the case of a porous material having a pore size that causes capillary action suitable for water, different aroma oils, etc. There is a problem in that the capillary phenomenon does not occur optimally in the viscous liquid, and efficient transport due to the capillary phenomenon cannot be performed.

For these reasons, there is a demand for an electrostatic atomizer capable of sucking and atomizing various types of liquids having different viscosities as soon as possible in the transport unit.
Japanese Patent No. 3260150

  The present invention has been invented in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and can quickly suck and atomize a highly viscous liquid in the transport section. Also, even when using various kinds of liquids having different viscosities, the present invention is efficient. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic atomizer capable of sucking up a liquid.

In order to solve the above problems, an electrostatic atomizer according to the present invention includes a transport unit 2 that transports liquid from a liquid reservoir 1 and a counter electrode that is disposed so as to face the liquid transport direction of the transport unit 2. 3, a liquid application electrode 4 for applying a voltage to the liquid in the path from the liquid reservoir 1 to the counter electrode side tip of the transport unit 2, and a high voltage between the liquid application electrode 4 and the counter electrode 3. In an electrostatic atomizer having a voltage applying unit 6 to be applied and capable of using various types of liquids having different viscosities , the conveying unit 2 has a substantially straight line formed of a hollow portion extending from the lower part to the upper part, and has different widths. A plurality of elongate slit-shaped suction paths 5 are arranged side by side.

  By adopting such a configuration, the liquid is sucked up by the capillary phenomenon in the substantially straight suction path 5 formed in the transport unit 2 and can be quickly transported to the upper end of the transport unit 2.

Furthermore , by arranging a plurality of elongated slit-like suction paths 5 having different widths in parallel, a plurality of suction paths 5a, 5b, 5c, The suction path 5 having an optimum or near optimum width exists in any of 5d, so that the liquid can be conveyed quickly and efficiently.

  In the present invention, the liquid is sucked up by the capillary phenomenon in the substantially straight suction path formed in the transport section and can be quickly transported to the upper end of the transport section.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the electrostatic atomizer includes a liquid reservoir portion 1, a rod-shaped transport portion 2 made of a plurality of porous materials whose lower ends are immersed in a liquid placed in the liquid reservoir portion 1, and The liquid application electrode 4 for holding the conveyance unit 2 and applying a voltage to the liquid, and held by a holding unit 12 made of an insulator, are opposed to the distal ends of the plurality of rod-shaped conveyance units 2. The counter electrode 3 is provided with a counter electrode 3 and a voltage applying unit 6 for applying a high voltage between the liquid applying electrode 4 and the counter electrode 3. Both the counter electrode 3 and the liquid applying electrode 4 are carbon. It is made of a synthetic resin mixed with a conductive material such as, or a metal such as SUS.

  The transport unit 2 is formed of a porous material in a rod shape, and in this embodiment, the transport unit 2 is made of ceramic particles having a particle size of 2 to 500 μm, and the pores in the gaps are arranged in an open cell shape with 1 to 250 μm. It is formed. The upper end of the transport section 2 is a needle-shaped atomizing section 9 that is pointed like a needle, and a plurality of, in the illustrated example, six rod-shaped transport sections 2 are attached to the liquid application electrode 4. The plurality of rod-shaped transport units 2 are arranged at equal intervals on a concentric circle centered on the center 10 of the liquid application electrode 4, and the upper part of each transport unit 2 projects above the liquid application electrode 4, The lower part protrudes downward from the liquid application electrode 4 so as to come into contact with the liquid stored in the liquid reservoir 1.

  The counter electrode 3 has an opening 11 in the center, and the edge of the opening 11 has the same diameter centered on each needle-like atomizing section 9 at the upper end of the plurality of transport sections 2 when viewed from above. A plurality of arcs R are smoothly connected. The counter electrode 3 is grounded, the voltage application unit 6 is connected to the liquid application electrode 4 to apply a high voltage, and the transport unit 2 formed of a porous material is put in the liquid reservoir 1 by capillary action. When the liquid is being sucked up, the needle-like atomizing section 9 at the upper end of the transport section 2 functions as a substantial electrode on the liquid application electrode 4 side, and the arc R of the counter electrode 3 functions as a substantial electrode. Is. The voltage application unit 6 is preferably one that can provide an electrolytic strength of 500 V / mm or more, particularly 700 to 1200 V / mm.

  Then, by applying a high voltage between the conveying unit 4 and the counter electrode 3 by the voltage applying unit 6, the liquid at the tip of the conveying unit 4 is charged and atomized by the high voltage to generate nano-sized mist. The nano-sized mist generated in this way contains active species, and the nano-sized mist containing the active species is generated by, for example, the nano-sized mist containing the active species when delivered to the room. It is possible to remove the odor adhering to the indoor wall surface.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is characterized in that a substantially straight siphoning path 5 composed of a hollow portion extending from the lower portion to the upper portion is formed in the transport portion 2.

  In other words, in the case where the substantially straight suction path 5 is not provided as in the prior art, as shown in FIG. 4, the inside of the pores connected in the form of open cells in the transport section 2 made of a porous material is randomly selected. In particular, it takes time for the liquid to reach the needle-like atomizing unit 9 at the upper end of the conveying unit 2 at the time of rising. The liquid is sucked up by the capillary phenomenon in the suction path 5 and can quickly reach the needle-like atomization section 9 at the upper end of the transport section 2. In addition, the arrow in a figure shows the conveyance path of a liquid.

  Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a plurality of elongated slit-shaped suction paths 5 (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) having different widths are arranged in parallel in the transport unit 2. In place of the plurality of elongated slit-shaped suction paths 5 having different widths, a plurality of substantially circular suction paths 5 having different diameters may be provided.

  Here, the liquid suction by the suction path 5 having a different width or diameter will be described. First, in the case of the elongate slit-shaped suction path 5, in order to suck up the liquid to a certain predetermined height h (m), the slit width may be set to d (m) shown in the mathematical formula 1.

In Equation 1, σ (N / m) is the surface tension coefficient, θ (deg) is the contact angle, g (m / s ² ) is the gravitational acceleration, and ρ (kg / m ³ ) is the liquid Density. The liquid is sucked higher than a predetermined height h (m) by setting the slit width to be equal to or less than d (m). However, if the slit width is decreased, the transport area (that is, the transport amount) is decreased, and thus the d (m ) It is good to be about. At this time, the liquid is sucked up in the slit-shaped suction path 5 and rises linearly, and can quickly reach the needle-like atomizing portion 9 at the upper end. In addition, in the case of the siphoning path 5 having a substantially circular shape, the diameter may be set to d (m) shown in the mathematical formula 2. However, the other codes in Equation 2 are the same as those in Equation 1.

As can be seen from these equations, the optimum slit width or diameter d (m) varies depending on the amounts σ (N / m), θ (deg), and ρ (kg / m ³ ) depending on the liquid. It depends on the liquid. Therefore, when a plurality of types of liquids are used, a plurality of types of siphoning paths 5 having different slit widths or diameters in advance (this book) are present so that there exists a siphoning path 5 having an optimal or near optimal slit width or diameter for each liquid. In the embodiment, four types of siphoning paths 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) are provided. In this way, for example, when using various liquids such as aroma oils, each aroma oil has different properties such as viscosity and density (i.e., σ, θ, ρ). The suction path 5 having an optimum or near-optimal width or diameter is present in any one of the paths 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d, and the liquid is quickly and efficiently supplied to the needle-like atomization unit 9. It can be transported.

The conveyance part of one Embodiment of this invention is shown, (a) is a plane sectional view, (b) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view. It is a plane sectional view of the conveyance part of other embodiments. It is a disassembled perspective view of an electrostatic atomizer. The conveyance part of the conventional electrostatic atomizer is shown, (a) is a plane sectional view, (b) is a longitudinal section.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid storage part 2 Conveyance part 3 Counter electrode 4 Liquid application electrode 5 Suction path 6 Voltage application part

Claims (1)

A voltage is applied to the liquid in the path extending from the liquid reservoir to the counter electrode side of the transport unit, the counter electrode disposed so as to oppose the liquid transport direction by the transport unit, and the transport electrode. In an electrostatic atomizer capable of using various types of liquids having different viscosities , including a liquid application electrode for applying a liquid and a voltage application unit for applying a high voltage between the liquid application electrode and the counter electrode. An electrostatic atomizer comprising a plurality of elongated slit-like suction paths arranged in a straight line, each having a hollow portion extending from the lower part to the upper part, and having different widths .

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