JP5778991B2 - Gas generator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gas generator, and more particularly to an apparatus for generating a gas such as chlorine dioxide or carbon dioxide by a chemical reaction.

  An apparatus that generates gas by mixing a plurality of chemical substances is known. For example, the devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below are for generating chlorine dioxide gas having sterilizing and deodorizing functions. The apparatus described in Patent Document 1 generates stabilized chlorine dioxide gas by contacting gelled stabilized chlorine dioxide and granular citric acid, while the apparatus described in Patent Document 2 uses sodium chlorite powder and acidic liquid. Contact to generate chlorine dioxide gas.

JP 2009-256141 A JP 2009-234877 A

  Incidentally, in addition to chlorine dioxide gas used for sterilization and the like, gas is used for various purposes in daily life. For example, carbon dioxide has an action of sucking mosquitoes and is used to attract and capture mosquitoes.

  Conventionally, when liquids are mixed and gas is generated by a liquid-liquid reaction, it is difficult to control the amount of gas generated due to high reactivity. In the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the amount of gas generated can be controlled to some extent by making the chemical substance to be mixed into a gel, granule, or powder.

  However, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 needs to drop the granular citric acid onto the upper surface of the gel-like stabilized chlorine dioxide by generating vibration when generating chlorine dioxide gas. On the other hand, the device described in Patent Document 2 is a type in which a bag containing sodium chlorite powder is opened, the powder is placed in a container, and an acidic liquid is injected therein. A large amount of gas is generated, and thereafter the amount of gas generated decreases within a short time.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, and it aims at providing the gas generator which can produce gas stably over a long period of time compared with the past.

  A gas generator according to the present invention includes a first container that contains a first liquid, a second container that contains a second liquid, a first liquid-absorbing part that contacts the first liquid, A second liquid-absorbing part that comes into contact with the second liquid, and a liquid-absorbing material having a transpiration part that generates a gas by a chemical reaction between the first liquid and the second liquid.

  In the gas generator, the first liquid and the second liquid are supplied to the transpiration unit through the first liquid absorption unit and the second liquid absorption unit. For this reason, even if vibration etc. are not given, the liquid-liquid reaction by the 1st liquid and the 2nd liquid advances gradually in a transpiration | evaporation part, and can generate | occur | produce gas sufficiently stably over a long period of time. Since the gas is stably generated, the concentration of the generated gas can be sufficiently controlled within a desired range in an environment where the gas is to be generated.

  The gas generated by the gas generator can be chlorine dioxide or carbon dioxide. When the generated gas is chlorine dioxide, the first liquid may be an aqueous solution of chlorite, while the second liquid may be an aqueous solution of an acidic substance. When the generated gas is carbon dioxide, the first liquid may be an aqueous solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate, while the second liquid may be an aqueous solution of an acidic substance.

式中、Ｗ１は水を目一杯吸収させた後の吸液材の質量（ｇ）；Ｗ０は水を吸収させる前の吸液材の質量（ｇ）；ρは水の密度（ｇ／ｃｍ^３）；Ｖは吸液材の見かけ体積（ｃｍ^３）をそれぞれ示す。 The liquid absorbent material is preferably made of a porous material having a porosity of 20 to 80%. By adopting such a configuration, sufficient liquid absorbability can be secured in the liquid absorption part, and clogging is caused even if a reaction product such as salt accumulates in the evaporation part due to a chemical reaction between the first liquid and the second liquid. Can be sufficiently prevented. The “porosity” in the present invention means a value calculated by the following formula.

In the formula, W1 is the mass (g) of the liquid-absorbing material after fully absorbing water; W0 is the mass (g) of the liquid-absorbing material before absorbing water; ρ is the density of water (g / cm ³ V represents the apparent volume (cm ³ ) of the liquid-absorbing material.

  The mode of the gas generator may be either a so-called upright type or an inverted type. The upright gas generator further includes a container holding body for holding the first container and the second container, and the first container and the second container respectively have openings into which the liquid absorbing material is inserted upward. And the transpiration unit may be arranged above the first container and the second container. The inverted gas generator further includes a container holding body for holding the first container and the second container, and the first container and the second container each have an opening for discharging the liquid below, It can be set as the aspect by which the part was arrange | positioned under the 1st container and the 2nd container.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to stably generate gas over a long period of time compared to the prior art.

1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment (upright type) of a gas generator according to the present invention. It is an exploded view which shows the structure of the gas generator shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows 2nd embodiment (inverted type) of the gas generator which concerns on this invention. It is an exploded view which shows the structure of the gas generator shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the other aspect of the container applicable to the gas generator which concerns on this invention. It is a graph which shows the result of an Example and a comparative example.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

<First embodiment>
The gas generator 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes first and second containers 1 and 2 that respectively contain first and second liquids, first and second liquid-absorbing portions 3a and 3b, and gas. The liquid-absorbing material 3 having a transpiration portion 3c that forms a reaction field for a chemical reaction to be generated, and a container holder 5 that holds the containers 1 and 2 are provided. The gas generator 10 is a so-called upright type, and the transpiration unit 3 c is disposed above the containers 1 and 2.

  The containers 1 and 2 shown in FIG. 2 are for storing the first and second liquids, respectively, and are arranged in the container holder 5. What is necessary is just to set suitably each internal volume of the containers 1 and 2 according to the kind of gas to be generated, a place of use, etc. The material for the containers 1 and 2 is not particularly limited as long as the liquid does not leak, and may be plastic, paper, metal, ceramic, glass, or the like. Here, although the cylindrical thing was mentioned as the containers 1 and 2, the shape of the containers 1 and 2 is not limited to this.

  The containers 1 and 2 have openings 1a and 2a for inserting the liquid absorbing portions 3a and 3b of the liquid absorbing material 3, respectively. The openings 1a and 2a are preferably configured to be closed by caps 1b and 2b, respectively (see FIG. 2). By adopting such a configuration, after the gas generator 10 is manufactured, conveyance or the like can be performed with the caps 1b and 2b attached.

  What is necessary is just to select suitably the 1st and 2nd liquid each accommodated in the containers 1 and 2 according to the gas to generate | occur | produce. Examples of the gas to be generated include chlorine dioxide and carbon dioxide.

  When generating chlorine dioxide, the first liquid may be an aqueous solution of chlorite, while the second liquid may be an aqueous solution of an acidic substance. Specific examples of the aqueous solution of chlorite (first aqueous solution) include an aqueous solution of an alkaline metal salt of chlorite (eg, sodium chlorite), an alkaline earth metal salt (eg, calcium chlorite), and the like. Can be mentioned. Specific examples of the aqueous solution of the acidic substance (second aqueous solution) include citric acid aqueous solution, malic acid aqueous solution, tartaric acid, phosphoric acid, ascorbic acid and the like. Among these, from the viewpoint of ease of handling and safety, An aqueous solution of an edible organic acid such as an acid aqueous solution, malic acid aqueous solution or tartaric acid is more preferable.

  What is necessary is just to set suitably the density | concentration of the aqueous solution of a chlorite, and the aqueous solution of an acidic substance according to the density | concentration, duration, etc. of the chlorine dioxide to generate | occur | produce. When the gas generator 10 is used, for example, at home or in a hospital, the concentration of the aqueous solution of chlorite may be about 0.5 to 15% by mass, and the concentration of the aqueous solution of acidic substance is also 0.1. What is necessary is just to set it as about 5-15 mass%.

  When generating carbon dioxide, the first liquid may be an aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate, while the second liquid may be an aqueous solution of an acidic substance. As the aqueous solution of the acidic substance (second aqueous solution), the same solution as that used for generating chlorine dioxide may be adopted. What is necessary is just to set suitably the density | concentration of the aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate, and the aqueous solution of an acidic substance according to the density | concentration, duration, etc. of the carbon dioxide to generate | occur | produce. When the gas generator 10 is used, for example, at home or in a hospital, the concentration of the aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate may be about 0.5 to 10% by mass, and the concentration of the aqueous solution of acidic substance is also 0.5. What is necessary is just about 10 mass%.

  In the liquid absorbing material 3, the liquid absorbing portions 3a and 3b serve to suck up the liquid from the containers 1 and 2 and supply the liquid to the transpiration portion 3c, respectively, and the transpiration portion 3c performs the chemical reaction by the first and second liquids. Play a role as a place. As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid absorbing parts 3a, 3b extend from one surface (lower surface) of the flat plate-like transpiration unit 3c in the normal direction of the surface, and are inserted from the openings 1a, 2a of the containers 1, 2. And has a length that reaches the bottom surfaces 1c and 2c. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a frame 4 (for example, made of plastic) for protecting the transpiration portion 3 c may be provided on the peripheral portion of the transpiration portion 3 c.

  The liquid absorbing parts 3a, 3b and the transpiration part 3c constituting the liquid absorbing material 3 may be made of the same material or different materials. Furthermore, the material of the liquid absorbing part 3a and the liquid absorbing part 3b may be different from each other in accordance with the characteristics (for example, viscosity) of the first and second liquids.

  The material of the liquid absorbing parts 3a and 3b is not particularly limited as long as the liquid can be sucked up from the containers 1 and 2 by capillarity so that two kinds of liquid can be supplied to the transpiration part 3c. A porous material such as an organic material such as pulp or an inorganic material such as glass can be used. A preferred example of the porous material is a nonwoven fabric made of pulp or resin material. As the resin material, one kind selected from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylic resin (PA), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) may be used alone, or two or more kinds may be used in combination.

  The liquid absorbing parts 3a and 3b may each be made of a plurality of materials. For example, the liquid-absorbing parts 3a and 3b are made of pulp as a main raw material and bonded with a binder, and have a structure in which tissue-like pulp materials, non-woven fabrics, etc. are pasted on the front and back surfaces for surface strength and shape retention. Also good. Also, by holding the first and second liquids in the liquid absorption parts 3a and 3b, respectively, the held liquid is supplied to the transpiration part 3c at the same time as the start of use, and transpiration is achieved in a short time. A chemical reaction may occur in the portion 3c.

  Parameters such as the porosity, density, or size of the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the porous material constituting each of the liquid absorbing portions 3a and 3b are appropriately set according to various conditions such as the viscosity of the liquid and the height of the containers 1 and 2. That's fine. The numerical ranges of these parameters are preferably set to the following levels from the viewpoint of efficiently sucking the liquid from the containers 1 and 2 and stably supplying the liquid to the transpiration unit 3c.

That is, the porosity of the liquid absorption parts 3a and 3b is preferably 20 to 80%, more preferably 30 to 80%. The density of the liquid absorbing parts 3a and 3b is preferably 0.15 to 0.4 g / cm ³ . Liquid absorbing portion 3a, the cross-sectional size of 3b is preferably 3～300Mm ^2, more preferably 12~120mm ^2. In addition, the cross-sectional shape of the liquid absorption parts 3a and 3b is not limited to a circle, and may be a rectangle, an ellipse, a polygon, or the like.

As a material of the transpiration | evaporation part 3c, the thing similar to the above-mentioned liquid absorption parts 3a and 3b is employable. From the viewpoint of preventing clogging even if a reaction product accumulates in the transpiration unit 3c by chemical reaction of two kinds of liquids, the porosity of the transpiration unit 3c is preferably 20 to 80%, more preferably. 30 to 80%. From the same viewpoint, the basis weight of the transpiration portion 3c is preferably 200 to 2000 g / m ² , more preferably 400 to 1600 g / m ² , and the thickness is preferably ² to 20 mm, more preferably 2 to 2 mm. 16 mm.

  The evaporating part 3c may be configured to be detachable from the liquid absorbing parts 3a and 3b inserted into the openings 1a and 2a of the containers 1 and 2. By adopting such a configuration, when the accumulation of the reaction product in the transpiration unit 3c becomes significant, it can be replaced with a new transpiration unit 3c.

  The container holder 5 is for holding the containers 1 and 2 integrally. As shown in FIG. 2, the container holding body 5 has a shape corresponding to the shape of the outer surface of the containers 1 and 2 so that the containers 1 and 2 are not displaced when the containers 1 and 2 are accommodated. It has become.

  According to the gas generator 10, the liquids stored in the containers 1 and 2 are supplied so as to ooze out to the transpiration unit 3c through the liquid absorption part 3a and the liquid absorption part 3b, so that the liquid generator 10 is sufficiently stable and A gas can be generated in the transpiration | evaporation part 3c over a long period of time.

<Second embodiment>
The gas generator 20 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 includes first and second containers 11 and 12 that store first and second liquids, a liquid absorbing material 13, and a container holding that holds the containers 11 and 12, respectively. And a body 15. The gas generator 20 is a so-called inverted type, and the liquid absorbing material 13 is disposed below the containers 11 and 12.

  The containers 11 and 12 are for containing the first and second liquids, respectively, and are arranged on the container holding body 15. The internal volume of each of the containers 11 and 12 may be set as appropriate depending on the type of gas to be generated and the place of use. The material for the containers 11 and 12 is not particularly limited as long as the liquid does not leak, and may be plastic, paper, metal, ceramic, glass, or the like. Although the container 11 and 12 have a shape in which the hemisphere is further divided into half, the shape of the containers 11 and 12 is not limited to this.

  The containers 11 and 12 have openings 11a and 12a on the lower side for discharging the contained liquid and allowing the liquid absorbing material 13 to penetrate. The openings 11a and 12a are preferably configured to be closed by caps 11b and 12b, respectively (see FIG. 4). By adopting such a configuration, after the gas generator 20 is manufactured, conveyance or the like can be performed with the caps 11b and 12b attached.

  What is necessary is just to select suitably the 1st and 2nd liquid accommodated in the containers 11 and 12 according to the gas to generate | occur | produce, respectively. Examples of the gas to be generated include chlorine dioxide and carbon dioxide as in the first embodiment described above, and the first and second liquids may be the same as those in the first embodiment described above.

  The liquid absorbing material 13 has a flat plate shape and is disposed so as to simultaneously cover the openings 11 a and 12 a of the containers 11 and 12. In the present embodiment, the regions 13a, 13b and the region 13c surrounded by broken lines in FIG. 4 correspond to the two liquid absorption parts and the transpiration part, respectively. That is, the regions 13a and 13b in the liquid absorbing material 13 are regions facing the openings 11a and 12a of the containers 11 and 12, respectively, and the region 13c is a region in which two kinds of liquids are mixed to cause a reaction.

  The liquid absorbing material 13 is made of a material that can exchange gas and liquid. The “material that can exchange gas and liquid” here means that the liquid in the containers 11 and 12 penetrates the liquid absorbing material 13 and is discharged to the outside of the containers 11 and 12. It means a material capable of suppressing gas inside the containers 11 and 12 from being introduced with gas such as air that has penetrated into the liquid absorbing material 13 from the outside and excessively negative pressure inside the containers 11 and 12. Specific examples of such a material include the same material as the liquid-absorbing material 3 in the first embodiment described above, and among these, it is preferable to employ a porous material using PET or PA.

What is necessary is just to set suitably the porosity of the porous material which comprises the liquid absorbing material 13, a fabric weight, thickness, etc. according to various conditions, such as the viscosity of a liquid, and the internal volume of the containers 11 and 12. From the viewpoint of preventing the liquid from flowing out from the openings 11a and 12a and allowing the chemical reaction to sufficiently proceed in the liquid absorbing material 13, the porosity of the liquid absorbing material 13 is preferably 20 to 80%, more preferably 30 to 30%. 80%. From this viewpoint and the viewpoint of preventing clogging even if reaction products accumulate in the region 13c due to the chemical reaction of two kinds of liquids, the basis weight of the liquid absorbing material 13 is preferably 200 to 2000 g / m ² . More preferably, it is 400-1600 g / m < ² >, and thickness is preferably 2-20 mm, More preferably, it is 2-16 mm. In addition, when accumulation of reaction products in the region 13c in the liquid absorbing material 13 becomes significant, the liquid absorbing material 13 may be replaced with a new one.

  The liquid absorbing material 13 may be made of the same material as a whole and have substantially uniform physical properties, or a specific region (region 13a, region 13b or region 13c) may be formed of a material different from other regions. Or may be set to a different porosity or thickness. For example, two raised portions corresponding to the shapes of the openings 11a and 12a of the containers 11 and 12 are provided on one surface of the liquid absorbing material 13, and the openings 11a and 12a of the containers 11 and 12 are fitted into these raised portions. You may be able to do it.

  The container holding body 15 integrally holds the containers 11 and 12 and the liquid absorbing material 13 and plays a role as a stand. The container holding body 15 includes a holding portion 15a having a shape corresponding to the shape of the bottom of the containers 11 and 12 and the shape of the liquid absorbing material 13, and a stand portion 15b provided below the holding portion 15a. By disposing the liquid absorbing material 13 and the containers 11 and 12 on the holding portion 15a, these positional deviations do not occur. A plurality of through holes 15c are formed in the holding portion 15a, and gas is released to the outside through these.

  According to the gas generator 20, the liquid stored in the containers 11 and 12 is supplied so as to ooze into the liquid absorbing material 13, so that the liquid absorbing material 13 (particularly the region) is sufficiently stable and long-term. A gas can be generated in 13c).

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the first embodiment, the flat plate-shaped transpiration unit 3c is exemplified, but the shape of the transpiration unit 3c is not particularly limited as long as the reaction field can be sufficiently secured. For example, a rod-shaped porous material may be processed into an inverted U shape, and the portions extending upward from both ends may be inserted into the containers 1 and 2 to form a liquid absorbing portion, and the portion extending in the lateral direction may be a transpiration portion.

  Moreover, although the gas generator 10 which concerns on said 1st embodiment set it as the structure provided with the container holding body 5, when the liquid absorbing material 3 or the protective frame 4 was equipped with the function to hold | maintain the containers 1 and 2 integrally, The container holder 5 may not be used.

  Further, the two containers (the first container and the second container) do not have to be separate. For example, the first container and the second container are placed in the container by partitioning the inside of the container. It may be defined. The first container 21 and the second container 22 shown in FIG. 5 are defined by partitioning the inside of the container constituting the apparatus main body 25 with a partition plate 25a. An erecting gas generator can be configured by disposing the transpiration unit above the apparatus main body 25 in the state shown in FIG. Also in this case, the container holder may not be used. An inverted gas generator can be configured by inverting the top and bottom from the state shown in FIG.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example and a comparative example demonstrate this invention further in detail, this invention is not limited to a following example.

Example 1
An apparatus having the same configuration as that of the gas generator shown in FIG. A sodium chlorite aqueous solution (concentration 13.4% by mass, 100 mL) was placed in one container, and a citric acid aqueous solution (concentration 7.5% by mass, 100 mL) was placed in the other container. As a liquid absorbing material, a member constituted by a liquid absorbing part (two) made of a composite material of PP and PE and a transpiration part made of a transpiration paper made of pulp was prepared. The composite material had a diameter of 8 mm and a porosity of 70%. The transpiration paper was pigeon sheet XCA (trade name, manufactured by Oji Kinocross Co., Ltd.), and had a thickness of 12 mm and a basis weight of 1200 g / m ² .

  After the sodium chlorite and the citric acid aqueous solution were respectively stored in the two containers, the liquid absorption part was inserted into each opening of the two containers. Thereafter, this apparatus was stored under conditions of a temperature of about 25 ° C., humidity, and no wind, and the concentration of chlorine dioxide gas was measured every predetermined number of days. The concentration of chlorine dioxide gas is determined by accommodating the device in a 4 L internal volume desiccator each time and allowing it to stand for a certain period of time, and then letting the air in the desiccator flow into GASTEC (registered trademark) GV-100 and gas detector tube (No. .8H, 23M, 23L, manufactured by Gastec Corporation). Note that a small fan was housed in the desiccator together with the apparatus, and the air in the desiccator was convected by the small fan for 3 minutes prior to concentration measurement.

(Examples 2 and 3)
A device was made in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the concentrations of the sodium chlorite aqueous solution and the citric acid aqueous solution were changed, and the concentration of the generated chlorine dioxide gas was measured. Table 1 shows the concentrations of the sodium chlorite aqueous solution and the citric acid aqueous solution.

(Comparative Example 1)
Chlorine dioxide gas was generated by adding 5.4 g of a citric acid-containing gelling agent to 100 mL of an aqueous sodium chlorite solution having a concentration of 10% by mass. The citric acid-containing gelling agent was prepared by allowing a water-absorbing polymer to absorb a sufficient amount of citric acid.

  FIG. 6 shows changes over time in chlorine dioxide gas generated from the apparatuses according to Examples 1 to 3 and Comparative Example 1.

  As a result of the experiment, Examples 1 to 3 maintained a stable chlorine dioxide concentration for 14 days, whereas in Comparative Example 1, the chlorine dioxide concentration decreased greatly after 5 days and decreased thereafter. Continued. From this, it was found that the gas generator according to the present invention can generate gas stably over a sufficiently long period of time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 11, 21 ... 1st container, 2, 12, 22 ... 2nd container, 1a, 11a ... Opening of 1st container, 2a, 12a ... Opening of 2nd container, 3, 13 ... Liquid absorption Material, 3a, 3b ... liquid absorption part, 3c ... transpiration part, 5, 15 ... container holder, 10, 20 ... gas generator, 13a, 13b ... area (liquid absorption part), 13c ... area (transpiration part).

Claims (4)

A first container containing a first liquid;
A second container containing a second liquid;
A first liquid-absorbing part that contacts the first liquid, a second liquid-absorbing part that contacts the second liquid, and a gas generated by a chemical reaction between the first liquid and the second liquid are generated. A liquid-absorbing material having a transpiration portion to be
A gas generator comprising:   The gas generator according to claim 1, wherein the gas is chlorine dioxide or carbon dioxide.   A container holder for holding the first container and the second container; the first container and the second container each have an opening in which the liquid absorbing material is inserted; The gas generator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a transpiration unit is disposed above the first container and the second container.   A container holder for holding the first container and the second container; the first container and the second container each have an opening for discharging liquid; The gas generator according to claim 1, wherein the gas generator is disposed below the first container and the second container.

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