JPH06104179B2 - Air cleaner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The air purifier of the present invention is used alone or as a unit constituting a part of a system in the air conditioning field for domestic use or industrial use.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional air purifiers are equipped with a dust remover that captures fine particles in the air and an adsorbent such as activated carbon. Indoor air is supplied to the dust remover and the adsorbent to remove fine particles and odorous components mixed in the air. Many of them have a function of returning the removed air to the room again. However, adsorbents such as activated carbon have a limited adsorption capacity, and the limit is reached (breakthrough) in a relatively short period of time, leading to a state where the effect cannot be exhibited. In this case, the adsorbent is usually replaced with a new one, but it may still be used without replacement.

In order to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-21719 proposes an invention in which an adsorbent that has reached a breakthrough is regenerated by washing the adsorbent with a previously prepared cleaning liquid.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above-mentioned conventional equipment has a drawback that the adsorbent breaks through in a short period of time and requires maintenance for replacement. Also in the invention of JP-A-61-21719 mentioned above, it is necessary to replenish the cleaning liquid and dispose of the used cleaning liquid,
Although it is considered that the time interval of maintenance can be extended, it is not a drastic solution to maintenance-free.

If the adsorbent that has passed through is used without replacement,
Operating the air purifier produces the worst result, which has the adverse effect of dissipating the odorous components from the adsorbents inside the machine into the room. Further, if the adsorbent containing the adsorbent is left for a long period of time, molds and bacteria may grow on the adsorbent, which is also a serious problem.

In addition, the adsorbent that has been used in air purifiers has been
Basically, it has only an adsorbing effect on a limited substance, and its capacity is not completely in agreement with the purpose of air cleaning. For example, in the case of activated carbon, which has been used most often in the past, it is possible to remove these substances from pollutants generated under normal conditions of use, such as carbon monoxide from cigarettes and stoves, carbon dioxide gas emitted by human respiration, etc. Is almost equal to zero.

Means for Solving the Problems A blower, an air flow path connected to the blower, an air port looking into the indoor space and the outdoor space at the end of the air flow path, and a gas flowing through the air flow path directly The adsorbent that comes into contact, a heater that heats the adsorbent, a flow path conversion unit that changes the air flow path in the air flow path, and at least the flow path conversion unit and the heater are controlled, and At least three operating modes are converted: a cleaning mode for cleaning the indoor air supplied to the adsorbent, a regeneration mode for desorbing the adsorbent of the adsorbent and discharging it outside the room, and a ventilation mode for exchanging indoor air and outdoor air. An air purifier having a motion converting means is constructed.

Function In the cleaning mode, the air flow is connected to the blower to guide the indoor air to the dust remover and the adsorbent, and the air is blown back into the room. In the regenerating mode, the adsorbent is heated, and a flow path connected to the blower is carried out so that the substance desorbed from the adsorbent is placed on the air flow and discharged outside the room. In the ventilation mode, the flow path connected to the blower performs a blowing operation to guide indoor air to the outside or outdoor air to the room.

In the above cleaning mode, the particulates and odorous components mixed in the room air supplied to the dust remover and the adsorbent are removed, respectively, and returned to the room to clean the room air. In the regeneration mode, the adsorbent is heated to desorb the adsorbed components and release them outside the room.
The adsorbent is regenerated, and the adsorption function can be maintained for a long time by repeating the regeneration mode at appropriate intervals. Further, in the ventilation mode, by exchanging the indoor air and the outdoor air, it is possible to remove carbon monoxide and the like that can be ventilated and the adsorbent does not exert its effect.

In addition, heating the adsorbent in the regeneration mode simultaneously exerts an effect of sterilizing and disinfecting molds and bacteria, so that the problem is completely solved by performing the regeneration mode at appropriate intervals.

Example An example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body case, which includes an indoor suction port 2, an indoor exhaust port 3,
The outdoor exhaust pipe 4 and the outdoor exhaust port 5 are provided. A sirocco fan type blower 6 is driven by a fan motor 7. Reference numeral 8 is a flow path converter, and the position shown by the solid line is the position in the cleaning mode, and changes to the position 8'shown by the dotted line in the regeneration mode and the ventilation mode. 9
Is a prefilter, 10 is a discharge line, 11 is a charging filter, and 12 is an earth net. The prefilter 9, the discharge line 10, the charging filter 11 and the earth net 12 constitute a dust removing unit A. Reference numeral 13 is an adsorbent, which is composed of activated carbon as a main component and a heat-resistant inorganic binder mixed to form a honeycomb shape. 14 is the inner case. 15 is a heater operating in playback mode
It is a magnetron that supplies microwaves at 2450 MHz.
The inner case 14 and the earth net 12 have a function of blocking the above microwaves inside thereof, and the microwaves do not leak to the outside.

Next, the operation status of this embodiment will be described.

The operation of this embodiment has three kinds of operation modes, and is performed by controlling the heater 15 and the flow path converter 8 by an operation converter (not shown).

First, in the cleaning mode, the blower 6 and the flow path converter 8 cause the air flow path inside the machine to flow through the flow path indicated by the one-dot chain line arrow, and first, the dust removal unit A captures particulate matter mixed in the air. Then, the adsorbent 13 adsorbs and removes the odorous substances in the air, and the cleaned air is returned to the room. Next, in the regeneration mode, the position of the flow path converter 8 is changed to the position shown by 8 ', so that the air flow path becomes an arrow shown by a chain line, and the magnetron of the heater 15 is operated. The microwave supplied from the magnetron heats the adsorbent, desorbs the odorous components and water adsorbed by the adsorbent from the adsorbent, releases the air along the air flow, and regenerates the adsorbent. In the ventilation mode, the air flow path becomes the flow path indicated by the solid line arrow, and the magnetron is stopped. A part of the indoor air is forcibly discharged to the outside as indicated by a solid arrow, and is ventilated by supplying the outdoor air to the room through a separately provided ventilation port (not shown).

The above-mentioned heater 15 may be a heater other than a magnetron suitable for heating the adsorbent 13 (for example, an electric heater or the like), but according to the microwave heating supplied from the magnetron, an unnecessary portion can be used. It is possible to obtain high thermal efficiency because it is heated very little, and because it has a high energy potential, it can be heated to a high temperature in a short time, and when heated with a magnetron with an output of 500 W, Adsorbent temperature is 150 in 5 minutes
It is observed that the temperature reaches ℃ and the regeneration is completed, and that a part of the activated carbon particles emits a minute flash to discharge. On the other hand, in the case of heating with the hot air from the sheathed heater of the same input, it took 18 minutes to complete the regeneration. In the above regeneration of the adsorbent, about 32% of the adsorbent used itself is regenerated under optimum conditions separately from the equipment, but no particular problem occurs by regenerating at a proper interval.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION First, the effect of the present invention is that the adsorbent 3 can be easily regenerated to maintain the air cleaning effect for a long period of time. Regeneration of this adsorbent can be performed by a simple manual operation, but since it may be possible to enter the regeneration mode before the adsorbent reaches breakthrough, it is performed by programmed automatic operation at appropriate operating time intervals. Alternatively, a suitable sensor may be used and automated by a signal indicative of proximity to the breakthrough resulting from the adsorbent. Therefore, it can be effectively used for a long period of time without maintenance.

Secondly, when the adsorbent that has passed through is used without replacement, the conventional defect that the odor component is generated from the adsorbent by driving the air cleaner and the conventional defect that mold and bacteria propagate on the adsorbent are solved. Is effective.

Thirdly, since the air purifier of the present invention also has a ventilation function, there is an effect that even a pollutant that does not have an adsorbent removing effect can be cleaned by ventilating it. Functions have been added.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an air cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 ... Indoor intake port, 3 ... Indoor exhaust port, 4 ... Outdoor exhaust pipe, 5 ... Outdoor exhaust port, 6 ... Blower, 8 ... Flow path converter, 9 ... Prefilter, 10 ... Electric wire, 11 …… Charging filter, 12 …… Earth net, 13 …… Adsorbent, 15 …… Heater.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An air blower, an air flow path connected to the air blower, an air port looking into an indoor space and an outdoor space at an end portion of the air flow path, and an adsorption that directly contacts a gas flowing in the air flow path. Agent, a heater for heating the adsorbent, a flow path conversion means for changing the air flow path in the air flow path, and at least the flow path conversion means and the heater are controlled to the adsorbent. Operation conversion means for converting at least three operation modes: a cleaning mode for cleaning the indoor air to be supplied, a regeneration mode for desorbing the adsorbent of the same adsorbent and discharging it outside the room, and a ventilation mode for exchanging indoor air and outdoor air. Air purifier with. 2. The air purifier according to claim 1, wherein the heater is a microwave generator that supplies microwaves to the adsorbent.