JPH08288094A - Alternating current ion generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an alternating current ion generating device, which can desirably set the balance quantity of the positive and the negative air ion to be generated and emitted into the atmospheric air with simple structure at a low cost. CONSTITUTION: In an alternating current ion generating device, the alternating current high voltage is applied from an alternating current high voltage power source 3 between a discharging electrode 1 and a grounding electrode 2 so as to generate and emit the positive and the negative ion. In this alternating current ion generating device, the grounding electrode 2 is coated with an insulating body 16, and this insulating body 16 is partially formed with an exposed position 17 for the grounding electrode 2. Balance quantity of the positive and the negative air ion can be desirably set by appropriately setting position and dimension of the exposed position 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generates an alternating corona discharge in air to generate positive and negative air ions in the atmosphere.
The present invention relates to a discharge type ion generator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An alternating current ion generator includes a discharge electrode,
An AC high voltage is applied from an AC high-voltage power supply between the ground electrode made of a conductive material provided adjacent to this, and an AC corona discharge is generated in the atmosphere. Air ions are generated and emitted alternately. Positive air ions are generated and emitted in a half cycle when a positive voltage is applied to the discharge electrode, and negative air is emitted in a half cycle when a negative voltage is applied. Ions are generated and released.

Since such an AC ion generator is capable of neutralizing the charge of a charged object by positive and negative air ions generated / released in the atmosphere, generally, the charge of the charged body is neutralized. Used to do.

By the way, when such static elimination is performed, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions (the positive and negative air to be generated / released) depends on the required degree of static elimination, the nature of the charged material to be neutralized, the environment, and the like. The relative proportion of the amount of ions) must be set appropriately.

That is, in the case of destaticizing a charged body using the AC type ion generator, generally, when the amount of positive or negative air ions is larger than that of the other, the air ions are increased by the large amount of air ions. The charged body is charged due to the polarity of the ions. Therefore, basically, it is necessary to set the balance amount so that the amount of positive and negative air ions that are alternately generated and emitted is substantially equal. However, in the case of static elimination of a charged body that is easily charged to either positive or negative or in the environment where the positive or negative charge is likely to occur, in order to perform sufficient static elimination of the charged body, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions It is necessary to set so as to be biased to some extent either positive or negative.

In particular, when static elimination is performed in a semiconductor product manufacturing line or the like, a small amount of charge on the charged body is likely to cause problems in manufacturing. It is necessary to surely set the desired balance amount in accordance with the above.

On the other hand, in the AC type ion generator, generally, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions is affected by the value of the positive and negative high voltage applied between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode. The balance amount of positive and negative air ions is not determined only by the positive and negative high voltage values, but is affected by various factors such as the positional relationship between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode and their shapes. Further, even in the case of the AC type ion generator having the same structure, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions may vary due to the manufacturing accuracy of the device.

Therefore, in the conventional AC ion generator, the AC high-voltage power supply is usually constructed so that the positive and negative high voltage values applied between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode can be adjusted. By appropriately adjusting the positive and negative high voltage values, the positive and negative air ion balance amount is set to a desired balance amount.

However, in order to adjust the high voltage applied between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode in this way, the structure of the high voltage power source must be complicated, and also in terms of cost. There was the inconvenience of being expensive.

[0010]

The present invention eliminates such inconvenience, and can set the balance amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released in the atmosphere to a desired balance amount with an extremely simple structure and at low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternating current ion generator that can be used.

[0011]

As a result of various studies, the inventors of the present application have covered a ground electrode made of a conductive material of an AC ion generator with an insulator such as vinyl chloride and grounded the insulator. When the exposed part of the electrode is partially formed, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions is changed depending on the specification of the formation of the exposed part such as the position and size of the exposed part, and the exposed part is appropriately formed. Therefore, it was found that it is possible to set the desired balance amount of the balance amount.

Therefore, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a discharge electrode, a ground electrode made of a conductive material provided adjacent to the discharge electrode, and an AC high voltage between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode. An AC high-voltage power supply for applying an AC corona discharge to generate an AC corona discharge between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode to generate and release positive and negative air ions into the atmosphere. The electrode is covered with an insulator, and the exposed portion of the ground electrode is partially formed on the insulator, and the exposed portion is a ratio of the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released into the atmosphere by the AC corona discharge. Is formed so as to have a predetermined ratio.

The exposed portion is formed at a portion separated from a portion of the insulator facing the discharge electrode.

Further, the insulator is attached to the ground electrode so that a position of the exposed portion with respect to the discharge electrode or a size of the exposed portion can be changed.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the amount of positive and negative air ions is increased by forming the exposed portion of the ground electrode at an appropriate position and size on the insulator provided so as to cover the ground electrode. It is possible to set the ratio (balance amount) to a desired ratio.

In this case, according to the findings of the inventors of the present application,
Rather than providing the exposed portion of the insulator at a portion facing the discharge electrode, it is easier to cause a change in the ratio of the amount of positive and negative air ions due to the formation of the exposed portion if it is provided at a location separated from the facing portion. Therefore, by providing the exposed part at a position separated from the part facing the discharge electrode, it becomes easy to set the ratio of the amount of positive and negative air ions to a desired ratio.

Further, when the position or size of the exposed portion of the insulator is changeable, the position or size of the exposed portion is adjusted so that the proportion of the positive and negative air ions can be adjusted to various proportions. Can be set to.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory configuration diagram of an ion generator of the present embodiment and a charged plate monitor device for performing an operation test of the device, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a part of the ion generator of FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the ion generator of the present embodiment is provided with a plurality of (for example, 13 in this embodiment) needle-shaped discharge electrodes 1 and adjacent to the tip side thereof. A pair of rod-shaped ground electrodes 2 and 2 made of a conductive material, and a plurality of discharge electrodes 1 and an AC high-voltage power supply 3 that applies a high AC voltage between the ground electrodes 2 and 2;
Are arranged in a row at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the handle portion 4 made of a tubular insulating material that holds the protrusions, and project from the inside of the handle portion 4 in a direction orthogonal to the handle portion 4.

A rod-shaped metal core wire 5 is inserted in the center of the handle portion 4, and an insulating tube 6 made of an insulating material is externally inserted in the metal core wire 5. A cable 7 is connected to one end of the metal core wire 5, and the metal core wire 5 is connected to the AC high-voltage power supply 3 via the cable 7. Further, the insulating tubes 6 are fitted with current collecting rings 8 made of the same number of cylindrical conductor materials as the discharge electrodes 1 at positions corresponding to the respective discharge electrodes 1, and between the current collecting rings 8. Similar to the current collecting ring 8, a spacer 9 made of a cylindrical insulating material is externally inserted in the insulating tube 6 and is interposed. Each discharge electrode 1 is fixed with its base end portion electrically connected to the outer peripheral surface of each collector ring 8, and its tip end penetrates the handle portion 4 outside the collector ring 8. It is projected to the outside of the handle 4.

In this case, the insulating tube 6 insulates each current collector ring 8 from the metal core wire 5 with respect to the AC high voltage applied to the metal core wire 5 from the AC high voltage power supply 3 via the cable 7. A capacitor having the tube 6 as a dielectric is formed. As a result, an AC high voltage is applied to each discharge electrode 1 from the AC high voltage power supply 3 via the capacitor. Incidentally, the reason why the capacitor is formed in this way is
This is to prevent an excessive current from flowing through the capacitor when the discharge electrode 1 is erroneously grounded.

The pair of ground electrodes 2 and 2 are provided on both sides of the tip of the discharge electrode 1 so as to extend along the arrangement direction of the discharge electrodes 1, and both ends thereof are outer peripheries of both ends of the handle 4. It is fixed to the flanges 10 and 11 formed on the surface via screws 12. Then, on one flange 11 side, a metal connecting plate 13 extending between the two ground electrodes 2 and 2 is fixed together with the two ground electrodes 2 and 2 by a screw 12, and the metal connecting plate 13 is interposed between the metal connecting plates 13. The ground electrodes 2 and 2 are short-circuited to each other. A ground wire 14 is connected to the metal connecting plate 13, and both ground electrodes 2 and 2 are grounded to an appropriate ground portion 15 via the ground wire 14. The grounding portion 15
The AC high-voltage power supply 3 is also grounded.

A flange 1 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of each ground electrode 2.
A tubular insulator 16 made of, for example, vinyl chloride is inserted over the entire length between 0 and 11. This insulator 16
, A plurality of annular slits 17 (exposed portions) that partially expose each ground electrode 2 are formed at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of each ground electrode 2.

In the present embodiment, each slit 17 is arranged at every two discharge electrodes 1 arranged in a line at equal intervals so as to be located at a central position between the discharge electrodes 1 adjacent to each other. And is formed at a position separated from a portion facing the tip of each discharge electrode 2. In addition, each slit 17
Have the same width. Specifically, the pitch of the discharge electrodes 1 is 25 mm, the pitch of the slits 17 is 50 mm, and the width of each slit 17 is 1 mm. still,
The wall thickness of the tubular insulator 16 is 0.8 mm, and the outer diameter of each ground electrode 2 is 6 mm.

With this arrangement and width, the insulator 16
By forming the slits 17 in, the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released by the ion generator of the present embodiment becomes equal as described later.

Next, the operation of the ion generator of this embodiment and its operation test will be described.

In the ion generator of this embodiment, when the AC high voltage power supply 3 is started, an AC high voltage is applied between each discharge electrode 1 and the ground electrodes 2 and 2 as in the conventional device, and corona discharge occurs. Positive and negative air ions are generated in the atmosphere by the corona discharge, and a part of them is emitted in front of the discharge electrode 1. Then, if a charged body (not shown) is arranged in front of the discharge electrode 1, the charged body is discharged by the positive and negative air ions generated and emitted.

At this time, in the ion generator of the present embodiment, by inserting the insulator 16 having the slit 17 as described above into each ground electrode 2, positive and negative air ions generated and emitted are generated. The amount becomes even, and basically,
The charge of the charged body can be effectively removed.

Here, an operation test conducted by the inventors of the present application on such an ion generator will be described.

In FIG. 1, the reference numeral A indicates the charged plate monitor used in the actual operation test. This charged plate monitor A has a body portion d containing a surface potential measuring device a, a high voltage power source b, a timer c, etc., and a metal plate f mounted on the body portion d via a plurality of insulators e. And a high-voltage power supply b
The plate f can be charged to a desired potential, and the potential of the plate f can be measured by the surface potential measuring device a.
In addition, the plate f is, for example, +1000 V or -1000
From the state of being charged to V, the potential of the plate f is +100.
The time until it decays to V or -100V can be measured by the timer c.

The inventors of the present application conducted the following test using the charged plate monitor A as described above.

That is, first, the metal plate f of the charging plate monitor A is arranged in front of the discharge electrode 1 as shown in FIG. 1, and in this state, the ion generator of this embodiment is operated to make the metal plate f. The potential generated at f (hereinafter referred to as offset voltage) was measured (Test 1). in this case,
The offset voltage is 0 V if the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released is equal, and if it is biased to either positive or negative, the metal plate f is charged by the air ions on the side with a large amount, so that the positive voltage is positive. Alternatively, the voltage becomes negative, and the voltage becomes larger as the deviation of the amount of positive and negative air ions becomes larger.

Next, the inventors of the present application have found that the metal plate f
Was charged to +1000 V, the ion generator of this example was operated, and the time until the potential of the metal plate f was attenuated to +100 V was measured (Test 2). Similarly, the time from when the metal plate f was charged to −1000 V until the potential of the metal plate f was attenuated to −100 V was measured (test 3).

For comparison with the above tests 1 to 3, the inventors of the present invention coated the entire ground electrodes 2 and 2 with a slit-free vinyl chloride insulator (Comparative Example 1). ) And the case where the whole of the ground electrodes 2 and 2 is exposed without inserting the insulator 16 into the ground electrodes 2 and 2 (Comparative Example 2), the same tests as the tests 1 to 3 are performed. went.

Table 1 shows the test results of these tests 1 to 3. In all the tests, the number of discharge electrodes 1 and the like are as described above, and the AC high voltage applied between the discharge electrode 1 and the ground electrodes 2 and 2 is ± 7 kV.

[0036]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, in the present embodiment,
The offset voltage is 0 V, which indicates that the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released is equal. On the other hand, in Comparative Examples 1 and 2, the offset voltage is a negative voltage and a positive voltage, respectively. This means that the balance amount of positive and negative air ions is negative and positive, respectively. It shows that it is biased to. From this, in the present embodiment, the slits 17 exposing the ground electrodes 2 and 2 are formed in the insulator 16 as described above, so that the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released is equalized. It turns out that it can be anything.

Further, looking at the decay times of the tests 2 and 3, in the case of the present embodiment, since the positive and negative air ions are equal in amount, when the metal plate f is positively charged. The decay time of the charging potential is almost the same between (Test 2) and when negatively charged (Test 3). On the other hand, in Comparative Examples 1 and 2, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions is biased to the negative side or the positive side, so that the metal plate f is positively charged (Test 2). And when negatively charged (test 3), the decay time of the charged potential is relatively different. For example, in Comparative Example 1, since the balance amount of positive and negative air ions is biased to the negative side, the decay time when the metal plate f is positively charged (Test 2) is short, but the metal plate is made of metal. When plate f is negatively charged (Test 3)
The decay time of is relatively long.

From the above, according to the ion generator of this embodiment, when the charged body (not shown) is discharged, regardless of whether the charged body is positively or negatively charged, the charge is eliminated in a relatively short time which is almost the same. It turns out that can be done.

In this embodiment, the slits 17 are formed so that the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released is equal, but the position or width of the slits 17 (the size of the exposed portion of the ground electrode 2 is large). By setting the
It is also possible to set the balance amount different from that of the present embodiment, such as biasing the positive / negative air ion balance amount to the positive side or the negative side. In this case, although test data is omitted here, for example, if the width of the slit 17 is made smaller or larger than that of the present embodiment, the slit 17 will be omitted.
The amount of balance of positive and negative air ions changes depending on the width of the ground electrode, that is, the size of the exposed portion of the ground electrode 2.

Further, in the present embodiment, the slit 17 is formed at a position separated from the position facing the tip of the discharge electrode 1, but according to various studies by the inventors of the present application, the slit 17 is formed.
Is formed at a location facing the tip of the discharge electrode 1, even if the width of the slit 17 is changed, positive and negative air ions are compared with the conventional case in which the entire ground electrode 2 is exposed. It is difficult for the balance amount to change. This is because a difference in discharge state between the discharge electrode 1 and the ground electrode 2 is unlikely to occur between the case where the slit 17 is formed at a position facing the tip of the discharge electrode 1 and the conventional case where the entire ground electrode 2 is exposed. It is thought to be because. Therefore, in order to set the balance amount of positive and negative air ions to a desired balance amount, it is preferable to form the slit 17 at a position separated from the position facing the tip of the discharge electrode 1 as in the present embodiment. .

Next, another example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory configuration diagram of the ion generator of the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG.

The ion generator of this embodiment is different from the ion generator of the above-mentioned embodiment only in the structure of the insulator inserted into the ground electrode, and the other structures are the same. Therefore,
In the following description, the same components as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the ion generator of this embodiment, tubular insulators 18, 18 made of, for example, vinyl chloride are inserted over the entire length of the ground electrodes 2, 2 and each insulator 18 is A single slit 19 (exposed portion of the ground electrode 2) is formed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction. Each insulator 18 is rotatably attached to each ground electrode 2. In this case, the thickness of the insulator 18 is 0.8 mm, which is the same as that of the insulator 16 of the above-described embodiment, and the width of the slit 19 is 1 mm.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the flange 11 is provided with a scale indicating the rotational position of the slit 19 when the insulator 18 is rotated.

In such an ion generator, when an AC high voltage is applied from the AC high voltage power supply 3 between the discharge electrode 1 and the ground electrodes 2 and 2 to generate and release positive and negative air ions, an insulator is used. By rotating 18 to set the slit 19 at an appropriate rotation position, various balance amounts of positive and negative air ions can be set.

Here, a test conducted by the inventors of the present application showing this will be described.

The inventors of the present application conducted a test similar to the above-mentioned tests 1 to 3 on the ion generator of this embodiment using the above-mentioned charged plate monitor A (see FIG. 1), and conducted the slit of the insulator 18. 19 was set at various rotational positions, and the offset voltage and the decay time of each charging potential when the metal plate f was positively and negatively charged were measured. The AC high voltage applied between the discharge electrode 1 and the ground electrodes 2 and 2 is ± 7 kV. Table 2 shows the test results. In Table 2, the rotational position of the slit 19 is represented by the scale value shown in FIG.

[0049]

[Table 2]

As is apparent from Table 2, the offset voltage indicating the balance amount of positive and negative air ions changes depending on the rotational position of the slit 19, and for example, the slit 19
It can be seen that when the rotational position of is set to the position of the scale value "5" in FIG. 5, the amount of positive and negative air ions can be made substantially equal. Then, at the position of the scale value "5", the amount of positive and negative air ions becomes substantially equal, so that the metal plate f of the charging plate monitor A is positively charged and negatively charged. Therefore, the decay time of the charging potential becomes almost equal.

FIG. 5 showing the rotational position of the slit 19.
In the range of the scale value of "0" to "5", the offset voltage changes in the negative voltage range of approximately 0 to -80V, so the rotational position of the slit 19 is set to the scale values of "0" to "5".
The offset voltage is set to 0
It can be seen that the balance amount of positive and negative air ions can be set to a desired balance amount biased to the negative side in the range of -80 V. Similarly, when the scale value is in the range of "5" to "7", the offset voltage changes in the positive voltage range of approximately 0 to + 360V, so the rotational position of the slit 19 is set to the scale values of "5" to "7". It is understood that the balance amount of the positive and negative air ions can be set to a desired balance amount biased to the positive side in the range where the offset voltage is 0 to +360 V by appropriately setting the range.

As described above, according to the ion generator of the present embodiment, various balance amounts of positive and negative air ions can be set by setting the slit 19 at an appropriate rotational position.

In this embodiment, the position of the slit 19 is made variable so that various balance amounts of positive and negative air ions can be set. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. In the ion generator of such a configuration,
By inserting the insulator 16 into the ground electrode 2 slidably and sliding the insulator 16, the width of the slit 17 exposing the ground electrode 2 is made variable, and the size of the exposed portion of the ground electrode 2 is changed. It is also possible to make the height variable so that various balance amounts of positive and negative air ions can be set.

In each of the embodiments described above,
Although vinyl chloride was used as the insulators 16 and 18 for covering the ground electrode 2, other insulators such as tetrafluoroethylene and polycarbonate may be used.

Furthermore, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the ion generator having a plurality of discharge electrodes 1 has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an ion generator having a single discharge electrode. Is.

[0056]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the AC ion generator of the present invention, the ground electrode is covered with the insulator, and the exposed portion of the ground electrode is partially formed in the insulator. This makes it possible to properly adjust the position and size of the exposed portion of the ground electrode without using a complicated and expensive structure such as a mechanism for adjusting the voltage value of the AC high voltage applied between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode. Only by setting, the ratio of the amount of positive and negative air ions generated / released, that is, the balance amount can be set to a desired value with an extremely simple and inexpensive configuration.

By forming the exposed portion of the ground electrode formed on the insulator at a portion separated from the portion of the insulator facing the discharge electrode, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions can be accurately and effectively desired. Can be set to the balance amount.

Furthermore, by mounting the insulator on the ground electrode so that the position or size of the exposed portion formed on the insulator can be changed, the balance amount of positive and negative air ions can be set to various balance amounts. Therefore, for example, when the charged body is discharged by using the ion generator of the present invention, it is possible to perform the effective charge removal with the optimum balance amount for removing the charged body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory configuration diagram of an AC ion generator according to an example of the present invention and a charged plate monitor device for performing an operation test of the ion generator.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a part of the ion generator of FIG. 1 in a cutaway manner.

3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory configuration diagram of an AC ion generator according to another example of the present invention.

5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Discharge electrode, 2 ... Ground electrode, 3 ... AC high voltage power supply, 1
6, 18 ... Insulator, 17, 19 ... Slit (exposed portion of the ground electrode).

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An AC high voltage for applying an AC high voltage between the discharge electrode, a ground electrode made of a conductive material provided adjacent to the discharge electrode, and the discharge electrode and the ground electrode to generate an AC corona discharge. In an AC ion generator that includes a power source and generates and emits positive and negative air ions into the atmosphere by an AC corona discharge between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode, the ground electrode is covered with an insulator and The exposed part of the ground electrode is partially formed, and the exposed part is formed so that the ratio of the amount of positive and negative air ions generated and released into the atmosphere by the AC corona discharge becomes a predetermined ratio. Characteristic AC ion generator. 2. The AC ion generator according to claim 1, wherein the exposed portion is formed at a portion separated from a portion of the insulator facing the discharge electrode. 3. The grounding electrode according to claim 1, wherein the insulator is attached to the ground electrode so that a position of the exposed portion with respect to the discharge electrode or a size of the exposed portion can be changed. AC ion generator.