JPH09225238A - Air filter for air cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air filter for an air cleaner which suppresses a proliferation of microorganism collected on the filter and is provided with an antimicrobial performance hardly causing re-contamination. SOLUTION: In the air filter for air purifier, an antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral layer 1, a prefilter layer 2 and an electrostatic filter layer 3 are laminated in order from upstream side. The antimicroibial, antifungal and antiviral layer 1 is composed of a coating film of a resin containing an antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral agent and formed on the prefilter layer 2. And the prefilter layer 2 and a filter layer are composed of a hydrophobic resin fiber which contains the antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral agents.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an air filter used in a home air cleaner or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, air purifiers have been attracting attention as devices for improving air quality in cooperation with the functional fields of conventional air conditioners. In particular, air filters used in air purifiers are required to have the same level of functions as high-performance air filters, and to be smaller and less expensive. Further, recently, from the viewpoint of pursuing comfort, in addition to a dust collecting function, a device having a pollen removal function, a deodorizing function such as a cigarette, and the like is required.

[0003] This type of air filter is used in general households and people whose physical resistance is lowered. Therefore, it is intended to further secure biological cleanliness and safety. There are many requests for antibacterial and antifungal processing. In particular, when the air purifier is not operating, of course, when it is stopped, the dust or bacteria contained in the dust that has been sucked onto the filter surface is easily removed from the filter, and the dust collected by the microorganisms once collected is removed. There is a possibility of contamination.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention provides an air filter for an air purifier, which suppresses the growth of microorganisms collected in the filter and imparts antibacterial performance that hardly causes recontamination. To aim.

[0005]

An air filter for an air cleaner according to the present invention comprises an antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer, a prefilter layer, and a charging filter layer from the windward side with respect to the air flow during operation of the air cleaner. It has a structure in which layers are laminated in order.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As a method of processing an antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent into a filter, there are a method of mixing in a filter fiber and spinning, and a method of forming a filter and attaching a drug to the surface of the fiber. In the former method, an inorganic antibacterial agent is suitable when the spinning temperature is high. However, since the rate of appearance of the inorganic antibacterial agent on the fiber surface of the agent is low, the addition amount of the inorganic antibacterial agent, which is less effective unless it is brought into direct contact with microorganisms, must be increased. On the other hand, in the latter method, the drug is effectively contacted with the microorganism and the processing temperature is low, so that not only an inorganic antibacterial agent but also an organic antibacterial agent can be used. However, in order to attach the drug to the fiber surface,
A coating resin is needed to fix the drug between the fibers. Because the paint resin contains a solvent, its electrical conductivity is low,
Contact with the charging filter deteriorates the charging performance. Therefore, a charging filter is laminated on the prefilter so that the prefilter has a filter strength. Then, a microbial-resistant layer containing an antibacterial agent is provided only on the surface of the pre-filter opposite to the charging filter.

As a direction of introducing air into the filter, first, the antibacterial antifungal antiviral layer provided on the prefilter layer is first contacted. Thereafter, even small microorganisms are charged and collected while passing through the charging filter layer. Microbes floating in the air first contact the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral layer. Since an antibacterial agent such as a thiosulfato silver complex is added to the antibacterial and antifungal antiviral layer, the growth rate of the contacted microorganisms is reduced. After that, the air purifier is stopped, and even if dust on the filter loses its suction power to the filter and the dust comes off from the filter surface, the growth rate of the microorganisms contacting the filter surface due to the action of the antibacterial agent is reduced. The impact on humans is extremely low because of the decrease.

As described above, in the air filter for an air purifier of the present invention, the antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral layer is composed of a resin coating film containing an antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent provided on the prefilter layer. Is preferred. Further, the antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer is preferably separated from the charging filter layer so as not to impair the function of the charging filter layer, particularly when it contains an inorganic antibacterial agent such as silver.

Similarly, in order to prevent electrostatic breakdown due to inflow of water, the pre-filter layer and the filter layer are made of a hydrophobic resin fiber, and the resin containing the antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent is made of a hydrophobic resin. preferable. As the antibacterial and antifungal antiviral agent, silica gel carrying a silver thiosulfato complex is preferable, and further, in order to give sustained release of the drug, the surface is coated with silicon dioxide produced from a reactive organosilicon compound such as alkoxysilane. Partial coating is preferred.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG.
It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the filter for air cleaners by this invention typically. The filter is composed of an antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer 1, a prefilter layer 2, and a charging filter layer 3. The prefilter layer 2 is composed of the prefilter fiber 4, and the antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer 1 is formed only on the prefilter fiber 4 by printing. The antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral layer 1 is composed of a coating film 6 of a resin containing antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent particles 5.

The antibacterial and antifungal antiviral agent used here is a thiosulfato silver complex supported on silica gel and at least a part of the surface thereof is coated with silicon dioxide, which is a hydrolyzate of tetraethoxysilane. This can be produced, for example, as follows. That is, potassium sulfite and potassium thiosulfate were added to an aqueous solution of silver acetate to prepare a silver thiosphato complex salt solution, which had a particle size of 10 μm.
Adsorb on silica gel below and dry. Then, this is added to an ethanol solution of tetraethoxysilane, and water is added to hydrolyze the tetraethoxysilane,
The surface of the silica gel particles is partially covered by the generated silicon dioxide.

The pre-filter layer 2 is composed of a nonwoven fabric of polypropylene fibers 4 having a diameter of about 30 μm, and the charging filter layer 3 is formed on the surface of the nonwoven fabric by melt-blown polypropylene ultrafine fibers. In addition, a printing paint using toluene as a solvent, in which the above-mentioned antibacterial and antifungal and antiviral agent particles 5 are dispersed in an acrylic resin, is prepared. Is printed to form the coating film 6.

This printing paint is colored blue, and depending on the degree of coloring, it is determined whether the coating film of the resin containing the antibacterial antifungal antiviral agent particles 5 is applied only on the side opposite to the charging filter layer 3. It can be used as a quality control method for evaluation.
Furthermore, by using a dye having low fastness as the blue dye, it can be used as an index of filter life.

The results of measuring the antibacterial performance of this filter surface are shown in Table 1. The filter of the comparative example has the same configuration as that described above except that the printing paint containing no antibacterial antifungal antiviral agent particles is used. Microorganisms activated in the logarithmic growth phase were used as the initial number of bacteria, dropped on each filter, and allowed to stand in an atmosphere of 35 ° C. for 18 hours, and the number of surviving bacteria was counted. For viruses, the inactivation rate was defined as the difference in infection concentration between the antibacterial treated filter and the untreated filter. From this result, it can be seen that the filter of the present invention has a practical antibacterial antifungal antiviral performance.

[0015]

[Table 1]

[0016]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the present invention can provide an air filter for an air cleaner that exhibits a stable antibacterial effect that can always maintain cleanliness. Further, even if the dust adhering to the filter intake surface flows back after the operation of the air purifier is stopped, the growth of microorganisms on the filter contact surface is suppressed, so that recontamination of microorganisms from the filter can be prevented. it can. Furthermore, when a thiosulfato silver complex is used as an antibacterial agent, it is highly safe and is unlikely to cause environmental pollution even if the filter is discarded or incinerated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of an air purifier filter according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Antibacterial Antifungal Antivirus Layer 2 Prefilter Layer 3 Charged Filter Layer 4 Prefilter Fiber 5 Antibacterial Antifungal Antiviral Agent Particles 6 Paint Resin for Printing

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Nishino 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An air filter for an air cleaner in which an antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer, a prefilter layer, and a charging filter layer are laminated in this order from the windward side. 2. The air filter for an air cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral layer is a coating film of a resin containing an antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent provided on the pre-filter layer. 3. The air filter for an air cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the antibacterial / antifungal / antivirus layer is separated from the charging filter layer. 4. The air filter for an air cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the pre-filter layer and the filter layer are made of a hydrophobic resin fiber, and the resin containing an antibacterial / antifungal / antiviral agent is a hydrophobic resin. 5. The air filter for an air purifier according to claim 2, wherein the antibacterial antifungal antiviral agent comprises silica gel carrying a silver thiosulfato complex. 6. The air filter according to claim 2, wherein the resin coating film is colored with a dye having low fastness.