JPH118044A - Air conditioner or air cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To adjust a generation quantity of an ion by an ion sensor and perform clear display. SOLUTION: This conditioner is provided with a high voltage generating circuit and a ventilating fan 9 in a housing, comprises a radiation electrode 17 for ion generation at a ventilation path from a suction port 4 to a spit hole 6, an ion sensor 21 is provided at the ventilation path on the leeward side of this radiation electrode 17, comprises a control part for regulating a generation quantity of an ion through a signal from this ion sensor 21, a display part 15 is provided on a surface of the above housing, an ion quantity is displayed based on a signal from the ion sensor 21 so that the ion generation quantity can be automatically adjusted, and a user can recognize a current ion quantity by an ion lamp 38 of the display part 15. Since a abnormality is judged based on the signal so as to stop the above high voltage generating circuit, a high voltage coil or other parts are minimized from being destroyed by heating or insulation failure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to incorporating an ion generator for generating negative ions into an air conditioner or an air purifier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It has been known that negative ions have a good effect on the human body, and they are used for improving physiological effects and for medical therapy. In addition, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-23777 as a conventional example, an ion sensor is provided in an air inlet of an air conditioner, in which negative ions and positive ions are generated alternately and the amount of negative ions in the room is provided at a suction port. I was adjusting.

[0003]

Such a conventional air conditioner is convenient for controlling the amount of ions in the entire room because the ion sensor is located at the suction port. There is a time difference between the amount of ions generated and the amount of ions measured by the ion sensor, and the amount of ions sensed by the ion sensor is the amount of ions diffused throughout the room. Even if it does not work, a failure cannot be determined from the amount of ions generated by the ion sensor. Also, how much ions are currently being generated from the radiation electrode was not well understood by the user.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention focuses on this point, and in particular, the structure of the present invention is to provide a high-voltage generating circuit and a blower fan in a housing to blow air from an inlet to an outlet. A radiation electrode for ion generation is provided in the path, an ion sensor is provided in a ventilation path on the lee side of the radiation electrode, and a control unit that adjusts the amount of generated ions by a signal from the ion sensor is provided, and A display unit is provided to display the amount of ions based on a signal from the ion sensor, determine an abnormality based on the signal from the ion sensor, and stop the high voltage generation circuit.

[0005]

When the ion generation switch (not shown) in the operation section 20 is turned on, the relay 27 is turned on, and the ion generator 17 repeats the 10-minute operation and the 1-minute stop intermittent operation, whereby the air conditioner is operated. This reduces charged dust and smoke from adhering to the product and surrounding walls due to attenuating negative ions floating in the ventilation path and surroundings, and a -8 kV generated on the radiation electrode 17 at 4 μSec width. Approximately 10,000 negative ions are generated per cc by the pulse wave, and the ion lamp 38 of the display unit 15 is turned on to display the current amount of ions to the user in an easy-to-understand manner.

The user changes the capacity of the capacitor C4 by using an ion amount adjustment switch provided in the operation unit 20 to adjust the amount of ions per time according to the user's preference. Then, the amount of ions in the blown air is displayed immediately, and the amount of generated ions can be adjusted by looking at the display. In addition, since the inexpensive ion sensor 21 having the flat antenna 31 is mounted on the leeward side of the ventilation path, the amount of generated ions can be automatically adjusted inexpensively without increasing the price of the instrument body much. Since the ion lamp 38 is displayed in a bar graph form using light emitting diodes, it is very easy to see and understand.

Further, even if the potential of the blowing path on the leeward side of the radiation electrode such as the outlet 6 becomes saturated and ions are hardly generated, the period of the pulse wave is adjusted to increase the amount of generated ions, or conversely. The operation pattern of 10-minute operation and 1-minute stop
The minute operation is stopped for two minutes, and the saturated potential is returned to the original level to adjust the amount of generated ions. If the ion generator breaks down and the amount of generated ions is extremely large or extremely small, the ion generator is stopped and an error is displayed, and the high-voltage coil and other components are overheated or insulated. To minimize destruction.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 denotes an indoor unit of a separate type air conditioner, wherein a casing is formed by a main body casing 2 and a front cover 3 at the front. An open panel 5 having a horizontally elongated slit-shaped suction port 4 is provided from the center of the front cover 3 to the upper part thereof. A horizontally long outlet 6 is provided on the bottom surface of the front cover 3 from below the suction port 4, and an upper suction port 7 is provided on the upper surface of the front cover 3 in order to compensate for an opening area short of the suction port 4.

A fin tube type heat exchanger 8 is provided inside the suction ports 4 and 7 in a horizontally long and vertically bent manner.
A cross-flow fan 9 for blowing air is disposed at the rear of the heat exchanger 8. A drain unit 10 integrally formed of a resin foam material is provided below the heat exchanger 8 to receive dew water and blow air from a fan 9 to an outlet 6.
It also functions as an air guide that leads to the air.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an electrostatic air cleaning unit of about +2.
A large number of aluminum plates connected to a kv DC power supply are arranged in parallel with the blowing direction, and a discharge counter electrode 12 is formed between the discharge counter electrode 12 and a wire or a needle electrode connected to a DC power supply of about -2 kV. The discharge electrode 13 is charged with invisible dust and tobacco smoke in the air by the discharge electrode 13.
And is attached to an upper space between the heat exchanger 8 and the front panel 3.

A mesh-shaped pre-filter 14 made of resin is provided between the suction port 4 and the heat exchanger 8 or between the suction port 4 and the air cleaning unit 11 to catch relatively large dust in the air. On the right side of the outlet 6, there is provided a display unit 15 for displaying the operating condition of the air conditioner by means of a lamp or the like. A radiation path between the fan 9 and the outlet 6 is provided with 16 radiation electrodes of the ion generator. 17 is fixed to the electrode mounting portion 18.

Referring to FIG. 4, a block diagram of the control circuit will be described. Reference numeral 19 denotes a control device such as a microcomputer for operating and stopping the air conditioner and controlling the ion generator 16; Sensor 21, temperature sensor 22,
A humidity sensor 23 and the like are connected to an input side, and an output side is a relay 27 for turning on and off a power supply to the display unit 15, the indoor fan 24, the control unit 25 of the outdoor unit, and the high voltage generation circuit 26 of the ion generation unit 16. And a relay 30 for turning on and off the power supply to the high-pressure unit 29 of the air purifying device 28.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the ion sensor 21. Reference numeral 31 denotes a flat antenna charged by ions in the air. The potential of the antenna 31 is integrated by an integrating circuit 32 comprising a resistor r1 and a capacitor c1. It is to distinguish between the potential due to static electricity and the potential due to ions. 33 is an FET transistor q1 and resistors r2, r3, r4, r5
Is a bridge circuit consisting of:
The signal is amplified by an amplifier circuit 34 composed of c1, a capacitor c2, and resistors r6 and r7, and finally sends a signal to the control unit 19 via a sensor terminal 35. If the amount of ions in the blown air is smaller than a set value, the amount of generated ions is increased, and if the amount of ions in the blown air is too large, the amount of generated ions is reduced.

The display unit 15 includes an ion lamp 38 in which a number of diodes are arranged in a bar graph in addition to an operation stop lamp 36 and a timer lamp 37.
The magnitude of the ion amount measured in 1 is displayed in a manner that is easy for the user to understand. In this embodiment, the ion lamp 38 has seven horizontally arranged diodes arranged linearly, and lighting of one diode indicates the presence of about 2000 ions / cc around the ion sensor 21. In the case of lighting five consecutively from the left, about 1000
This indicates the presence of 0 ions / cc.

In the embodiment, the diodes are arranged in a horizontal straight line. However, the diodes may be arranged in a vertical straight line, a circle, or a fan shape depending on the space of the display unit 15 and the easiness of understanding. Further, the ion lamp 32 has a graph shape, but instead of the lamp,
The same effect can be obtained as a digital display type lamp that directly displays the amount of ions. The ion generator 16 is connected to the high-voltage generation circuit 26 for boosting a commercial power supply of AC 100 V, 50 Hz or 60 Hz to DC of about 8 kV by using the radiation electrode 17 formed of a pointed aluminum plate or a needle. The operation of the ion generator 16 is controlled by the control device 19 by the relay 27 provided between the high voltage generation circuit 26 and the power supply.

The high voltage generating circuit 26 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. Reference numeral 39 denotes a noise filter which is connected to an AC 100 V power supply and has two capacitors C1 and C2 and two resistors R1 and C2.
R2 is provided. 40 is an oscillation circuit having three diodes D1
D2, D3, a resistor R3, and a capacitor C3, which convert the current into a direct current. The thyristor Q1 of the switching circuit 41 and the two resistors R4, R5 convert the current into a pulse wave. The voltage is boosted by the transformer TR, and finally -8 kV DC is applied to the radiation electrode 17 by the two resistors R6 and R7 and the diode D4.

The oscillation circuit 40 is provided with a variable-capacitance type capacitor C4, and the cycle of the pulse wave can be freely changed by an ion amount adjustment switch (not shown) provided in the operation unit 20. The amount of generated ions can be manually adjusted by changing the period. A noise filter 43 also includes two resistors R8 and R9 and two zener diodes ZD1 and ZD2.

In this embodiment, the width of the pulse wave is 4 μSec.
The width of the pulse wave can be changed by changing the resistance value and the capacitance value of the resistor R3 and the capacitor C3 of the oscillation circuit 40. As shown in FIG. Is smaller than about 1 μSec, the radiation electrode 1
7, the amount of negative ions generated is less than 10,000 per cc, and the effect of negative ions is reduced.
If it is larger than 0 μSec, ozone harmful to the human body is rapidly generated.

The air purifying device 28 converts an AC power of 100 V into a DC of approximately +2 kV and a DC of approximately −2 kV by a high voltage unit 29 and supplies the DC to the air cleaning unit 11. The operation and stop of the control device 19 are performed by the relay 30 provided in the control device 19.

FIG. 7 shows the voltage applied to the radiation electrode 17. In this embodiment, the voltage applied to the radiation electrode 17 is -8 kV.
Pulse wave is continuously applied for about 10 minutes, and negative ions are released into the room by the air blast of the air conditioner.
The relay 27 is turned off for one minute and the generation of negative ions is stopped. In the one minute of this stop, the negative ions floating in the air conditioner's air flow path and the surrounding area are attenuated, and the dust and smoke charged in the product and its surrounding area Less sticking to walls, etc.
Thereafter, the operation for 10 minutes and the stop for 1 minute are repeated. FIG. 8 is a detailed diagram showing the pulse waveform of FIG. 7, wherein the pulse wave has a period of 10 to 50 mSec and about 4 μS.
It oscillates with a pulse width of ec, and the amount of generated ions can be freely changed by changing the period.

In operation, the air conditioner starts operating when an operation switch (not shown) of the operation unit 20 is turned on, a compressor (not shown) provided in the outdoor unit rotates, and refrigerant flows into the refrigeration circuit. The heat exchanger 8 is heated at the time of heating and cooled at the time of cooling. When the fan 9 is started, the indoor air sucked from the suction port 4 is cooled by the heat exchanger 8.
And is blown out from the outlet 6.

Thereafter, when an ion generation switch (not shown) in the operation section 20 is turned on, the relay 27 is turned on, and the ion generator 17 is operated for 10 minutes and the intermittent operation is stopped for 1 minute as described above. As a result, the negative ions floating in the ventilation path and the surroundings of the air conditioner are attenuated, so that the charged dust and smoke are reduced from adhering to the product and the surrounding walls and the like. -8 kv
As a result, about 10,000 negative ions are generated per 1 cc by a pulse wave having a width of 4 μSec, and the ion lamp 38 of the display unit 15 is turned on to display the current amount of ions to the user in an easy-to-understand manner.

The user changes the capacity of the capacitor C4 with an ion amount adjustment switch provided in the operation unit 20 to adjust the amount of ions per time according to the user's preference by looking at the display. Then, the amount of ions in the blown air is displayed immediately, and the amount of generated ions can be adjusted by looking at the display.

Since the inexpensive ion sensor 21 having the flat antenna 31 is mounted on the leeward side of the air flow path, the amount of generated ions can be automatically adjusted inexpensively without increasing the price of the instrument body much. Is the ion lamp 3
Numeral 8 is a bar graph display using light emitting diodes, so that it is very easy to see and understand. In addition, even if the potential of the blowing path on the leeward side of the radiation electrode such as the outlet 6 becomes saturated and ions are hardly generated, the period of the pulse wave is adjusted to increase the amount of generated ions, or conversely, the operation is performed for 10 minutes. The operation pattern in which the operation is stopped for 1 minute is stopped for 10 minutes and the operation is stopped for 2 minutes, and the saturated potential is restored to adjust the amount of generated ions.

If the ion generator breaks down and the amount of generated ions is extremely large or extremely small, the ion generator is stopped and an abnormality is displayed, and the high-voltage coil and other parts are heated. Alternatively, it is possible to minimize breakage due to insulation failure. Further, in this embodiment, only the example of the air conditioner is shown, but if only the element for heat exchange is removed, the air conditioner can be implemented as it is.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, an inexpensive ion sensor is attached to the suction port, so that the amount of generated ions can be automatically adjusted without increasing the price of the instrument body much. became. In addition, the amount of ions in the blown air is measured by an ion sensor to adjust the amount of generated ions, and the user can recognize the current amount of ions by an ion lamp on a display unit. If the ion generator breaks down and the amount of generated ions is extremely large or extremely small, the ion generator is stopped and an error is displayed, and the high-voltage coil and other components are overheated or insulated. To minimize destruction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the air cleaning unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control circuit.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the ion sensor.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the high-voltage generation circuit.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a potential of the radiation electrode.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of FIG. 6 showing a waveform of the pulse.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the amount of generation of the negative ions and ozone and the width of a pulse wave.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between the generation amount of the negative ions and the period of the pulse wave.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Indoor unit 4 Inlet 6 Outlet 9 Fan 15 Display 17 Radiation electrode 21 Ion sensor 26 High voltage generating circuit 31 Antenna 32 Integrating circuit 33 Bridge circuit 34 Amplifying circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI F24F 11/02 105 F24F 1/00 371B

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A high-voltage generating circuit and a blowing fan are provided in a housing, a radiation electrode for generating ions is provided in a blowing path from a suction port to an air outlet, and an ion sensor is provided in a blowing path on a leeward side of the radiation electrode. An air conditioner or an air purifier, comprising a control unit for adjusting the amount of generated ions by a signal from the ion sensor. 2. The air conditioner or the air purifier according to claim 1, wherein a display unit is provided on the surface of the housing, and the amount of ions is displayed based on a signal from an ion sensor. 3. The air conditioner or the air according to claim 1, wherein a display unit is provided on the surface of the housing, and an abnormality is determined based on a signal from the ion sensor to stop the high voltage generation circuit. Cleaner.