JPS5811411Y2 - Ultrasonic atomizer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement of an ultrasonic atomization device equipped with an ultrasonic vibrator for atomization.

Conventionally, ultrasonic atomization devices, such as ultrasonic humidifiers that atomize water by irradiating ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic vibrator to water in a water storage tank, detect an increase in the vibrator current and detect this. A protection device is provided to stop the oscillation of the ultrasonic transducer when the current exceeds a predetermined value, thereby preventing the ultrasonic transducer from being thermally destroyed by an increase in the transducer current.

However, with the above configuration, not only does the structure of the protection device become complicated and the cost is high, but also water scale etc. adheres to it or the water in the water storage tank decreases, resulting in an empty cooking state and a rise in temperature. However, it is not possible to protect an ultrasonic transducer from thermal damage, which has a characteristic that the transducer current decreases even though the transducer current is increasing. There have been problems such as the oscillation of the ultrasonic transducer being inadvertently stopped due to detection.

The present invention was developed in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to reliably protect ultrasonic transducers from thermal damage regardless of their characteristics, and to prevent careless damage caused by fluctuations in power supply voltage. To provide an ultrasonic atomizer that can be manufactured at low cost without causing an ultrasonic vibrator to stop oscillating, and without the risk of complicating the overall structure.

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a humidifier will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a water storage tank (liquid storage tank) with an open top surface disposed inside an outer box (not shown), and an opening 3 is formed in the bottom 2 of the tank, and a boss 4 is provided around the periphery of the opening 3. It is integrally formed facing downward.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a receiver that is press-fitted into the opening 3 in a watertight manner, and this is achieved by screwing and tightening a screw 6 inserted into the flange portion 5a provided on the outer periphery of the lower part into the boss portion 4 to open the water storage tank. It is fixed at 1.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a disk-shaped ultrasonic transducer, and a first electrode 7a extends from the top surface to the peripheral edge of the ultrasonic transducer 7.
At the same time, a second electrode 7b is formed on the lower surface at a predetermined distance from the first electrode 7a.

Then, a backing 8 made of an elastic material is fitted into the peripheral edge of the ultrasonic transducer 7, and in this state, the transducer 7 is fitted and supported in the recessed part 5b provided in the center of the receiver 5. There is.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a high-frequency oscillation circuit configured to generate a high-frequency oscillation output through output lines 9a and 9b when energized, and one of the output lines 9a is connected to the first electrode 7a of the ultrasonic transducer 7.
At the same time, the other output line 9b is connected to the second electrode 7b of the ultrasonic transducer 7 via a strip-shaped bimetal 10.

The bimetal 10 has its base end connected to the backing 8.
and the holder 5, and its tip is in contact with the second electrode 7b, and when its temperature rises, it deforms in a curved manner and separates from the second electrode 7b. ing.

According to the above configuration, when the temperature of the ultrasonic transducer 7 is in a steady state, the bimetal 10 is in contact with the second electrode 7b, and therefore, in this state, the high frequency oscillation circuit 9
When energized, the ultrasonic transducer 7 is activated by the oscillation circuit 9.
The ultrasonic vibrator 7 irradiates ultrasonic waves to the water in the water tank 1 and atomizes it.

However, if the water in the water tank 1 decreases during operation and the ultrasonic transducer 7 becomes so-called dry cooking state, or if water scale etc. adheres to the ultrasonic transducer 7 due to long-term use, or When an abnormal current flows through the ultrasonic vibrator 7, the ultrasonic vibrator 7 generates abnormal heat.

If this abnormal heat generation continues for more than a predetermined time, the ultrasonic transducer 7 will be thermally destroyed. However, in this embodiment, when the ultrasonic transducer 7 generates abnormal heat, the bimetal 10 is damaged by this heat. It heats up and bends in the direction away from the second electrode 7b, thereby stopping the supply of the output from the high frequency oscillation circuit 9 to the ultrasonic vibrator 7 and stopping oscillation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the heat generated by the ultrasonic M element 7 is directly detected by the bimetal 10, and the output supply from the high frequency oscillation circuit 9 to the ultrasonic transducer 7 is thereby stopped. Even if the ultrasonic transducer 7 has a characteristic in which the transducer current decreases despite the temperature rise, it is possible to reliably prevent thermal destruction of the ultrasonic transducer 7, and to achieve the above-mentioned effects. Since it is only necessary to provide the bimetal 10 in the ultrasonic transducer 7, the ultrasonic transducer 7 can be manufactured at a much lower cost than the conventional structure in which the ultrasonic transducer 7 is prevented from being destroyed by detecting an abnormality in the transducer current.

Further, according to this embodiment, unlike the conventional case, the ultrasonic transducer 7 is not inadvertently stopped from oscillating due to fluctuations in the power supply voltage.

As is clear from the above description, the present invention can reliably protect the ultrasonic vibrator from thermal damage regardless of its characteristics, and can prevent the ultrasonic vibrator from inadvertently oscillating due to fluctuations in power supply voltage. It is possible to provide an extremely practical ultrasonic atomization device that does not stop and can be manufactured at low cost without the risk of complicating the overall configuration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, and in the drawing, 1 is a water tank (liquid storage tank), 7 is an ultrasonic transducer, 7a and 7b are first and second electrodes, respectively, and 9 is a high frequency oscillation circuit,
9a and 9b are output lines, and 10 is a bimetal.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] an ultrasonic transducer provided at the bottom of the liquid storage tank and having electrodes on opposite surfaces; and an ultrasonic transducer provided in thermally conductive contact with the electrode and separated from the electrode by heat generated by the ultrasonic transducer. 1. An ultrasonic atomization device comprising: a bimetal; and a high-frequency oscillation circuit provided to supply an output between the electrodes via the bimetal.