KR101574021B1 - Multi-purpose powered air purifying respirator - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, an electric air purifying respiratory protection tool is a goggle-type mask having eyeglass temples. The electric air purifying respiratory protection tool includes: a face mask; an electric air purifying device; and a connection hose unit. The face mask has a structure which has a shape and a size for protecting at least part of the nose and eyes on a user′s face from the outside, has the lower parts of the eyeglass temples coming in contact with the face and at least one part of the upper parts of the eyeglass temples forming an open surface letting air flow through from the outside, and lets purified air discharged to the internal space around the nose part go out through the open surface. The electric air purifying device includes: an electric air ventilation unit absorbing, pressing, and discharging the outside air; and a filter unit which removes pollutants included in the outside air supplied from the electric air ventilation unit to generate the purified air. The connection hose unit interconnects the face mask and the electric air purifying device to supply the purified air to the face mask.

Description

[0001] Multi-purpose powered air purifying respirator [0002]

The present invention relates to an electric air-purifying respiratory protection apparatus, and more particularly, to an electric-powered air-purifying respiratory protection apparatus which removes fine dust, germs and gaseous pollutants in the air through an electric air-cleaning apparatus, The air is supplied to the nose or mouth through the air supply mask in the form of a safety goggle partly in close contact with the cheek or mandible (lower jaw, lower jaw) and the lower part of the face so that purified air can be breathed, The present invention relates to an electric-powered air-purifying respirator of a low-cost type that can prevent the contamination of the eyes by stimulating the inflow of contaminated external air.

Recently, air pollution caused by various kinds of pollutants is a common problem not only in industry but also in general life. Urban pollution caused by vehicle fumes in urban areas and recent dust particles are becoming a threat to citizens' health. Recently, the fear of spread of SARS or MERS, which is a viral acute respiratory syndrome, is increasing.

The passive defense method most easily taken by ordinary people or medical personnel against airborne dust or viruses is wearing a mask. However, since most of the masks distributed on the market are unlikely to block the pollutants fundamentally due to imperfectness of the facial contact, they feel fatigue due to the inconvenience caused by breathing resistance when they are worn for a long time. On the other hand, the dust mask used in the industrial field is excellent in hermeticity, but it is not used well for general use because of the inconvenience of breathing resistance.

On the other hand, there is also an industrial electric air purifying respirator (PAPR), which is not only expensive to use for the general public, but also heavy in equipment and inconvenient for everyday life or medical use. In addition, the facial mask of the industrial PAPR is most likely to be adhered to the entire face or to cover the entire face for perfect external air interception. A completely sealed face mask is a major obstacle to general use and is also large for industrial use It gives inconvenience.

In this respect, it is necessary to develop a low-cost electric-powered air-purifying respirator that can be easily used by the general public as well as industrial workers, which can be achieved through optimization of the entire system. In other words, it is necessary to develop an economical and efficient system while appropriately maintaining the function of protecting the respiratory tract from pollutants. In this case, the optimization is to minimize the use of electric power while maintaining a proper amount of air blowing for a long time, , A facial mask structure for preventing irritation of the eyes, a lightweight mask for improving the appearance and wearability, and optimization of the air inflow system.

An example of a conventional low-power electric-powered air-purifying respirator is "portable mini air purifier" of Registration Utility Model No. 20-0273346. The portable mini air purifier is configured to purify the air introduced into the interior of the portable mini air purifier with various functions and to supply the purified air to a mask connected to the hose so that the user can breathe clean air.

However, since the structure of the portable mini air purifier only covers the vicinity of the user's mouth, the portable mini air purifier protects the eyes and prevents irritation in the case where the air is heavily contaminated, for example, It is a structure that can not expect any role at all. In addition, there is no consideration that the mask is flowed down frequently due to the weight of the air hose, and the adequate air supply amount is maintained for a long time. Since the structure of the mask absorbs the purifying air through the nose and breathes through the mouth, There is a drawback that there is a limitation in that it is difficult to say that it is effectively an effective device.

Registration Practical Utility Model No. 20-0273346 (published on April 22, 2002)

The present invention minimizes disadvantages of the conventional mask, industrial PAPR, and portable air purifier and optimizes the advantages thereof, thereby providing an electric air-purifying respirator that can protect the user's respirator and eyes for a long time without any inconvenience The purpose is to provide.

The electric type air purifying respirator according to the present invention is a goggle type mask having a pair of eyeglasses legs. The mask has an area and shape that protects at least the nose and eyes of the user from the outside, A face mask which is in close contact with the face and at least a part of which forms an opening face with respect to the outside air and in which purified air is discharged into the inner space around the nose portion and then exits through the opening; An electric air blowing unit for sucking and discharging the compressed air; and a filter unit for removing the contaminants contained in the outside air supplied from the air blowing unit to generate the purified air; And a connection hose interconnecting the purified air generated by the electric air cleaning apparatus to supply the face mask.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the lower portion of the face mask may be designed to be in close contact with the upper and lower cheeks.

Alternatively, in another embodiment of the present invention, the lower portion of the face mask may be designed to be in close contact with a position corresponding to the lower portion of the lower face of the mandible.

It is also possible that the embodiment of the present invention is designed such that the vertical width of the face mask has a length that can cover the lower end of the forehead and the mandible.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the connection hose is connected to an air passage provided inside the eyeglass leg, and the discharge port extending from the air passage of the eyeglass leg is connected to the purified air May be formed.

In this embodiment, the connection hose includes a main connection hose directly connected to the electric air cleaning apparatus, and a branch connection hose branched in two from the main connection hose and connected to the pair of glasses legs, Lt; / RTI >

Preferably, the discharge port extending to a point corresponding to the mist is connected to a second air path extending to a point corresponding to the nose. The second air path may be formed in a corresponding portion of the front surface of the face mask It is possible to have a double wall.

In addition, the eyeglass legs may be foldable, and the air passage and the discharge port may be configured to be mutually hermetically connected when the eyeglass leg is stretched.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the electric air cleaning apparatus generates the purified air having a discharge pressure of at least 250 Pa at an air flow rate of 100 L / min.

It is more preferable that the electric air blowing unit as described above is a blower having a pair of impellers connected in series and is capable of continuous use for at least 8 hours based on the use of a battery having a capacity of 12V-2Ah.

The filter unit may be a replaceable filter cartridge. In this case, the filter cartridge may include a nanofilter capable of filtering to remove the contaminants, which are fine dusts or airborne bacteria, a helpa filter in the form of a nonwoven fabric, Or the filter cartridge may include activated carbon for removing the contaminants which are vapor-phase harmful substances including organic vapors, mercury vapors, or acid and base gases, and the activated carbon may include It may be used alone or in combination with a dust removing filter.

The electric air-purifying respirator of the present invention having the above-described configuration can be used to effectively protect the respiratory organs of the user for a long period of time without feeling any inconvenience or irritation during use, and is easy to carry and easy to maintain. The configuration is simple and optimized, and it has an advantage that it can be supplied to the general public as well as industrial sites at a low price.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of an electric-powered air-purifying respirator according to the present invention; FIG.
Figures 2 to 5 show various embodiments of the face mask of the present invention in a wear state.
6 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a face mask having a folding eyeglass leg.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an electric-powered air-purifying respirator 10 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, but may be implemented in various other forms, and the present embodiment is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art. .

1, an electric air purifying respirator 10 according to the present invention includes a face mask 100, an electric air purifier The purifier 200, and the connection hose unit 300, as shown in FIG.

The face mask 100 basically has a shape of a goggle type mask provided with a pair of eyeglasses legs 110. The face mask 100 has an area and shape that protects at least the nose and eyes of the user from the outside, 110, the lower portion thereof is brought into close contact with the face, and at least a part of the upper portion forms an opening face 140 to the outside air. Particularly, the purified air is characterized by having an air flow structure which is discharged to the inner space around the nose portion of the user and then exits through the upper opening 140.

Here, it is necessary to minimize the opening area to minimize the possibility of contaminants entering through the opening 140. However, since there is no need for any type of discharge valve device that causes pressure loss, the pressure loss at the air- Can be prevented.

In the face mask 100 of the present invention, contaminants can be blocked because excessive air is always blown around the nostrils or mouth at the time of intake, so that the possibility of inhaling polluted air in the face mask 100 through breathing The inner surface of the face mask 100 is exposed to the air through the open face 140 of the facial mask 100 so that the inner face of the facial mask 100 is exposed to the outside air, Because it keeps the blocked environment. Here, the term "substantially blocked " means that the incorporation of outside air can be minimized, although not the complete sealing concept, and thus there is a possibility that the incorporation of contaminants into the facial mask 100 may occur in small amounts. Nevertheless, if only the supply of excess air is maintained, the likelihood of inhalation of pollutants during intake is very low.

The present invention is not suitable for the case where it is necessary to completely block the pollutant from the pollutants due to the nature of the face mask 100 according to the present invention. Also, when the air suction amount of the user is excessively increased in a breathy situation, The air balance of the positive pressure in the face mask 100 may be broken, but this situation may be a special situation that is excluded from the normal application conditions pursued by the present invention.

The flow condition of the air in the face mask 100 described above has an effect of isolating the air from the outside air to the inner surface of the eye, thereby preventing irritation of the eyes due to pollutants. In addition, since the exhalation with moisture at the time of exhalation is mixed with an excessive amount of supply air, it is also effective to prevent seizure in the face mask 100 due to breathing.

Various embodiments may exist under the condition that such a facial mask 100 of the present invention satisfies the above-described internal air flow condition, and examples thereof are shown in Figs. 2 to 5. Fig.

The face mask 100 of FIG. 2 shows the most basic type of goggles in that the lower face of the face mask 100 of FIG. 2 is surrounded by the flexible member 130 around the user's upper lip (top lip) As shown in FIG. The face mask 100 shown in FIG. 2 can be referred to as a face mask having an open bottom face. Such an omnidirectional structure is advantageous in that it can communicate while breathing with the nose, and has no discomfort or inconvenience in wearing.

The face mask 100 may have various shapes, and the face mask 100 may be used as an omnidirectional mask so that the air supply is discharged through the upper spectacle frame and the discharged air passes through a transparent double passage formed on the nose It can be sent around the upper lip.

This type of mask does not have an air passage connected to the periphery of the upper lip by the side of the mask, so that the space around the lips is widened, and it is possible to obtain an aesthetic effect on the aesthetic side because it is similar in appearance to general glasses.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the frontal face mask 100 in which the face mask 100 covers both the nose and the mouth, and the lower edge thereof is brought into close contact with a position corresponding to the lower portion of the lower face of the mandible. Therefore, it is desirable to design the face mask 100 such that the upper and lower widths of the face mask 100 cover the lower forehead and the mandible, respectively.

Here, the front face mask 100 may have various shapes, and it is natural that the front face mask 100 may be formed in such a manner that air is supplied from above the inter face.

4 is a modification of the frontal face mask 100 of FIG. 3, the difference being the position of the discharge port 120 from which purge air is discharged. 3, the dispensing opening 120 of FIG. 3 is located immediately upstream of the nose of the user, while the face mask 100 of FIG. 4 has a lower lip (lower lip, lower lip) ≪ / RTI > 4, the lower edge of the face mask 100 may be brought into close contact with the periphery and the cheek of the face (corresponding to FIG. 2), or may be provided on the lower face of the mandible (Corresponding to Fig. 3) can be selected so that the mask can be utilized as both an omnidirectional mask and a frontal mask. This is because the discharge port 120 of FIG. 4 is directed downward and the air flow is directed toward the upper opening surface 140. This is because if the face mask 100 of FIG. 120) will be unable to exert their original function by focusing around the eyes.

5 may be another embodiment of the frontal face mask 100 of FIG. 4. The outlet 120 may be located at a point corresponding to the front of the user, instead of being located at a point corresponding to the nose, And the purified air is discharged. 2 to 4 are each provided with a pair of right and left discharge ports 120 so as to balance the left and right air balances. However, the face mask 100 of FIG. 5 has a structure in which the upper center of the face mask 100 The clean air is supplied to the periphery of the mouth more widely and evenly through the second air passage 155 instead of providing the single discharge port 120 at the point of time. Here, the second air passage 155 may be formed by providing a double wall 150 at a corresponding portion of the front face of the face mask 100, and using a space between the walls as a passage.

In order to generate and supply purified air to the face mask 100 having the above structure, the present invention is applied to the case where the purified air generated by the electric air purifier 200 and the electric air purifier 200 is supplied to the face mask 100, And a connecting hose unit 300 for connecting the connecting hose unit 300 and the connecting hose unit 300 to each other.

The electric air purifier 200 includes an electric air blowing unit 210 for sucking ambient air and discharging the air outside, a filter unit 210 for removing the contaminants contained in the outside air supplied from the air blowing unit 210, The battery 214 must be used as the driving power of the electric air blowing unit 210 for portability. In this case, it is necessary to optimize various factors in order to purify an appropriate amount of air continuously for a long time and supply the facial mask 100 while minimizing the capacity of the battery 214 to be used, which will be described in detail later .

The filter unit 250 is preferably composed of a replaceable filter cartridge 255, and the filter material filled in the filter cartridge 255 needs to be adopted in consideration of the use of the present invention.

First of all, the first filter material that can be considered is a non-woven type HEPA filter widely used for removing yellow dust or fine dust, or a dust removing filter medium used for an industrial mask.

In addition, a nanofilter that is relatively thin in thickness and high in structural strength and capable of high-efficiency filtration while being relatively thinner than the HEPA filter can be used, can be easily integrated in the case of using a nanofilter, and can be filtrated through fine nano- And an advantage that the filtration efficiency can be maintained can be obtained.

In addition, a corrugated support is densely disposed between the filter media in both the HEPA filter, the industrial dust filter, and the nanofilter filter media, thereby greatly increasing the surface area of the filter media even in a narrow filtration space and achieving miniaturization pursued by the present invention. The required removal efficiency can be increased at the same time.

That is, it is desirable to apply the nanofilter, which has a very thin thickness as well as a high structural strength and high-efficiency filtration, for the purpose of removing microbial dust or germs in the air. As shown in FIG. 1, The surface area of the filter material can be greatly increased even in a narrow filtration space. Another advantage of the nanofilter is that the filtration efficiency is not deteriorated even if the humidity is high because the fine nano-pores are filtrated in contrast to the electrostatic fine dust collection by the general nonwoven fabric.

In addition, the present invention can also be used for removing and purifying gas-phase harmful substances including organic vapors, mercury vapors, and acid and base gases. In this case, activated carbon such as granular activated carbon or activated carbon filter cloth, The filter cartridge 255 can be used alone or in combination with the dust removing filter.

The connecting hose unit 300 connects the electric-powered air-cleaning apparatus 200 and the face mask 100 to form a path for purified air. Particularly, in the embodiment of the present invention, The discharge port 120 connected to the air passage 112 provided in the eyeglass leg 110 of the mask 100 and extending from the air passage 112 of the eyeglass leg 110 is connected to the upper, And the purified air is discharged to the vicinity of the mouth by being located at the corresponding point.

In this embodiment, the connecting hose portion 300 includes a main connecting hose 310 directly connected to the electric air cleaning apparatus 200 and a branching portion 304 branched from the main connecting hose 310 in a "Y & And the connection hose 320 is connected to the pair of right and left glasses legs 110, respectively.

Here, in order to prevent the face mask 100 from flowing in a state where the face mask 100 is worn by the user, a band (not shown) having elasticity is provided on the branch connecting hose 320, The face mask 100 is firmly attached to the back of the wearer while being provided on the hose 320 so that the face mask 100 can be firmly fixed to the wearer.

According to this configuration, the load of the connecting hose unit 300 is uniformly distributed to the left and right, and is supported by the eyeglass leg 110 caught in the ear so that the face mask 100 is prevented from flowing downward while being fixed to the wearer's face And since the branch connecting hose 320 and the main connecting hose 310 are connected to the electric air cleaning apparatus 200 along the back of the ear, the user can freely rotate the head.

In addition, the main connection hose 310 and the branch connection hose 320 may be separated from each other at the bifurcation point, thereby improving the portability and storage.

Then, the eyeglass legs 110 of the face mask 100 may be constituted by the folding legs of a conventional eyeglass as shown in Fig. In this case, the air passage 112 formed in the eyeglass leg 110 and the discharge opening 120 extending to the front face of the face mask 100 are provided with a sealing member 114 on the contact surface thereof, And may be configured to be mutually hermetically connected when expanded.

On the other hand, the electric-powered air-purifying respirator protection 10 of the present invention is designed to provide an "excessively blocked" environment for the outside air, in excess of the minimum amount of air required for daily respiration (eg, 80 to 150 liters / min) to the face mask 100 and to reduce the power consumption of the electric air blowing unit 210 so that the electric air blowing unit 210 can be continuously used for a long period of time. In this respect, Design is required.

Here, the electric air-purifying respirator 10 can be continuously used for a long period of time of at least 8 hours.

The air blower used in the general industrial PAPR is not suitable for the popular type pursued by the present invention because the amount of electric power consumed is large. Electric type small air blower that can be applied as a general supply type includes a fan type and a blower type. The fan type is not suitable because the air pressure is too low but the discharge pressure is too low.

In the case of the blower, the discharge pressure can be increased to a desired level by increasing the diameter of the impeller or by increasing the rotation speed so that the circumferential speed of the impeller becomes larger. In order to keep the impeller small in size, However, it is not easy to obtain a desired sufficient discharge pressure at a small blower, usually at a level of several thousand rpm. If it rises to tens of thousands of rpm, the discharge pressure will increase, but the required amount of power will increase rapidly, which is also a limiting factor.

In the present invention, a blowing capacity capable of obtaining a discharge pressure of 250 Pa or more at an air flow rate of 100 L / min is required. To achieve this, a small blower (212, impeller diameter of 50 mm or less) The electric air blowing unit 210 is provided. A very efficient power saving type air blowing device has been devised in which a sufficient air volume and discharge pressure required in the present invention can be obtained through such a multi-stage blowing method, and power consumption is also kept within a total of 5W.

When the rechargeable lithium ion battery suitable for the entry-level application is applied to the electric air blowing unit 210 having the high efficiency as described above, the battery 214 must be applied for the power of the electric air blowing unit 210, It can be used continuously for at least 8 hours, for example, based on the use of a small battery of 12V-2Ah capacity.

In addition, since the air volume and pressure substantially discharged to the face mask 100 are greatly affected by the shape of the filter unit 250 and the connecting hose unit 300, this also requires a proper design.

It is desirable to minimize the size of the connection hose 300 considering the aesthetics of the appearance, but the diameter of the hose used is closely related to the air flow rate according to the pressure drop of the air supply device, and optimization is required. In the embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the main connecting hose 310 having an inner diameter of 13 mm and the connecting hose 320 having an inner diameter of 9 mm of 9 mm are used at an optimum size of 100 l / And a flexible, lightweight, lightweight plastic corrugated pipe can be used.

In order to minimize the pressure drop and achieve the miniaturization of the filter unit 250, the filter unit 250 is designed to minimize the total volume and the cross-sectional area of the filter cartridge 255. Preferably, the filter unit 250 has a proper air permeation amount / min), the total filtration area of the filter part 250 was 270 cm 2 when the nanoparticle filter having the fine dust removal efficiency of 98% and 85% of 2.5 μm and 85 μm particles was used, Was designed to have a total volume of 50 cm 3 and a cross-sectional area of 38 cm 2 in the air flow direction, thereby minimizing the size of the filter unit 250. On the other hand, it is observed that the pressure drop through the filter is relatively increased when the HEPA filter or the industrial mask dust filter material having a removal efficiency of 0.3 μm microreactor is 99.9% or more. In the case of the nanofilter, it is possible to fabricate a highly integrated filter cartridge without the intermediate support due to the structural strength of the filter media itself. In the case of using the filter paper or dust filter media, it is possible to manufacture a highly integrated filter cartridge using a pleated support medium.

For example, the size of the filter unit 250 is minimized by designing the total filtration area of the filter unit 250 to be within a total volume of 25 cm 3 and a cross-sectional area of 20 cm 2 in the air flow direction. If there is a large amount of coarse dust, use a preliminary filter or increase the volume per unit area of the filter portion 250 so that the filtered foreign matter does not disturb the air flow.

As described above, the electric air purifying respirator 10 according to the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and drawings disclosed in the present specification, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

10: Electrical air-purifying respirator
100: Facial mask 110: eyeglass leg
112: air passage 114: sealing member
120: discharge port 130: flexible member
140: opening 150: double wall
155: second air passage 200: electric air purification device
210: electric blower 212: blower
214: Battery 250: Filter section
255: Filter cartridge 300: Connection hose part
310: main connection hose 320: branch connection hose

Claims (14)

A goggle type mask having a spectacle leg, the mask having an area and a shape that protects at least the nose and the eyes from the outside of the user's face, the lower part of the face being in close contact with the face, A face mask having a structure that forms an open face to the outside air, and the purified air is discharged to the inner space around the nose portion and then exits through the open face;
An electric air blowing unit that sucks ambient air and pressurizes and discharges the air; and a filter unit for removing the contaminants contained in the outside air supplied from the air blowing unit to generate the purified air. And
A connecting hose part interconnecting the purified air generated in the electric air cleaning device to be supplied to the face mask;
Wherein the connection hose comprises a main connection hose directly connected to the electric air cleaning device and a branch connection hose branched in two from the main connection hose and formed in a Y shape connected to the pair of eyeglasses legs, and,
And the discharge port extending to a point corresponding to the mist is connected to a second air path extended to a point corresponding to the nose,
Wherein the second air passage is a double wall provided at a corresponding portion of a front surface of the face mask,
Wherein the electric air cleaning apparatus generates the purified air having a discharge pressure of at least 250 Pa at an air flow rate of 100 l / min,
Characterized in that the filter part comprises a replaceable filter cartridge,
Wherein the filter cartridge comprises any one selected from the group consisting of a nanofilter capable of filtering to remove the contaminants which are bacteria, fine dust, or airborne bacteria, a nonwoven fabric type hepa filter, and an industrial mask filter material,
The filter cartridge includes activated carbon for removing the contaminants, which is a vapor-phase harmful substance including an organic vapor, a mercury vapor, and an acid / base gas, and the activated carbon may be used alone or in combination with a filter for removing dust An electrically operated air-purifying respirator. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the lower portion of the face mask is designed to be in close contact with a position corresponding to the upper and lower cheeks. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the lower portion of the face mask is designed to be closely attached to a position corresponding to a lower portion of the lower face of the mandible. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the face mask has a length that can cover the lower end of the forehead and the mandible. delete delete delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the eyeglass legs are foldable, and the air passage and the ejection opening are mutually hermetically connected when the eyeglass leg is stretched. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the electric air blowing unit is a blower connected in series with a pair of impellers, and is capable of continuous use for at least 8 hours based on the use of a battery having a capacity of 12V-2Ah.
delete delete delete

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