KR20060121351A - Water purifier using air - Google Patents

Abstract

A water purifier using air which supplies purified water by cooling air using heat pipes, obtaining water directly from air and purifying the obtained water, which uses electricity obtained by solar power generation as a power source, and which sterilizes and purifies water obtained from air in multistage to supply clean water are provided. A water purifier using air comprises: a case(11) having an air inlet(13) and an air outlet(12) formed on one side and the other side thereof; a water generation part(B) installed below the case; a water supply part(A) which is installed at an upper side of the case, and has a water tank(20) and a handle valve(21) that communicates with the water tank and selectively supplies hot water and cold water; and a pump for transferring water generated from the water generation part to the water tank of the water supply part, wherein the water generation part comprises a blower(31), ducts(32a,32b), a plurality of heat pipes(34) and a water collection member(35), and wherein a hydrothermal part of the heat pipes is installed on an air flowing path(C) within the ducts while a radiation part of the heat pipes contacts a cooling means(38) formed on an outer portion of the ducts.

Description

Air-Water Purifier {Water purifier using air}

1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of an air-water purifier according to the present invention;

2 is an internal configuration diagram of the air-water purifier of FIG. 1;

3 is an enlarged view showing a heat pipe of the air-water purifier of FIG. 1;

4 is an enlarged view showing another example of the heat pipe of the air-water purifier according to the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air-water purifier, and more particularly, to an air-water purifier for condensing moisture contained in air to use as raw water by cooling air in the atmosphere below a dew point temperature.

Conventional water purifiers are supplied with tap water as raw water and purified and supplied to the user through an appropriate filtering device. It is difficult to obtain raw water, for example, in areas with low rainfall, such as in deserts, or with seawater that contains a large amount of salt, such as in islands or coastal areas, or in high-rise buildings, ships, trains, aircraft, or motorhomes. If it is difficult to supply smoothly, a conventional water purifier using tap water or the like as raw water cannot be used.

On the other hand, air contains a lot of moisture in the form of water vapor, and the moisture contained in the air is usually expressed in relative humidity. Relative humidity is the ratio of the mass of water vapor contained in air of a unit volume to the limit of the maximum water vapor density that can be contained in a unit volume at that temperature, with the relative humidity R = F / f. Is calculated. Where f is the atmospheric water vapor pressure and F is the saturated water vapor pressure at that time. Saturated water vapor pressure F is a function of temperature, and even if the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is constant (that is, f is constant), if the temperature changes, F changes, so that the relative humidity R changes. For example, it is most likely due to the change in F that the highest humidity of the day is likely to occur when the minimum temperature appears at dawn.

When the temperature of the air decreases, the relative humidity increases, and at a temperature where the relative humidity reaches 100% (dew point temperature), water vapor that exceeds the amount of saturated steam condenses to change into water. Using this principle, a method of obtaining water from air has been developed in the past.

For example, Korean Utility Model Registration Nos. 20-372502 and 20-374109 disclose a method of obtaining water by circulating a refrigerant along a thermodynamic cycle and cooling the air using a low temperature evaporator and using a Peltier element. Methods of cooling to obtain water are disclosed, respectively.

However, the prior art as described above has the following problems. The technique using the former refrigerant has a high energy consumption and low efficiency, but also requires a complicated configuration such as a compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator constituting a thermodynamic cycle. The latter Peltier element has a low cooling capacity and is mainly used for precise temperature control, which is not suitable for use in water purifiers, and the possibility of practical use is imminent.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an air-water purifier that obtains water directly from the air by cooling the air using a heat pipe and supplies the purified water.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air-water purifier using electricity obtained by solar power generation as a power source for driving the air-water purifier.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air-water purifier that can be used by receiving clean water from the air by sterilizing and purifying water obtained from the air in multiple stages.

Air-water purifier according to the present invention for achieving the above object is the air inlet and the air discharge port is provided on one side and the other side, respectively; A water generator installed under the case; A water supply unit installed at an upper side of the case and having a handle valve communicating with the water tank and the water tank and selectively supplying hot water and cold water; And a pump for pumping the water generated from the water generation unit into the water tank of the water supply unit. The water generating unit blows the outside air through the air inlet of the case and discharges the air through the air outlet, a duct providing an air flow path between the air inlet and the air outlet, air by cooling the air below the dew point temperature And a plurality of heat pipes stacked along the air flow direction to condense the moisture contained therein, and a collecting member installed at a lower portion of the heat pipe to collect water condensed from the heat pipe. The heat receiving portion of the heat pipe is installed in an air flow passage inside the duct, and the heat radiating portion of the heat pipe is in contact with cooling means provided outside the duct.

In addition, the solar power generation unit for generating electricity using solar light and an inverter for converting the voltage generated by the photovoltaic power generation unit to the use voltage to supply power to the pump, blower and cooling means of the air-water purifier It is desirable to.

In addition, the heat pipe preferably includes a tubular heat pipe main body disposed over the entire area of the duct, a heat dissipation fin provided outside the heat pipe main body, and a two-phase condensable heat exchange medium enclosed in the main body.

In addition, it is preferable that an air filter is provided at the air inlet of the case, and an anion generator is further provided at the air outlet.

In addition, a first water purification filter is provided on the water inflow path between the heat pipe and the water collecting member of the water generating unit, and a surface of the water collecting member includes a silver nano coating layer, and at least one agent is provided in the pressure pipe between the water generating unit and the water supplying unit. 2 is provided with a water filter, the water tank of the water supply unit is provided with an ozone sterilizer, and the inner surface of the water tank is preferably provided with a nano-silver coating layer.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the air-water purifier according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3, the air-water purifier 10 according to the present embodiment includes a case 11 having air inlets 13 and air outlets 12 provided at one side and the other side, respectively. That is, the air discharge port 12 is provided on the lower front surface of the case 11, and the air suction port 13 is provided on the lower rear surface of the case 11.

The inside of the case 11 is partitioned into the upper side and the lower side by the partition member 14, the water generating unit (B) is provided on the lower side, the water supply unit (A) is provided on the upper side.

The water supply unit (A) is in communication with the water tank 20 and the water tank 20 for storing the water transferred from the water generating unit (B) having a size enough to store a sufficient amount for human drinking And a handle valve 21 for opening and closing the flow of water by the user. Reference numerals 22a and 22b denote heat exchangers for switching hot water and cold water from the water tank 20 to the knob valve 21.

Water generating unit (B) is a blower 31 for sucking the outside air through the air inlet 13 of the case and discharge the sucked air through the air outlet 12, the air inlet 13 and the air outlet 12 A duct 32 providing an air flow path C), a plurality of heat pipes 33 stacked along the air flow direction to condense moisture contained in the air by cooling the air below a dew point temperature, and the It is composed of a collecting member 35 installed at the lower portion of the heat pipe 33 to collect water condensed in the heat pipe 33.

 On the other hand, the air inlet 13 of the case is provided with an air filter 36, the air discharge port 12 is provided with an anion generator 37, the air-water purifier dehumidification action to obtain water from the air Together with the air cleaner.

The heat pipe 34 is installed across the ducts 32a and 32b in the transverse direction. That is, the heat receiving portion of the heat pipe 34 is provided on the air flow passage C inside the ducts 32a and 32b, and the heat dissipation portion of the heat pipe 34 is provided outside the air flow passage through the duct 32a. In contact with the cooling means 38. The cooling means 38 may be implemented by various technical means, including a heat transfer device. The duct 32b is formed of a porous member to allow water condensed on the heat pipe to pass downward.

As shown in Fig. 3, the heat pipe 34 is constituted by a tubular heat pipe main body disposed over the entire area of the air flow passage C. The main body of the heat pipe 34 is provided with a plurality of predetermined intervals along the air flow direction. A plurality of heat dissipation fins 39 are provided outside the body of the heat pipe 34 to maximize heat transfer efficiency. The two-phase condensable heat exchange medium is enclosed in the heat pipe 34 body. The heat exchange medium 40 is composed of a vapor part 40b in which the liquid part 40a and the liquid part evaporate and are saturated. These liquid portions 40a and vapor bubbles 40b form an equilibrium in a normal state, but when a thermal gradient occurs, the equilibrium is broken and moves along the inside of the tube to transfer heat very efficiently. In the case of the present invention receives the heat in the air from the heat receiving portion of the heat pipe 34 transfers heat to the heat dissipation portion of the heat pipe 34 as the two-phase condensable heat exchange medium inside the balance is broken and the heat dissipation portion cooling means Cooling by (38) allows continuous heat transfer.

Copper, stainless steel, ceramics, tungsten, etc. are used as a material of the said heat pipe main body, and a porous fiber etc. are used for an inner wall. As the heat exchange medium encapsulated inside the main body, volatile substances such as methanol, acetone, water, mercury, and the like are used.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 4, the heat pipe 44 may be used by bending a single pipe several times in meander. Since the technical means other than those described above among the components of FIG. 4 are the same as those shown in FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are used and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

This embodiment uses a photovoltaic power generation system as a power source required for a water purifier. That is, as a power source for the operation of the pressure pump 51 (to be described later), the blower 31 and the cooling means 38 of the water purifier, the solar power generation unit 61 and the solar light generating electricity using sunlight. An inverter 62 is installed to change the voltage generated by the power generation section 61 into an appropriate use voltage.

When solar radiation is stable and abundant, such as deserts, the solar power generation system can be used to obtain water by operating a water purifier in a natural state without installing a separate power source.

The water generated from the water generating unit B and collected in the collecting member 35 is pumped by the pressure pump 51 to the water tank 20 of the water supply unit A. Although not shown, the water purifier according to the present invention provides a flow sensor so that the pressure pump 35 may be intermittently operated when the water collecting member 35 is sufficiently filled with water. In addition, by installing a separate flow sensor in the water tank 20, when sufficient water in the water tank 20 may be configured to stop the operation of the pressure feed pump 51, the blower 31 and the cooling means 38. . In addition, by installing a separate drain means may be configured to discharge the water filled in the collecting member 35 out of the water purifier if necessary.

Hereinafter, the water purification means which purifies the water condensed from the air in the state which a person can drink is demonstrated. First, the first water filter 71 is provided on the water inflow path of the water collecting member 35 of the water generating unit B, and the surface of the water collecting member 35 is coated by the silver nano coating layer 35a. Various bacteria or foreign substances present in the air may be included in the water at the time of the water condensation of the heat pipe, such bacteria or foreign substances are removed by the water filter 71 and the silver nano coating layer 35a. Next, at least one second water purification filter 52 is provided in the pressure feeding pipe 70 between the water generating unit B and the water supply unit A. In addition, the ozone sterilizer 71 is provided in the water tank 20 of the water supply unit A, and the silver nano coating layer 20a is provided on the inner surface of the water tank 20. Although not shown, in addition to the water filter, silver nano coating and ozone sterilizer, various water purification means (eg, ion exchange resin, ceramic filter, etc.) for removing foreign substances in water and preventing bacteria from growing are further provided. Of course it can be.

In addition, the alkaline water generating device is installed in the feed pipe 70 to convert purified water into weak alkaline water that is beneficial to human health.

The matters described in this specification and the drawings are presented by way of example to describe preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to these matters.

Air-water purifier according to the present invention by condensing the moisture contained in the air by cooling the air using a high-efficiency heat pipe to obtain the raw water and to supply the purified water, it is possible to provide purified water without supplying additional raw water, such as tap water Can be. Therefore, it is very useful when it is difficult to obtain raw water. In addition, since it uses electricity obtained by photovoltaic power generation as a power source required for the water purifier, it is very useful when no separate power equipment is installed. Furthermore, the air-water purifier according to the present invention provides the advantage of supplying clean water from the air since it sterilizes and purifies the water obtained from the air.

Claims (5)

A case having air inlets and air outlets provided at one side and the other side, respectively; A water generator installed under the case; A water supply unit installed at an upper side of the case and having a handle valve communicating with the water tank and the water tank and selectively supplying hot water and cold water; A pump for pumping the water generated from the water generation unit into the water tank of the water supply unit; The water generating unit blows the outside air through the air inlet of the case and discharges the air through the air outlet, a duct providing an air flow path between the air inlet and the air outlet, air by cooling the air below the dew point temperature A plurality of heat pipes stacked along the air flow direction to condense moisture contained therein and a collecting member installed at a lower portion of the heat pipes to collect water condensed from the heat pipes; And a heat receiving portion of the heat pipe is installed in an air flow passage inside the duct, and a heat radiating portion of the heat pipe is in contact with cooling means provided outside the duct. According to claim 1, further comprising a photovoltaic power generation unit for generating electricity using solar light and an inverter for converting the voltage generated in the photovoltaic power generation unit to the use voltage, pumping pump, blower of the air-water purifier and Air-water purifier, characterized in that for supplying power to the cooling means. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the heat pipe includes a tubular heat pipe main body disposed over the entire area of the duct, a heat dissipation fin provided outside the heat pipe main body, and a two-phase condensable heat exchange medium enclosed in the main body. Air-water purifier, characterized in that. The air-water purifier of claim 1, wherein an air filter is provided at an air inlet of the case, and an anion generator is further provided at the air outlet. According to claim 1, wherein the first water filter is provided on the water inlet between the heat pipe and the water collecting member of the water generating unit and the surface of the water collecting member has a silver nano-coating layer, At least one second water purification filter is provided in the pressure pipe between the water generator and the water supply unit. The water tank of the water supply unit is provided with an ozone sterilizer and an air-water purifier, characterized in that a silver nano-coating layer is provided on the inner surface of the water tank.

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