KR20090020033A - Air purifying system using photocatalyst - Google Patents

Abstract

An air cleaner is provided to perform the air cleaning function in the concentration of the high contaminant and to remove contaminant and the bad smell. An air cleaner comprises: a suction fan(20) installed on one side of the housing; a suction pipe(21) which is connected to the suction fan and has the inhalation hole in the lower part; an exhaust fan(30) installed at the other side of the housing; an exhaust pipe(31) which is connected to the exhaust fan and has a plurality of micro-hollows; and an ultra-violet ray lamp having the quartz tube including titanium dioxide.

Description

Air purifier using photocatalyst {AIR PURIFYING SYSTEM USING PHOTOCATALYST}

The present invention relates to an air purifier using titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ), and more particularly, using a UV lamp having a quartz tube containing a photocatalyst, that is, titanium dioxide, contaminants in the air regardless of time. And it relates to an air purifier that can remove microorganisms and the like.

As the economic activity of human beings has increased since the industrialization, the components of the atmosphere have changed, and the components that can adversely affect animals and plants are increasing. This component is commonly caused by burn NOx, a high molecular weight fuel which collectively, and the like to acid rain and the NOx causative agent of photochemical smog NO, NO _2, NO ₃ gaseous substance and sulfur oxides that cause acid rain (SOx) In addition, there are hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, which are smog-causing substances, and some are carcinogens. Particulate substances include soot, incompletely burned carbon particles, and dust that causes respiratory diseases. In addition, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, toluene, and benzene emitted from fine dust and materials used in building materials are contaminating air even in the interior of buildings.

The problem of air pollution is also a big problem in the livestock industry. Inside the barn is a lot of livestock in a small space because the air pollution is serious. Air pollutants in these houses include various dusts from feed, keratin falling from the epidermis of animals, harmful gases and odors from livestock manure. Odors from livestock facilities are the result of a combination of various chemicals. These odors have been reported to be caused by more than a hundred volatile substances, most of which are volatile fatty acids (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, etc.), phenols, nitrogen derivatives (ammonia, amines, indole, etc.) and sulfur Compounds (thiols, sulfides, thiophenes) and the like. Especially in winter, the livestock are kept in a closed structure for heating, which makes the air quality even worse. If the air in the barn is very polluted, it can cause livestock wasting disease, and the immunity of the livestock is reduced, and the possibility of mass mortality due to infectious diseases increases, and the incidence of respiratory diseases also increases, which increases the use of antibiotics. do. In addition, in the late 80s, windowless barns have been spreading mainly in laying hens and breeders in Korea. In practice, however, it means that the window is designed to artificially control internal environmental factors to keep the internal environment suitable for livestock growth. The purpose of the establishment of windowless barns is to increase productivity and to obtain more economic profits by keeping the environment inside the most suitable for livestock growth. Even in these windowless houses, proper air purification is one of the most important problems in order to artificially maintain the internal environment in an ideal state.

The most widely used method to reduce the internal air pollution of the house is the ventilation method that exhausts the internal air contaminated with the ventilation device and supplies the fresh air to the inside. However, this method has difficulty in heating the house because the cold air flows directly into the inside during winter, polluted air and odors are released to the outside, and if there is a private house near the house, a complaint about odor is raised. Difficulties in the management of the premises result in significant restrictions on the location of the barn. In addition, the "odor prevention law" enacted in 2004 and in effect since 2005 defines odor as hydrogen sulphides, mercaptans, amines and other irritating gaseous substances that stimulate the sense of smell and cause discomfort and aversion. Regulations on odors are becoming more strict, such as the city and the Governor issued an order for improvement when the odor emission standard was exceeded, and the city or provincial governor issued an order for improvement. There is an urgent need to develop an efficient air purifier that can purify the air, sterilize viruses and various harmful bacteria, prevent diseases, and decompose harmful gases to reduce the occurrence of odors.

As a solution to the harmful gases and odors generated from livestock manure, feeds are mixed with porous materials such as activated carbon and peat, ozone, microbial culture medium, and various kinds of microorganisms in the feed, and mixed with the enzymes to suppress the generation of ammonia. Various methods have been disclosed, such as the method of passing the wood chip, which is a biofilter device, but no method has yet been proposed, and it is expensive to process and can be a countermeasure against viruses or pathogenic bacteria. none.

Recently, the most attention-getting method of air purification is the use of a photocatalyst. A photocatalyst is a substance that absorbs light and promotes chemical reactions.A photocatalyst is a stable substance or a superoxide that reacts on the surface of a photocatalyst and reacts on the surface of the photocatalyst, causing the photocatalyst to lose electrons and holes to become very unstable. Hydroxy radicals (OH ·) oxidize and decompose contaminants. Mainly used as a photocatalyst is titanium dioxide. Efforts have been made to apply such a method of purifying air using titanium dioxide to livestock houses, and most of them are methods of installing an ultraviolet lamp and coating a photocatalyst or a photocatalyst filter. However, this method has a problem in that the surface of the photocatalytic portion is easily contaminated within a short period of time after installation in a place where there are a lot of fine dust or suspended matter such as a barn, and thus, a desired effect cannot be obtained. In addition, since the cleaning must be frequently performed to remove contaminants, a lot of effort and time are required for maintenance and management, and when cleaning the photocatalyst portion, the photocatalyst falls with the contaminants and thus the air purification function is weakened.

On the other hand, in the case of a general air purifier, the air purified through a filter is introduced into the room through a fan installed at a certain distance from the discharge pipe, and the air from the discharge air causes wind due to the pressure, which causes the livestock in the barn to live. When directly hit, there is a problem that the stress on the livestock due to the temperature difference caused by the wind adversely affects the growth of the livestock.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air purifying apparatus capable of sterilizing viruses, pathogenic bacteria and the like as well as removing contaminants in the air.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air purifying device which is simple in structure, easy to maintain and manages, and which can perform a constant air purifying function even with time.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an air purifier that supplies purified air to an extent that it does not feel a change in overall temperature.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an air purification policy that can remove contaminants, odors and sterilize viruses, pathogenic bacteria, etc. using superoxide, hydroxy radicals, etc. generated by a photocatalyst.

In order to achieve the other object, the present invention by using an ultraviolet lamp having a quartz tube containing titanium dioxide self-purifying function can perform a certain function regardless of the passage of time even at a high concentration of pollutants. Provide an air purifier.

In order to achieve another object, the present invention provides an air purifying apparatus for supplying purified air with a breeze that does not feel a change in overall temperature by discharging the purified air through a plurality of micropores.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

In general, the most widely used air purification method is to filter out contaminants in the air by using a filter. However, the method of using the filter has a inconvenience in that the filter is easily contaminated and the filter is frequently replaced because the filtration load of the filter is high in a place where air pollution is severe, and microorganisms or contaminants in the filter are leaked when the filter is replaced. There is a risk of contaminating the room again and it can be a serious threat to the health of workers.

There are two methods of purifying indoor air: a method of exhausting the air polluted largely by a ventilator, supplying fresh air to the inside, and a method of removing and re-contaminating the indoor pollutant using an air purifier. . In the case of the ventilation method, there is difficulty in heating the house because the cold air flows directly into the inside in winter, polluted air and odors are released to the outside, and if there is a private house near the house, complaints of odor are raised. Will be difficult to operate. In the present invention, the air purification apparatus is used to purify the air in the room and supply it again, thereby solving the problem of the ventilation method.

The air purification method which has received considerable attention recently is the air purification method using a photocatalyst. A photocatalyst is a substance that accelerates the chemical reaction of another substance without changing itself when it receives light. Titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ) is the most widely used photocatalyst, and titanium dioxide, especially anatase form, causes a photocatalytic reaction under ultraviolet light. Therefore, the photocatalytic reaction not only has a bactericidal effect by ultraviolet rays but also a photocatalytic reaction. Titanium dioxide is a very stable material under normal conditions, but when ultraviolet rays of 380 nm or less are irradiated, electrons are easily lost, holes are formed in the electrons, and become very unstable. Titanium dioxide in an unstable state to provide their e-oxygen molecules passing around the superoxide anion (O2 ^-), thereby to change the type of activation of oxygen. Superoxide anions are attached to the intermediate of the oxidation reaction to form peroxides or become water via hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ). On the other hand, the titanium dioxide molecule that has lost electrons is in an unstable state and wants to return to its original stable state. The holes of the titanium dioxide have a very large oxidation power, which takes electrons from oxygen (H ₂ O) molecules passing through them and gives them to oxygen molecules. The missing electrons are filled. The water vapor molecules to lose electrons are unstable end hydroxyl ion (OH ^-) is a separate and each represent a hydrogen ion (H ^+). In addition, the very strong oxidizing power of the titanium dioxide hole oxidizes water vapor to generate hydroxy radicals (OH ·) and to directly oxidize organic materials. Hydroxy radicals are very reactive in the neutral form of hydroxide ions. Hydroxy radicals remove pollutants from the troposphere, depriving hydrogen atoms from pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to form water (H ₂ O). Hydroxy radicals are known to be 2,000 times faster than ozone and 180 times faster than ultraviolet rays because of their high reactivity, and are about 1.5 times stronger than ozone, about 2 times stronger than chlorine, and about 1.6 times stronger than hydrogen peroxide in their sterilizing power. have. These hydroxy radicals and superoxide anions oxidize and decompose organic compounds into water and carbon dioxide. Because of the photo-catalyst's ability to purify the air, the technology is drawing attention as a solution to residents' health problems caused by harmful substances from building materials and wallpaper used to rebuild houses and buildings called sick house syndrome. Volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, acetone, and styrene, which are emitted from materials used in building materials and wallpaper, are known to be the main cause of sick house syndrome. There are also contaminants such as fine dust and suspended bacteria. The method of using a photocatalyst to solve the sick house syndrome is to spray titanium dioxide using a spray gun or the like to coat the walls or furniture. When the coated titanium dioxide receives light, the contaminants in the room are removed by the photocatalytic reaction.

There have been many attempts to apply this photocatalyst technology to air purifiers, which is no exception to air purification in livestock houses. The photocatalyst technique is preferable for air purification in a livestock house because its effect is superior to the use of a general filter, sterilization using ultraviolet light, and purification technology by ozone generation. In addition, superoxide anions, hydroxy radicals and the like generated by photocatalysts are also suitable for removing odors in the livestock house since they effectively decompose ammonia, amines, and the like into nitrogen, oxygen, and water. However, in places where the concentration of pollutants is very high, such as in the house, the air purification by photocatalyst is effective at the beginning of installation, but after installation, the effect is remarkably decreased. This is because the filter coated with photocatalyst or photocatalyst coated around UV lamp This is due to the purification of the air by placing it in the photocatalyst, which is easily contaminated in the barn where high concentrations of pollutants such as fine dust are present.If the pollutants accumulate on the surface, the ultraviolet light is not properly irradiated. Lost and unable to form holes will not achieve the desired effect. If frequent cleaning or filter replacement is required to remove contaminants on the titanium dioxide surface, not only will it cost a lot of money and manpower to maintain the air purifier, but wiping the contaminants off the titanium dioxide surface will also remove the titanium dioxide. As a result, the air purification capacity is reduced. In order to prevent this, in the present invention, an ultraviolet lamp having a quartz tube containing titanium dioxide is used. The structure of the ultraviolet lamp of the present invention is the same as the structure of a general ultraviolet lamp, but in the manufacture of a quartz tube instead of a conventional quartz tube by adding titanium dioxide to include titanium dioxide in the quartz tube. Since the quartz tube itself contains titanium dioxide, ultraviolet light is emitted from the ultraviolet lamp and photocatalytic reaction by titanium dioxide occurs on the surface of the lamp, which causes the ultraviolet lamp to self-clean so that it has antifouling function. do. In other words, the surface of the ultraviolet lamp decomposes pollutants and converts them into carbon dioxide and water. Therefore, even in places where the concentration of contaminants is high, such as a livestock house, the air purifier can maintain a constant effect even as time passes, and much effort and cost are not required to maintain the air purifier. In addition, the initial installation cost is low because the structure is very simple without any additional devices such as a filter.

In the general air purifier, the purified air is supplied back to the room through the exhaust ports installed at regular intervals in the lower part of the exhaust pipe. The air supplied in this way is supplied to the room due to the pressure and causes the wind. If the air is directly hit, the air may feel a temperature difference and may stress the animal in the barn. These stresses have a negative effect on the growth of livestock, especially on sensitive livestock such as pregnant livestock and young offspring. In addition, if the wind is generated in the barn, fine dust on the floor is diffused in the barn, which may further deteriorate indoor air quality. Therefore, it is preferable to supply the purified air in a gentle manner so as not to cause the wind. In the present invention, the air is diffused into the room by the breeze and thus stresses the livestock because the air is purged through the micro-holes in the exhaust pipe and supplied to the room. Can be supplied without. In addition, it is desirable to make micro-pores in the exhaust pipe in all directions. This is because the superoxide anion and hydroxy radicals generated by the photocatalytic reaction can be supplied to the room as a whole in the air purifier. This is because the indoor air can be purified and sterilized.

The present invention can efficiently purify and sterilize indoor contaminants, odor components, viruses, bacteria, etc. using a photocatalytic reaction, and then supply them back to the indoors to provide optimal conditions for the growth of livestock, respiratory diseases and various infectious diseases. It can reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock, contribute to the health of the livestock industry, and reduce the location of the livestock by eliminating odors, one of the problems of livestock farming.

In addition, by using an ultraviolet lamp having a quartz tube containing titanium dioxide, a photocatalyst, it has an antifouling function and thus can provide a continuous effect regardless of the passage of time even in the presence of a lot of pollutants such as a barn. It provides a relatively simple air purifier without a filter, so it is inexpensive to install and maintain, and there is almost no heat loss to circulate and purify the internal air. Feeding through the micropores in the pond provides smooth, purified air without stressing the livestock.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the air purifying apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows that the air purifier according to the present invention installed in the barn, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the air purifier according to the present invention.

1 to 2, the air purifying apparatus 10 using the photocatalyst according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an intake fan 20, an intake pipe 21, an ultraviolet lamp 12, and an exhaust fan 30. ) And the exhaust pipe (31).

Air purifier 10 of the present invention is located on the wall of the barn can be installed on the ceiling if necessary. An intake fan 20 for introducing indoor air is installed on one side of the housing 11 of the air purifier 10. When the intake fan 20 is operated, indoor air is connected to the intake fan 20 to extend across the room. Indoor air flows in through the intake port 22 provided at predetermined intervals in the lower portion of the intake pipe 21. The size or installation interval of the intake port 22 may be adjusted according to the concentration of contaminants in the barn according to the size of the barn, the number of livestock, and the like.

The contaminated indoor air introduced into the air purifier 10 through the intake fan 20 is purified by the photocatalytic reaction occurring at the surface of the ultraviolet lamp 12 in the center of the air purifier 10.

The ultraviolet lamp 12 is fixed by the lamp holder 13 to the lamp frame 14 installed in the central portion of the housing 11. One or more ultraviolet lamps 12 may be installed depending on the area of the pen or the concentration of contaminants in the pen. In addition, the ultraviolet lamp 12 shown in FIG. 2 has a U shape, but may have various shapes such as a straight line shape or a circular shape.

3 is a schematic view showing the structure of the ultraviolet lamp of the present invention. The structure of the ultraviolet lamp 12 of the present invention is not significantly different from that of a general ultraviolet lamp, but the quartz tube 15 of the ultraviolet lamp 12 includes titanium dioxide in itself. In the manufacture of the quartz tube 15, the photocatalytic reaction occurs on the surface of the ultraviolet lamp 12 due to the addition of titanium dioxide. Therefore, the reaction of decomposing contaminants on the surface of the ultraviolet lamp 12 and converting them into carbon dioxide and water occurs to maintain a constant effect regardless of the passage of time even in places with high concentrations of contaminants such as barns.

The air purified by the photocatalytic reaction is supplied back to the room through the exhaust fan 30 installed on the other side of the housing 11. Exhaust pipe 31 is connected to the exhaust fan 30, the exhaust pipe 31 is installed across the barn and fine holes 32 are formed so that the purified air is supplied to the barn without causing wind into the barn Can be. The size of the micropores is not important if the purified air can be supplied smoothly throughout the house.

In order to confirm the effect of the air purifying apparatus 10 of the present invention, the air quality was measured using a detector tube and then installed in two stalls.

First barn Before installation after installing carbon dioxide 1,800 ppm 1780 ppm Volatile Organic Compounds 6.4 ppm 0.6 ppm ammonia 13 ppm 2.0 ppm

Second Barn Before installation after installing carbon dioxide 1,800 ppm 1,800 ppm Volatile Organic Compounds 6.0 ppm 0.5 ppm ammonia 15 ppm 2.1 ppm

As shown in the above table, the air purifier of the present invention did not affect the concentration of carbon dioxide in the room, but it can be seen that the concentration of volatile organic compounds and ammonia is significantly reduced, and thus effective in removing contaminants and odors in the house.

As described above, the air purifying apparatus is applied to the livestock house as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be applied to subway stations, hospitals, office buildings, etc. without particular modification or addition to the technical spirit of the present invention. will be.

1 shows a state in which the air purifier according to the present invention is installed.

2 is a perspective view of the interior of the air purifier according to the present invention.

3 is a schematic view showing the structure of the ultraviolet lamp of the present invention.

<Description of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings>

10 ... air purifier 11 ... housing

12 ... UV Lamp 13 ... Lamp Holder

14 ... lamp frame 15 ... quartz tube

16 ... electrode 17 ... end coating

20 ... Intake fan 21 ... Intake pipe

22 ... intake vent 30 ... exhaust fan

31 ... exhaust pipe 32 ... micropores

Claims (2)

An intake fan installed on one side of the housing, an intake pipe connected to the intake fan and having an inlet at the bottom thereof, an exhaust fan installed on the other side of the housing, an exhaust pipe connected to the exhaust fan and having a plurality of micropores and quartz comprising titanium dioxide An air purifier comprising an ultraviolet lamp having a tube. The method of claim 1, And said exhaust pipe has micropores in all directions.

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