ROTATING DISC HUMIDIFIER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an apparatus for humidification, vaporization or the like, and more particularly, in a preferred embodiment, to an improved rotating disk for dispersing small water particles. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Mechanical rotating disk type humidifiers are generally known and have been commercially successful due to their ability to introduce a considerable volume of water into a room without materially influencing the ambient temperature therein. The long-standing problems associated with mechanical rotating disk humidifiers that inject water droplets outward into a room, include "runoff" and "spill." Runoff can be defined as the dropping of large droplets to the floor or other surfaces before evaporation occurs. In addition, water droplets that are small enough to be lifted by the rising column of air may collide with other medium-sized droplets to form large droplets, which may fall again before evaporating. The spill occurs when large water droplets form inside the humidifier housing near the exhaust port and the forced air flow out of the humidifier raises the large water droplets out of the housing where they subsequently fall on the top of the accommodation giving the appearance that the accommodation was spilled. Another problem associated with the known rotating disc or "no heat" humidifiers, due in part to the problems of runoff and spill discussed previously, is its inability to discharge a satisfactory amount of water into the atmosphere during a given period. Said known rotating disk humidifiers do not effectively humidify the air, especially since the air in the room becomes more humid since the large water particles produced by the known rotating disk humidifiers do not evaporate easily and fall out of the air. air. Therefore, there is a need for an improved humidifier that produces and emits consistently, a satisfactory volume of very fine water particles in order to overcome the problems of runoff, spillage and poor humidification, associated with known rotating disk humidifiers. Therefore, it is convenient to provide an improved rotating disc humidifier that atomizes and introduces into the ambient air an abundance of very fine water particles that evaporate easily before falling. It is also convenient to provide an improved rotating disc humidifier which prevents large drops of water from forming inside the housing and which are transported by forced air to the discharge door.
It is further desirable to provide a rotating disk humidifier in which the air flow through it has been maximized to drive the atomized water particles to the highest part of the air to increase the chances of them evaporating before falling. . SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention achieves these objectives by providing a novel humidifier having a propellant assembly comprising a hollow rod extending down into the water tray and having longitudinal ribs disposed within the rod, and a disk disposed on a upper end of the rod, the disk defining an internal annular shoulder, an outer annular shoulder, a circumferential edge and a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings disposed between the inner and outer annular shoulder. The propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention produces a plurality of water streams flowing on the lower part of the rotating disc in the following manner. As the drive assembly is rotated by the motor, the water in the tray is propelled up through the rod along the longitudinal ribs. The water current associated with each rib, first it must be raised on the internal annular shoulder on top of the rotating disc. Unlike known rotary disk humidifiers, the ribs are not aligned with any of the openings in the rotating disk. Instead, the ribs are placed in such a way that the water streams coming out of them flow between the openings in the rotating disk. The water flow changes after a radial flow to a circumferential flow as the water strikes the inner side of the outer annular shoulder until a continuous ring of water forms around and out of the ring of circumferentially separated openings in the rotating disk . When the width of the circumferential water stream becomes large enough, as more water flows from the ribs against the outer annular shoulder, each of the openings in the rotating disk is simultaneously fed and water falls through the openings in a plurality of streams on the underside of the rotating disk. The water from each stream is fired from the disk through a concentrically aligned crest to further atomize the water in the streams. In alternative embodiments, the drive assembly may comprise a rotary disk with respect to the center line of the rod, or a rotating disk having a corrugated circumferential edge or double rotating discs. In addition, a restriction tip may also be employed to control the speed at which the humidifier atomizes water into the atmosphere. A better understanding of the present invention, its uses and its other objects and advantages, can be obtained from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims thereto, particularly when read together with the drawings. annexes, a brief description which follows below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the attached drawings, the preferred embodiments of the invention and preferred methods for practicing the invention are illustrated, in which: Figure 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of the humidifier of the present invention. Figure 1A, is a perspective view of the humidifier of the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the head assembly of the humidifier of the present invention, the screen being partially separated and showing the propeller assembly in cross section . Figure 3 is a top perspective view of the propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention. Figure 3A is a bottom perspective view of the propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention. Figure 4 is a top plan view of the propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention. Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention along Line 5-5 of Figure 4. Figure 6 is a perspective view of the restriction tip of the humidifier. the present invention.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of an alternative propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention, having a grooved rotating disc. Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of the propellant assembly of Figure 7. Figure 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of another alternative propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention having the rotating disk angularly disposed on the rod. . Figure 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of yet another alternative propellant assembly of the humidifier of the present invention having double rotating discs. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES This invention is described with respect to the preferred physical embodiments constructed in accordance therewith. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the specific embodiments illustrated and described, but only by the scope of the appended claims, including all equivalents thereof. Referring now to Figures 1, 1A and 2, the rotating disk humidifier 10 of the present invention is shown therein comprising a humidifier head assembly 16 assembled on a bucket housing 12 that holds the water that is going to be atomized. The head assembly 16, further comprises a motor assembly 17, in the motor housing 18 and the propeller assembly 20. The propeller assembly 20 includes a cover 21 having a cylindrical cavity 27 that fits under pressure on the arrow of the motor 19 for connecting the assembly of the propeller 20 to the motor assembly 17. The humidifier 10 also includes fan means for producing an air flow between a vent or inlet port 13 and an outlet port 14 defined by the cover housing 11. The propeller assembly 20 preferably comprises a rotating disk 22 having a circumferential edge 39 and a hollow rod 24 molded as a single piece. As shown in Figures 2 and 5, the hollow rod 24, preferably conically, the lower tip 26 which is immersed in the bowl housing 12 of the humidifier 10. Preferably, four ribs 25 are separated within the part internal of the rod 24 and run along the entire length thereof. However, any suitable number of rib 25 may be employed, according to the humidifier of the present invention, as described herein. The rotary disk 22 can preferably carry the fan fins 23 and defines a ring of openings 32 disposed between an internal annular shoulder 28 and an outer annular shoulder 30. The propeller assembly 20 produces a plurality of water streams flowing over the lower part of the rotating disc 22 in the following manner. When the drive assembly 20 is rotated by the motor 17, the water in the bowl housing 12 is pushed out through the rod 24 along the four spaced ribs 25. The water stream associated with each rib 25, first it must be mounted on the inner annular shoulder 28 on the upper part of the rotating disk 22. Unlike the known rotary disk humidifiers, the ribs 25 are not aligned with any of the openings 32 in the rotary disk 22. Instead, As shown in Figure 4, the ribs 25 are positioned in such a way that the water streams coming out of them flow between the openings comprising the ring of the openings 32 in the rotating disc 22. The flow of water it changes after a radial flow to a circumferential flow as the water strikes the inner side of the outer annular shoulder 30, until a continuous ring of water forms around the outside of the annulus. of the openings 32 in the rotating disk 22. When the width of the circumferential stream of water grows large enough, as more water flows from the ribs 25 against the outer annular shoulder 30, each of the openings 32 in the rotating disk is simultaneously fed and the water falls through the openings 32 and precipitates out in a plurality of streams over the inner side of the rotary disk 22. Because a large number of water streams are created, the particle size of the droplets, precipitately exit the lower part of the rotating disk 22 by centrifugal force, is smaller than the size of the particles achieved by known humidifiers that have fewer orifices in the rotating disk that have been known to produce smaller amounts of water and heavier streams, which produce larger water particles. As with known humidifiers of this type, an annular ridge or sieve 36 is arranged around the rotary disk 22 and the water particles coming out of the rotary disk 22, and furthermore they are atomized when they collide with the ridge 36. Since the The design of the humidifier of the present invention produces smaller water droplets coming out of the rotating disk 22, it also produces smaller water droplets coming out of the peak 36. Because the humidifier 10 of the present invention atomizes water more efficiently in the tub housing 12, it may be convenient to decrease the rate at which water is extracted from the tub housing 12, thereby controlling the rate at which the surrounding atmosphere is humidified by the humidifier 10. For such purpose, a lower end 26 of the propellant assembly 20, may be filled with or may comprise a restriction tip 29. As shown in Figure 6, restriction tip 29, it comprises a hollow cylindrical member 31, the external diameter of which is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the hollow rod 24 at its lower end r 26, such that the cylindrical member 31 can be press fit therein. Four ribs 37, are disposed within the hollow cylindrical member 31, which functions in the same way as the ribs 25 in the rod 24. An opening 38 in the lower part of the restriction tip 29, can vary in size to allow the speed of the desired flow of water in the stream 24 of the propellant assembly 20. Preferably, the ribs 37 of the restriction cap 29 are aligned with the ribs 25 of the rod 24. In addition, the external diameter of the flange 34 of the restriction tip 29, is equal to the outer diameter of the rod 24 at its lower end 26. In another preferred embodiment of the humidifier 10 of the present invention, the rotary disk 22 is inclined at an angle of "x °" with respect to a plane that is perpendicular to the centerline CL of the drive assembly as shown in Figure 9. The angle x ° is preferably greater than 0o and up to 3o for a disk with a diameter of 12.7 cm. The inclination of the rotary disk 22, produces an intentional fluctuation in it as the rotary disk 22 rotates. Said wobble provides the distribution of the water outside the rotary disk 22, in a plane that varies continuously, so that the water does not the crest 36 is impacted continuously in the same plane. As a result, more water is atomized per revolution of the rotating disk 22 since there is no oversaturation of the ridge 36 on a single plane. In yet another preferred embodiment of the humidifier 10 of the present invention, the circumferential edge 39 of the rotating disc 22 is not flat but is fluted or corrugated as shown in Figures 7 and 8. Thus forming the rotating disc 22, the water that is fired from the disc 22 by the centrifugal force, does not saturate the ridge 36 in a plane and more water will be atomized per revolution of the rotating disc 22, into finer particles. Further, with respect to any of the preferred embodiments of the humidifier of the present invention described above, the fins of the fan 23 can be replaced by a separate fan unit (not shown) and a second rotating disc 44 used to substantially increase the rate of atomization of the water in the tub housing 12. Figure 10 illustrates still a preferred embodiment further of the present invention wherein the driver assembly 20 includes two rotating discs 22 and 44. Preferably, the diameter Dt of the upper ring of the discharge openings 33 is larger than the diameter DB of the lower ring of the discharge openings 32. As shown in Figure 10, the diameters Dt and DB are preferably set so that the distance "a" is equal to or almost equal to the sum of the distances "b" and "c". In this way, the water that accumulates against the inner side of the outer annular shoulder 30, will begin to flow in the openings comprising the upper and lower rings of the openings 33 and 32, respectively, at about the same time. In Figure 10, the upper ring of the discharge openings 33 is shown aligned with the lower ring of the jet openings 32 for illustrative purposes only.
In further preferred embodiments of the humidifier 10 of the present invention, the double rotary disks 22 and 24 may be inclined with respect to the centerline C of the propeller assembly 20 as described above. Also the double discs 22 and 24 can be grooved or corrugated as also described above. Although the invention has been described in detail in the foregoing for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that said detail is solely for that purpose and that variations may be made thereto by those of ordinary experience in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims, including all equivalents thereof.