Three-dimensional Ultrasonic generating Washing device
Technical Field The present invention relates to a washing device having a vibrator made of ceramic, and more particularly a washing device having ultrasonic vibrators capable of generating more amplified ultrasonic waves in which the ultrasonic vibrators can be installed easily, and the edge of the vibrators is fixed on a washing vessel uniformly to reduce unnecessary oscillation and also to eliminate an inharmony of resonance frequency when operating the vibrators in parallel. The present invention also relates to a three-dimensional ultrasonic generating washing device in which vibrators are positioned three-dimensionally on the side and the bottom of the washing device to reduce no cavitation section, an overflow is formed on the side of the washing device to discharge an foreign substance, and washing water is anionized to increase the efficiency of washing.
Background Art A piezoelectric ceramic is used widely as an ultrasonic application element, a displacement generating element and kinds of sensors in the electronics, the communication field and the mechanics. When an electric signal is applied to a piezoelectric device, the device is shrunk and expended in coincidence with the signal. Using this kind of effect, the
device is used in an ultrasonic vibrator, sonar, a piezoelectric buzzer, a speaker and an actuator. The device is also used in various kinds of sensor using an electric energy generated at time of applying a mechanical energy to the device. In addition, said two kind of effect can be used concurrently in an apparatus such as a piezoelectric inverter. A mechanical vibration generated when an electric signal is applied to a piezoelectric device is called as the reverse piezoelectric effect. When an electric signal having the resonance frequency of the device is applied, the greatest displacement is occurred. Thus, the device using the reverse piezoelectric effect is used as an ultrasonic vibrator. The ultrasonic vibrator converts a high frequency power to a mechanical oscillation, and to transmit the mechanical oscillation to a medium through an vibrating body(a horn fabricated normally by metal) transmitting and amplifying the mechanical oscillation. An vibrator widely used for ultrasonic washing is made by lead zirconate titanate(PZT) having a good electric-mechanical converting efficiency, and is a stainless steel washing vessel by sticking a number of piezoelectric ceramic vibrators on the vessel. The stainless steel washing vessel acts as an oscillating body to transmit the mechanical oscillation of a piezoelectric ceramic to the a liquid in the vessel, but does not amplify the ultrasonic waves of the piezoelectric ceramic. Further, there happened a problem that the oscillation of the piezoelectric ceramic occurs a vibrating of the vessel to generate noise having an audible frequency, and
the vessel should be changed wholly when the piezoelectric vibrator is damaged carelessly or by deterioration. A Langevin type ultrasonic vibrator used as a device generating strong ultrasonic waves increases vibrating displacement of the vibrator and generates the strong ultrasonic waves by using two or four vibrators. The structure of this kind of ultrasonic vibrator needs, however, numbers of elements such as a metallic vibrating body manufactured precisely, a bolt, a nut and an electrode plate, the resonance frequency of the vibrator is controlled manually, and the rate of production is low and the cost of production is high. Also, the expense for the change of the vibrator is high when the vibrator is damaged, because the vibrator is attached and fixed on the washing vessel. Further, it is impossible to adhere the vibrator to the vessel in three-dimensional due to the weight of the vibrator, the stainless steel vessel and the effect of vibrating. If the vibrator is attached to the vessel in three-dimensional, this structure influences the vibrating mode of the stainless steel vessel to speed up the damage of the vessel, and the audible noise is increased. As described above, the noise is generated in case of attaching the vibrator to the vessel. In addition, numbers of resonance node points are occurred to prompt the damage of the vessel. Therefore, in the existing washing device, the vibrator is positioned on the bottom of the washing vessel in two-dimensional. In such structure, there happened a problem that no cavitaton area is existed and the washing is not done uniformly.
To overcome the above problem, a method in which numbers of vibrators having different oscillation frequencies with each other are evenly placed on the bottom of the vessel is used. For this kind of structure, the circuit for the structure is more complicated, and an area having no caviation is not prevented from being occurred. Further more, as the efficiency of washing for a big foreign substance is increased but not for a small foreign substance, it is not possible to deal with the size variance of the foreign substance and to clean the washing uniformly. As is will be seen from fig. 13, in the case of the vibrators arranged in two-dimensional, an ultrasonic waves is occurred in one direction due to the high linearity in one direction to limit the effect of washing. Further more, the point to be considered for increasing the effect of washing is the shape and the quality of substance to be washed. That is to say, in case that the incidence angle of the ultrasonic waves is perpendicular to the surface of the substance to be washed, the effect of washing is maximized, and in case that the substance to be washed is a fiber crop such as vegetables, the effect of washing for a substance spaced apart at a long distance from the vibrator can not be expected because the permeability of the ultrasonic waves is weakened or the frequency is absorbed by the vegetables.
Disclosure of the Invention Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a washing device having ultrasonic vibrators capable of generating more amplified ultrasonic waves
in order to overcome the above-said problems, wherein ultrasonic vibrators being installed easily, and the edges of the vibrators being fixed on a washing vessel uniformly not only to reduce unnecessary vibration but also to eliminate an inharmony of resonance frequency when operating the vibrators in parallel. Other object of the present invention is to provide a washing device in which vibrators are positioned in three-dimensional to reduce no cavitation sections, and an overflow is formed on the side of washing device to discharge an foreign substance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a washing device in which washing water is anionized to increase the efficiency of washing.
Brief Description of the Drawings The above objects, other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view of one example of dishwashers generating three-dimensional ultrasonic waves according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing portion A in fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 5 is a plane view illustrating one example of arrangement of ultrasonic vibrators in the dishwashers generating three-dimensional ultrasonic waves
according to the present invention; Fig. 6 is a side view illustrating the propagation direction of the ultrasonic waves generated in the vibrators in the fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a plane view illustrating other example of arrangement of ultrasonic vibrators in the dishwashers generating three-dimensional ultrasonic waves according to the present invention; Fig. 8 is a side view illustrating the propagation direction of the ultrasonic waves generated in the vibrators in the fig. 7; Fig. 9 is an assembling-perspective view of one example of ultrasonic vibrators and fixing means for the vibrators; Fig. 10 a enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating the joining portion between the piezoelectric body and the metallic vibrating body of the ultrasonic vibrator according to the present invention; Fig. 11a and 11b is a picture showing spherical silicon rubbers washing-tested in the prior art washing device and the washing device according to the present invention; Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an installation structure for the ultrasonic vibrators when the washing device is manufactured by a metal; and Fig. 13 is a graphic view of examples of vibrating according to frequencies of prior art ultrasonic vibrators.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
In a washing device having a washing vessel provided with a predetermined space, the above-mentioned objects of present invention is achieved by a three-dimensional ultrasonic generating washing device characterized by one and more ultrasonic vibrators installed on one of four side of the washing vessel and a bottom of the washing vessel respectively. Further more, the objects of the present invention are accomplished by a three-dimensional device, the three-dimensional device comprising; ultrasonic vibrators to be installed on a washing vessel being attached to a surface of a metallic vibrating body having circular plate shape using its one surface; water supplying means for supplying water for washing into the washing vessel and installed on a side of the washing vessel; overflow means for discharging a foreign substance floated on the water; a solenoid valve; and an automatic draining means. Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 a partial perspective view of one example of washing device(dishwashers) generating three-dimensional ultrasonic waves according to the present invention. As shown in the fig., the three-dimensional ultrasonic generating washing device is provided with one and more ultrasonic vibrators 20 installed respectively on a side and a bottom of a washing vessel 10. Said washing vessel 10 has a drainage 11 formed on its bottom. An
electronic automatic opening and shutting device using solenoid or a detachable stopper 13 is installed on the drainage 11. The ultrasonic vibrators 20 are installed on at least one of four sides of the washing vessel and the bottom of the vessel. In fig. 1 - fig. 5, four ultrasonic vibrators 20 are installed on the bottom of the washing vessel and one ultrasonic vibrator is installed on one of four sides of the vessel. In fig. 6, shown is the propagation direction of the ultrasonic waves generated by the washing device being operated and having five vibrators 20. As shown in figs., an ultrasonic waves generated by the vibrators 20 installed on the bottom of the vessel 10 is propagated to the surface of water in the washing vessel, and an ultrasonic waves generated by the vibrator 20 installed on the side is perpendicular to the waves generated by the vibrators 20 on the bottom and is propagated from one side to other side opposing to the one side. That is to say, the ultrasonic waves generated by each of the vibrators 20 on the side and the bottom are crossed with each other to make a cavitation area to form a net shape. Therefore, as the cavitation area is widened and non-resonance area is reduced, the laundry can be washed more evenly to increase the efficiency of washing. Further, in the point in which the ultrasonic waves generated by each of the vibrators 20 on the side and the bottom are crossed with each other, as the ultrasonic waves generated by each of different vibrators are mixed to produce a flow of water, the foreign substance separated from the laundry can be moved out
of the laundry. As described above, numbers of vibrators 20 can be installed on the bottom, only one ultrasonic vibrator 20 is installed on the bottom and four vibrators are installed on the each of four sides in order to increase the flow of water as shown in fig. 7. When the vibrators 20 are stalled on the each of four sides, the propagation direction of ultrasonic waves from the vibrators 20 is shown in fig. 8. As shown in fig., in case of installing the vibrators on the each side, it is preferable that each of the opposed vibrators should be installed respectively in the positions spaced apart with each other. By installing the opposed vibrators on the positions spaced apart with each other, the water in the vessel is shoved a particular direction to form a stream of water and to increase the washing efficiency. When installing the vibrators in the positions spaced apart with each other as shown in fig. 7, the water in the vessel is shoved by the ultrasonic waves generated respectively by each of the different vibrators 20 to flow in a direction of arrow as shown in fig. 8. With the stream of water in the vessel, the foreign substance between the articles being washed is moved out of the articles to float on the surface of water or to go down to the bottom of the vessel. As shown in figs. 1 , 5 and 7, when generating ultrasonic waves by installing the vibrators on the sides, the ultrasonic waves affect the foreign substance sticking on the surface or the underneath of the washing in direct to increase the
washing efficiency. Normally, the articles to be washed by the washing device are fruit, vessels, et cetera. The foreign substances sticking on the articles are oil, leftovers of food and a small dust. This kind of foreign substance is to be floated on the surface of water, when the substance is separated from the articles. The washing vessel 10 according to the present invention is provided with an overflow hole 12 as a means for removing the floating matters, that is, the foreign substance. Said overflow hole 12 is the hole for discharging the foreign substance floating on the surface of water and is connected an overflow pipe 11a connected to the drainage 11. In order to discharge the foreign substance floating on the surface of water through the overflow hole 12, the water level should be higher than the lower end of the hole 12. A water supplying means 30 is further provided to the washing vessel in order to maintain the water level in the condition of being higher than the lower end of the hole. An electronic water-supplying control means 31 is provided to the water supplying means 30 to sense the water level and to perform water feeding. Normally, the water supplying means is waterworks, and the electronic water-supplying control means 31 senses the water level by using a water level sensing sensor and controls an opening and shutting of the means 30 as per an output signal of the sensor. Said means are well known to those skilled in the art, and its detailed description will be omitted.
An opening and shutting means is further installed in the overflow hole 12. In other words, the amount of water in the washing vessel is changed according to the amount of washing in the washing vessel, and the water level is also changed. As the water level is changed, the height of overflow from the bottom of the washing vessel should be changed. In order to not only control the height of overflow but also close the overflow fully, an opening and shutting means 11b can be further installed. As shown in fig. 2 and fig. 9, the ultrasonic vibrators 20 installed on the side and the bottom of the washing vessel 10 is composed of a metallic vibrating body 21 and a piezoelectric body 22. The metallic vibrating body 21 has a circular plate shape, and has a piezoelectric body fixing groove 21a formed on the center of any one of it's surfaces. The piezoelectric body 22 is attached into the groove by using a binder 23. The surface of the metallic vibrating body 21 opposed to the surface having the groove 21a has two portions, one being equal to the washing vessel 10 in thickness and the other protruding somewhat beyond the washing vessel. The circumference of the protruding portion has an inclined plane 21a by chamfering. The inclined plane 21a formed on the protruding portion of the metallic vibrating body 21 functions to spread out a radiating angle of ultrasonic waves. The outer edge of the metallic vibrating body 21 out of the surface having the piezoelectric body 22 is formed with a fixing collar 21c to be connected to the
washing vessel 10. The ultrasonic vibrator 20 structured as such is attached to the washing vessel 10 by using a fixing ring 40. The fixing ring 40 is shaped as a loop and has a hole having diameter larger than that of the piezoelectric body 22 in the center thereof. Numbers of screw holes 41 and a hole 42 for grounding are also formed on the fixing ring. The method for fixing the ultrasonic vibrator 20 by using the fixing ring 40 is as follows. First, after a waterproofing gasket 60 made of silicon is inserted into the protruding portion on the surface of the metallic vibrating body 21 constituting the vibrator 20, the protruding portion is inserted into a hole formed in the washing vessel 10 in the direction from the outside of the vessel to the inside of the vessel to make the fixing collar 21c formed in the metallic vibrating body 21 contact with the outer surface of the vessel 10. Then, the fixing ring 40 is positioned on the outer surface of the vessel 10 for the hole formed in the fixing ring 40 to be positioned at center of the piezoelectric body 22, and a fixing screw 50 is passed through the screw holes 41 formed on the fixing ring 40 and insert into the outer surface of the vessel. Therefore, the fixing collar 21c formed in the metallic vibrating body 21 is suspended tightly between the fixing ring 40 and the outer surface of the vessel 10 to fix the metallic vibrating body 21. The ultrasonic vibrator 20 fixed to the washing vessel according to the above method is connected with a ground wire through the hole 42 in the fixing ring 40 to be grounded.
In above, the structure and the assembly are described in the case that the ultrasonic vibrator 20 is installed on the washing vessel 10 made of thick plastics.
From now on, the structure and the assembly for the ultrasonic vibrator 20 to be installed on the washing vessel made of thin stainless steel will be described as below. It is preferably to make other structure for installing the ultrasonic vibrator 20 in a washing vessel, such as the existing kitchen unit, made of stainless steel(including in case of polymer) and having a thickness 1mm or under That is to say, in the constitution of the ultrasonic vibrator 20, the portion of the metallic vibrating body 21 having the piezoelectric body 22 attached thereto and connected to the washing vessel 10 is designed to have a diameter smaller than that of other portion and to be protruded in certain length. A screw is formed on the circumference of the protruded portion to form a screw part 21 d, and a stopping step 21 e is formed on the point that the protruded portion meets the other portion having larger diameter. Thus structured ultrasonic vibrator 20 is attached to the washing vessel by the following steps. Firstly, after the waterproofing gasket 60 is inserted in the screw part 21 d formed on the edge of the protruded portion having the piezoelectric body 22 on the metallic vibrating body 21 , the vibrator is inserted into a hole for the vibrator and formed on the washing vessel 10, said edge of the protruded portion having piezoelectric body 22 on the metallic vibrating body 21 being inserted in the direction from the inner surface of the vessel 10 to the outer
surface and said stopping step 21 e being on the inner surface of the vessel. Then, the vibrator is fastened by tightening the screw part 21 e protruded beyond the outside of the vessel 10 with a fixing nut 70. The fixing nut 70 can be made of metal or polymer. In case of nut 70 made of metal, ground connection is accomplished by connecting a grounding conductor to a portion of the nut. In case of nut 70 made of polymer, however, an opening is formed on a portion of bottom of the metallic vibrating body 21 not having the piezoelectric body, and a grounding conductor is connected through the opening. In the such structured ultrasonic vibrator 20, the direction of attaching the piezoelectric body 22 to the metallic vibrating body 21 is the same as is shown in fig. 10. Namely, when the piezoelectric body 22 is attached to the piezoelectric body fixing groove 21a by the binder 23, the surface having the positive polarity and facing toward the vibrating body 21 is attached to the groove. As stated above, by attaching the surface having the positive polarity to the metallic vibrating body 21 and installing thus constituted ultrasonic vibrator 20 in the washing vessel, the positive hydrogen ion generated by the electrolysys occurred additionally when the ultrasonic vibrator 20 is operated is provided with electron to produce hydrogen, and the hydroxyl ion(OH-) is reacted with water molecules(H2θ) to produce the surfactant called as "H3O2 -", resulting in increasing of the washing efficiency. The washing vessel 10 is made of synthetic resin containing ores, such as
an amethyst and a tourmaline, being capable of radiating anion by an external pressure. As the vibration of the vibrator 20 is transmitted to the vessel 10, a pressure impacts on the ores to increase the generation of anion. The metallic vibrating body 21 is made of stainless steel, aluminum, titanium alloys and duralumin. In the case of the metallic vibrating body 21 being made of a metal containing aluminum, an anodizing, or a chrome plating or a titanium coating is performed in order to eliminate the oxidation by an alkali solution. One example of the ultrasonic vibrator 20 structured as described above and one example of the washing device having the vibrator will be described in bellow. Firstly, assuming that the thickness and the diameter of the piezoelectric body 22 constituting the vibrator 20 are 3mm and 50mm respectively, the thickness of the metallic vibrating body 21 is to be 3mm, 6mm, that is, 3 X n(n=1 , 2, 3, ) in order to obtain the maximum displacement. For the simplicity of construction and the oscillating amplitude of ultrasonic waves, it is assumed that the thickness of the metallic vibrating body is 6mm, and the piezoelectric body 22 is attached to the piezoelectric body fixing groove 21 of the metallic vibrating body21. Further, the inclined plane 21a is formed on the circumference of the edge of the protruding portion on the vibrating body 21 to spread out the radiating angle of ultrasonic waves. The piezoelectric body fixing groove 21a formed on a surface of the metallic
vibrating body 22, namely, the surface having the piezoelectric body attached thereto has 51 ~ 52mm in diameter, 1 ~ 2 mm larger than the diameter of the piezoelectric body 22, and 0.1 ~ 0.5 mm in depth. The diameter of the piezoelectric body fixing groove 21a having the piezoelectric body 22 to be installed thereon is formed 1 ~ 2 mm larger than that of the body 22 to define the position for attaching the body 22 and to prevent the center of the body 22 from getting out of the center of the vibrating body 21. Therefore, the phenomenon in which the resonance frequencies are separated can be prevented from being occurred, the phenomenon being occurred in case of the centers of the vibrating body 21 and the piezoelectric body 22 being deviated from each other. Further, the gasket 60 is positioned between the vibrating body 21 and the washing vessel 10 in order to prevent the water in the vessel from being discharged. The edge of the fixing screw 50 passing through the screw hole 41 formed on the fixing ring 40 is tightened by a female screw formed on the vessel 10 to make the fixing ring 40 support the vibrator 20, resulting in the vibrator 20 being fixed to the vessel 10. Five metallic vibrating bodies in the vessel 10 are connected to an oscillatory circuit in parallel. Because such vibrating body has a simple structure, it is easy to make the vibrating body using a turning lathe or a forging. After supplying water into the washing vessel 10 at a height of 12cm from the bottom of the vessel, the ultrasonic vibrator 20 was operated at the maximum oscillation frequency.
In the above-mentioned condition, in order for examining an attribute change of water in the vessel by order of the operation of the vibrator 20, many litmus papers are positioned at various positions respectively to check the change of acidity according to the ultrasonic frequencies generated from the vibrator 20. In result, all of the litmus papers are changed from pink color to violet color within one minute. From this result, it is understood that the acidity of water is changed from the neutrality to the alkalinity. This kind of acidity change can be described as follows. When the ultrasonic vibrator 20 is installed and operated, a caviation is generated in the water in the vessel. At this moment, the inside of the cavitation is in a high temperature/high pressure state with about 3300K of temperature and 313 atm of atmospheric pressure. Therefore, pyrolysis of water molecular or volatile material is performed. Further, about 4mM of hydroxyl ion is present in the water around the cavitation. In case of breakdown of the cavitation, 1900k of temperature is generated, and the volatile material and the ionized compound are oxidized or the pyrolysis is occurred. In addition, the water around the cavitation is in a room temperature state and has an accumulated hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide present on the interface of cavitaion is reacted with the water molecular to produce a surfactant such as "H3O2 -", resulting in increasing of the washing efficiency and changing of the water to alkali.
Therefore, the color of litmus paper is changed from pink to violet. As described above, as the ultrasonic vibrators 20 are respectively installed on the sides of and the bottom of the washing vessel 10 to widen the area of cavitation occurred by the ultrasonic waves generated from the vibrators for maximizing the amount of hydroxyl ion generated. Further, as the vibrator 20 installed on the sides generates ultrasonic waves from the sides to direct the waves among the articles, such as fruit, forming cluster and to be washed, the washing and sterilizing efficiency by the area of resonance frequency can be achieved satisfactorily. The ultrasonic waves generated from the sides exhibit the shear force to remove easily a foreign substance using small energy. To examine the washing efficiency, spherical silicon rubbers painted with watercolor and dried are washed in the prior art and the three-dimensional ultrasonic generating washing device according to the present invention, and the results are compared with each other as shown in figs. 11a and 11b. As shown in fig. 11a, after washing for 1 minute, the watercolor is not fully removed from the rubber in the case of prior art. As shown in fig. 11b, however, after washing for 30 seconds, the watercolor is fully removed from the rubber in the case of present invention.
Industrial Applicability With the above description, the ultrasonic vibrator according to the present
invention is easily and firmly fixed on the washing vessel to prevent unnecessary vibration from being generated, and the ultrasonic waves by the vibrator is propagated three-dimensionally to increase the area of cavitaion to raise the washing efficiency. Further, by increasing the power of the ultrasonic vibrator, the water in the vessel is negative-ionized to generator a surface-active ion to increase the washing efficiency. Further more, the foreign substance floating on the surface of water is overflowed by the overflow to prevent the article being washed from being polluted again with the floating foreign substance. While the present invention has been described and illustrated herein with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.