WO2005035991A1

WO2005035991A1 - Electric fan with a function of air cleaning

Info

Publication number: WO2005035991A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/002603
Authority: WO
Inventors: Koo Ho Lee
Original assignee: Koo Ho Lee
Priority date: 2003-10-13
Filing date: 2004-10-12
Publication date: 2005-04-21
Also published as: KR200339208Y1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electric fan having an air cleaning function. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electric fan having an air cleaning function in which an air cleaning means having an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp and a HEPA filter is disposed in the rear of the electric fan, whereby dust, a microorganism, etc. that are contained in the air that passes through the electric fan are filtered or sterilized. According to the present invention, an axial flow electric fan having an air cleaning function comprises a casing having an optical reflection face on its inner surface, wherein the casing is disposed on the circumference face of a motor casing disposed in the rear of the electric fan, an anion generator fixed at one side within the casing, for generating cluster anions, an ozone generator fixed at a given location of one side or the other side within. the casing, for generating ozone (03), and grill type caps disposed at opened front and rear sides of the casing.

Description

ELECTRIC FAN WITH A FUNCTION OF AIR CLEANING

Technical Field The present invention relates to an electric fan having an air cleaning function. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electric fan having an air cleaning function in which an air cleaning means having an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp and a high efficiency particulate air filter (hereinafter, referred to as "HEPA" ) is disposed in the rear of an electric fan, whereby dust, a microorganism, etc. that are contained in the air that passes through the electric fan are filtered or sterilized.

Background Art A common axial flow electric fan blows the wind from the rear to the front so that people can feel cool and is thus essential home appliances in summer. An electric fan having an enhanced electric fan function has usually been developed and an electric fan having other functions is at a standstill. However, the pollution level of the air in the room is bad. Polluted air is oriented toward a user by an electric fan, which has a bad influence upon the user' s health. In view of this, a method in which an air filter is disposed in the electric fan can be easily considered. In the structure of the electric fan, however, it is not easy to find a sufficient room where the air filter will be located. Although the air filter is installed, the blast force of the electric fan is lowered if the air filter is disposed over the entire surface. Thus, the functionality of the electric fan is degraded.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is a main object of the present invention to provide an electric fan having an air cleaning function in which an electric fan for purifying a contaminant contained in the air and sterilizing a microorganism contained in the air is disposed in the rear of the electric fan.

To achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an axial flow electric fan, comprising: a casing having an optical reflection face on its inner surface, the casing being disposed on the circumference face of a motor casing disposed in the rear of the electric fan, an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp seated into the casing, wherein the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp emits light according to application of power, grill type caps disposed in opened front and rear sides of the casing, and a HEPA filter disposed within the cap.

In this time, a plurality of photocatalyst coating plates are preferably built in the casing. The photocatalyst coating plates can have an effect of doubling deodorization and sterilization functions.

Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an axial flow electric fan, comprising: an anion generator disposed at one side within a casing, for generating cluster anions according to the application of power, an ozone generator disposed at a given location of one or the other side within the casing, for generating ozone (O₃) according to the application of power, grill type caps disposed in opened front and rear of the casing, and a HEPA filter disposed within the cap.

Brief Description of Drawings

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the construction of an electric fan having an air cleaning function according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a dismantled perspective view illustrating the construction of an air cleaner according to the present invention; and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the air cleaner according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The present invention will now be described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

According to the present invention, an axial flow electric fan 1 includes an air cleaner 10 disposed on the circumference face of a motor casing 2. The motor casing 2 is disposed in the rear of the fan 1.

The air cleaner 10 includes a casing 20 having an optical reflective face 21 coated on. The casing 20 has a tube shape the front and rear sides of which are opened. A grill type cap 30 is coupled to the opened front and rear sides of the casing 20.

A HEPA filter 40 for filtering foreign substances contained in the air is further disposed on the insider of one or both of the sides of the cap 30. In this time, the HEPA filter 40 is formed using an electrification fiber, which is well known in the art, and thus has a good dust collection efficiency in which contaminated dust of over 0.3 ni such as dust, tick, virus and mold, which are harmful to the human body, is effectively removed 99.97%. Furthermore, a plurality of photocatalyst coating plates 50 are arranged within the casing 20 in a row by means of connecting sticks 51. The plurality of the photocatalyst coating plates 50 serve to increase the amount of contact and a contact area with the air and thus doubles air deodorization and sterilization functions.

The structure in which the photocatalyst coating plates 50 is connected to the connecting sticks 51 will now be described. A slot 52 is formed on the circumference face of the photocatalyst coating plate 50 and the slot of the photocatalyst coating plate 50 is inserted into the connecting sticks 51. Thus, several photocatalyst coating plates 50 can be arranged in a row as long as the length of the connecting stick.

Furthermore, the photocatalyst coating plates 50 are formed by coating a photocatalyst material (i.e., titanium dioxide, titanium oxide or the like) on a plastic plate. The photocatalyst has a good adsorption power with organic matter. If the photocatalyst is exposed to optical energy (ultraviolet rays), it is excited to form radicals of various shapes. The radicals serve to sterilize a microorganism through a strong oxidizing power and to decompose a stink material that causes stink while reacting with it.

Moreover, a lamp slot 53 into which an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp 60 is inserted is formed at one side of the circumference face of each of the photocatalyst coating plates 50. A concave groove 54 is formed at the other side of the circumference face of each of the photocatalyst coating plates 50. Therefore, the lamp slot 53 and the concave groove 54 form a path through which the wind flows smoothly.

In addition, the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp 60 inserted into the lamp slot 53 of the photocatalyst coating plate 50 is light- emitted by a battery or an external power.

Furthermore, an anion generator 70 is disposed at a predetermined location between one side of the casing 20 and one side of the photocatalyst coating plate 50. The anion generator 70 generates common cluster anions as power is applied thereto. An ozone (O₃) generator 80 is controlled by a timer switch 90 and serves to convert oxygen in the air into ozone (O₃). The timer switch 90 can be connected to the ozone generator 80 disposed at a given location outside the casing 20. The anion generator and the ozone generator have a plurality of through holes (not shown) formed in.

Generally, the cluster anion is for forming anion clusters through combination with carbon, oxygen, hydroxyl , other corpuscles in which a lot of anions act as a nucleus. These anion cluster have a long lifespan and can relatively move a long distance. If a large quantity of anion clusters is generated, anions can be provided to a wide space. In the above, the amount of ozone (O₃) is controlled with an allowed value, which is not harmful to the human body. It is known that the amount of ozone within the allowed value has great effects in sterilization and deodorization functions.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, grill type caps are disposed in opened front and rear of the casing 20. The casing 20 has a HEPA filter disposed on the inside of the cap. An anion generator 70 and an ozone generator 80 are fixed within the casing. In this time, a timer switch 90 for controlling an operating time of the ozone generator is further disposed outside the casing.

The operation of the electric fan constructed above according to the present invention will now be described.

If the electric fan is driven and the air cleaner 10 is powered at the same time, the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp 60 disposed within the casing 20 of the air cleaner emits light.

In this state, the air that is ventilated from the rear of the electric fan 1 to the front is introduced into the casing 20 through the grill type cap 30 of the air cleaner 10. At this time, dust and various alien substances that are contained in the air introduced are firstly filtered by the HEPA filter 40 disposed within the grill type cap 30. A microorganism in the air is then sterilized while the air passes through the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp 60 and the air is then introduced into the electric fan with the air deodorized.

According to the mechanism of the photocatalyst reaction, if optical energy of over a given amount, which is emitted from the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp, is irradiated with the photocatalyst, electrons are transferred to the conduction band, so that electrons and holes are created. As these electrons and holes have very strong oxidizing power and reducing power, they react with water vapor, oxygen, etc. in the air to generate active oxygen such as OH radical, H radical, superoxide radical (O2-). Furthermore, the OH radicals break the bonding of organic matters that cause stink and are directly combined, thus remaining water vapor and carbon dioxide. Thus stink components can be removed.

Moreover, the OH radical has a strong oxidizing power that sterilizes a microorganism. That is, allergen or a microorganism has protein in which amino acid is polypeptide-bonded as a main component. The OH radical breaks the polypeptide bonding of this amino acid to transform protein. Accordingly, allergen is decomposed and the microorganism is sterilized. Resultantly, if the photocatalyst is employed, sterilizing and deodorization are carried out, allergen is decomposed and the microorganism is sterilized in the principle described above. The anion generator 70 disposed within the casing 20 is constructed to operate at the same time when the electric fan operates and the air cleaner 10 operates if a switch (not shown) of the fan is switched on. Furthermore, the ozone generator 80 is also constructed to operate at the same time when the air cleaner 10 operates if the switch (not shown) of the fan is switched on. However, the operating time of the ozone generator 80 is controlled by the timer switch 90. The anions and ozone generated are exhausted to the outside together with the flow of the air of the air cleaner 10. The operation of the ozone generator 80 can be controlled for a predetermined time by the timer switch 90 connected at a given location of the casing 20.

Meanwhile, the air cleaner 10 can take various shapes in bonding with the motor casing 2 of the electric fan 1. Furthermore, the ozone generator 80 fixed within the casing 20 of the air cleaner 10 is connected to the timer switch 90 disposed outside the casing through a hole (not shown) formed in the casing 20. This connection can be easily accomplished by a screw bolt (not shown), etc. For example, as in FIG. 1, a portion where the air cleaner 10 faces the motor casing 2 of the casing 20 is cut and some of the motor casing is inserted into this cut portion. In this state, some of the motor casing and the cut portion can be bonded. Or, a method can be used in which the cut portion and the motor casing are not bonded and the cut portion is detachably coupled using an additional coupler.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the air cleaner is disposed in the rear of the electric fan. Accordingly, the present invention is advantageous in that it can purify the air in the room only the use of the electric fan without additional air cleaner and it can reduce the cost since there is no need to installed the air cleaner. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the anion generator and the ozone generator are disposed within the air cleaner. Thus, not only anions can be obtained, but also a user can control the amount of generated ozone. Therefore, the present invention is advantageous in that it can obtain sterilizing and deodorization functions and can promote a user' s health. While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. An axial flow electric fan having an air cleaning function, comprising: a casing having an optical reflection face formed on its inner surface, the casing being disposed on the circumference face of a motor casing disposed in the rear of the electric fan; an anion generator fixed at one side within the casing, for generating cluster anions; an ozone generator fixed at a given location of one side or the other side within the casing, for generating ozone (O₃); grill type caps disposed in opened front and rear sides of the casing; and a HEPA filter disposed within the cap.

2. The axial flow electric fan as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of photocatalyst coating plates within the casing; and an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp seated within the photocatalyst coating plates, wherein the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp is light- emitted as power is applied thereto.

3. The axial flow electric fan as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a timer switch for controlling the operating time of the ozone generator disposed outside the casing.

4. The axial flow electric fan as claimed in claim 2, wherein the photocatalyst coating plates have slots into which connecting sticks are inserted, whereby plural photocatalyst coating plates are connected by the connecting sticks.