WO2008050878A1

WO2008050878A1 - Electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2008050878A1
Application number: PCT/JP2007/070964
Authority: WO
Inventors: Takeshi Yano; Atsushi Isaka; Akihide Sugawa; Shousuke Akisada
Original assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-10-26
Filing date: 2007-10-22
Publication date: 2008-05-02
Also published as: JP4492602B2; JP2008105613A

Abstract

An electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle is designed to carry a mist of charged minute water particles on a conditioned air generated by an air conditioning device equipped to the vehicle. The kit includes an atomizing unit which condenses the water from the surrounding air and electrostatically atomizes the condensed water into the minter water particles. The atomizing unit is connected to a room air intake duct provided separately from a ventilation duct inherent to the air conditioning device to be supplied with a room air of moderate humidity for keeping stable condensation of water. A mist feeding duct extends from the atomizing unit and is coupled to the ventilation duct to merge the mist into the conditioned air flowing out through the ventilation duct.

Description

DESCRIPTION

ELECTROSTATICALLY ATOMIZING KIT FOR USE IN A VEHICLE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle, and more particularly to a kit for providing a system of discharging a mist of charged minute water particles into a passenger's room of a vehicle as being carried on a conditioned air.. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-131549 A discloses an electrostatically atomizing unit which is configured to o apply a high voltage across an emitter electrode supplied with the water and an opposed electrode to induce Rayleigh disintegration of the water carried on the emitter electrode, thereby atomizing the water into charged minute water particles and generate a mist of the water particles. Thus obtained mist is known to contain radicals which remain over a long period of time when diffused into a space in a large amount, and react effectively with offensive odors in the space for deodorize the same. Accordingly, the atomizing unit is desired for deodorization of a vehicle's room, and is also expected to deactivate allergens entering the vehicle's room as being carried on passenger's clothing. When implementing a system of generating the mist of the charged minute water particles for vehicle use, it is preferred to make the use of an air-conditioning system equipped to a vehicle so as to carry the mist on a conditioned air flow for spreading the mist over a wide area. A straightforward implementation is to place the atomizing unit within in a flow path, i.e., a ventilation duct of the conditioned air flow. However, since the conditioned air flowing in a ventilation duct is normally less humid, the atomizing unit is given only a small amount of water from the conditioned air and is therefore difficult to keep generating a sufficient amount of the mist. Further, when the atomizing unit is disposed upstream of a heat-exchanger of the air-conditioning system to be exposed to an outside air, the atomizing unit may rely upon a cold air below a freezing point of water in a winter season for condensation of water, and therefore is not expected to be supplied with sufficient amount of water from the outside air, failing to keep generating sufficient amount of the mist.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problem, the present invention has been accomplished to provide an electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle which is capable of stably taking the water from a surrounding water to keep generating and spreading the mist of charged minute water particles into a passenger's room of the vehicle. The kit in accordance with the present invention is applied to the vehicle equipped with an air conditioning system having a ventilation duct blowing a conditioned air into a passenger's room through a blow port. The kit includes an atomizing unit, a mist feeding duct, and a room air intake duct. The atomizing unit is configured to collect water from within surrounding air, electrostatically atomize the water into charged minute water particles in the form of a mist, and discharge the mist out through a discharge port of the unit. The mist feeding duct extends from the discharge port of the unit and has a coupling end which is configured to be coupled to the ventilation duct (100) upstream of the blow port so as to feed the mist onto the conditioned air flowing through the ventilation duct. The room air intake duct is provided as a separate member from the ventilation duct equipped to the vehicle, and is configured to have an air intake drawing in a room air from within the passenger's room of the vehicle. The atomizing unit is coupled to the room air intake duct to be supplied with the room air taken from the air intake for condensation of the water from the room air. Accordingly, the atomizing unit can be constantly supplied with the room air of moderate temperature and humidity to condense a sufficient amount of water therefrom and therefore keep generating the mist stably for effectively deodorizing the passenger's room and/or deactivating allergens introduced in the room.

The atomizing unit is preferred to include an emitter electrode, cooling means configured to condense the water on the emitter electrode from within the surrounding air, and a high voltage source configured to apply a high voltage to the emitter electrode so as to electrostatically charge the water on the emitter electrode for atomizing the water into the charged minute water particles in the form of the mist.

Preferably, the room air intake duct is provided with a fan which generates a forced air flow of the room air to and through the atomizing unit for merging the mist into the conditioned air flowing through said ventilation duct. With the provision of the fan, the mist can be forced to merge into the conditioned air and is caused to spread into the passenger's room.

In this instance, a controller may be provided to regulate the fan based upon a flow rate of the conditioned air in order to flow the forced air flow of the mist from the mist feeding duct to the ventilation duct at a varying flow rate in match with the flow rate of the conditioned air, thereby carrying the mist successfully on the conditioned air for effectively spreading the mist into the passenger's room.

The room air intake duct may be configured to include a filter removing dust from the room air flowing into the atomizing unit for reliable operation of the atomizing unit.

Further, the room air intake duct may be configured to locate the air intake at a portion in front of a driver's seat, in an expectation of taking the room air containing the breath of the driver and therefore being more humid than that from the other portion to improve the efficiency of generating the mist from the room air. .

These and still other advantages will become more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic views illustrating an electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an atomizing unit employed in the above kit to generate a mist of charged minute water particles;;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a location of the atomizing unit in a vehicle; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a dashboard of the vehicle provided with ports for drawing in a room air and discharging the mist.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle in accordance with the present invention. The kit is adapted to the vehicle equipped with an air conditioning system 110 having a ventilation duct 100, a blower 112 drawing in an outside fresh air or a room air into the ventilation duct 100, and a combination of a heat exchanger 114 and a heater 116 disposed downstream of the blower 112 to generate a conditioned air to be blown through the ventilation duct 100 into the passenger's room through a plurality of blow ports 102 located in the passenger's room.

The kit includes an atomizing unit 10, a mist feeding duct 70, and a room - A -

air intake duct 80. The atomizing unit 10 is configured to take water from the surrounding air by condensation, and electrostatically atomize it into charged minute water particles to generate a mist of the particles to be discharged out of the atomizing unit 10. The resulting mist is fed to the ventilation duct 100 so as to be released into a passenger's room of the vehicle as being carried on the conditioned air flowing out of one of blow ports 102..

As shown in FIG. 3, the atomizing unit 10 includes a cylindrical barrel 12 carrying an emitter electrode 20 and an opposed electrode 24. The emitter electrode 20 projects through a bottom of the barrel 12, while the opposed electrode 24 is disposed in an opposite relation to the emitter electrode 20. The oppose electrode 24 is shaped from an electrically conductive substrate with a circular opening 26 which has an inner periphery spaced by a predetermined distance from a discharge end 22 at the tip of the emitter electrode 20 to define a discharge port of discharging the mist. The atomizing unit 10 includes cooling means 30 and a high voltage source 50. The cooling means 30 is coupled to cool the emitter electrode 20 in order to condense the water content carried in the surrounding air on the emitter electrode 20, thereby supplying the water thereto. The high voltage source 50 is configured to apply a high voltage across the emitter electrode 20 and the opposed electrode 24 so as to charge the water on the emitter electrode 20 and atomize it into the charged minute water particles to be discharged out through the discharge port 26. The cooling means 30 is realized by a Peltier module having a cooling side coupled to the emitter electrode 20 at its one end away from the discharge end 24, and having thermo-electric elements which, upon being applied with a predetermined voltage, cools the emitter electrode to a temperature below a dew point of the water. The Peltier module has a plurality of thermo-electric elements arranged in parallel with each between thermal conductors 31 and 32 to cool the emitter electrode 20 at a cooling rate determined by a variable voltage given from a cooling electric source circuit 40. One thermal conductor 31 defining the cooling side is coupled to the emitter electrode 20, while the other thermal conductor 32 defining the heat radiation side is provided with a heat radiator 36. The Peltier module is fixed between the bottom of the barrel 12 and the heat radiator 36 with its cooling side conductor 31 in heat transfer contact with a root of the emitter electrode 20. The high voltage source 50 includes a high voltage generation circuit which applies a predetermined high voltage across the emitter electrode 20 and the grounded opposed electrode 20 to give a negative or positive voltage (for example, - 4.6 kV) to the emitter electrode 20. The atomizing unit 10 has an opening 14 in a side wall of the barrel 12 where it is connected to the room air intake duct 80 to be supplied with the room air.

The mist feeding duct 70 extends from the discharge port 26 of the atomizing unit and has a coupling end 72 which is configured to be coupled to the ventilation duct 100 immediately upstream of the blow port 102 in order to feed the mist to the conditioned air flowing through the ventilation duct 100 so that the mist is discharged out through the blow port 102 into the passenger's room as being carried on the conditioned air flow. The mist feeding duct 70 is shaped to have its coupling end bent along the ventilation duct 100 for guiding the mist along the flow of the conditioned air. Preferably, the duct 70 is made flexible for easy connection to the ventilation duct 100.

The room air intake duct 80 is provided separately from the ventilation duct 100 equipped to the vehicle and is formed at its one end with an air intake 82. The air intake 82 is configured to be mounted to a dashboard 120 of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 5, to draw in the room air from within the passenger's room. The air intake 82 is positioned in front of a driver's seat so as to draw in the room air containing the breath of a driver and therefore more humid than that from the other area for improving the condensation of water in the atomizing unit 10. The atomizing unit 10 is mounted behind the dashboard 120 and is connected to the end of the room air intake duct 80, as shown in FIGS. 1 , 2, and 4, to be supplied with the room air taken through the air intake 82. The atomizing unit 10 is mounted by means of a fixture housing 18 with the opening 14 connected to the room air intake duct 80 to receive the room air therefrom and expose the emitter electrode 20 to the room air for condensation of the water thereon, and with the discharge port 26 coupled to one end of the mist feeding duct 70.

The air intake duct 80 is provided with a fan 84 upstream of a connection to the atomizing unit 60 for generating a forced air flow of drawing in the room air and flowing the mist out through the mist feeding duct 70 into the ventilation duct 100. In this connection, a controller 60 is included in the kit to regulate the fan 84 to vary the flow rate of the mist being flown into the ventilation duct in accordance with the flow rate of the conditioned air flowing through the ventilation duct 100. For this purpose, the controller 60 is connected to receive a signal from a speed monitor 62 monitoring a rotating speed of the blower 112 included in the air-conditioning system 110 to flow the conditioned air through the ventilation duct 100, and is configured to drive the fan 80 for flowing the mist out through the mist feeding duct 70 at a flow rate in match with the flow rate of the conditioned air, facilitating to carry the mist on the conditioned air for successfully spreading the mist into the passenger's room. Alternatively, the fan 84 may be provided in the mist feeding duct 70 or in both of the ducts 70 and 84. It is noted in this connection that a portion of the room air is diverged through an additional opening 16 in the side wall of the barrel 12 and through an inside space of the fixture housing 18 to be directed to the heat radiator 36 for cooling it and therefore keeping the effect of condensing the water on the emitter electrode 20. A filter 86 is disposed in the room air intake duct 80 upstream of the fan 84 to remove dust from the room air flowing into the atomizing unit 10.

Although the above embodiment illustrates that the mist generated at the atomization unit 10 is flown out through only one of the blow ports 102, the present invention should not be limited to this particular embodiment, and may encompass a modification where the mist is fed to the ventilation duct 100 at a plurality of points respectively immediately behind the individual blow ports 120 by use of the mist feeding duct having a manifold coupling for connection with the plural points of the ventilation duct.

Further, in the above illustrated embodiment, the atomizing unit 10 is configured to include the opposed electrode 24 in front of the emitter electrode 20. It should be noted that the opposed electrode 24 is only preferable for controlling a flow direction of the mist, but is not an essential element for generating the mist. For example, the high voltage may be alternatively applied to the emitter electrode 20 as being grounded to a part of the mist feeding duct 70, the room air intake duct 80, the ventilation duct 100, fixture housing 18, or any other surrounding object.

Claims

1. An electrostatically atomizing kit for use in a vehicle equipped with an air conditioning system having a ventilation duct blowing a conditioned air into a passenger's room through a blow port (102), said kit comprising: an atomizing unit (10) configured to collect water from within surrounding air, electrostatically atomize the water into charged minute water particles in the form of a mist, and discharge the mist out through a discharge port (26) of said unit, an mist feeding duct (70) extending from said discharge port of the unit and having a coupling end (72) which is configured to be coupled to said ventilation duct (100) upstream of said blow port so as to feed said mist onto the conditioned air flowing through the ventilation duct; and a room air intake duct (80) configured to have an air intake (82) drawing in a room air from within said passenger's room of said vehicle, said room air intake duct being coupled to said atomizing unit (10) to supply the room air taken to said cooling means (30).

2. An electrostatically atomizing kit as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said atomizing unit (10) comprises: an emitter electrode (20); a cooling means (30) configured to condense the water on said emitter electrode from within the surrounding air; a high voltage source (50) configured to apply a high voltage to said emitter electrode so as to electrostatically charge the water on said emitter electrode for atomizing the water into charged minute water particles in the form of a mist.

3. The kit as set forth in claim 2, wherein said room air intake duct (80) is provided with a fan (84) which generates a forced air flow of said room air to and through said atomizing unit (10) for merging the mist into said conditioned air flowing through said ventilation duct (100).

4. The kit as set forth in claim 3, wherein said kit includes a controller (60) which regulates said fan based upon a flow rate of the conditioned air in order to flow said forced air flow from said mist feeding duct to said ventilation duct at a varying flow rate in match with the flow rate of the conditioned air.

5. The kit as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said room air intake duct is configured to include a filter (86) for removing dust from the room air flowing into said atomizing unit.

6. The kit as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said room air intake duct is configured to locate said air intake (82) at a portion in front of a driver's seat.