WO2009082170A2

WO2009082170A2 - Filter for mask and mask using the same

Info

Publication number: WO2009082170A2
Application number: PCT/KR2008/007664
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung Kuk Noh
Original assignee: Seung Kuk Noh
Priority date: 2007-12-24
Filing date: 2008-12-24
Publication date: 2009-07-02
Also published as: KR100900755B1; WO2009082170A3; CN101641137A; CN101641137B

Abstract

A filter for a mask in which a fibrous filter is folded into filter fabrics such that an outer layer faces external air while the edge portions thereof are sealed to form a shape like an envelope, and which is provided with a connection unit for making a connection with facial fittings of the mask, the filter including a space maintainance member in a space between the overlapped layers of the filter in order to secure a passageway for air to flow towards the connection unit. A mask including facial fittings having an air intake hole connected with the filter by the connection unit and defining a closed space near a mouth or a nose of a user's face when coming close to the mouth or the nose.

Description

Description FILTER FOR MASK AND MASK USING THE SAME

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an air filter for filtering poisonous chemicals or dust particles, and more particularly, to a portable mask. Background Art

[2] Masks are an air filter for preventing poisonous substances in the air, such as dust particles, toxic chemicals, germs, etc., from getting into the respiratory organs of a human body. The masks are divided into a facial fibrous mask and a filter-separable mask. The facial fibrous mask, which is simply composed of a filter fabric, substantially covers the respiratory organs of a face such as a mouth or a nose so as to allow a user to breathe external air through the facial fibrous mask. The filter-separable mask includes facial fittings and a filter such as a cleaning kit which is separable from the facial fittings. The masks may also be divided into a dust mask and a gas mask based on a filtering target.

[3] Although the facial fibrous mask is generally used as a dust mask, in order to filter toxic substances along with dust, or otherwise to increase the filtering efficiency when the dust is of a small particle size or is highly poisonous, the filter-separable mask can also be used as a dust mask.

[4] The filter-separable mask can prevent the inflow of unfiltered air into a human body by using the facial fittings which are worn close to the face. Further, depending upon the filtering target, the filter-separable mask can be used continuously by replacing a filter with a more efficient filter, and can improve the efficiency of the drawing of air through the application of a check valve to divide the air into exhaust gas and intake air.

[5] However, the filter-separable mask is inconvenient to wear because the facial fittings come close to a user's face. Further, the filter-separable mask includes the facial fittings and a separate filter so as to create blind spots when the size of the filter is large. Thus, the filter generally extends rearwards at the left and right sides.

[6] With the recent development of functional fibers or other filter layers having an excellent capability to remove harmful substances, instead of using (cylindrical) cleaning kit type gas masks having a particulate filter layer such as an activated carbon layer, a gas and dust mask is widely used in which a fibrous filter is exposed to external air so that the external air is drawn through the filter i.e. through the filter fabric of the fibrous filter.

[7] Instead of the cylindrical cleaning kit, only the fibrous filter is used as the separable filter of this type of mask. The fibrous filter is configured to consist of two overlapped filter fabricss (front side and rear side filter fabrics) with an outer surface thereof facing the external air while the edge portion thereof is sealed, thereby forming an envelope type separable fibrous filter, an inlet of the envelope is sealed. The separable fibrous filter includes therein an empty internal space between the two filter fabrics, and the internal space is separated from an external space by the two filter fabrics. The rear side of the two filter fabrics is provided with a connector which is connected with an air intake hole of the facial fittings.

[8] However, in the case of using such a separable fibrous filter, in order to increase the filtering efficiency, a surface area of the filter facing the external air should be increased so that the amount of air drawn to the inside from the outside is increased, and the speed of air flow passing through the filter is slowed down. However, if the size of the filter is increased to enlarge the surface area thereof, the filter can block the user's sight, making it difficult for the user to carry out his tasks. Further, for example, if the filter comes into contact with a certain object, the fibrous filter may be partly folded or bent. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[9] As set forth above, in the mask having the separable fibrous filter in which the front and rear filter fabrics are overlapped, the internal space between the two filter fabrics becomes a passageway of the air filtered by the filter fabrics. That is, the air filtered by the fibrous filter flows into the human body through the air-drawing port of the facial fittings via the connector formed on the rear side of the filter fabric via the internal space between the front and rear side filter fabrics. If the middle portion of the filter is bent as such, at that portion, a space between the front and rear filter fabrics of the filter becomes narrow or closed. Thus, the air passing through an outer portion (the portion positioned far away from the folded portion by the air intake hole) of the folded section based on the air intake hole is prevented or shut off from flowing to the air intake hole through the internal space of the filter. In this case, the filter area of the outer portion of the folded section does not contribute to respiration using a mask, substantially resulting in reduction in a filter area.

[10] The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems of the conventional mask having the separable fibrous filter, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a mask having a separable fibrous filter in which two (front side and rear side) filter fabrics are overlapped and the edge thereof is sealed, and in which an effective area of the filter facing the air increases, and even when the fibrous filter is folded in part, air flow is secured at that portion, maintaining a sub- stantial filter area to a certain extent.

[11] Another object of the present invention is to provide a mask having a separable fibrous filter, an outer contact area of which increases to reduce the speed of air passing through the filter, thereby improving the filtering efficiency. Technical Solution

[12] In order to accomplish the above objects of the present invention, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a filter for a mask in which two filter fabrics are overlapped and the edge portions thereof are sealed to form a shape like an envelope such that the outer surface of the two filter fabrics faces external air, the filter is provided with a connector for the connection with facial fittings of the mask, the filter including a space maintainance member in a space between the two overlapped filter fabrics of the filter in order to secure a passageway of air flow towards the connector.

[13] The space maintainance member may be composed of a synthetic resinous frame which is provided with a plurality of fins extending from outside of the filter towards the connector. In a region, the plurality of fins may be provided in parallel at regular intervals such that a cross-sectional area of the fin perpendicular to a length direction thereof is formed both relatively wider in a direction perpendicular to a face of the fibrous filter and narrower in a direction parallel to the face so as to respectively secure a space between the front filter and rear filter fabric, and make the frame light, thereby allowing the passageway of the air flowing in the length direction to be wider.

[14] Further, the space maintainance member may be configured to have an elastic structure such that, when an external force is applied onto the frame, the member is easily bent, and even when in a bent state, it secures the space between the two filter fabrics. The fin may have a notch structure on a side in the middle portion thereof towards which it is easily bent (i.e. the side facing backwards when considering that the mask is generally bent backwards when a user wears the mask).

[15] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mask including facial fittings and a filter for a mask, wherein the facial fittings are provided with a supplementary device for mounting the filter for maintaining the shape of the filter bent according to a wearer's facial contours.

[16] The facial fittings may be of a shape covering the surroundings of a mouth and a nose, and the circumference thereof coming close to a user's face is composed of a de- formable, elastic material composed of silicon rubber. The facial fittings may be provided with an air intake hole having a coupling structure for the connection with the filter, the air intake hole having a diaphragm, generally forming a structure of a check valve. An outlet port may be provided near the mouth and the nose in such a manner as to include a hole in a body thereof and a diaphragm covering the hole, thereby serving as a check valve allowing an outbreath to be exhaled and breathed- in air to be checked. [17] The supplementary device for mounting the filter allows the filter to be mounted in a bent state such that the filter does not impede the user's field of vision.

Advantageous Effects

[18] As set forth above, as compared to using the cylindrical cleaning kit of the prior art in which the air is introduced through only the front face of the filter, when using the separable fibrous filter according to the present invention, the air can be introduced through both the front and rear filter fabrics of the filter. That is, the area through which the external air is introduced is increased so as to increase the amount of introduced air. Further, in the case when the amount of the air respired is constant, if the air- introduction area of the filter increases, the speed of the air introduced into the filter decreases, thereby improving the efficiency of the filtering harmful substances.

[19] Particularly, the problem of the conventional separable fibrous filter is prevented in that, when the filter is folded or bent, the substantial area of the filter used for drawing air is reduced so as to make it difficult for a wearer to breathe. That is, even if a portion of the filter is bent, an internal air flow is secured. As a result, even if the filter is made larger and the filter is mounted in a bent state, the wearer can easily retain his field of vision with no difficulty in breathing.

[20] Further, because of the above reason, the filter can be mounted in the center of the mask without mounting at the left and right side of the mask in order to maintain secure the wearer's field of vision. Brief Description of the Drawings

[21] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fibrous filter of the present invention;

[22] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a synthetic resinous, injected frame which is used as a space maintainance member of the fibrous filter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[23] FIGS. 3 and 4 are a cross-sectional view and a perspective view illustrating facial fittings of a mask according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[24] FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the state in which a fibrous filter is coupled onto the facial fittings of the mask in such a manner as to be deformed and fixed by a supplementary device for mounting the filter. Mode for the Invention

[25] Description will now be made of exemplary embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[26] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fibrous filter of the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a synthetic resinous, injected frame which is used as a space maintainance member of the fibrous filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[27] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the fibrous filter of this embodiment is an envelope shaped filter, in which filter fabrics overlap each other forming front and rear sides, and a synthetic resinous frame is inserted into a space between the front and rear sides.

[28] The filter fabrics 11 in the front and rear sides can be constructed by folding a filter fabric and sealing the edge of the two overlapped portion formed by the folding.

[29] The filter fabrics 11 in the front and rear sides can be constructed with one fibrous filter layer, but are typically fiber layers, which include a fiber layer acting as an outer cover and at least one fiber layer performing a substantial filtering function. Each fiber layer can be formed of strands having a variety of thicknesses and densities, be subjected to a variety of chemical surface treatments, and be made of a variety of materials. Since the materials of the fiber layers are well-known to a person of ordinary skill in the art, a detailed description will be omitted.

[30] A connector 19 is formed in the center of the rear side of the fibrous filter 10. The connector 19 can be configured as an opening formed in the rear side filter fabric 11, which is connected with an air intake hole of facial fittings of a mask such that an internal space of the fibrous filter 10 can communicate with a space between the connector 19 and a face.

[31] The connector 19 can be used as a circular or cylindrical part, which is made of synthetic resinous molding so as to fit well with a typical air inlet structure. A cylindrical part having a very short length (i.e. the connector 19) has a bonding portion 13', i.e. a flange, which is formed in the outer circumference of an entrance of the front end and is welded or bonded with fibers of the filter fabric. This structure can prevent external air from flowing through an interval between the cylindrical part and the filter fabric 11 without passing through the filter. Some inner portions of the flange, in a rear end entrance, are removed to form engaging indentations 17, and the remaining portions of the flange form engaging flange portions 15.

[32] In this embodiment, the connector 19 is configured as an integral part of the space maintainance member of the invention.

[33] The space maintainance member is an overall skeletal structure or a frame structure.

The frame structure is mirror-symmetric about the central portion in which the connector 19 is provided. One side of the frame structure includes a plurality of fins 12 extending in parallel to each other with predetermined intervals and a vertical bar 16 connecting the outer ends of the fins 12 with each other while supporting the same. The other ends of the fins 12 adjacent to the central portion are connected to the flange portions 13 of the connector 19. Notches 14 are formed in the rear portion (side) of the fins 12, in the same position when viewed in a vertical direction. [34] When the direction of the horizontally-extending fins is referred to as a length direction and the direction normal to the plane of the filter fabrics is referred to as a width direction, it can be appreciated that a space is provided in the width direction between the two filter fabrics. The narrow fins are formed in the thickness direction parallel to the plane of the filter fabrics so as to ensure a light weight of the frame while allowing the air to flow in the length direction of the fins through larger passages (since the fins themselves do not occupy a large space).

[35] As such, when one side of the space maintainance member is subjected to a force pushing from front to rear, all the parallel fins 12 in one side are bent at the notches 14. This causes the fibrous filter 10 to be bent at the notches, with the outer portion of the space maintainance member deformed rearwards.

[36] However, even in the bent portions, due to the width of the fins, spaces having a width equal to that of the fins can be ensured between the filter fabrics defining the front and rear sides of the fibrous filter. Thus, the air introduced into the inside through the front and rear filter fabrics can continue to flow towards the connector 19 through the spaces defined between the parallel fins.

[37] While this embodiment has been described with the notches arrayed in the vertical direction of the fins 12 with one notch formed in each of the fins 12, a plurality of vertically-extending bends can be provided with a plurality of notches formed in each of the fins.

[38] The fins can be made of olefin-based synthetic resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, and are flexible with a predetermined value of elasticity. Thus, even without the notches, the fibrous filter can smoothly bend, with lateral edges easily pushed backwards. In this case, air passages inside the fibrous filter can be ensured due to the width of the fins.

[39] FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional and perspective views illustrating the fitting of a mask according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[40] A body part 22, namely a main part, is made of synthetic resin such as Poly- Vinyl

Chloride (PVC), and a peripheral part 21, which surrounds the body part 22 and comes into direct and close contact with the face, is made of silicone rubber. The peripheral part 21 is shaped in consideration of the rounded shape of the face to facilitate close contact therewith.

[41] An air inlet 24 is placed in the middle center of the body part 22. The air inlet 24 can be configured as an opening formed in the body part 22. A diaphragm 241 is provided in the inner part to cover the air inlet 24 from inside such that intake air bends the diaphragm 241 while passing through the air inlet 24. Since the diaphragm cannot bend outwards due to the body part 22 defining the outer circumference of the air inlet 24, air cannot exit through the air inlet 24. Thus, the diaphragm provided in the air inlet cooperates with the outer circumference of the air inlet to act similarly to a check valve.

[42] An outlet 25 is placed in the bottom center of the body part. The outlet 25 can also be configured as an opening formed in the body part. In contrast to the structure of the air inlet, a diaphragm 251 covers the outlet 25 from outside so as to prevent air from entering but to allow air to exit through an interval formed when the diaphragm 251 is bent.

[43] The body part 22 around the air inlet 24 protrudes outwards (i.e., to the front from the face) to form a structure that couples with the fibrous filter. Here, each of the coupling protrusions 245 includes a rib extending outwards from around the air inlet, a packing formed around the rib and coupling protrusions 245 on end portions of the rib. Each of the coupling protrusion 245 is configured to fit into a respective one of the coupling indentations 17 of the connector 19 of the fibrous filter, and when rotated, engages with the respective coupling indentation 17. When the coupling protrusions 245 of the fitting 20 are engaged with the coupling flange portions 15 of the fibrous filter 10, the packing 243 comes into close contact with the coupling flange portions 15 thereby allowing filtered air to enter the air inlet 24 through the fitting 19 but preventing unfiltered external air from entering this part.

[44] Although not illustrated, the fitting can also be provided with a band for surrounding the head of a user to bring the fitting into close contact with the face of the user.

[45] Particularly in the facial fittings, a hinge 265 is provided on an upper portion of the body part 22, and a supplementary device 263 for mounting the filter is connected to the hinge at its one end. In addition, a supplementary hook 261 is correspondingly provided on a lower portion of the body part 22 so as to correspond to the supplementary device 263 for mounting the filter. When the connector 19 of the fibrous filter 10 is sealingly connected to the air intake hole 24 of the facial fittings 20 by means of the above-mentioned construction, the supplementary device 263 is pivoted downwards about the hinge 265 to thereby cover a partial part of the center portion of the fibrous filter 10. The supplementary device 263 is provided at the other end with an engaging step, which is fixedly fastened to the supplementary hook 261 on the lower portion of the body part 22.

[46] Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the supplementary device 263 for mounting the filter covers the outside of the filter (with reference to the user's face) in a substantially hemi- spherical form in consideration of a facial contour, so that left and right sides of the filter are bent rearwards from the wearer's face by means of the supplementary device. Then, such bending of the filter allows the laterally extending portions of the filter to be out of sight, allowing the user conveniently to perform his tasks. At the same time, despite the bending occurring at the portion between the front and rear filter layers, the passageway of air flowing to the air intake hole can be ensured.

[47] The supplementary device 263 may be composed of synthetic resin of e.g. PVC, like the body. Since a gap is generally provided between the supplementary device 263 and the fibrous filter, the air can reach the surface of the fibrous filter. However, if the supplementary device comes too close to the surface of the fibrous filter, it may block the whole face of the fibrous filter. Thus, the supplementary device 263 is preferably formed to have in most parts a meshed face with many gaps created therein, in order to prevent the unsmooth flowing of external air between the supplementary device and the filter. Alternatively, the supplementary device is preferably provided with a plurality of air holes so that the external air can easily reach the surface of the fibrous filter through the air holes.

[48] In the present embodiment, between the front and rear filter fabrics constituting the fibrous filter, the synthetic resinous, injected space maintainance member is installed. The space maintainance member is composed of the fins 12 which are arranged in parallel to each other. The filtered air, which is introduced into the space in the fibrous filter through the filter layers, is drawn into a human body through the connector of the fibrous filter and the air intake hole of the facial fittings along the secured space between the fins of the space maintainance member. The space maintainance member may be modified into diverse forms in addition to the above one. Industrial Applicability

[49] The present invention is applicable to the field of sanitary and safety tools, and the mask of the present invention can be used in diverse sites such as a building site, a chemical plant or the like.

Claims

[ 1 ] A filter for a mask comprising filter fabrics which are overlapped and the edge portions of which are sealed to form a shape like an envelope such that an outer surface of the filter fabrics faces external air, a connection unit for making a connection with facial fittings of the mask at a portion of the filter fabrics, a space maintainance member which is arranged in a space between the filter fabrics in order to secure a passageway of air flowing towards the connection unit.

[2] The filter for a mask according to claim 1, wherein the space maintainance member is composed of a frame which is provided with a plurality of fins extending from an outside of the filter towards the connection unit, such that a cross-sectional area of each of the plurality of fins perpendicular to a length direction thereof is formed relatively wider in a direction perpendicular to a face of the fibrous filter, i.e. in a width direction of the fin, so as to secure the space between the filter fabrics, and also formed narrower in a direction parallel to a user's face, i.e. in a thickness direction of the fin .

[3] The filter for a mask according to claim 2, wherein the space maintainance member is configured to have an elastic structure such that, when an external force is applied onto the middle portion of the frame, the space maintainance member is easily bent, and even when in a bent state does it secure the space between the filter fabrics.

[4] The filter for a mask according to claim 3, wherein, at the middle portion, the fin has a notch structure on a side and the notches formed in the plurality of the fins are arranged in one direction so that the filter is easily bent when an external force is applied to the filter.

[5] The filter for a mask according to claim 2, wherein the connection unit is provided with a synthetic resinous connector for the connection with the facial fittings, and the frame is integrally formed with the connector in such a manner as to be laterally symmetric to the connector.

[6] A mask comprising the filter for a mask according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and facial fittings having an air intake hole connected with the filter by the connector for the filter for the mask and defining a closed space near a mouth or a nose of a user's face when coming close to a user's mouth or nose.

[7] The mask according to claim 6, wherein the facial fittings are provided with a supplementary device for mounting the filter in such a manner as to cover the filter from a front side and bend the filter to a rear side with reference to the face when the user wears the mask.