WO2011002006A1

WO2011002006A1 - Ion-generating device and ion-generating element

Info

Publication number: WO2011002006A1
Application number: PCT/JP2010/061119
Authority: WO
Inventors: 忠義林; 泰夫林; 好古泉; 智洋皆木
Original assignee: 新東ホールディングス株式会社
Priority date: 2009-06-30
Filing date: 2010-06-30
Publication date: 2011-01-06
Also published as: JPWO2011002006A1; JP4918628B2

Abstract

Disclosed is an ion-generating device that can be miniaturized and that has a high ion production efficiency. The ion-generating device is provided with: a monopolar electric discharge tube (1), which has both a cylindrical glass tube (2) that is sealed at both ends and encapsulates a noble gas within, and an electrode terminal (3) that is inserted in one end of the glass tube and extends into the inside of the aforementioned glass tube; electric discharge electrodes (4), which are stretched over the peripheral surface of the glass tube, and which are configured with a metal wire that extends from one end of the electric discharge tube to the other end; and a high voltage alternating power source device (5), which is connected between the electric discharge electrodes and the electrode terminal of the electric discharge tube, and which applies an electric discharge voltage that exceeds the light-emission start voltage of the electric discharge tube. When electric discharge voltage is applied between the electrode terminal and the electric discharge electrodes, corona discharge is generated between the electric discharge tube and the electric discharge electrodes, and positive ions and negative ions can be generated.

Description

Ion generator and ion generator

The present invention relates to an ion generator, and more particularly to an ion generator and an ion generating element that are small and can generate ions with high efficiency.

Cluster ions have a bactericidal action and a deodorizing action, and are suitable for purifying the air in a room or a car or for cleaning a refrigerator. As an ion generator for generating cluster ions, an ion generator using corona discharge is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). This known ion generator has a discharge electrode composed of a needle-like metal material, and a ring-shaped induction electrode surrounding the periphery of the tip of the discharge electrode through an air gap. The needle electrode and the induction electrode Corona discharge is generated through an air gap by applying a high voltage between the two. And ion is generated using the ionization phenomenon by corona discharge.

As another ion generator, an ozone generator using a discharge tube is known (for example, see Patent Document 2). In this known ozone generator, two monopolar discharge tubes filled with a rare gas are used, and the two discharge tubes are arranged in parallel so as to form an air gap with a predetermined interval. A high frequency voltage is applied between the electrode terminals of the individual discharge tubes. Then, air is introduced between the two discharge tubes facing each other, and ozone is generated by a high electric field formed between the two discharge tubes.

JP 2008-293801 A

JP-A-8-2903

An ion generator that generates ions by corona discharge using a needle electrode has a drawback that the amount of ions generated is small because the generation efficiency of ions is relatively low. For this reason, a relatively high discharge voltage must be applied to the needle electrode, and there is a risk of spark discharge due to poor insulation. Furthermore, in the ion generator described in Patent Document 1, in order to generate an equal amount of positive ions and negative ions, two ion generations of an ion generator for generating positive ions and an ion generator for generating negative ions are generated. Since the apparatus is used, there is a drawback that the ion generator becomes large. Furthermore, a high voltage power source for the positive ion generator and a high voltage power source for the negative ion generator are required, and there is a drawback that the circuit configuration is increased in size.

Since the ozone generator using two discharge tubes described in Patent Document 2 uses two discharge tubes arranged in parallel to each other, there is a drawback that the manufacturing cost is expensive. In addition, it has been pointed out that the space occupied by the ion generating element is relatively large and the size of the ion generating device is increased.

An object of the present invention is to realize an ion generator that has high ion generation efficiency and can be miniaturized.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ion generator that has high ion generation efficiency, can generate a considerable amount of ions even at a relatively low discharge voltage, and is excellent in safety.
Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide an ion generator that can be manufactured at a low cost with a simple structure.

An ion generator according to the present invention includes a cylindrical glass tube sealed at both ends and filled with a rare gas inside, and an electrode terminal attached to one end of the glass tube and extending to the inside of the glass tube. A monopolar discharge tube having
A discharge electrode that is stretched so as to be in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube, and is constituted by a metal wire extending from one end side to the other end side of the discharge tube;
An AC high voltage power supply device connected between the electrode terminal of the discharge tube and the discharge electrode, and applying a discharge voltage exceeding the emission start voltage of the discharge tube;
When a discharge voltage is applied between the electrode terminal and the discharge electrode, positive ions and negative ions are generated.

As a result of performing various experiments and analyzes on the monopolar discharge tube by the present inventors, a metal wire extending from one end side toward the other end side is stretched on the outer peripheral surface of the monopolar discharge tube, It was confirmed that when an alternating high voltage was applied between the electrode terminal and the metal wire, corona discharge was generated on the outer peripheral surface of the discharge tube, and positive ions and negative ions were generated. That is, an AC discharge voltage is applied between the electrode terminal of the monopolar discharge tube and the metal wire stretched on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube. When the applied voltage is low, the discharge tube itself does not emit light and no discharge occurs. However, when the applied voltage is gradually increased, the rare gas enclosed in the discharge tube becomes a plasma state, and light emission starts when the applied voltage reaches about 2 kV (peak-to-peak voltage). When the applied voltage was further increased, it was observed that corona discharge was generated on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube along with light emission of the discharge tube at an applied voltage of about 2.8 kV. When the amount of ions generated by corona discharge was measured, both positive ions and negative ions were observed, and the amount of generated ions far exceeded the amount of ions generated by a commercially available ion generator. In particular, it is possible to generate an ion amount that greatly exceeds the ion generation amount of a commercially available product only by applying a relatively low discharge voltage.

According to the above experimental results, when an AC high voltage is applied between the electrode terminal of the discharge tube and the metal wire stretched on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube, the rare gas enclosed in the discharge tube is in a plasma state. Thus, it is understood that corona discharge is generated between the generated plasma and the metal wire through the glass tube and the air gap. Therefore, in such an apparatus, the rare gas sealed in the discharge tube functions as an induction electrode, the metal wire functions as a discharge electrode, and corona discharge generated between these induction electrode and the discharge electrode is effective. If used, an ion generator is realized.

Based on the above recognition, the ion generator according to the present invention includes a unipolar discharge tube, a discharge electrode composed of a metal wire stretched in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the discharge tube, an electrode terminal, and a discharge electrode. And an AC high voltage power supply device connected between them. Since the ion generating element according to the present invention is composed of the discharge tube and the metal wire stretched on the outer peripheral surface thereof, the manufacturing cost is extremely low, and the occupied spatial volume is small, so that the ion generating element is small and has a high ion capacity. An ion generating element having a generation capability is realized. In particular, since the discharge is started at a relatively low applied voltage, the discharge voltage can be considerably reduced, which is beneficial from the viewpoint of safety.

Since the ion generating element according to the present invention is composed of a unipolar discharge tube and a metal wire stretched on the outer peripheral surface thereof, a small and high output ion generating element is realized. Moreover, since the amount of ions generated is considerably larger than that of commercially available products, the discharge tube voltage applied between the electrode terminal and the discharge electrode can be considerably reduced, and safety is also ensured. Furthermore, the manufacturing cost is significantly reduced.

1 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view showing an example of an ion generator according to the present invention. It is a diagrammatic sectional view showing a modification of the ion generator according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically the relationship between the outer peripheral surface of a glass tube, and the discharge electrode stretched on it.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing an example of an ion generator according to the present invention. The ion generator has a monopolar discharge tube 1. The discharge tube 1 has a cylindrical glass tube 2 sealed at both ends and filled with a rare gas. As the rare gas to be sealed, various rare gases such as xenon gas, argon gas, krypton gas, and helium gas can be used. At one end of the discharge tube, an electrode terminal 3 extending to the internal space of the glass tube is attached.

A metal wire 4 functioning as a discharge electrode is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 2 so as to be in close contact with the surface of the glass tube. As the metal wire, for example, a relatively inert metal material such as a nickel wire, a tungsten wire, a molybdenum wire, or a tantalum wire can be used. The metal wire 4 includes a linear electrode portion 4a extending from one end side to the other end side of the glass tube in parallel with the central axis L of the discharge tube, and two

winding portions

4b and 4c formed at both ends thereof. Have. The metal wire 4 is fixed on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 2 by the two winding

portions

4b and 4c. At this time, the linear electrode portion 4a is fixed so as to be in close contact with the surface of the glass tube. Further, the one winding portion 4b is positioned so as to overlap the electrode terminal 3 in the central axis direction of the discharge tube when viewed from the radial direction of the discharge tube. It is also possible to firmly fix the two winding parts on the glass tube by applying a conductive paste or conductive paint between the two winding

parts

4b and 4c and the glass tube and performing a baking process. It is. Further, instead of forming the winding portion, it is also possible to fix the end of the metal wire by applying and baking, for example, silver paint.

AC high voltage power supply device 5 is connected between the electrode terminal 3 and the other end of the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode. The AC high voltage power supply device 5 includes a high frequency generator 6 and a step-up transformer 7 and applies a discharge voltage of an AC high frequency voltage between the electrode terminal 3 and the discharge electrode 4. As the applied discharge voltage, for example, a high frequency voltage of 3 kV to 10 kV can be used. This discharge voltage is defined according to the application in consideration of the amount of ions generated, the size of the discharge tube, the gas pressure of the discharge tube, and the like. Further, the frequency range is set to a frequency range of about several tens of kHz. As the power source, a commercial power source can be used, or a battery power source mounted on an automobile or the like can be used.

When a discharge voltage, which is an alternating high voltage, is applied between the electrode terminal 3 and the discharge electrode 4 of the unipolar discharge tube, the rare gas enclosed in the discharge tube is converted into a plasma state and light emission starts. . When the applied voltage is further increased, corona discharge is generated from the vicinity of the discharge electrode. That is, the rare gas in the plasma state acts as an induction electrode, and the metal wire stretched on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube acts as a discharge electrode. Therefore, when a discharge voltage exceeding the emission start voltage of the discharge tube is applied between the electrode terminal of the monopolar discharge tube and the discharge electrode, corona discharge occurs near the discharge electrode, and positive ions and negative ions are generated by the ionization action. Is generated.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the metal wire 4 constituting the discharge electrode is helically attached around the center line L of the glass tube 2. Thus, if the discharge electrode is spirally wound on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube, the length of the wire for generating corona discharge can be further increased.

Next, an experimental result of measuring the amount of ions generated by actually generating ions using the ion generator shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, the following experiment 1 was performed. As the discharge tube 1, a discharge tube having an outer diameter of 4 mm, an inner diameter of 3 mm, a length of 45 mm, and a xenon gas sealed at a gas pressure of 80 Torr was used. As the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode, a stranded wire in which two nickel wires having a diameter of 0.15 mm were twisted together was used. During the experiment, a discharge voltage with a frequency of 33 kHz was applied, ions were generated while increasing the discharge voltage, and the amount of ions generated in a stable state 3 minutes after the discharge tube was turned on was measured using an ion counter. . The applied voltage is peak-to-peak voltage. The total number of positive and negative ions is the number of ions generated per unit power. In addition, an ion counter was placed at a position 350 mm away from the ion generator, and a fan was placed on the side opposite to the position where the ion counter was placed. The experimental results are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1
Applied voltage Number of positive ions Number of negative ions Total number of ions (kV) (× 10 ⁴ ) (× 10 ⁴ ) (× 10 ⁴ / W)
3.76 68.0 24.5 264.3
4.21 86.0 9.0 150.8
4.65 61.5 1.5 61.8
Competitor product 28.0 30.0

Prior to the experiment, the applied voltage was gradually increased to measure the light emission start voltage of the discharge tube and the discharge start voltage of the corona discharge. The light emission start voltage of the discharge tube was 1.94 kV, and the ion generation start voltage was 2.85 kV. Moreover, the ion generation amount of the ion generator using the commercially available needle electrode currently marketed was also measured. The measured number of ions was 28.0 × 10 ⁴ positive ions and 30 × 10 ⁴ negative ions. The following matters are derived from the experimental results.
(A) By applying a discharge voltage exceeding the light emission start voltage of the discharge tube between the electrode terminal of the monopolar discharge tube and the metal wire mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube, plus and minus Ions can be generated.
(B) From the result of comparison with a commercially available product, it is possible to generate a larger amount of ions than a commercially available product by applying an AC high voltage discharge voltage that is equal to or higher than the emission start voltage of the discharge tube. Therefore, it is possible to generate a sufficient amount of ions as a product.

Next, as Experiment 2, the amount of ions generated by changing the distance between the glass tube and the metal wire was measured. When a metal wire is brought into close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the discharge tube, a 0.2 mm thick air gap is formed by interposing a tape-like spacer having a thickness of 0.2 mm, and a thickness of 0.3 mm Three types of elements were formed when an air gap having a thickness of 0.3 mm was formed by interposing a tape-shaped spacer, and the amount of ions was measured. The applied voltage was set to 3.76V.

Table 2
Air gap Number of positive ions Number of negative ions Total number of ions (mm) (× 10 ⁴ ) (× 10 ⁴ ) (× 10 ⁴ / W)
No spacer 84.0 9.0 300.0
0.2 19.5 18.0 129.3
0.3 4.5 6.5 78.5

As shown in Table 2, when an air gap exists between the surface of the glass tube and the metal wire, the amount of ions generated decreases as the air gap becomes thicker. However, even when air gaps of 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm are interposed between the surface of the glass tube and the metal wire, it was confirmed that a larger amount of ions was generated than in the commercial product. In addition, when an air gap is interposed between the surface of the glass tube and the discharge electrode, the amount of ions generated decreases, but the ratio of the amount of plus ions to the amount of minus ions tends to be almost equal. .

From the results of Experiments 1 and 2, the ion generator of the type in which the discharge electrode of the metal wire is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the discharge tube and corona discharge is generated between the discharge tube and the metal wire generates an ion amount exceeding the commercially available product. It was confirmed that it was possible to

Next, the principle of the ion generator configured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be examined. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a contact state at the interface between the surface of the glass tube 2 constituting the discharge tube and the metal wire 4 constituting the discharge electrode. The surface of the glass tube is a flat curved surface, but there are slight irregularities and undulations when viewed microscopically. Similarly, the surface of the metal wire 4 has minute irregularities and undulations. In particular, when a stranded wire obtained by twisting a plurality of thin metal wires is used as the discharge electrode, a minute air gap is formed between the surface of the glass tube and the discharge electrode. Therefore, even if the metal wire is attached so as to be in close contact with the surface of the glass tube, the thickness between the surface of the glass tube and the metal wire is as small as several μm to several hundred μm in addition to the minute contact point 10. It is understood that the air gap 11 is formed. On the other hand, when a discharge voltage exceeding the light emission start voltage is applied to the discharge tube, the rare gas inside the discharge tube is in a plasma state and constitutes an induction electrode. A dielectric layer made of a glass tube and an air gap 11 are interposed between the induction electrode formed by the gas space in the plasma state and the metal wire 4 which is a discharge electrode. The dielectric layer made of the glass tube and air It is understood that a corona discharge is formed through the gap, and the air in the air gap 11 is ionized by the ionization action caused by the generated corona discharge.

Next, the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode will be described. The ion generator according to the present invention uses corona discharge between a discharge tube and a discharge electrode stretched on the outer peripheral surface thereof. On the other hand, the discharge start voltage of corona discharge is closely related to the radius of curvature of the discharge electrode, and the discharge start voltage decreases as the radius of curvature of the discharge electrode decreases. Therefore, in the present invention, it is desirable to use a stranded wire obtained by twisting a plurality of thin metal wires as the discharge electrode. When a stranded wire is used as the discharge electrode, a thinner metal wire is opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the discharge tube constituting the induction electrode, and the discharge start voltage can be further reduced. As a result, a one-side generator that is extremely suitable from the viewpoint of safety is realized.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made. For example, with respect to the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode, single wires and stranded wires of various metal materials can be used.
It is also possible to provide a spacer on the surface of the glass tube and form an air gap between the surface of the glass tube and the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode. In particular, when a spacer having a thickness of 200 to 300 μm is provided, the amount of positive ions and the amount of negative ions tend to approach the same amount, and it is necessary to generate the same amount of positive ions and negative ions. An ion generator useful for high applications is realized.
Moreover, although the embodiment of the present invention has been described by taking a unipolar discharge tube as an example, it may be applied to a bipolar discharge tube.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Discharge tube 2 Glass tube 3 Electrode terminal 4 Discharge electrode 5 AC high voltage power supply device 6 High frequency generator 7 Step-up transformer

Claims

A cylindrical glass tube sealed at both ends and filled with a rare gas inside, and a monopolar discharge tube having an electrode terminal attached to one end of the glass tube and extending to the inside of the glass tube; ,
A discharge electrode that is stretched over the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube and is configured by a metal wire extending from one end side to the other end side of the discharge tube;
An AC high voltage power supply device connected between the electrode terminal of the discharge tube and the discharge electrode, and applying a discharge voltage exceeding the emission start voltage of the discharge tube;
An ion generator that generates positive ions and negative ions when a discharge voltage is applied between the electrode terminal and the discharge electrode.
2. The ion generator according to claim 1, wherein the discharge electrode extends substantially parallel along a central axis of the discharge tube or spirally extends around the central axis, and a wire Two winding portions that are respectively formed on both sides of the linear electrode portion and fix each end portion of the linear electrode portion to the glass tube of the discharge tube, the linear electrode portion on the surface of the glass tube An ion generator characterized by being fixed so as to be in close contact with the surface.
3. The ion generator according to claim 2, wherein one winding portion of the discharge electrode is positioned so as to overlap with a part of the electrode terminal in the central axis direction of the discharge tube. .
The ion generator of Claim 1 WHEREIN: The spacer which controls the space | interval between a discharge electrode and the glass tube surface is formed on the surface of the said glass tube, The said discharge electrode is along the center axis line of a discharge tube. An ion generator characterized by extending substantially in parallel.
A cylindrical glass tube sealed at both ends and filled with a rare gas inside, and a monopolar discharge tube having an electrode terminal attached to one end of the glass tube and extending to the inside of the glass tube; ,
An ion generating element comprising: a discharge electrode that is stretched on an outer peripheral surface of the glass tube and configured by a metal wire extending from one end side to the other end side of the discharge tube.
6. The ion generating element according to claim 5, wherein the metal wire constituting the discharge electrode is formed of a stranded wire obtained by twisting a plurality of thin metal wires.