WO2012002703A2

WO2012002703A2 - Apparatus for generating ion clusters

Info

Publication number: WO2012002703A2
Application number: PCT/KR2011/004711
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김유만; 진희성; 안모하; 박영만
Original assignee: (주)수도프리미엄엔지니어링
Priority date: 2010-06-29
Filing date: 2011-06-28
Publication date: 2012-01-05
Also published as: KR101156604B1; WO2012002703A3; KR20120001056A

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for generating ion clusters, comprising: a high-voltage-generating unit which generates high voltages for plasma discharge; a case in which the high-voltage-generating unit is embedded; a discharge plate which is arranged over an upper surface of the case and spaced apart therefrom, and which receives high voltages applied thereto and generates ion clusters by means of plasma discharge; and a ground member, one side of which is connected to the ground of an electric circuit unit and the other side of which is elastically connected to the discharge plate in the gap between the upper surface of the case and the discharge plate.

Description

Ion Cluster Generator

The present invention relates to an ion cluster generator using the plasma discharge principle, and more particularly, to an ion cluster generator that can reduce the variation in the amount of ion cluster generation.

In general, a plasma discharge device is composed of a high voltage electrode and a ground electrode positioned inside and outside with a dielectric interposed therebetween, and cause a plasma discharge by applying a high voltage to the high voltage electrode. In the plasma discharge process, a large amount of so-called ion clusters of oxidizers and hydroxyl ions (O ₂ , O _2- , O ₂ +, HO _2- , OH-, etc.) are generated and oxidized, thereby causing unpleasant odors in the air. In addition to its deodorizing effect, it is used in various air purifiers to clean air comfortably by sterilizing viruses, fungi, and ticks. Such plasma discharge devices are classified into discharge tube type and plate type according to the use of glass, quartz, ceramics, plastics, and the like as dielectric materials.

Representatively, the discharge tube type discharge device using the quartz tube is configured separately from the electric circuit for high voltage generation. According to this configuration, the discharge tube type discharge element is difficult to be installed in a narrow installation space, and may cause problems of output degradation and durability depending on the length of the wire to apply voltage. There is a risk of safety accidents. In addition, when the casing is required to prevent the exposure of the electrical circuit unit and the high voltage line in the discharge tube-type discharge device, there was a disadvantage that the economic efficiency is poor due to the configuration of additional components.

Accordingly, International Application Publication No. WO2010 / 074464A2 (corresponding to Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0913343 (registered date 2009.8.14)) published on July 1, 2010, assigned with the present application, includes the first and the first dielectrics interposed therebetween. Disclosed is a circuit-insertable discharge element of the invention which includes an electrical circuit portion connected to two electrodes to generate a plasma discharge by applying a high voltage to the internal space of the discharge element. The insertion part discharge element of the circuit part can minimize the space required for installation compared to the discharge element of the prior art in which the discharge element and the electric circuit part for high voltage generation are separated, and omit a member such as a wire for applying a high voltage to the electrode. It increases durability, prevents safety accidents and decreases in output, and eliminates the need for a casing to prevent exposure to high voltage parts, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

However, since the circuit-insertable discharge element uses a cylindrical dielectric made of glass, quartz, or ceramic, the size of the discharge element is larger than that of the plate-type dielectric.

On the other hand, a plate type discharge element using a ceramic plate typically includes a ceramic plate and a discharge plate composed of a wrap comprising a mesh of stainless steel wrapped around the ceramic plate. The plate-type discharge device receives a high electric field between the ceramic plate and the mesh network by the application of a high voltage, and emits ion clusters as the plasma discharge occurs. However, such a plate-type discharge device is difficult to maintain a constant adhesion between the external electrode and the dielectric, and there is a problem in mass production due to the variation in the generation amount of the ion cluster between the devices.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ion cluster generator that can reduce the variation in the amount of ion cluster generation between the ion cluster generator.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an ion cluster generator includes: a high voltage generator for generating a high voltage for plasma discharge; a case in which the high voltage generator is built; and a high voltage generator disposed on the upper surface of the case; A discharge plate applied to generate an ion cluster by plasma discharge, one side of which is connected to the ground of the electrical circuit part in a space between the upper surface of the case and the discharge plate, and the other side of which is elastic with the discharge plate It includes a grounding member connected to.

The discharge plate may include a ceramic plate having an internal electrode to which the high voltage is applied, and a ground electrode wrapped on an outer surface of the ceramic plate and connected to the ground member.

The internal electrode of the ceramic plate is made of a conductive material or a plate-shaped conductive material having a multi-pronged linear pattern.

The internal electrode is disposed to be shallow in the thickness direction of the ceramic plate so as to be close to the upper surface of the case.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plate-type dielectric is used as the discharge element, and the inner electrode of the plate-like dielectric is divided into a plurality of linear patterns, thereby generating the amount of ion clusters generated according to the output voltage of the high voltage generator for plasma discharge. By reducing the change (output voltage sensitivity), by shifting the position of the internal electrode toward the dielectric thickness toward the non-center side, and lowering the discharge start voltage, the output voltage of the high voltage generator can be lowered. In addition to the reduction, it is possible to reduce the burden of the high voltage generator, and also has an effect of reducing the generation of by-products due to plasma discharge such as ozone.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ion cluster generator according to an embodiment of the present invention,

2 is a front view of the ion cluster generator of FIG. 1,

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a lower surface of the discharge plate taken along line III-III of the ion cluster generator of FIG.

4 is a schematic diagram showing a linear internal electrode inside a ceramic plate of the discharge plate of FIG.

5 is a schematic diagram showing a plate-shaped internal electrode inside the ceramic plate of the discharge plate of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing output voltage vs. generation amount of ion clusters of the linear internal electrode of FIG. 4 and the plate-shaped internal electrode of FIG. 5;

7 is a graph showing output voltage vs. generation amount of ion cluster according to the position of an internal electrode.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ion cluster generator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a front view of the ion cluster generator of FIG.

As shown in Figure 1 and 2, the ion cluster generator according to an embodiment of the present invention is a case containing a high voltage generator 70 and a high voltage generator 70 for generating a high voltage for plasma discharge 10, a discharge plate 50 disposed above the case 10 and applied with a high voltage to cause plasma discharge, and a grounding member 60 made of a conductive material elastically connected to the discharge plate 50. Include.

The case 10 is made of plastic of ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene copolymer) material, so that both ends of the discharge plate 50 are inserted between them on one side of the case 10, for example, an upper surface thereof. The holder 20 in which the "u" shaped grooves 22 are formed is disposed. The discharge plate 50 is spaced apart by a predetermined height from the upper surface of the case 10 by the holder 20.

The discharge plate 50 includes an external electrode 40 made of a ceramic plate made of a dielectric material and a conductor wound around the external electrode 40, for example, a mesh structure 30 made of stainless steel. The grounding member 60 has one end connected to the ground of the high voltage generator 70 in the case 10 and the other end of the bottom surface of the discharge plate 50 in a space between the case 10 and the discharge plate 50. Is configured to elastically contact. Therefore, the mesh 30 of the discharge plate 50 is used as the ground electrode connected to the ground of the high voltage generating part in the circuit part case 10 by the grounding member 60.

In the ion cluster generator, ion clusters are generated by the air being ionized between the mesh structure 30 of the discharge plate 50 and the ceramic plate 40. The mesh structure 30 allows the ion cluster generated by the ion cluster generator to be easily diffused into the air, and the space between the discharge plate 50 and the upper surface of the case 10 is a flow of air. Make it easy.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the grounding member 60 is composed of a leaf spring of a conductive and elastic material, the ground electrode 30 when the discharge plate 50 is fitted into the groove 22 of the holder 20 It is supported by the case 10 to elastically contact.

In FIGS. 1 and 2,

reference numerals

110 and 100 denote power cables for supplying power to the high voltage generator 70, and output lines of the high voltage generator for outputting AC high voltage from the high voltage generator 70. Indicates.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a cross-sectional view showing the lower surface of the discharge plate, taken along line III-III of the ion cluster generator of FIG.

The discharge plate 50 is formed by wrapping the conductive mesh around the ceramic plate 40 and welding both ends of the folded mesh to form a box-shaped mesh structure 30 left and right, and the mesh structure is formed of a ceramic plate ( 40) and then pressed against the ceramic plate 40 to produce. At this time, it is preferable that the welding portion 70 of the mesh structure 30 faces the lower surface of the ceramic plate 40, that is, the upper end of the case 10. The exposed electrode 90 is partially exposed on the bottom surface of one side of the ceramic plate 40 to be joined to the high voltage output terminal 100 from the case 10 by soldering. As shown in FIG. 4, the exposed electrode 90 is connected to the internal electrode 80 embedded in the ceramic plate 40. According to the present invention, the internal electrode 80 of the ceramic plate 40 is composed of a linear electrode having a plurality of branches. The pattern of the linear internal electrode 80 may be made by silkscreen printing tungsten paste. In addition, in the present invention, the linear internal electrode 80 is not located at the inner central portion of the ceramic plate 40 when viewed in the thickness direction of the ceramic plate 40, that is, the lower portion of the inside of the ceramic plate 40, that is, the case ( It is preferable to be built close to the upper surface of 10).

Alternatively, the internal electrode of the ceramic plate 40 may be composed of a general elongated plate-shaped electrode 120 as shown in FIG.

In the ion cluster generator of the present invention having the configuration as described above, when the power cable 110 is connected to a power source, the high voltage of the alternating current is exposed to the ceramic plate 40 through the output line 100 of the high voltage generator 70. It is applied to the electrode 90 and the internal electrode 80. Since the mesh structure 30 is electrically grounded with the grounding member 60, an alternating current flows to the ground via the exposed electrode 90, the internal electrode 80, and the mesh structure 30, thereby allowing the mesh structure 30 to be grounded. And the air between the ceramic plate 40 is subjected to a large electric field. When the intensity of this electric field exceeds a constant value, about 30 kv / cm in the case of air, the air starts to ionize and so-called plasma discharge occurs. By this plasma discharge, positive and negative ion clusters are released to the outside.

By the way, if the contact between the mesh structure 30 and the ceramic plate 40 is uniform, the generation amount of the ion cluster by the same output voltage can be said to be the same. However, substantially, the contact portion between the mesh structure 30 and the ceramic plate 40 does not have an air layer so that no discharge occurs, and since the discharge occurs in a portion other than the contact, a variation occurs in the amount of ion clusters generated. Therefore, even if the same high voltage is applied, variation inevitably occurs in the amount of generated ion clusters between devices.

Hereinafter, a linear internal electrode 80 having a pattern having a plurality of branches is formed as an internal electrode, and in the thickness direction, the ceramic plate 40 is not disposed in the inner center of the ceramic plate 40 in the thickness direction. The reason why it arrange | positions shallowly inside from the bottom face of this is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 6 is a graph showing the output voltage of the plate-shaped internal electrode and the linear internal electrode versus the generation amount of the ion cluster, and FIG.

In general, when the output voltage of the same magnitude, in the case of the plate-shaped internal electrode 120, the intensity of the electric field received by the air layer between the mesh structure 30 and the ceramic plate 40 is substantially constant. On the other hand, when the output voltage of the same magnitude, in the case of the linear internal electrode 80, the intensity of the electric field is different for each position due to the pattern of the electrode. Therefore, the overall average electric field strength of the linear internal electrode 80 is smaller than that of the plate-shaped internal electrode 120, and thus the amount of ion clusters generated is small.

However, in reality, the contact between the mesh structure 30 and the ceramic plate 40 cannot be constant, whether it is a plate-shaped internal electrode or a linear internal electrode, so there is a variation in the amount of ion clusters generated between devices.

Nevertheless, as can be inferred from FIG. 6, if the ion cluster generator of the present invention uses a linear internal electrode, the ion cluster generation amount is not varied even if the contact between the mesh structure 30 and the ceramic plate 40 is not constant. Since the plate type internal electrode is smaller than the case of using the plate-shaped internal electrode, the performance deviation between the devices can be expected to be substantially reduced.

Moreover, increasing the output voltage also increases the amount of generated ion clusters, but also increases the generation of ozone, a byproduct of plasma discharge, and therefore, the output voltage cannot be infinitely high. It is common to use the output voltage at a value slightly higher than the discharge start voltage, but as can be seen from FIG. 7, the ion cluster generator of the present invention has a shallow internal height in the thickness direction of the ceramic plate 40. By disposing the

electrodes

80 and 120, the gap between the internal electrodes and the mesh structure is narrowed, so that the electric field is increased in intensity, and discharge occurs earlier than when the internal electrodes are disposed in the center of the ceramic plate. That is, the discharge start voltage is lower than when the internal electrode is disposed in the center of the ceramic plate. Accordingly, the output voltage for discharging can be lowered, thereby reducing the burden on the electric circuit part. In addition, since the internal electrode is disposed below the inner surface of the ceramic plate 40, that is, close to the case 10, the discharge is mainly generated at the bottom of the discharge plate 50. It also has the effect of reducing the instability of the plasma discharge due to the contact by or in contact with an external object.

As described above, the ion cluster generator according to the present invention has a plurality of branched linear electrodes or plate-shaped inner electrodes arranged in a shallow direction in the thickness direction of the ceramic plate, so that the inner electrode is near the discharge start voltage as compared with the case where the inner electrodes are arranged in the center of the plate. Since the change of the ion cluster generation amount, that is, the sensitivity of the output voltage, becomes small due to the change of the output voltage, the performance deviation between devices due to incomplete contact between the ceramic plate and the mesh structure can be reduced.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. will be.

Claims

Ion cluster generator,

A high voltage generator for generating a high voltage for plasma discharge;

A case in which the high voltage generator is built in;

Discharge plates disposed on the upper surface of the case and the high voltage is applied to generate the ion cluster by the plasma discharge;

And a grounding member, one side of which is connected to the ground of the electrical circuit part in the space between the upper surface of the case and the discharge plate, and the other side of which is elastically connected to the discharge plate.
The method of claim 1,

The discharge plate,

A ceramic plate having an internal electrode to which the high voltage is applied;

And a ground electrode wrapped on an outer surface of the ceramic plate and connected to the ground member.
The method of claim 2,

The ground electrode is ion cluster generator comprising a structure of the mesh form made of stainless steel.
The method of claim 1,

And a holder having grooves formed at both sides of an upper surface of the circuit part case and having grooves fitted in both ends of the discharge plate, wherein the discharge plate is spaced apart from the upper surface of the case by the holder.
The method of claim 3, wherein

The mesh-shaped structure of the discharge plate is manufactured by wrapping the mesh of stainless steel surrounding the ceramic plate and welding both ends thereof, and the welded portion is located on the bottom surface of the ceramic plate to face the upper surface of the case. Ion cluster generator.
The method of claim 2,

The ceramic plate includes an exposed electrode connected to the inner electrode and a part of which is exposed to the outside, wherein a high voltage provided from the high voltage generator is applied to the inner electrode through the exposed electrode.
The method of claim 2,

The inner cluster of the ceramic plate is an ion cluster generator consisting of a conductive material having a plurality of linear patterns.
The method of claim 2,

The inner electrode of the ceramic plate is an ion cluster generator composed of a plate-shaped conductive material.
The method according to claim 7 or 8,

And the inner electrode is disposed in a shallow direction in the thickness direction of the ceramic plate so as to be close to the upper surface of the case.
The method according to claim 7 or 8,

The internal electrode is an ion cluster generator formed by silkscreen printing tungsten paste.