JP5230150B2 - Deodorization / deodorization method - Google Patents

Description

The invention also relates to the room to efficiently deodorant or deodorant and deodorizing how to deodorize.

  Indoor air is contaminated with various substances such as dust, mold and bacteria. Especially in highly airtight houses, pollutants tend to stay indoors, so it is necessary to actively ventilate them. However, in a house built in an area with severe air pollution or a family with hay fever residents, it is often impossible to think of opening windows to ventilate. Therefore, an air cleaner that sucks indoor air to remove contaminants and discharges purified air into the room is used.

  FIG. 20 is a schematic side sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional air cleaner. In the figure, 101 is an air purifier, and the air purifier 101 includes a rectangular parallelepiped casing 110, and the casing 110 is installed on the floor F in the room at a predetermined distance from the wall surface W. The housing 110 includes a front surface 111 on which an air inlet 120 for sucking indoor air is formed, a top surface 112 on which a blowout port 130 for blowing out purified air is formed, and a rear surface 113 that is the opposite surface of the front surface 111, It is the structure which has the bottom face 114 contact | abutted to the floor surface F, and both the left and right side surfaces (illustration is abbreviate | omitted). A panel 125 that covers the suction port 120 is provided on the front surface 111 of the housing 110 with a slight gap therebetween, and air is sucked into the suction port 120 from this gap so as to bypass the panel 125. .

  A sirocco fan 140 that sucks and blows air is mounted inside the housing 110 at a position near the rear surface 113. The sirocco fan 140 is disposed in the air flow path formed in the housing 110 from the inlet 120 to the outlet 130, and the air sucked from the inlet 120 by the suction force by the rotational drive is supplied to the outlet 130. To send to. Of the air flow paths from the inlet 120 to the outlet 130, the inlet 120 to the sirocco fan 140 is referred to as an inlet flow passage 150, and the sirocco fan 140 to the outlet 130 is referred to as an outlet flow passage 160. The suction flow passage 150 is provided in the front-rear direction in the housing 110 (that is, in the direction parallel to the floor surface F when the air purifier 101 is installed on the floor surface F), and in the air in the path. An air filter 170 is provided for collecting and removing substances such as dust, mold and bacteria. The sirocco fan 140 is a fan in which the air sucking direction and the blowing direction are substantially orthogonal to each other, and the blowing flow passage 160 is provided in the vertical direction in the housing 110.

  Therefore, in the conventional air cleaner 101, the sirocco fan 140 is driven to rotate, thereby sucking air containing indoor pollutants from the front surface 111 of the housing 110 and removing the pollutants with the air filter 170. Can be blown out above the housing 110. Thereby, since the air cleaner 101 can circulate indoor air, remove contaminants, and can clean indoor air, the indoor environment can be improved.

In Patent Document 1, by providing a horizontal air outlet provided on a side surface of a vertically long main body and a vertically long front air outlet provided on the front surface of the main body, purified air can be supplied in the horizontal direction and the front direction. An air purifier has been proposed that can quickly purify the air.
JP 2006-17343 A JP 2003-227638 A

  In recent years, further improvements in the indoor environment have been desired, and improvements in the performance and efficiency of air purifiers are desired. However, conventional air purifiers have been improved in performance by a method of increasing the capacity to suck air and increasing the amount of air processed. In such a method, it is necessary to increase the size or speed of a fan or the like of the air purifier in order to suck air, and in the future, the power consumption of the air purifier will increase and the noise accompanying the operation will increase. There was a limit to performance improvement.

  In addition, as in the air purifier described in Patent Document 1, attempts have been made to improve performance by blowing air in multiple directions, but it is not always easy to be affected by obstacles such as indoor furniture. There was a problem that good air circulation could not be performed. Moreover, since air is blown out in multiple directions, there is a possibility that dust accumulated on the floor surface or the like is rolled up. Furthermore, since the possibility that air is blown out toward the human being in the room is increased, there is a risk that wind stress due to an uncomfortable draft feeling may be given to the human being.

  On the other hand, the adverse effect of an unpleasant odor cannot be ignored as a factor deteriorating the indoor environment. However, conventional air purifiers are intended to remove dust, mold, bacteria, etc. in the indoor air with an air filter, and to deodorize, deodorize or prevent odors by adsorption of odorous components or chemical reactions. It was. In addition, attempts have been made to deodorize with an air cleaner by providing a deodorant etc. in the air cleaner and deodorizing the blown-in air to blow it out. It is not done. This is because substances that cause odor (odor generating substances) adhere to indoor walls, ceilings, floors, curtains, etc., and generate odors, which are the source of these odors in conventional air purifiers. This is because the substance cannot be inhaled, and only the air near the center of the room is inhaled to deodorize it.

So far, the present inventor has discovered that ions generated by ionizing oxygen and water vapor in the air by plasma discharge have a deodorizing effect. An ion generator for generating such ions has already been put into practical use, and H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n (n is a natural number) that is a positive ion and O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O that is a negative ion in the air. ) _M (m is a natural number) is generated. These positive ions and negative ions have a form in which a plurality of water molecules are attached around hydrogen ions (H ⁺ ) or oxygen ions (O ₂ ⁻ ), that is, so-called cluster ions.

These ions released into the air undergo a chemical reaction between positive ions and negative ions to form hydrogen peroxide water H ₂ O ₂ or a hydroxyl radical / OH as an active substance, and hydrogen from suspended particles or suspended bacteria. It is known that suspended particles can be inactivated or suspended bacteria can be sterilized by carrying out an oxidation reaction that extracts sucrose. An air purifier that is equipped with an ion generator and discharges ions into indoor air and cleans the air by the effect of ions has been put into practical use (see Patent Document 2).

  However, conventionally, even an air purifier equipped with an ion generator has a partial deodorizing effect and has not been satisfactory. This is because, as described above, the substances that cause odor adhere to indoor walls, ceilings, floors, curtains, etc., and the lifetime of ions generated by the ion generator is short. This is because the transmitted ions cannot reach the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, curtain, or the like.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its purpose is not only to remove dust, mold and bacteria in the indoor air, but also to deodorize, deodorize or deodorize the room. It is to provide a deodorizing / deodorizing method in a room that can perform further improvement of the indoor environment.

The deodorizing / deodorizing method according to the present invention includes a housing, a suction port that is provided in the housing and sucks air, a blowout port that blows out air sucked from the suction port, and the blowout port from the suction port. Indoor air deodorization by an air cleaner comprising: a fan that sends air to the air; a blowout flow passage that flows air from the fan to the blowout outlet; and an ion generator that generates ions in the air flowing through the blowout flow passage. In the deodorization method, the distance from the central position of the air outlet to the wall surface of the nearest room facing is L [mm], and the distance from the central position of the air outlet to the ceiling surface of the room is H [mm]. When the air outlet is arranged and used at a position where the distance L is selected in the range of 100 <L <600, the air blown out from the air outlet is allowed to reach the indoor wall surface first. Air sent out from the outlet The angle theta [°] to the direction of flow with respect to the vertically upward direction by setting the range of ^{tan -1 (L / H) <} θ ≦ 35, blows air containing the ions into the room wall, indoor wall surface The odor generating substance adhering to or adsorbed on the material is altered or decomposed by the ions.

Further, in the deodorizing / deodorizing method according to the present invention, the air purifier is configured to be able to distinguish the front and rear of the casing and to blow out air from the outlet through the rear side of the casing. It is characterized by.

  In the present invention, deodorization, deodorization, deodorization, and the like by an air cleaner are realized by sending ions generated by the ion generating element so that they can reach the indoor wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, curtain, etc. Is possible. Therefore, deodorizing and deodorizing the room are performed by blowing air containing ions onto the wall surface in the room and changing or decomposing the odor-generating substance attached or adsorbed on the wall surface with ions.

  In addition, a means for generating ions in the air flowing through the outlet flow passage provided from the fan in the housing to the outlet is mounted on the air cleaner. Thereby, the air cleaner can send out ions having a deodorizing effect. Moreover, let the blowing direction of the air from a blower outlet be the upward direction inclined by the predetermined angle with respect to the perpendicular direction of the installation surface in which the housing | casing of the air cleaner was installed. In general, an air cleaner is rarely installed in the center of a room, and is often installed in the vicinity of any wall surface of the room at a distance of about several tens of centimeters to several meters from the wall surface. The inventor of the present application made it possible to blow air toward the nearest wall surface in the blowing direction by adopting a configuration in which the air cleaner blows air upward at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical direction. The air that has reached the wall surface circulates along the ceiling and other wall surfaces, and further along the floor surface, and is sucked into the suction port of the air cleaner. Therefore, since the air cleaner of the present invention can circulate air containing ions having a deodorizing effect along the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface of the room, the odor attached to the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface of the room. The deodorizing effect can be directly exerted on the substance that is the source of the odor. In addition, by continuously operating the air cleaner, it is possible to continuously cover the walls, ceiling, floor, etc. of the room with air containing ions. It can be prevented from adhering to the floor surface.

  When the air cleaner is installed in the vicinity of any wall surface of the room, the rear surface of the air cleaner housing faces the wall surface, and the front surface faces the center of the room. Therefore, the configuration allows the user to distinguish the front and back of the housing by the orientation of marks or characters drawn on the housing, or the operation buttons or liquid crystal panels provided on the housing, and the air blowing direction Is the upward direction on the rear side of the housing inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical direction of the installation surface. Thereby, the user can install an air cleaner appropriately, the air cleaner can blow out air toward the wall surface which exists in the rear side of a case, and deodorization and deodorization by the above-mentioned ion etc. It can be done reliably.

  Further, in consideration of the thickness of the air flow when the air containing ions circulates from the wall surface to the ceiling or floor surface, ion generating means is provided on the wall surface of the outlet flow passage far from the indoor wall surface to which air is blown. This can be realized by providing the ion generating means on the upper wall surface of the outlet flow passage when the outlet flow passage is provided so as to be inclined rearward and upward with respect to the vertical direction of the installation surface. When the ion generating means is provided on the wall surface of the blowout flow passage close to the indoor wall surface, a considerable amount of ions are consumed by the initially blown indoor wall surface, and the ions that can contribute to the indoor circulation may be reduced. Therefore, by providing ion generating means on the wall surface of the outlet flow passage far from the indoor wall surface, ions can reach farther and ions having a deodorizing effect can be distributed to every corner of the room. .

Further, the ion generating means mounted on the air cleaner exclusively generates positive ions H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and negative ions O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m in the air. Hydroxyl radicals / OH are generated by the interaction of these generated ions, and the hydroxyl radical acts on the C—C bond, C═C bond, C═O bond, etc. of the organic compound from which the odor originates and decomposes. By this, deodorization is performed. In addition, as with conventional air purifiers that generate ions, the air purifier of the present invention also has effects such as inactivation of suspended particles by these ions and sterilization of suspended bacteria. Since ions can be distributed to every corner, suspended particles can be inactivated and suspended bacteria can be sterilized more effectively.

  Moreover, the air which the air cleaner inhaled humidifies and blows off. It has been proved by the present inventors that the above-mentioned ion lifetime changes according to humidity. The higher the humidity, the longer the ion lifetime. By generating ions in humidified air and sending them out from the air cleaner, ions exist in the air for a long period of time, so that the reach distance of the ions from the air cleaner is extended. Therefore, by installing humidifying means in the air cleaner, the deodorizing effect of ions can be maintained over a long period of time, and the deodorizing effect can be further enhanced. Even if the room where the is installed is large, deodorization and the like can be performed by spreading ions to every corner of the room. The humidifying means can be composed of a tank for storing water and a heater for heating the stored water.

  In addition, when the suction and blowing of air by the fan and the generation of ions by the ion generating means are started, that is, when the operation of the air cleaner is started, humidification by the humidifying means is started, and a predetermined period of time has elapsed. After that, the humidification by the humidifying means is finished. When the air cleaner of the present invention is not operating, a substance that causes odor adheres to the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, etc. of the room. Therefore, immediately after the start of the air purifier, the ability of deodorization by ions is increased by humidification, and the substances that cause odor attached to the wall, ceiling, floor, etc. of the room are decomposed to efficiently and quickly remove the odor. Do. After a certain period of time has passed, the substances that cause odor attached to the wall, ceiling, floor, etc. of the room are removed or the amount of substances attached is sufficiently reduced. Reduce power consumption.

In the case of the present invention, the ion generator is mounted on the air cleaner and the air containing the ions is blown upward on the rear side of the casing of the air cleaner, so that the ceiling and Air can be circulated along other wall surfaces. As a result, air can be circulated to every corner of the room, so that dust, mold, bacteria, etc. in the air can be removed efficiently, and odors attached to the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface by ions can be removed. Deodorizing can be performed by removing the original substance. Therefore, a comfortable and clean indoor environment can be provided by the indoor deodorizing / deodorizing method of the present invention.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings showing embodiments thereof. FIG. 1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an air cleaner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an air purifier. The air purifier 1 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 10, and the casing 10 is installed on a floor F in the room at a predetermined distance from a wall surface W. The casing 10 abuts on a substantially rectangular front surface 11, a top surface 12 on which a blow-out port 30 for blowing out purified air is formed, a rear surface 13 on which a suction port 20 for sucking air is formed, and a floor surface F. This is a configuration having a bottom surface 14 and left and right side surfaces (not shown).

  An operation unit 90 is disposed on the top surface 12 of the housing 10 at a position near the front surface 11. The operation unit 90 includes a switch or a button for changing the operation settings of the air cleaner 1 and a liquid crystal panel for displaying the operation state of the air cleaner 1, various settings, a message to the user, and the like. It serves as an interface between the user and the air purifier 1. Further, the top surface 12 of the housing 10 is gently inclined downward toward the rear surface 13 at a portion on the rear side from a portion where the operation unit 90 is disposed. The air outlet 30 of the air cleaner 1 is formed in an inclined portion on the rear side of the operation unit 90 of the rear surface 13 and has a substantially rectangular shape that is long in the left-right direction of the housing 10.

  Thus, the user can easily and reliably determine the front and rear of the housing 10 (that is, which surface is the front surface 11) from the position where the operation unit 90 is provided. Further, the user can determine the front and rear of the housing 10 from the product number, manufacturer name, operation description, and other marks of the air cleaner 1 drawn on the housing 10. If the operation unit 90 has a liquid crystal panel, it is possible to determine the front and rear of the housing 10 from the direction of characters displayed on the liquid crystal panel. The operation unit 90 may be provided on the front surface 11 of the housing 10.

  The air inlet 1 of the air cleaner 1 is provided so as to occupy most of the back surface 13 of the housing 10 and is covered with a lattice-like cover in which a large number of openings are formed. Inside the housing 10, a sirocco fan 40 that sucks and blows air is mounted near the front surface 11. The sirocco fan 40 is a fan configured to blow out air sucked in the rotation axis direction in a tangential direction of rotation. When the housing 10 of the air purifier 1 is installed on the floor surface F in the room, the sirocco fan 40 sucks air in the direction substantially parallel to the floor surface F from the rear surface 13 side to the front surface 11 side. It arrange | positions in the housing | casing 10 so that air may be blown up in the direction perpendicular | vertical to the floor surface F. As shown in FIG. The sirocco fan 40 is disposed in the air flow path from the suction port 20 to the blower outlet 30 formed in the housing 10, and the air sucked from the suction port 20 by the suction force by the rotational drive. It sends out to the blower outlet 30. Of the air flow paths from the inlet 20 to the outlet 30, the inlet flow path 50 to the sirocco fan 40 is referred to as a suction flow path 50, and the sirocco fan 40 to the outlet 30 is referred to as an outlet flow path 60.

  The suction flow passage 50 is provided substantially in parallel to the bottom surface 14 of the housing 10 from the suction port 20 to the sirocco fan 40, and sucks air from the rear surface 13 side of the housing 10. The suction flow passage 50 is provided with an air filter 70 that collects and removes substances such as dust, mold and bacteria in the air. As a result, the air outside the housing 10 that has flowed into the suction flow passage 50 from the suction port 20 is sucked into the sirocco fan 40 after dust, mold, bacteria, and other substances are removed, and the purified air is sirocco. The fan 40 blows out from the blower outlet 30 to the outside of the housing 10 through the blowout flow passage 60.

  The blowout flow passage 60 is provided upward from the sirocco fan 40 to the blowout port 30. However, in the air purifier 1 according to the present invention, the outlet flow passage 60 is slightly bent to the rear side of the housing 10 in the middle, so that air is blown out rearward above the housing 10. That is, the air purifier 1 has a predetermined angle (for example, about 20 °) rearward and toward the wall W when the casing 10 is installed on the floor F in the room. Air is blown out.

  On the inner surface of the blowout flow passage 60, an ion generating element 80 that generates ions in the air in the blowout flow passage 60 by generating plasma discharge is provided on the front surface 11 side of the housing 10. Although details of the ion generating element 80 will be described later, the ions generated by the ion generating element 80 have an effect of inactivating suspended particles in the air, sterilizing suspended bacteria, and the like. It has a deodorizing effect by decomposing the organic compound. Thereby, the air cleaner 1 can blow out the air containing ion into the room | chamber interior from the blower outlet 30. FIG.

  A control unit 95 that controls the operation of each unit of the air purifier 1 is mounted on the upper front side in the housing 10. The control unit 95 is configured such that various circuits for control are configured on one or a plurality of circuit boards, and according to a user operation given to the operation unit 90 (further, a temperature sensor or a humidity sensor). The rotation of the sirocco fan 40, the discharge of the ion generating element 80, and the like are controlled in accordance with the detection result of the sensor.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the blow-out flow passage 60 of the air cleaner 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and is a partially enlarged view of FIG. The blow-out flow passage 60 is composed of three parts from the sirocco fan 40 side: an upper guide part 60a, an inclined part 60b, and a rear upper guide part 60c.

  As described above, the sirocco fan 40 sucks air in a direction substantially parallel to the floor surface F and blows it in a direction substantially perpendicular to the floor surface F when the casing 10 is installed on the floor surface F in the room. As shown in FIG. That is, the sirocco fan 40 blows air upward in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface 14 of the housing 10. The upper guide portion 60a of the blowout flow passage 60 is formed substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface 14 of the housing 10 in the blowing direction of the sirocco fan 40, and the air blown from the sirocco fan 40 is vertically upward. I try to guide you. Further, the upper guide portion 60a has a substantially constant width in the front-rear direction of the housing 10 (that is, the distance between the front wall 61a and the rear wall 62a of the upper guide portion 60a is substantially constant).

  The inclined portion 60b that communicates with the upper guide portion 60a is bent slightly rearward at a middle portion in the vertical direction, and forms an inclination of a predetermined angle rearward with respect to the vertical direction of the bottom surface 14 of the housing 10. is there. As a result, the inclined portion 60b can slightly change the flow of the air guided vertically upward by the upper guide portion 60a, and guides the air upward by a predetermined angle. Further, with respect to the front-rear direction of the housing 10, the inclined portion 60b has a substantially constant width (that is, the distance between the front wall 61b and the rear wall 62b of the inclined portion 60b is substantially constant).

  The rear upper guide portion 60c communicating with the inclined portion 60b extends straight up to the outlet 30 in the direction of inclination by the inclined portion 60b, and blows out the air guided from the inclined portion 60b from the outlet 30. . As a result, the air cleaner 1 blows air upward from the outlet 30 toward the rear at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical direction of the bottom surface 14 (or the floor surface F) of the housing 10. Further, with respect to the front-rear direction of the housing 10, the rear upper guide part 60c is configured to gradually narrow. In other words, the distance between the front wall 61c and the rear wall 62c of the rear upper guide part 60c is made shorter as it approaches the outlet 30.

  The ion generating element 80 is disposed on the front wall 61 c of the rear upper guide portion 60 c of the blowout flow passage 60. As described above, the outlet flow passage 60 is slightly bent backward at the inclined portion 60b, and the flow of air blown from the sirocco fan 40 is bent halfway. For this reason, the air flowing through the outlet flow passage 60 flows at a high speed and a large amount on the front wall 61c side of the rear upper guide portion 60c, and becomes a low speed and a small amount on the rear wall 62c side. Therefore, by arranging the ion generating element 80 on the front wall 61c of the rear upper guide part 60c, ions can be released into the room with a large amount of air at a high speed, and the reach distance of ions in the room can be extended. .

  The front wall 61c on which the ion generating element 80 is disposed is above the rear wall 62c with respect to the vertical direction of the casing 10 (or the floor surface F on which the casing 10 is installed) among the wall surfaces constituting the outlet flow passage 60. Is located. Further, when the air purifier 1 is installed indoors in the positional relationship shown in FIG. 1, the front wall 61 c of the blowout flow passage 60 is from the wall surface W in the room where air is blown among the wall surfaces constituting the blowout flow passage 60. The farthest wall. The air blown out from the blower outlet 30 is blown onto the wall surface W with a thickness equal to or greater than the width of the blower outlet 30. When many ions are present on the side near the wall surface W of the air having a thickness, many ions are consumed on the wall surface W on which air is blown. Therefore, by disposing the ion generating element 80 at a position far from the wall surface W, a large amount of the generated ions are present on the side far from the wall surface W in the air having thickness, so that the consumption of ions on the wall surface W is reduced. The number of ions that can contribute to indoor circulation can be increased.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic two-sided view for explaining the configuration of the outlet flow passage 60 of the air cleaner 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. (B) shows a side view of the outlet flow passage 60. The blowout flow passage 60 of the air cleaner 1 has a fan shape in which the width of the upper portion gradually increases in the left-right direction of the housing 10 (see FIG. 3A). The opening angle α1 of the upper guide portion 60a and the inclined portion 60b of the outlet flow passage 60 is about 20 °, and the opening angle α2 of the rear upper guide portion 60c is about 40 °.

  As described above, the upper width of the rear upper guide portion 60c is made narrower, but the angle γ formed by the front wall 61c and the rear wall 62c of the rear upper guide portion 60c is about 8 ° (FIG. 3 ( b)). Further, the outlet flow passage 60 is bent at the inclined portion 60b and inclined rearward, but with respect to the inclination angle β of the inclined portion 60b, that is, the direction perpendicular to the bottom surface 14 (or the floor surface F) of the housing 10. The angle β formed by the front wall 61c of the rear upper guide part 60c is about 20 °.

  Note that the angles α1, α2, β, and γ shown in the figure are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto. However, the angle α1 is preferably about 10 ° to 30 °, the angle β is preferably about 10 ° to 35 °, and the angle γ is preferably about 0 ° to 15 °.

  Further, two ion generating elements 80 are arranged side by side at the rear upper guide portion 60c of the blowout flow passage 60. The ion generating element 80 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and each ion generating element 80 is disposed in the outlet flow passage 60 so that the longitudinal direction is the left-right direction of the housing 10.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of the ion generating element 80. The ion generating element 80 is housed in a synthetic resin casing 81 having a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The casing 81 of the ion generating element 80 has two substantially circular openings 82 arranged in the longitudinal direction on one wide surface. The positive ions are emitted from one of the two openings 82 and the negative ions are emitted from the other. It is supposed to be released. In addition, a metal terminal portion 83 to which a high voltage for operating the ion generating element 80 is supplied is provided on one side surface of the housing 81.

  5 is a schematic perspective view showing the internal configuration of the ion generating element 80, and FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. The ion generating element 80 includes a substrate 84 in a housing 81, and a positive electrode 85, a negative electrode 86, and a ground electrode 87 provided on the substrate 84. The substrate 84 is a substantially rectangular plate and is made of an insulating material. The positive electrode 85 and the negative electrode 86 are round bar-shaped electrodes with sharpened tips, and are passed through two through-holes formed in the substrate 84 so as to protrude to one surface of the substrate 84 and are soldered or bonded. It is fixed to the substrate 84 using an agent or the like.

  The ground electrode 87 is a plate-like electrode having a surface area slightly smaller than that of the substrate 84, and is fixed to the substrate 84 at a predetermined interval from the substrate 84 so as to face the substrate 84. The ground electrode 87 is fixed to the substrate 84 by bending four leg portions 87a (only three are shown in FIG. 5) provided extending in the four directions of the ground electrode 87 at a substantially right angle. The four leg portions 87a of the ground electrode 87 are respectively inserted into the four through holes formed and fixed by solder or adhesive.

  In addition, two substantially circular openings 87 b are formed in the ground electrode 87. When the ground electrode 87 is fixed to the substrate 84, the positive electrode 85 and the negative electrode 86 are substantially the same as the opening 87 b of the ground electrode 87. It is designed to be fixed at the center position. The edge portion of the opening 87b of the ground electrode 87 is bent toward the substrate 84 side. When the positive electrode 85, the negative electrode 87 and the ground electrode 87 are fixed to the substrate 84 and accommodated in the housing 81, the two openings 82 formed in the housing 81 and the two electrodes formed in the ground electrode 87 are used. The opening 87b is arranged substantially concentrically.

The ground electrode 87 of the ion generating element 80 is connected to the ground potential, a positive high voltage is applied to the positive electrode 85, and a negative high voltage is applied to the negative electrode 86. When a high voltage is applied to each of the positive electrode 85 and the negative electrode 86, the edge portion of the opening 87 b of the ground electrode 87 becomes a strong electric field, and plasma discharge is generated from the ground electrode 87. Oxygen and water vapor in the air are ionized by plasma discharge to generate ions. Control is performed so as to suppress the generation of ozone, which is a harmful substance, as much as possible by optimizing the electrode structure and applied voltage. The ions that are most stably generated at this time are positive ions H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and negative ions O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m . As a result of analyzing the generated ions by mass spectrometry and the like, the generation of ions other than these has hardly been confirmed. Of the two openings 82 formed in the casing 81 of the ion generating element 80, positive ions H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n are emitted from the opening 82 provided with the positive electrode 85, and the negative electrode 86 is provided. Negative ions O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m are released from the openings 82.

The ions of H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m generated in the ion generating element 80 chemically react to generate H ₂ O ₂ or .OH as an active species. Since H ₂ O ₂ or .OH exhibits extremely strong activity, it is known that they can surround and remove suspended particles in the air and suspended matter such as suspended sterilization. Here, .OH is a kind of active species and represents radical OH. Formation of H ₂ O ₂ or _.OH from H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m is represented by the following chemical formula.

H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n + O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m
→ OH + 1 / 2O ₂ + (m + n) H ₂ O (1)
H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n + H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _{n ′} + O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m + O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _{m ′}
→ 2.OH + O ₂ + (m + m ′ + n + n ′) H ₂ O (2)
H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n + H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _{n ′} + O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m + O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _{m ′}
→ H ₂ O ₂ + O ₂ + (m + m ′ + n + n ′) H ₂ O (3)

  The present inventor has discovered not only the effect of air purification by removing suspended substances in the air as described above, but also various verifications that these ions have a deodorizing effect. Below, the result of the verification experiment which concerns on the deodorizing effect of the ion which this inventor performed is demonstrated.

(Verification experiment 1)
A test cloth with cigarette odor attached is hung in a test room of about 20 m ³ , and is left in the test room with an air conditioner (hereinafter simply referred to as an air conditioner) (product number: AY-U22SX) equipped with an ion generating element. Blow. The air conditioner is operated for 6 hours under the conditions of generating ions and not generating ions, and the odor of the test cloth after 6 hours under each condition is compared by a sensory test using a 6-step odor intensity display method. To do. The air conditioner can generate ions in the test chamber at an ion concentration of 5000 ions / cm ³ .

  FIG. 7 is a chart showing the results of a sensory test by a six-step odor intensity display method. As shown in the figure, when the air conditioner is operated for 6 hours without generating ions, the odor intensity is “2.0”, whereas when the air conditioner is operated for 6 hours with ions generated, The odor intensity is “0.2”, which indicates that the odor intensity is significantly reduced by the action of ions. Therefore, it can be judged that the above-mentioned ions have a deodorizing effect. The results shown in the figure are the results of a sensory test conducted by 6 panelists using the 6-level odor intensity display method. The numerical values answered by the 6 panelists were calculated by cutting the maximum and minimum values, Summarized in one digit.

(Verification experiment 2)
First, a JIS standard cloth (polyester (product code: 670110)) is washed with a commercial detergent, cut into a size of 10 cm × 10 cm = 100 cm ² , and 10 sheets of acetic acid are attached together as 10 sheets. The test cloth is hung in a 1 m ³ test box and left to stand to drive the ion generating element and expose the ions for 2 hours. At this time, ions were generated under the following five conditions. After the exposure to ions, the test cloth was sealed in an aluminum pack and allowed to stand at 60 ° C. for 30 minutes, and then the amount of acetic acid re-released from the test cloth was measured. The acetic acid concentration was measured using a detector tube No. 81 L (0.488 μg can be identified) was used.
Condition 1: No ion generation, only air blowing Condition 2: Ion concentration 5000 / cm ³
Condition 3: Ion concentration 10,000 / cm ³
Condition 4: Ion concentration 25,000 / cm ³
Condition 5: Ion concentration 88000 / cm ³

FIG. 8 is a graph showing experimental results of acetic acid re-release amount. FIG. 8A shows a graph in which the horizontal axis is the ion concentration (pieces / cm ³ ) and the vertical axis is the amount of acetic acid released from the test cloth. Further, in FIG. 8B, the horizontal axis represents the logarithm of ion concentration (1,000 pieces / cm ³ ), and the vertical axis represents the decrease in acetic acid re-release (that is, the amount of acetic acid released when Condition 1 is used as a reference). A graph showing the amount of decrease) is shown. As shown in the figure, the amount of acetic acid re-released from the test cloth is reduced by the exposure of ions by the ion generating element, and the removal effect of acetic acid on the attached odor can be confirmed. Further, since the concentration of the generated ions and the amount of decrease in acetic acid re-release are positively correlated, it can be seen that the effect of removing acetic acid adhering odor is due to the action of ions.

From the above two verification experiments, it was confirmed that ions generated by the ion generating element have a deodorizing effect. As described above, positive ions H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and negative ions O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m are generated from the ion generating element, and .OH is generated by the interaction of the generated ions (chemical formula (See (1) to (3)). The deodorizing effect can be obtained by decomposing this .OH by acting on the C—C bond, C═C bond, C═O bond, etc. of the organic compound that is the source of the odor. Hereinafter, the decomposition action of a substance that causes a typical odor is shown by a chemical formula.

Reaction with acetic acid:
CH ₃ COOH + 8 · OH → 2CO ₂ + 6H ₂ O (4)
Reaction with acetaldehyde:
CH ₃ CHO + 10 · OH → 2CO ₂ + 7H ₂ O (5)
Reaction with benzene:
C ₆ H ₆ + 30 · OH → 6CO ₂ + 18H ₂ O (6)

  However, although the ion generating element is already mounted in conventional devices such as conventional air conditioners or air purifiers, the deodorizing effect has not been confirmed in these conventional devices. The inventor has sought the reason why a conventional device equipped with an ion generating element cannot obtain a deodorizing effect, and has focused on the following points. In other words, odorous substances with heavy mass are near the floor in the room, those with light mass are near the ceiling in the room, and others are convective along the air flow in the room. . As a result, a substance that is a source of odor and has a heavy mass adhered to the floor, a light one adhered to the ceiling, and other substances adhered to the wall or curtain.

  Since the ions generated from the ion generating element are neutralized in the air, the lifetime is limited. Conventional devices equipped with ion generators are intended to send air containing ions to the center of the room, and are not conscious of blowing ions onto the walls, ceiling, floor, curtains, etc. of the room. The blown out ions did not reach the wall, ceiling, floor, curtain, etc. of the room sufficiently. For this reason, in the conventional device, the substance floating in the center of the room can be decomposed and removed, but the substance attached to the wall, ceiling, floor, curtain, etc. of the room could not be decomposed. . Even if the substance floating in the center of the room is removed, the substances that cause odor are released from the substances attached to the wall, ceiling, floor, and curtains of the room to the center of the room. The deodorizing effect could not be obtained.

  Therefore, the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention circulates the air containing the ions generated by the ion generating element 80 along the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface of the room, so that the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, and Substances that cause odors attached to curtains and the like are decomposed and removed. Below, the circulation of the air by the air cleaner 1 is demonstrated.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram for explaining the flow of air blown from the air purifier. FIG. 9A shows the flow of air in the case of the conventional air purifier 101 shown in FIG. b) shows the air flow in the case of the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention shown in FIG. The air purifiers 101 and 1 are installed close to one wall surface of the rectangular parallelepiped room R. The ceiling surface of the room R is S, the floor surface is F, the wall surface close to the air purifiers 101 and 1 is W1, and the wall surface facing the wall surface W1 is W2.

  The conventional air cleaner 101 installed on the floor surface F of the room R blows air upwards perpendicular to the floor surface F (see FIG. 9A). The air blown out from the air cleaner 101 flows from the outlet 130 directly above the air cleaner 101 (vertically upward) and collides with the ceiling surface S. At this time, since the air collides perpendicularly to the ceiling surface S, the kinetic energy is greatly impaired by the collision. The air colliding with the ceiling surface S is distributed almost uniformly in all directions, but the kinetic energy is greatly impaired, so that the air cleaner 101 again does not reach the farthest wall surface W2 from the air cleaner 101. Sucked into.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining the flow of air in the room by the conventional air cleaner 101. The room R surrounded by the ceiling surface S, the wall surfaces W1 to W4, and the floor surface F is developed to air. This flow is indicated by arrows. For simplification, when the air blown from the air cleaner 101 and collided with the ceiling surface S is dispersed in eight directions A1 to A8, the amount of air in each direction is substantially equal as shown below.
A1≈A2≈A3≈A4≈A5≈A6≈A7≈A8 (7)
At this time, the air of A4 to A6 goes around to the rear side of the air cleaner 101 and is immediately sucked into the air cleaner 101. Therefore, the air of A4 to A6 corresponding to about ¼ of the whole cannot reach the entire room, and hardly contributes to the purification of the air in the room R. Further, even when an ion generating element is mounted on the conventional air cleaner 101, about 1/4 of the generated ions cannot contribute to deodorization.

  On the other hand, the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention blows air upward inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction perpendicular to the floor surface F, that is, the wall surface of the room close to the rear of the air cleaner 1. Air is blown obliquely upward toward W1 (see FIG. 9B). The air blown upward from the air cleaner 1 first collides with the wall surface W1. At this time, since the air collides with the wall surface W1 not from the vertical direction but with the wall surface W1 from the oblique direction of the predetermined angle θ1, there is little loss of kinetic energy at the time of the collision. Further, the air that collided with the wall surface W1 flows smoothly along the wall surface W1 in the direction toward the ceiling surface S (in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 9B) and hardly flows in the reverse direction (in the direction of arrow D). . Further, since the loss of kinetic energy at the time of the collision is small, the reach distance of the air blown out from the air cleaner 1 is extended, and the air reaches from the wall surface W1 of the room along the ceiling surface S to the opposite wall surface W2. be able to.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining the air flow in the room by the air cleaner 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and is surrounded by the ceiling surface S, the wall surfaces W1 to W4, and the floor surface F. The room R is developed and the air flow is indicated by arrows. For simplification, when the air blown out from the air cleaner 1 and collided with the wall surface W1 is dispersed in eight directions B1 to B8, the amount of air in each direction is expressed by the following equation.
B1>B2≈B8>B3≈B7> B4≈B6 >> B5 (8)
Therefore, the amount of air flowing into the rear side of the air cleaner 1 is greatly reduced as compared with the case of the conventional air cleaner 101. That is, the following formula is established.
(A4 + A5 + A6) >> B5 (9)
Thereby, most of the air blown out from the air purifier 1 circulates in the room and can contribute to the purification of the room air. Moreover, since the air which collided with the wall surface W1 flows along the other wall surfaces W2, W3, or W4 from the ceiling surface S and is sucked into the air cleaner 1 along the floor surface F, the ions generated by the ion generating element 80 are absorbed. The walls R1 to W4, the ceiling surface S, and the floor surface F of the room R can be effectively distributed, and the substances that cause odors attached thereto can be efficiently decomposed and deodorized.

  Compared with the conventional air cleaner 101, the air cleaner 1 which concerns on this invention exhibits a superiority in the position (wide space) far away in the front direction of the air cleaner 1 especially. The air blown from the conventional air cleaner 101 has a large amount of loss because it flows to the rear side of the air cleaner 101, and the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention has a small loss. That is, even if the amount of air blown from the air cleaners 1 and 101 is the same, a difference occurs in the amount of air guided to the front side of the air cleaners 1 and 101. Moreover, the air blown out from the air cleaner 1 which concerns on this invention circulates through a room along a wall surface, a ceiling surface, and a floor surface. This utilizes the nature of a fluid that changes the flow direction along the object when the object is placed in the flow, the so-called Coanda effect. Therefore, the air circulating along the wall surface, ceiling surface, and floor surface from the air cleaner 1 is difficult to diffuse and the potential core region is extended, so that the reach distance is extended.

  Since the air blown out from the conventional air cleaner 101 is difficult to reach a position far away from the air cleaner 101, stagnation is likely to occur in a remote position where the air does not circulate. By diffusion based on concentration difference. Further, even when ions are released from the air cleaner 101 together with air, the ions do not reach a position far away from the air cleaner 101 and a deodorizing effect cannot be obtained. On the other hand, the air blown out from the air purifier 1 of the present invention has little loss and the reach of the airflow is extended by the Coanda effect, so that it reaches a position far away from the air purifier 1. Cheap. Therefore, the air blown out from the air cleaner 1 of the present invention is effective at a position far away from the air cleaner 1 in the front direction, and can effectively clean and deodorize a wider space. it can.

  The inventor has verified through various experiments that the air cleaner 1 can circulate indoor air more effectively by blowing the air upward rearward as described above. Below, the result of the verification experiment which concerns on the circulation of the air which this inventor performed is demonstrated.

(Verification experiment 3)
The verification result about the relationship between the blowing angle of the air from an air cleaner and the flow velocity of the air on a ceiling surface is demonstrated. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining the experimental conditions of the verification experiment 3. The conventional air cleaner 101 shown in FIG. 20 was placed in the room R under the following conditions. The distance L from the central position of the air outlet 130 of the air purifier 101 to the wall surface W1 of the room R is 370 mm or 70 mm, the distance H from the central position of the air outlet 130 to the ceiling surface S of the room R is 1800 mm, The angle θ formed by the blowing direction of the air blown from 130 with respect to the vertical direction is set to 0 °, 20 °, 30 °, or 40 ° (note that the rear surface 113 of the casing 110 from the air outlet 130 of the air cleaner 1). Since the length up to 70 mm is, the condition of L = 70 mm is the case where the air purifier 1 is installed in contact with the wall surface W1). In addition, when the air purifier 101 installed in the room R is operated under these conditions, the velocity of the air flow along the ceiling surface S is set to 1000 mm, 1500 mm from the position of the wall surface W1 (position P in the figure), Measurements were taken at four positions 2000 mm and 2500 mm apart. The amount of air blown out from the air cleaner 101 was set to 4.3 m ³ / min.

  FIG. 13 is a graph showing the experimental results of the verification experiment 3, where the horizontal axis is the measurement position and the distance from the wall surface W1 (unit: mm), and the vertical axis is the air flow velocity (unit: m / s). . In the illustrated graph, first, when the air cleaner 101 is installed so that L = 370 mm, the angle θ formed by the air blowing direction with respect to the vertical direction is 0 ° (● in the figure), 20 ° (in the figure). The results set for the four conditions of (medium x), 30 ° (♦ in the figure), and 40 ° (■ in the figure) are compared. From the graph shown in the figure, when the angle θ formed by the blowing direction with respect to the vertical direction is set to about 20 ° to 30 °, the air is blown vertically upward (when θ = 0 °, ● in the figure). In comparison, it can be seen that the velocity of air flowing in the vicinity of the ceiling surface S is greatly increased (× and ◆ in the figure). Further, when θ is set to about 40 °, the speed of air flow in the vicinity of the ceiling surface S is equivalent to the case where the air is blown vertically upward (● and ■ in the figure).

  In the illustrated graph, when θ is 0 °, the distance L between the central position of the air outlet 130 of the air cleaner 101 and the wall surface W1 is two conditions of 70 mm (◯ in the figure) and 370 mm (● in the figure). Compare the cases set to. From the graph shown in the figure, it can be seen that the speed of air flow in the vicinity of the ceiling surface S is faster in the case of L = 70 mm than in the case of L = 370 mm (● in the figure) (◯ in the figure). This is because when L = 370 mm and the air purifier 101 is installed at a distance from the wall surface W1, a part of the blown air circulates to the rear side of the air purifier 101 and the air flowing to the front side is damaged. It is shown that. That is, it is supported by the graph shown in FIG. 13 that the installation position of the air purifier 101 has a great influence on the indoor air circulation.

  Further, in the illustrated graph, the case where L = 70 mm and θ = 0 ° (◯ in the drawing) is compared with the case where L = 370 mm and θ = 20 ° (× in the drawing). From the graph shown, the air near the ceiling surface S is greater when L = 370 mm and θ = 20 ° (x in the figure) than when L = 70 mm and θ = 0 ° (◯ in the figure). It can be seen that the speed of flowing is fast. This is because, when L = 70 mm and θ = 0 ° (◯ in the figure), the wall surface W1 suppresses the diffusion of air to the rear of the air cleaner 101, but the air wall surface immediately after blowing out from the air outlet 130. This is because it is affected by the viscous resistance of W1. On the other hand, when L = 370 mm and θ = 20 ° (× in the figure), the air diffusion is suppressed by the wall surface W1, and the air is not affected by the viscous resistance until it collides with the wall surface W1. The speed of the air flow along the ceiling surface S on the front side of the cleaner 101 is unlikely to be impaired.

  Furthermore, in the illustrated graph, the air cleaner 101 is installed so that L = 370 mm, and the results of setting three conditions of θ = 20 °, 30 °, and 40 ° (×, ◆, and ■ in the figure) are shown. Compare. From the graph shown in the figure, the larger θ is, the longer the distance that the air blown from the air purifier 101 flows along the wall surface W1 becomes more susceptible to the viscous resistance of the wall surface W1, and the air on the wall surface W1. This is because the kinetic energy is likely to be lost when the two collide with each other, and the spread in the lateral direction with respect to the direction in which the air flows increases (see verification experiment 4 for details).

Thus, it is supported by the graph of FIG. 13 that the air flow in the room is greatly influenced by the blowing direction of the air blown from the blower outlet 130 and the installation position of the air purifier 101. Therefore, in the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention, when the air cleaner 1 is installed and used indoors in a range where the distance L from the center position of the outlet 30 to the wall surface W1 is 100 mm to 600 mm, In order to make the air blown from the outlet 30 first reach the wall surface W1 in the room, the angle θ formed by the blowing direction of the air blown from the blower outlet 30 with respect to the vertical direction is set within the range of the following formula. It is desirable.
tan ⁻¹ (L / H) <θ ≦ 35 ° (10)
L: Distance from the central position of the outlet 30 to the wall surface W1 H: Distance from the central position of the outlet 30 to the ceiling surface S

Here, the upper limit value of θ is set to 35 ° based on the graph shown in FIG. The lower limit value of θ is tan ⁻¹ (an angle formed by a straight line connecting the center position of the outlet 130 of the air cleaner 101 and the intersection P of the wall surface W1 and the ceiling surface S with respect to the vertical direction in FIG. L / H). This is because if the angle θ is equal to or greater than tan ⁻¹ (L / H), the air blown out from the outlet 130 collides with at least the wall surface W1. If the angle θ is equal to or less than tan ⁻¹ (L / H) and the air blown out from the outlet 130 of the air cleaner 101 first collides with the ceiling surface S, most of the air is air cleaner 101. And flows into the rear side of the air cleaner 101 along the wall surface W1. For this reason, compared with the case of (theta) = 0 degree, the quantity of the air which flows ahead of the air cleaner 101 reduces, and since the quantity of the air which spreads the whole room reduces, the reachable distance of air becomes short.

(Verification experiment 4)
The verification result about the relationship between the blowing angle of the air from an air cleaner and the breadth to the horizontal direction with respect to the blowing direction of air is demonstrated. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining the experimental conditions of the verification experiment 4. The conventional air cleaner 101 shown in FIG. 20 is arranged in the vicinity of the wall surface W1, and the angle θ at which the air blown from the air outlet 130 of the air cleaner 101 is blown to the wall surface W1 is changed. 14A shows the positional relationship between the wall surface W1 and the air cleaner 101 as viewed from the side surface of the air cleaner 101, and FIG. 14B shows the wall surface W1 and the air cleaner as viewed from the front surface side. The positional relationship of 101 is shown. At this time, the velocity of air flow was measured at two points (■ and ● in the figure) separated from the point where the air blown out from the outlet 130 collides with the wall surface W1. When the air blowing direction from the air outlet 130 to the wall surface W1 is an arrow V in the figure, the measurement point ■ is a point separated from the air collision point along the wall surface W1 in the direction of the arrow V by a certain distance, That is, it is a measurement point related to the traveling direction of air. Further, the measurement point ● is a point that is separated from the air collision point along the wall surface W1 by a certain distance in a direction perpendicular to the measurement point (2), that is, a measurement point in the lateral direction with respect to the air traveling direction.

  FIG. 15 is a graph showing the experimental results of the verification experiment 4, in which the horizontal axis is an angle θ (unit: °) at which the air blown from the outlet 130 is blown to the wall surface W1, and the vertical axis is the velocity of air flow ( (Unit: m / s). From the graph shown in the figure, the smaller the air blowing angle θ, the smaller the speed at the measurement point ● in the lateral direction, so the spread of the air in the lateral direction is small and the air is perpendicular to the wall W1 at θ = 90 °. When sprayed, the air velocity at the horizontal measurement point ● is the fastest, so it can be seen that the spread of air in the horizontal direction is the largest.

  From the above-described verification experiments 3 and 4, it can be seen that the air blowing direction of the air cleaner 101 greatly affects the circulation of the indoor air. Therefore, the air cleaner 1 according to the present invention sets the angle θ formed by the blowing direction of the air blown from the blower outlet 30 with respect to the vertical direction to, for example, θ = 20 ° according to the above equation (10). is there. As a result, the air blown upward from the blower outlet 30 of the air cleaner 1 to the rear by 20 ° collides with the wall surface W1 on the rear surface side of the air cleaner 1, and the ceiling surface S and the other wall surfaces W2, W3. After being circulated to the floor surface F along W4, the air is sucked from the suction port 20 of the air cleaner 1. Moreover, the air cleaner 1 is equipped with the ion generating element 80, and when the air circulates along the ceiling surface S, the wall surfaces W1 to W4, and the floor surface F, a substance that is a source of the odor attached to these is removed. It can be decomposed and deodorized.

  The air cleaner 1 according to the present invention having the above-described configuration is equipped with the ion generating element 80 to generate ions having a deodorizing effect, and the air containing the ions is directed rearward and the air blowing direction is vertical. By calibrating the air so that the angle θ formed with respect to is in the range of the expression (10), air containing ions having a deodorizing effect can be efficiently circulated along the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface of the room. Therefore, a deodorizing effect can be directly exerted on a substance that is a source of odor adhering to the wall surface, ceiling, and floor surface of the room. Further, by continuously operating the air purifier 1, it is possible to continuously cover the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, etc. of the room with air containing ions, so that the substance causing the odor can be covered on the wall surface, ceiling. And it can prevent adhering to the floor surface. Therefore, the air purifier 1 according to the present invention not only efficiently removes dust, mold and bacteria in the indoor air by the circulation of the indoor air and the effect of ions, but also has a deodorizing effect of ions in the room. By spreading to every corner of the room, it is possible to deodorize, deodorize or deodorize the room, and provide a comfortable and clean room environment.

  In consideration of the thickness of the airflow when the air containing ions circulates from the wall surface to the ceiling or floor surface, an ion generating element 80 is provided on the front wall 61c of the outlet flow passage 60 far from the indoor wall surface to which the air is blown. As a result, it is possible to prevent a considerable amount of ions from being consumed on the interior wall surface sprayed at the beginning and to reduce the ions that can contribute to the circulation in the room, and the ions can reach farther away. It is possible to spread ions having a deodorizing effect.

In the present embodiment, the air cleaner 1 is configured to have two ion generating elements 80 mounted thereon. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the air cleaner 1 includes one or more ion generating elements. The structure which mounts 80 may be sufficient. The configuration of the ion generating element 80 may not be the configuration shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 as long as H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m can be generated in the air. Any configuration may be used.

  Moreover, although the air inlet 20 was provided in the rear surface 13 of the housing | casing 10, it is not restricted to this, The structure provided in other positions, such as the front surface 11 or both sides | surfaces of a housing | casing, may be sufficient. In addition, the air cleaner 1 is configured to suck air with the sirocco fan 40, but is not limited thereto, and may be configured to suck air using a fan with another configuration. Further, the shape of the outlet flow passage 60 is not limited to that shown in FIGS. For example, in the air cleaner 1, the air blowing direction is inclined rearward by bending a part of the outlet flow passage 60. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the sirocco fan 40 is inclined and mounted in the housing 10. And it is good also as a structure which blows off air through the straight blowing flow path without a bending. Moreover, it is good also as a structure supported with a stand etc. in the state which inclined the housing | casing 10 itself to the floor surface of the room.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an air purifier 201 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The air cleaner 201 according to the second embodiment includes an ion generating element 80 that generates ions, a high voltage generating circuit 88 that generates a high voltage to be supplied to the ion generating element 80, and a sirocco fan that sucks and blows air. 40, a fan drive circuit 41 that rotationally drives the sirocco fan 40, a humidifying means 275 that humidifies the air in the suction flow passage 50 or the blowout flow passage 60, an operation unit 90 that receives a user operation, and an operation unit 90 And a control unit 95 that controls each unit of the air purifier 201 in accordance with the accepted operation. In addition, the air cleaner 201 which concerns on Embodiment 2 is the structure which added the humidification means 275 to the air cleaner 1 which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG.

  The humidifying means 275 is composed of, for example, a tank for storing water and a heater for heating the stored water, and discharges water vapor generated by the heating of the heater to the suction flow passage 50 or the blowout flow passage 60. Note that the water vapor discharge position by the humidifying means 275 is any position from the air filter 70 to the sirocco fan 40 in the suction flow passage 50 or from the sirocco fan 40 to the ion generating element 80 in the blowout flow passage 60. Also good. Thereby, the humidity of the room in which the air purifier 201 is installed can be increased, and the ion generating element 80 can generate ions in the humid air.

  The inventor has discovered through verification that the lifetime of ions generated by the ion generating element 80 changes according to humidity. Below, the result of the verification experiment which concerns on the lifetime of the ion which this inventor performed is demonstrated.

(Verification experiment 5)
FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram for explaining the experimental conditions of the verification experiment 5. An air cleaner 301 having an ion generating element and humidifying means in a chamber 300 having a volume of 20 m ³ (a conventional air cleaner different from the air cleaners 1 and 201 according to the present invention) (product number: KC- 51C1) and an ion counter 302 for measuring the ion concentration in the chamber 300 are installed. First, the air purifier 301 is operated to generate ions by the ion generating element and blow out air containing the ions. After the ion concentration in the chamber 300 reaches a certain value, the air purifier 301 is stopped and the generation of ions and the blowing of air are finished. Thereafter, the measurement of the ion concentration by the ion counter 302 is repeatedly performed, and the change (attenuation) of the ion concentration in the chamber 300 over time is verified. In addition, the generation of ions by the air cleaner 301 is performed under two conditions, with and without humidification by the humidifying means, to verify the influence of the humidity in the chamber 300 on the change in ion concentration. In addition, when the air cleaner 301 humidifies, the humidity in the chamber 300 is about 60%, and when not humidified, the humidity is about 35%.

FIG. 18 is a graph showing the experimental results of the verification experiment 5. The horizontal axis represents the elapsed time (unit: seconds) from the stop of the operation of the air cleaner 301, and the vertical axis represents the ion concentration (unit: individual) in the chamber 300. / Cm ³ ). In the figure, the line a1 indicates the concentration of negative ions when humidification is performed, and the line a2 indicates the concentration of positive ions when humidification is performed. In addition, the line b1 in the figure indicates the concentration of negative ions when humidification is not performed, and the line b2 indicates the concentration of positive ions when humidification is not performed.

From the graph shown in the figure, when humidification is performed by the humidifying means of the air cleaner 301, a stable ion concentration of about 2000 ions / cm ³ is maintained for a long time. On the other hand, when humidification is not performed, the ion concentration is reduced to 1000 ions / cm ³ or less in a short time. In addition, when the time for maintaining the ion concentration of 3000 / cm ³ or more is compared, when humidification is performed, the ion concentration can be maintained for about 80 seconds to 100 seconds after the ion generation is stopped. If not, the ion concentration can be maintained only for about 40 seconds to 50 seconds, and it can be seen that there is a difference of about twice in the lifetime depending on whether or not humidification is performed.

The reason why the lifetime of ions becomes longer with increasing humidity will be discussed below. The ions generated by the ion generating element of the air purifier 301 are positive ions H ⁺ (H ₂ O) _n and negative ions O ₂ ⁻ (H ₂ O) _m , but these ions are distributed in a high humidity environment. The number of ligands H ₂ O increases (that is, the values of n and m increase), and cluster ions increase. As a result, the recombination frequency of positive ions and negative ions immediately after the generation of ions is reduced, the reduction in ion concentration is suppressed, and the life of the ions is extended.

  Therefore, the air cleaner 201 according to the second embodiment has a configuration in which the humidifier 275 is mounted together with the ion generating element 80, and the ions are generated and blown out in the humidified air. can do. Thereby, in the room | chamber interior in which the air cleaner 201 was installed, the disinfection effect by ion, a deodorizing effect, etc. can be maintained over a long time. In addition, since ions having a long lifetime can reach the air blown out from the air cleaner 201 without disappearing further from the installation position of the air cleaner 201, even in a large room, It is possible to perform sterilization and deodorization with ions.

(Modification)
The air purifier 201 according to Embodiment 2 is configured to blow out air humidified by the humidifying means 275, but it is necessary to heat the water by operating a heater or the like for humidification. The air cleaner 201 of the present invention can circulate air containing ions having a deodorizing effect along the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, etc. of the room, and the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface by performing continuous operation. It is possible to prevent substances that cause odors from adhering to the etc. For this reason, it is preferable that the air purifier 201 is continuously operated. However, if the humidifying unit 275 is continuously operated, there is a risk of causing an increase in power consumption and an excessive increase in indoor humidity.

  Therefore, in the present modification, the air purifier 201 performs humidification by the humidifying means 275 until a predetermined time elapses from the start of operation and releases ions, and after the predetermined time elapses, only the ions are released without being humidified. I do. In the state where the operation of the air purifier 201 is stopped, substances that cause odors adhere to the wall surface, ceiling, floor, etc., but the substances adhered after a predetermined time has elapsed by starting the operation of the air purifier 201. Can be decomposed and removed. Therefore, after that, since the air purifier 201 is operated for the purpose of preventing odors from adhering to substances that cause odors on the wall surface, ceiling, floor surface, etc., even if the humidifying means 275 is stopped, it is sufficiently deodorized. An effect can be obtained.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing performed by the air cleaner 201 according to the modification of the second embodiment of the present invention at the start of operation, and the control unit 95 of the air cleaner 201 controls the operation of each unit. It is a process performed by. First, the control unit 95 of the air cleaner 201 starts rotating the sirocco fan 40 by the fan drive circuit 41 (step S1), and generates a high voltage by the high voltage generation circuit 88, thereby causing the ion generation element 80 to Ion generation is started (step S2). Next, the control unit 95 starts an internal timer (not shown) (step S3) and starts humidification by the humidifying means 275 (step S4).

  After starting humidification, the control unit 95 checks whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed with a timer (step S5). If the predetermined time has not elapsed (S5: NO), it waits until the predetermined time elapses. Then, the humidification by the humidifying means 275 is continued. When the predetermined time has elapsed (S5: YES), the control unit 95 stops humidification by the humidifying means 275 (step S6), resets the timer (step S7), and ends the process. Thereafter, the air purifier 201 continuously performs only the generation of ions by the ion generating element 80 and the blowing of air by the sirocco fan 40.

  In this modification, the air cleaner 201 is configured to humidify by the humidifying means 275 only within a predetermined time after the start of operation. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the humidifying means 275 is used every predetermined time. The structure which switches the start and stop of humidification may be sufficient. Moreover, the structure which selects whether the humidification by the humidification means 275 is performed by a user operating the operation part 90 may be sufficient. Moreover, the structure which mounts the sensor which detects indoor humidity in the air cleaner 201, and switches the start and stop of the humidification by the humidification means 275 according to the detection result of a sensor may be sufficient.

  In addition, since the other structure of the air cleaner 201 which concerns on Embodiment 2 is the same as that of the structure of the air cleaner 1 which concerns on Embodiment 1, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to a corresponding location and description is abbreviate | omitted. To do.

It is a typical sectional side view which shows the structure of the air cleaner which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the structure of the blowing flow path of the air cleaner which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a typical two-view figure for demonstrating the structure of the blowing flow path of the air cleaner which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a typical perspective view which shows the external appearance of an ion generating element. It is a typical perspective view which shows the internal structure of an ion generating element. It is typical sectional drawing by the VI-VI line of FIG. It is a graph which shows the result of the sensory test by a 6-step odor intensity | strength display method. It is a graph which shows the experimental result of acetic acid re-release amount. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the flow of the air which blown off from the air cleaner. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the flow of the air in the room by the conventional air cleaner. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the flow of the air in the room | chamber interior by the air cleaner which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining experimental conditions of a verification experiment 3. FIG. 10 is a graph showing experimental results of verification experiment 3. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the experimental conditions of the verification experiment 4. FIG. 10 is a graph showing experimental results of verification experiment 4. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the air cleaner which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining experimental conditions of verification experiment 5. FIG. 10 is a graph showing experimental results of verification experiment 5. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure of the process which the air cleaner which concerns on the modification of Embodiment 2 of this invention performs at the time of an operation start. It is a typical sectional side view which shows the structure of the conventional air cleaner.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air cleaner 10 Case 11 Front surface 12 Top surface 13 Rear surface 14 Bottom surface 20 Suction port 30 Air outlet 40 Sirocco fan (fan)
50 Suction flow passage 60 Blowing flow passage 70 Air filter (removal means)
80 Ion generating element (ion generating means)
90 Operation part 95 Control part 201 Air cleaner 275 Humidification means F Floor surface S Ceiling surface W, W1-W4 Wall surface

Claims (2)

A housing, a suction port provided in the housing, for sucking air; a blowout port that blows out air sucked from the suction port; a fan that sends air from the suction port to the blowout port; A deodorizing / deodorizing method in a room by an air purifier comprising an outlet flow passage for flowing air to an outlet and an ion generating means for generating ions in the air flowing through the outlet flow passage,
The distance from the central position of the outlet to the nearest wall surface of the opposite room is L [mm], the distance from the central position of the outlet to the ceiling of the room is H [mm], and the distance L is 100 < When the air outlet is arranged and used at a position selected in the range of L <600, the air sent out from the air outlet is made to reach the wall surface in the room first. By setting an angle θ [°] formed by the flowing direction with respect to the vertically upward direction in a range of tan ⁻¹ (L / H) <θ ≦ 35, the air containing the ions is blown onto the indoor wall surface, An indoor deodorizing / deodorizing method characterized in that an odor-generating substance adhering to or adsorbing on a material is altered or decomposed by the ions. 2. The indoor air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air purifier is configured such that the casing can distinguish front and rear, and air is blown out from the air outlet toward the upper rear side of the casing. Odor / deodorization method .

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