JP2002335858A - Portable ethylene removal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] A conventional device has a shelf for storing fruits and vegetables,
In addition, it is used for industrial post-harvest, such as in a large warehouse, and has a problem that it cannot be used at home. SOLUTION: A booster circuit 3 connected to a battery box 2 for boosting the voltage of the battery, a discharge electrode 4 connected to the booster circuit 3 for generating ozone by discharge, an intake port 20 for taking in air from outside, and a discharge electrode An ethylene oxidation chamber 5 that oxidizes ethylene taken from the intake port 20 into ethylene oxide by the ozone generated in 4, a catalyst chamber 6 that decomposes the ethylene oxide generated in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 with a catalyst, and exhausts to the outside. And an exhaust port 21 for exhausting air from the intake port 20 to the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 and a fan 7 for generating a flow of air for exhausting from the catalyst chamber 6 through the exhaust port 21 so as to store vegetables and the like stored at home. Freshness can be maintained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable ethylene removing device for removing ethylene generated from fruits and vegetables.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an ethylene removing device for removing ethylene generated from fruits and vegetables, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
There was one described in Japanese Patent No. 318443. Conventional devices have been used for post-harvest for industrial purposes, such as those equipped with fruit and vegetable storage shelves and used in large warehouses.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional structure is used for maintaining the freshness of a large amount of fruits and vegetables for industrial use. Therefore, there was a problem that it could not be used at home. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to provide a portable ethylene removing device that can be used in a vegetable room or the like of a home refrigerator.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, an apparatus of the present invention operates by increasing the voltage of a dry battery to remove ethylene, and has a size that can be used in a household refrigerator. Is what you do. This makes it possible to realize a portable ethylene removal device that can be used for maintaining the freshness of vegetables at home.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery box into which a battery is inserted, a booster circuit connected to the battery box to boost the voltage of the battery, and an ozone generated by the discharge connected to the booster circuit. A discharge electrode, an intake port for taking in air from the outside, an ethylene oxidation chamber that oxidizes ethylene taken from the intake port into ozone oxide by ozone generated at the discharge electrode, and a catalyst for ethylene oxide generated in the ethylene oxidation chamber A portable ethylene removal device comprising a catalyst chamber for decomposition, an exhaust port for exhaust to the outside, and a fan for producing air flow from the intake port to the ethylene decomposition chamber and exhaust from the catalyst chamber through the exhaust port. By doing so, freshness of vegetables and the like stored at home can be maintained.

[0006] The invention described in claim 2 is particularly advantageous in claim 1.
The catalyst chamber described in (1) increases the residence time of the air sent from the ethylene decomposition chamber to the catalyst chamber in the catalyst chamber by making the long pipe meandering, and ozone is decomposed while passing through the catalyst chamber. By adopting the portable ethylene removing device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a portable ethylene removing device that does not emit ozone and therefore has no ozone odor can be realized.

[0007] The invention described in claim 3 is particularly advantageous in claim 1.
The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 1, wherein a multi-hole metal coated with a catalyst is inserted into the inside of the catalyst chamber described in (1), thereby enabling a portable ethylene removing device for efficiently removing ethylene oxide. It can be.

[0008] The invention described in claim 4 is particularly advantageous in claim 1.
The discharge electrode according to (1) is installed in an ethylene oxidation chamber, and discharge is performed in the ethylene oxidation chamber. Can be possible.

The invention described in claim 5 is particularly advantageous in claim 1.
2. The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 1, wherein the booster circuit has boost cycle adjusting means, and controls the discharge cycle by adjusting the boost cycle to control the amount of ozone generated. Controllable portable ethylene removal equipment can be enabled.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in particular, a boost cycle input means is provided, and the boost cycle adjusting means adjusts a discharge cycle by the boost cycle input to the boost cycle input means to control the amount of ozone generated. According to the portable ethylene removing device of the fifth aspect, a portable ethylene removing device capable of controlling the amount of generated ozone by adjusting the pressure rising cycle by the user can be made possible.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in particular, there is provided an ethylene concentration measuring means, and the ethylene removing operation is controlled by using a measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input.
By adopting the portable ethylene removing device described in (1), a portable ethylene removing device that performs an ethylene removing operation efficiently according to the ethylene concentration can be made possible.

The invention according to claim 8 is particularly provided with an ozone amount control means, and the ozone amount control means controls the boosting cycle adjusting means with the measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input. By using the portable ethylene removing device described in (1), a portable ethylene removing device capable of generating a required amount of ozone without excess or deficiency can be realized.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in particular, there is provided an air blowing amount control means, wherein the air blowing amount controlling means controls the air blowing amount of the fan by using a measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input. When the ethylene concentration is high, the portable ethylene removing device can reduce the amount of air blown to take in the ethylene according to the amount of ozone generated.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in particular, there is provided a control adjusting means, and the control adjusting means controls the ozone amount controlling means and the blowing amount controlling means to thereby control the ethylene concentration, the ethylene change amount, the ozone amount, and the blowing amount. The operation of the ozone amount controlling means and the blowing amount controlling means is performed according to the portable ethylene removing device according to claim 8 or 9, whereby the optimum amount of ozone generation and the amount of blowing air are determined according to the amount of ethylene at that time. A portable ethylene removal device capable of control can be provided.

[0015] The invention according to claim 11 is a portable ethylene removal apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured to have a size of about one-tenth or less of a standard household refrigerator vegetable room. Thus, a portable ethylene removing device that does not hinder use even when used in a vegetable room of a home refrigerator can be provided.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in particular, the thickness is less than about one-tenth of the length and width.
By adopting the portable ethylene removing device described in 1, the portable ethylene removing device which does not hinder the use even when used along the wall surface of the vegetable room of the household refrigerator can be made possible.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in particular, the portable ethylene removing device according to the twelfth aspect, wherein the intake port and the exhaust port are formed on the same surface, is used for a wall surface of a vegetable room of a household refrigerator. A portable ethylene removal device capable of smoothly performing intake and exhaust from the inside surface of the vegetable compartment even when used alongside the equipment can be provided.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is a main body of the portable ethylene removing apparatus, and the main body 1 is a rectangular parallelepiped having an outer shape of about 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm. Reference numeral 2 denotes a battery box, and reference numeral 3 denotes a booster circuit. The battery box 2 inserts and uses four AA batteries, and applies a voltage of four batteries connected in series to the booster circuit 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes a discharge electrode, and reference numeral 5 denotes an ethylene oxidation chamber. The discharge electrode 4 is provided in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5, and discharges by a voltage boosted by the boosting circuit 3. 6 is a catalyst chamber, 7 is a fan, 20 is an intake port,
Reference numeral 21 denotes an exhaust port.
The air is sucked into the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 from the air outlet, sent to the catalyst chamber 6 connected to the ethylene oxidation chamber 5, and exhausted from the exhaust port 21. An ethylene oxide decomposition catalyst is applied to the inner surface of the catalyst chamber 6, and the ethylene oxide decomposition catalyst is also applied to the surface of the hole of the multi-hole metal 8 inserted into the catalyst chamber 6. Reference numeral 9 denotes a boost cycle adjusting means for adjusting the cycle of the boost operation of the boost circuit 3. Reference numeral 10 denotes a boost cycle input means. The boost cycle adjusting means 9 operates according to the boost cycle input by the user through the boost cycle input means 10. In this embodiment, the boost cycle input means is constituted by a dial.

The operation and operation of the portable ethylene removing apparatus configured as described above will be described below.
The user starts the operation of the portable ethylene removing apparatus of the present embodiment by turning on a switch (not shown).
The fan 7 rotates, and air containing ethylene is drawn into the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 from the intake port 20. The booster circuit 3 boosts the voltage from the battery box 2, and discharge occurs at the discharge electrode 4 arranged in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5. Oxygen in the air changes to ozone due to the discharge, and the generated ozone is supplied to the
From 0, ethylene contained in the air taken into the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 is changed to ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is decomposed in the multi-hole metal 8 in the catalyst chamber 6 coated with the catalyst and in a tube constituting the catalyst chamber 6. Also, the catalyst chamber 6
Ozone decomposes spontaneously while traveling slowly through the sea. The exhaust from the catalyst chamber 6 is performed through the exhaust port 21. The user can adjust the amount of ozone generated by turning the dial of the step-up cycle input means 10 at any time during operation.

Further, since the discharge electrode 4 is disposed in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5, it is not touched from the outside, so that the safety is high.

Next, the time change of the voltage between the discharge electrodes 4 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2A, the voltage between the electrodes shown on the vertical axis rises and exceeds the threshold value Vth. The voltage instantaneously decreases due to discharge and rises repeatedly. (B) shows a case where the boosting cycle is longer than that of (a). If the pressure rising cycle is long, the number of discharges decreases, and the amount of generated ozone decreases. Therefore, the amount of ozone generated can be adjusted by turning the dial of the boosting cycle input means 10 to determine the boosting cycle of the boosting circuit 3.

As described above, in this embodiment, the use of a small-sized ethylene decomposition apparatus operated by a battery can maintain the freshness of vegetables and the like stored at home.

Further, in this embodiment, the catalyst chamber for decomposing ethylene oxide has a long pipe meandering shape, so that the residence time of the air sent from the ethylene decomposition chamber to the catalyst chamber in the catalyst chamber is increased. In addition, ozone, which is decomposed by ozone while passing through the catalyst chamber, is not discharged, so that a portable ethylene removing device free of ozone odor can be realized.

Further, in this embodiment, a portable ethylene removing device capable of efficiently removing ethylene oxide can be made possible by inserting a multi-hole metal coated with a catalyst on the surface into a catalyst chamber.

In this embodiment, a safe portable ethylene removing device can be realized by mounting the discharge electrode in the ethylene oxidation chamber and performing discharge in the ethylene oxidation chamber.

Further, in this embodiment, a portable ethylene removing apparatus capable of controlling the amount of generated ozone by providing a pressure increasing cycle adjusting means and adjusting the discharge cycle by adjusting the voltage increasing cycle to control the amount of ozone generated. It can be.

Further, in the present embodiment, the boosting cycle input means is provided, and the boosting cycle adjusting means adjusts the discharge cycle by the boosting cycle input to the boosting cycle input means and controls the amount of ozone generated, so that the user can operate the apparatus. By adjusting the pressure increase cycle, a portable ethylene removal device capable of controlling the amount of generated ozone can be provided.

Also, in this embodiment, the size of the refrigerator is about one-tenth or less of the size of a standard household refrigerator vegetable room, so that it is not disturbed even when used in a vegetable refrigerator of a household refrigerator. A portable ethylene removal device that does not have to be used can be made possible.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the main body 1 of the portable ethylene removing apparatus has a flat structure of about 10 cm × 10 cm × 1 cm, 11 is an ethylene concentration measuring means, 12 is
Is an ozone amount control means, 13 is an air flow control means, 14 is a control adjusting means, and the ethylene concentration measured by the ethylene concentration measurement means 11 is the ozone amount control means 12 and the air flow control means 1
3 is output. The ozone amount control means 12 controls the amount of ozone generated, and the blown air amount control means 13 controls the amount of ethylene taken in by controlling the amount of air taken in from the outside. The control adjustment means 14 is an ozone amount control means 1
2. Adjust the control of the air volume control means 13. Inlet 2
0 and the exhaust port 21 are both located on the front surface of the main body 1. In this embodiment, the ozone amount control means 12 and the air flow amount control means 1
3. The control adjusting means 14 is constituted by a microcomputer. The other components having the same functions as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The operation and operation of the portable ethylene removing apparatus configured as described above will be described below.
The user starts the operation of the portable ethylene removing apparatus of the present embodiment by turning on a switch (not shown).
The fan 7 rotates, and air containing ethylene is drawn into the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 from the intake port 20. The rotation of the fan 7 is controlled by an air flow control unit 13 based on the output of the ethylene concentration measuring unit 11 arranged in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5. The booster circuit 3 boosts the voltage from the battery box 2,
Discharge occurs at the discharge electrode 4 arranged in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5. The discharge cycle is controlled by the ozone control means 12 from the output of the ethylene concentration measuring means 11 arranged in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5. Oxygen in the air is changed to ozone by the discharge, and the generated ozone changes ethylene contained in the air taken into the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 from the intake port 20 to ethylene oxide. The control adjustment means 14 adjusts the operation of the ozone amount control means 12 and the air volume control means 13. Ethylene oxide generated in the ethylene oxidation chamber 5 is decomposed in the multi-hole metal 8 in the catalyst chamber 6 coated with the catalyst and in a tube constituting the catalyst chamber 6. In addition, ozone is naturally decomposed while being sent slowly through the catalyst chamber 6. The exhaust from the catalyst chamber 6 is performed through the exhaust port 21.

Next, the operation of the ozone amount control means 12 and the air volume control means 13 will be described. The ozone amount control means 12 controls the pressure increase cycle adjusting means 9 to shorten the pressure increase cycle when increasing the ozone amount and lengthen the pressure increase cycle when decreasing the ozone amount. The blowing amount control means 13 controls the rotation of the fan 7, and increases the rotation amount of the fan 7 when increasing the blowing amount, and decreases the rotation of the fan 7 when decreasing the blowing amount.

Next, the operation of the control adjusting means 14 will be described. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the operation of the control adjusting means 14. When the power is turned on, the operation is started in step 0, and in step 1, the initial values of the blowing amount, the ozone amount, and the time are set to S, respectively.
0, Z0, and t0. In step 2, the ethylene concentration E (t0) is measured by the ethylene concentration measuring means 10. Step 3 waits for the dt time to elapse, and if the time dt elapses, the ethylene concentration E (t) is measured in step 4.
Next, at step 5, the ethylene change amount ΔE is calculated. The calculation is ΔE = E (t) −E (t−dt). Step 6
The ozone amount Z is changed to ethylene concentration E, ethylene change amount ΔE,
The air volume S is determined as an input. In step 7, the air volume S
Is determined using the ethylene concentration E, the ethylene change amount ΔE, and the ozone amount Z as inputs. It is determined in step 8 whether or not the operation end switch has been pressed. If the operation end switch has been pressed, the operation of the control adjusting means 14 is ended in step 9. If not finished, return to step 3 and repeat steps 3 to 8.

The determination of the ozone amount Z in step 6 is performed by fuzzy inference, and is performed based on the following five fuzzy rules. If the If air blowing amount is smaller than the initial value and the ethylene concentration is not large, the ozone amount is not changed. If the If air blowing amount is equal to or more than the initial value, the ethylene concentration E is large, and the ethylene change amount ΔE is large, the ozone amount is greatly increased. I
f When the air blowing amount is equal to or more than the initial value, the ethylene concentration E is large, and the ethylene change amount ΔE is small, the ozone amount is slightly increased.
If the air blowing amount is equal to or more than the initial value, the ethylene concentration E is small,
When the ethylene change amount ΔE is large, the ozone amount is not changed. When the If air blowing amount is equal to or more than the initial value, the ethylene concentration E is small, and the ethylene change amount ΔE is small, the ozone amount is slightly reduced.

Here, the qualitative description such as the small ethylene concentration E is quantified by the membership function shown in FIG. When the ozone amount determined by fuzzy inference is equal to or greater than the maximum ozone amount Zmax, the ozone amount Z is set to Zmax.

The determination of the air flow rate in step 7 is performed using fuzzy inference, and is determined based on the following two fuzzy rules.

When the If air volume is smaller than the initial value, the ozone amount Z is equal to or less than the initial value Z0, and the ethylene concentration is low, the air volume is increased.

If the ethylene concentration is high and the ethylene change rate ΔE is high, the amount of air blow is reduced.

Here, the qualitative description such as the small ethylene concentration E is quantified by the membership function shown in FIG.

That is, the operation is basically performed at the initial value S0, and when the amount of ethylene cannot be decreased even if the amount of ozone is increased, control is performed such that the amount of ethylene is reduced by reducing the amount of the blown air. That is.

As described above, the control adjusting means 14 adjusts the control operations of the ozone amount controlling means 12 and the air blowing amount controlling means 13.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the ethylene concentration measuring means is provided, and the ethylene removal operation is controlled by using the measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input, so that the ethylene removing operation can be efficiently performed according to the ethylene concentration. To perform a portable ethylene removal device.

Further, in this embodiment, an ozone amount control means is provided, and the ozone amount control means controls the boosting cycle adjusting means by using the measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input, so that the required amount of ozone without excess or shortage is obtained. A portable ethylene removal device that performs the generation can be enabled.

Further, in this embodiment, an air flow control means is provided, and the air flow control means controls the air flow by the fan with the measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input, so that the air flow is reduced if the ethylene concentration is high. This makes it possible to provide a portable ethylene removal device that takes in ethylene according to the amount of ozone generated.

In this embodiment, a control adjusting means is provided.
The control adjustment means controls the ozone amount control means and the air flow rate control means, thereby performing the operations of the ozone amount control means and the air flow rate control means according to the ethylene concentration, the ethylene change amount, the ozone amount, and the air flow rate. This makes it possible to provide a portable ethylene removal device capable of controlling the amount of ozone generated and the amount of air blown optimally according to the amount of ethylene at that time.

In the present embodiment, the thickness is one of the vertical and horizontal lengths.
By making the portable ethylene removal device less than about 1/0, a portable ethylene removal device that does not hinder use even when placed along the wall of the vegetable room of a home refrigerator can be made possible. .

Further, in this embodiment, the portable ethylene removing device in which the intake port and the exhaust port are formed on the same plane allows the portable refrigerator to be used along the wall of the vegetable room of the home refrigerator, and the intake and exhaust ports can be used. This makes it possible to provide a portable ethylene removal device that can smoothly exhaust air from the inside of the vegetable compartment.

[0048]

As described above, according to the first to thirteenth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable ethylene removing apparatus capable of maintaining the freshness of vegetables and the like stored at home.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating the boosting operation. FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating the boosting operation.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a membership function of the fuzzy inference.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Battery box 3 Booster circuit 4 Discharge electrode 5 Ethylene oxidation chamber 6 Catalyst chamber 7 Fan 8 Multi-hole metal 9 Boost cycle adjusting means 10 Boost cycle input means 11 Ethylene concentration measuring means 12 Ozone amount controlling means 13 Air blowing amount controlling means 14 control adjusting means 20 intake port 21 exhaust port

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yuji Nakabayashi 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Reference) 4B069 AA04 HA01 HA11 KA05 KB10 KC04 KD02

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A battery box into which a battery is inserted, a booster circuit connected to the battery box to boost the voltage of the battery, a discharge electrode connected to the booster circuit to generate ozone by discharging, and an intake port for taking in air from outside. And an ethylene oxidation chamber that oxidizes ethylene inhaled from the intake port to ethylene oxide with ozone generated at the discharge electrode, a catalyst chamber that decomposes ethylene oxide generated in the ethylene oxidation chamber with a catalyst, and an exhaust gas to the outside. A portable ethylene removal apparatus comprising: an exhaust port for performing an exhaust; and a fan for generating an air flow for performing an exhaust from the catalyst chamber through the exhaust port through an intake from the intake port to the ethylene decomposition chamber. 2. The catalyst chamber has a long pipe meandering shape to extend the residence time of the air sent from the ethylene decomposition chamber to the catalyst chamber in the catalyst chamber, and ozone is generated while passing through the catalyst chamber. The portable ethylene removal device according to claim 1, wherein the device is decomposed. 3. The portable ethylene removing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a multi-hole metal coated with a catalyst is inserted into the inside of the catalyst chamber. 4. The portable ethylene removing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge electrode is configured to be mounted in an ethylene oxidation chamber, and discharge is performed in the ethylene oxidation chamber. 5. The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 1, wherein the booster circuit includes booster cycle adjusting means, and controls the discharge cycle by adjusting the booster cycle to control the amount of ozone generated. 6. The portable ethylene removal apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a boost cycle input means, wherein the boost cycle adjusting means adjusts a discharge cycle and controls an amount of ozone generated by the boost cycle inputted to the boost cycle input means. apparatus. 7. The portable ethylene removing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an ethylene concentration measuring means, and controlling an ethylene removing operation by using a measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input. 8. The portable ethylene removing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an ozone amount control means, wherein the ozone amount control means controls the pressure increasing cycle adjusting means by using a measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring means as an input. 9. The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 7, further comprising a blower amount control unit, wherein the blower amount control unit controls a blown amount by a fan by using a measurement result of the ethylene concentration measuring unit as an input. 10. A control adjustment means, wherein the control adjustment means controls the ozone amount control means and the air flow amount control means to perform the operation of the air flow amount control means in accordance with the operation state of the ozone amount control means. 10. The portable ethylene removal device according to claim 9. 11. The portable ethylene removal device according to claim 1, wherein the size of the portable ethylene removal device is about one-tenth or less of a standard household refrigerator vegetable room. 12. The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 11, wherein the thickness is set to be about 1/10 or less of the length and width. 13. The portable ethylene removing device according to claim 12, wherein the intake port and the exhaust port are formed on the same plane.