JP2022013489A - Mobile sterilizer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a sterilizer in a mobile space for storing many people in a closed and narrow space.SOLUTION: A sterilizer comprises: a gas collecting pipe 16; a blower 27; a sterilization box 25; a filter box 22; and a gas dispersion pipe 15. Air in a mobile collected by the gas collection pipe 16 passes through a suction hole 28, the blower 27, the sterilization box 25, and a blower joint 26, and enters the sterilization box 25. The air in a mobile is irradiated with ultraviolet by an ultraviolet source 100 attached to the sterilization box 25 for sterilization, and the sterilized air passes through the filter box 22 and a sterilization box joint 24 and is delivered to the filter box 22. The sterilized air passes through a filter passage air channel 22a during utilization of the mobile, and passes through a filter bypass air channel 22b during non-utilization of the mobile, and the sterilized air is discharged from a discharge hole 21 and is delivered to the gas dispersion pipe 15, so that, the two air channels 22a, 22b are used properly according to a situation of utilization/non-utilization of the mobile.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention relates to sterilization of air inside a moving body and the surface of an installed object. More specifically, it is installed in a moving body with a closed space such as a passenger car or an elevator, and sterilizes viruses and bacteria floating in the air in the internal space and viruses and bacteria adhering to the surface of the moving body wall and the surface of the moving body installation. It relates to a stand-alone device that cleans the moving body.

Various sources of infection and the environment of infection have been regarded as problems with emerging infectious diseases (new coronavirus infections) that are currently rampant, but taxis and elevators are also being called attention as infection sites. Since these compact mobiles accommodate a large number of people in a closed and narrow space, they have the commonality of easily forming the so-called three-honey (sealed, dense, close) state that is fatal to infection.

Various products using filters (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2) are commercially available for air purification in a room which is generally a closed space. However, these are considered to have little effectiveness in sterilization because their main purpose is to remove allergens such as dust and pollen. As a household product that sterilizes, there is an air recirculation type ultraviolet sterilization device (Non-Patent Document 3), but the sterilization efficiency can be defined only in the internal space of the device, and considering the air capacity of the huge space, the device The external sterilization rate cannot be estimated. In an open type ultraviolet sterilizer by ultraviolet irradiation (Non-Patent Document 4), the sterilizable area is limited to the vicinity of the apparatus, and the sterilizing effect at a distant place is unknown. In addition, it is difficult to install in a place and time that can be seen by the public due to the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. Ozone sterilizers (Non-Patent Documents 5 and 6) have also attracted attention as a sterilization means that replaces ultraviolet rays, but this also cannot avoid the conflict between sterilization efficiency and harmfulness. In the case of compact moving objects such as passenger cars and elevators, three honey states are created in a limited narrow closed space, so instead of vague sterilization as in the example commercial equipment, sterilization rate specifications, sterilization time, and air in the target space It is indispensable to equip a quantitative sterilizer to prevent human-to-human transmission by controlling the air flow in consideration of the capacity.

The applicant has already provided an air sterilizer for air in a toilet bowl (Patent Document 1), a hand dryer air sterilizer (Patent Document 2), and an air sterilizer for the lower body of a patient (Patent Document 3) as devices for controlling emerging infectious diseases. Although we have applied for it, we quantitatively estimated the sterilization time at a given ultraviolet light output in all of them using the amount of air to be sterilized and the target sterilization rate as indicators. Judging from the quantitative calculation experience there, as already mentioned, the effectiveness of existing UV sterilizers that claim to be used in open spaces such as indoors is greatly questioned. Even in a moving body that is supposed to hold people, the air capacity that should be considered as a sterilization target is larger in each stage and the space is densely populated with multiple people, compared to the three types of devices that have been filed. In order to achieve the target sterilization rate in a short time, it is required to install an ultraviolet source with a high ultraviolet light output. Even if a large number of conventional UV lamps for sterilization are used to deal with this problem, it is extremely difficult to solve the problem in terms of both high power consumption and wide installation volume. However, if the high-power deep-UV LED, which has been rapidly developing in recent years, can be used to reduce both power consumption and installation volume, if the moving object is a compact one such as an elevator or a passenger car, three types of patents have been filed (patents). It is considered that the same form of sterilization measures as in Documents 1 to 3) is possible.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-94964 (Air sterilizer in toilet bowl) Filed on April 27, 2020 Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-97256 (Air Sterilization Hand Dryer) Filed May 4, 2020 Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-103374 (Local Air Sterilizer) Filed May 19, 2020

https: // www. dyson. co. jp / air-treatment / purifier-humidifier / dyson-pure-humidiffy-col / ph01-dyson-pure-humidifier-col-white-silver. aspx (humidified air purifier) https: // www. daikinaircon. com / ca / index. html (streamer air purifier) https: // axel. as-1. co. jp / asone / g / NCN8038968 / (air germicidal lamp) http: // www. Nitride. co. jp / products / Germicidal-Lamp. html (Handy UV-LED germicidal lamp) https: // www. ozonemart. jp / wp / archives / product_lp / 1003 (ozone cluster 1400) https: // www. teco. co. jp / lyon. html (Lion 3.0) Ryoichi Matsuda, Fart and air in toilet private room maybe routes for facial-oral infection, positive for 2019-nCoV. , Internat. J. Hygn. Environ. Health, 2020, posting. https: // www. iwasaki. co. jp / optics / chishiki / uv / 02. html Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. Homepage, Lighting, Knowledge of optical application, UV sterilization, 2. Sterilization and inactivation by ultraviolet rays, Table 2. https: // www. ana. co. jp / group / about-us / air-cyclation. About html ANA, air circulation in the cabin.

For compact moving objects such as elevators and passenger cars that easily form the three-cs state, it is required to solve the following problems in order to deal with infectious disease problems including emerging infectious diseases.
1. A device that efficiently sterilizes the air inside the moving body (prevention of airborne infection).
2. It must be a device that sterilizes the surface of walls inside moving bodies and the surface of objects installed inside moving bodies (prevention of contact infection).
3. The sterilization rate is 99% or more (sterilization ability),
4. Preventing droplet infection from person to person (prevention of droplet infection),
5. The method is harmless (safety),
6. Withstand unmanned continuous operation (robustness),
7. Can be laid on any compact moving object (universality).
The major difference between the three claimed inventions (Patent Documents 1 to 3) and the present application is that they deal with an environment in which there are others in the distance of droplet infection. Therefore, problem 4 is an important item to be solved.
In the present application, sterilization refers to "inactivation of all infection sources such as viruses and bacteria".

Here, the definition of the term of infection form is clarified in the present application.
Droplet infection refers to a form in which droplets containing the source of infection fly by coughing or sneezing, and the droplets are infected by others in the vicinity through exhalation. The droplets are usually water droplet-like aerosols.
Airborne infection refers to a form in which the source of infection floats in the air for a long period of time after the water in the droplets that have flown due to coughing or sneezing evaporates, and then enters the human body through exhaled breath and becomes infected. It has recently been reported that the intestinal gas discharged from the anus as a flatulence also contains a large amount of infection source bacteria (Non-Patent Document 7). If you think of a flatulence as a droplet discharged from the anus, it is considered to be a type of airborne infection because it floats in the air before reaching the human mouth, evaporates water, and then enters the human body through exhaled breath. The same applies to droplets from the stool odor in the toilet bowl, and these are sometimes collectively referred to as fecal-oral infection.
Contact infection refers to a form of direct contact with the source of infection of the skin or mucous membrane, or a form of infection in the human mouth through a hand or object that has touched an object with a virus.

According to the first invention, in a long housing equipped in a moving body, a long air diffuser pipe is connected to one surface at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and a long air collecting pipe is connected to the opposite surface, and the inside of the long housing is formed. Incorporates a blower for sending air and a sterilization box for accommodating an ultraviolet source, and the air in the moving body and the air in the long housing are circularly ringed through the air diffuser pipe and the air collecting pipe by the air blown by the blower. Air that is sterilized by air-bonding and sterilizing viruses and bacteria floating in the air that is guided to the sterilization box by the blower that is always in operation with the ultraviolet rays emitted from the ultraviolet source attached to the sterilization box. Is sent to the long air diffuser pipe installed on the upper part of the moving body by riding on the blower airflow, and is air-dispersed into the moving body from above to downward from a plurality of air diffusers pierced in the air diffuser pipe. The sterilization source gas in the moving body is sent downward by the diffused downdraft to prevent droplet infection, and the downdraft containing the infectious source is the long one installed at the bottom of the moving body in accordance with the annular air flow joining principle. It is a mobile body sterilizer characterized in that air is collected in an air collecting pipe, sent to the sterilization box again, and subjected to the same sterilization process as before to circulate and sterilize the air inside the moving body to prevent air infection.

According to the mobile sterilizer according to the first invention, in a closed space inside a mobile body where a three-honey state is likely to be formed, first, when an infected person is present, sterilization is performed from above the mobile sterilizer. The air downdraft prevents droplet infection by moving the virus and bacteria emitted from the infected person downward, and secondly, the air containing the floating virus and bacteria that has moved downward is collected and returned to the sterilization box for sterilization by ultraviolet rays. By doing so, the air inside the moving body can be constantly cleaned and air infection can be continuously prevented.

In the second invention, in the first invention, the air diffuser pipe, the blower, the sterilization box, and the air collecting pipe to be airflow-coupled accommodate a filter for ozone removal between them. It is a mobile sterilizer characterized by providing a filter box.

According to the mobile body sterilizer according to the second invention, ozone generated by the ultraviolet irradiation of the ultraviolet source installed in the sterilization box is removed by the filter, so that odorless and safe sterilized air is supplied to the inside of the mobile body. can.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the second invention, the filter box includes two air channels that guide the air leaving the sterilization box, one that passes through the filter for ozone removal and the other that bypasses the filter. A shutter mechanism that enables selection of either of the two air flow paths according to the situation is provided, and the air flow path that passes through the filter can be selected in the operating state of the moving body, and the filter can be selected in the non-operating state of the moving body. By selecting a detour air flow path, ozone removal sterilization air is supplied to the moving body to prevent droplet infection when the moving body with people is operating, and ozone generated by ultraviolet irradiation when the moving body without people is not operating. It is a mobile body sterilizer characterized by supplying ozone to the moving body wall and the surface of the moving body installation object to prevent contact infection.

According to the mobile body sterilizer according to the third invention, even if a virus or a bacterium that escapes inactivation by air sterilization and purification in the moving body adheres to the surface of the moving body wall or the surface of the moving body installation object and becomes an infection source. , The surface can be sterilized with ozone in advance before the moving body is operated by the ultraviolet-induced ozone passing through the filter detour air flow path that operates when the moving body is not operating. Is added.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first or second inventions, the air diffuser pipe has a plurality of air diffusers through which air passes, and the air collection pipe has a plurality of air collection ports through which air passes. However, it is a moving body sterilizer characterized by ensuring the location uniformity of the downdraft discharged inside the moving body by adjusting the size of those mouths from the root of the pipe toward the end. ..

According to the mobile body sterilizer according to the fourth invention, since the entire air can be circularly circulated in the moving internal space sandwiched between the upper air diffuser pipe and the lower air collecting pipe, the blind spot of sterilization can be diminished and safety is achieved. Can be enhanced.

A fifth aspect of the invention is the first or second invention, wherein the ultraviolet source is one or a plurality of ultraviolet LEDs that generate ultraviolet rays having a central wavelength in any of 180 nm to 379 nm. It is a mobile sterilizer characterized by having.

According to the mobile body sterilizer according to the fifth aspect of the invention, the air inside the sterilizing box is sterilized by ultraviolet rays and released into the moving body, and as a result, the moving body can be sterilized by air.

A sixth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first or second inventions, is that the blower is electrically controlled in the amount of air blown and has the ability to circulate the entire amount of air in the moving body once over a range of 30 seconds to 1 hour. It is a mobile body sterilizer characterized by.

According to the mobile body sterilizer according to the sixth invention, the interdependence between sterilization efficiency and power consumption is optimized by controlling the amount of air blown according to the size of the air capacity in the moving body and the conditions during operation and non-operation of the moving body. It can be changed. For example, in the case of an elevator, the risk of droplet infection can be suppressed if the exhaled air in a range of about 50 cm above and below the face can be ventilated in the downward airflow in about 10 seconds when the moving body is operating. In this case, if the height of the moving body is about 2 m, the entire amount of air can be circulated within 1 minute. In addition, ozone sterilization of the inner wall surface and the surface of the installation to prevent contact infection is performed when the moving object is not operating, such as at night when there are no people, so it can be processed over time, so a circulation time of 10 minutes or more is allowed, and electricity is required. Consumption is curtailed. Such air flow control is preferably automated in consideration of the operating status of the moving body.

A seventh aspect of the invention is the mobile sterilizer according to the first or second aspect, wherein the sterilizer box has a reflectance of 50% or more on a mirror-finished inner wall. ..

According to the mobile sterilizer according to the seventh aspect of the invention, the ultraviolet rays emitted from the ultraviolet source installed in the sterilizing box illuminate the air inside the sterilizing box while being reflected many times by the inner wall. Can be effectively increased to increase sterilization efficiency or shorten sterilization time.

According to the present invention, the airflow of bacteria and viruses released from the mouth and anus of a moving body by airborne air from above the sterilized air is rapidly lowered, and the downdraft is circulated to the sterilization box again. By sterilizing, it is possible to continuously prevent airborne infection and droplet infection of mobile users. In addition, ozone sterilization of the inner wall surface of the mobile body and the surface of the installation by utilizing the ozone derived from ultraviolet rays can continuously prevent contact infection of the mobile body user.

Schematic diagram of a mobile sterilizer. In the figure below, the flow of the circulating airflow is indicated by arrows in some places in the figure. Outline view of appearance when four mobile sterilizers are installed in an elevator. Outline view of the appearance of the mobile sterilizer when installed in a passenger car. A, top view of the passenger car B, side view of the passenger car Sterilization box model for UV LED light output estimation. Schematic diagram of the shutter mechanism for switching between the filter passing air flow and the filter detour air flow in the filter box. A, Front view of the exhaust side filter box showing the shutter position when the filter passing air flow path is selected B, Front view of the exhaust side filter box showing the shutter position when the filter detour air flow path is selected C, Airflow fixed to the filter surface on the exhaust side Diffusers D, Shutter E on the exhaust side paired with the airflow diffuser E, Filter box side view F when the filter passing air flow path is selected F, Filter box side view G when the filter detour air flow path is selected G, Filter surface on the intake side Airflow diffuser fixed to H, G, shutter on the intake side paired with the airflow diffuser

The technical concept of the present application is to realize an airborne infection prevention mechanism, a droplet infection prevention mechanism, and a contact infection prevention mechanism with a single device, and the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, similar components are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. Further, the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

(Basic embodiment of sterilizer)
The outline of the form of the apparatus of the present application is as shown in FIG. Explaining the part of the device according to the flow of the air flow indicated by the arrows in some places in the figure, the moving body air collected from the long air collecting pipe 16 installed in the lower part of the moving body by the drive of the blower 27. Passes through the intake port 28, the blower 27, and the sterilizing box-blower joint 26, enters the sterilizing box 25, and is sterilized by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet source 100 attached in the sterilizing box. The ultraviolet irradiation amount that satisfies the ultraviolet irradiation amount (light energy / area) actually measured for each virus or bacterium in correspondence with the sterilization rate is the ultraviolet light output (light energy / hour) and the sterilization time (sterilization box stay time). And the sterilization time is determined by the ratio of the volume of the sterilization box and the amount of air blown, so if these device parameters are determined, the sterilization rate of the air emitted from this device is given. Air with a high sterilization rate set by optimizing the device parameters that are situation-dependent is sent to the filter box 22 through the filter box-sterilization box joint 24, and when the moving body is operating, it passes through the filter passing air flow path 22a and the moving body. When not in operation, the air is exhausted from the exhaust port 21 through the filter detour air flow path 22b. The two air channels are provided to properly use ozone-removing sterilizing air and ozone-containing sterilizing air depending on the operating / non-operating status of the moving body. Ozone is removed to ensure comfort during operation, and ozone sterilization of the internal surface of the moving body is promoted by ozone-containing air during non-operation. Shutters 12a and 12b are used for switching the air flow path, and the shutter 12a and 12b are driven by the movement of the shutter support portion 12 by the shutter drive mechanism 13. The air diffused from above the sterilized sterilized air into the moving body is performed by the long air diffuser pipe 15 connected before the exhaust port, but the air diffuser pipe 15 is used to generate a uniform downdraft. The size of the multiple air diffusers pierced is pre-adjusted. Since the source of infection released from the human mouth is blown downward by a sterilized downdraft, the risk of droplet infection is reduced even in the three-honey state, and a safe interior space of the moving body is guaranteed. The downward airflow is collected again by the air collecting pipe 16 and is used for the conventional sterilization process. As described above, the apparatus of the present application is primarily composed of both an air infection prevention mechanism by constantly sterilizing the moving body air by sterilization box holding circular airflow joining and a droplet infection prevention mechanism by airflow control.
The blower in the present application refers to an electric machine having a mechanism for blowing and blowing air, such as an air pump and a blower. Further, consider the case where a deep ultraviolet LED having a wavelength with high sterilization efficiency is used as the ultraviolet source.

例えば２ｍ四方の天井を持つエレベーターでは、天井の４辺から吹き出された空気が下降気流を作るとすると、平均化した場合４ｍ^２面積の気流となるので、気流速度５ｃｍ／秒の場合は、１２．０ｍ ^３／分の送風量が気流速度１０ｃｍ／秒の場合は、２４．０ｍ^３／分の送風量が必要となる。同一装置をエレベーターの４隅に置けば（図４参照）、各装置の送風量は４分の１になり、気流速度５ｃｍ／秒の場合は、３．０ｍ ^３／分の送風量が気流速度１０ｃｍ／秒の場合は、６．０ｍ^３／分の送風量となり、家庭用ルームエアコンの送風機でまかなえる。乗用車はエレベーターと異なり上方が狭く下方が広いので例えば、１ｍ四方の気流面積を想定すれば、エレベーター４隅に置くものと同等装置を置くとして、気流速度５ｃｍ／秒の場合は、３．０ｍ ^３／分の送風量が気流速度１０ｃｍ／秒の場合は、６．０ｍ^３／分が必要送風量となり、同様に家庭用ルームエアコンの送風機でまかなえる。
５ｃｍ／秒の気流速度も１０ｃｍ／秒の気流速度も極めて小さいが、この気流を乱す他の擾乱気流がなければ、この気流速度で他者の呼気由来の飛沫感染を防止できる。例えば、エレベーター内や乗用車内での人の顔の距離が５０ｃｍ以上であれば、その５０ｃｍの間に呼気が他者に到達する時間を５秒以上と考え、５ｃｍ／秒風速では２５ｃｍ以上下方に、１０ｃｍ／秒風速では５０ｃｍ以上下方に絶えず呼気が押しやられるので、たとえ呼気中に感染源があっても隣接する他所の口に届かず飛沫感染は防止される。どちらの風速を与える送風機を設定するかは、設定環境に依存し、本装置の下降気流以外の擾乱気流がない場合は５ｃｍ／秒風速で、擾乱気流がある場合は１０ｃｍ／秒風速で良い。なお本願では気流速度と風速は同義として語用している。Here, the relationship between the velocity of the downdraft, the airflow area, and the amount of airflow will be clarified, and the details of the droplet infection prevention mechanism by airflow control will be described. The airflow area is assumed to be a square as the area of the ceiling of the target space. The results are shown in the table below.

For example, in an elevator with a 2m square ceiling, if the air blown from the four sides of the ceiling creates a downdraft, the averaged airflow will be ^4m2 area, so if the airflow velocity is 5cm / sec, 12 When the air flow rate of 0.0 m ³ / min is an air flow velocity of 10 cm / sec, an air flow rate of 24.0 m ³ / min is required. If the same device is placed in the four corners of the elevator (see Fig. 4), the airflow volume of each device will be reduced to 1/4, and if the airflow velocity is 5 cm / sec, the airflow volume will be 3.0 m ³ / min. When the speed is 10 cm / sec, the air flow amount is 6.0 m ³ / min, which can be covered by the blower of the household room air conditioner. Unlike an elevator, a passenger car has a narrow upper part and a wider lower part. If the airflow rate is ³ / min and the airflow velocity is 10 cm / sec, 6.0 m ³ / min is the required airflow rate, which can be covered by the blower of the household room air conditioner.
The airflow velocity of 5 cm / sec and the airflow velocity of 10 cm / sec are extremely small, but if there is no other turbulent airflow that disturbs this airflow, this airflow velocity can prevent droplet infection from the exhaled breath of another person. For example, if the distance between a person's face in an elevator or a passenger car is 50 cm or more, it is considered that the time it takes for exhaled breath to reach another person during that 50 cm is 5 seconds or more, and the wind speed is 25 cm or more downward at 5 cm / sec. At a wind speed of 10 cm / sec, the exhaled breath is constantly pushed downward by 50 cm or more, so even if there is an infection source in the exhaled breath, it does not reach the mouth of another adjacent place and droplet infection is prevented. Which wind speed is to be set depends on the setting environment, and if there is no turbulent airflow other than the downdraft of this device, the wind speed may be 5 cm / sec, and if there is turbulent airflow, the wind speed may be 10 cm / sec. In this application, airflow velocity and wind velocity are used as synonyms.

The airflow velocity described above is, so to speak, the maximum performance, and the airflow velocity according to the situation similar to that of normal air conditioning is selected. For example, when a person gets into the elevator, operate it for 20 seconds at the maximum air volume at a wind speed of 5 cm / sec and 10 seconds at the maximum air volume at a wind speed of 10 cm / sec, and sterilize the upper half of the elevator space. The replacement may be performed, and then the switching device may be operated by switching to a low air volume or low wind speed mode. For example, when set to half of the maximum air volume, the total air capacity in the elevator (assuming 2x2x2.2m = 8.8m ³ ) circulates once in 88 seconds at a wind speed of 2.5 cm / sec and 44 seconds at a wind speed of 5 cm / sec. So a safe sterilization environment is formed in the meantime. In the case of a passenger car, the upper half of the vehicle is replaced with aseptic air by operating for 10 seconds at a wind speed of 5 cm / sec and at a maximum air volume of 5 seconds at a wind speed of 10 cm / sec. After that, depending on the situation, even if the air volume is halved or quadrupled, the total capacity of the air inside the vehicle (assuming 3 m ³ ) is circulated with sterilized air within 1 to 2 minutes, so sterilization is safe. An environment is formed and airborne infections are prevented.

The third infection control mechanism of the present application is contact infection prevention using ozone. This mechanism is activated when the mobile body is not in operation, such as at night. Ozone, which is unpleasant and harmful to humans when operating with humans, is removed by the air flow path through the filter, but ozone is actively used for sterilization purposes when there are no humans. Specifically, ozone generated by strong ultraviolet rays is accumulated in the moving body by circular airflow junction using a filter detour air flow path. Since non-operating time such as at night can be taken for a long time, the circulation time of the total amount of air is slow and good, power consumption is suppressed, high concentration ozone is generated, and the inner wall surface and the surface of the installation in the moving body are sterilized by ozone over time. Is possible. After the ozone sterilization has progressed sufficiently, ozone is removed before the start of operation of the mobile body by switching the air flow path to the filter passing air flow mode. It is desirable to automate such time-series air flow control and the accompanying air flow amount control in consideration of the operating status of the moving body.

(Shutter mechanism of sterilizer)
Although the existence of two air flow paths for switching the presence or absence of ozone is described in the embodiment, the switching of the air flow paths is performed by a shutter mechanism coupled with an air flow diffusion plate that creates a uniform air flow of the air inside the ozone removal filter 23. Will be done. An example of the mechanism is shown in FIG. 2 together with the details inside the filter box, and its function will be explained. 2A and 2B are a front view and a side view of the filter box 22 when the filter passing air flow path 22a is selected. It is shown by (22a). 2B and F are a front view and a side view of the filter box 22 when the filter detour air flow path 22b is selected. When the filter detour airflow is B, it is a point in the rectangular hole in the filter box 22. It is shown by (22b). The airflow diffusion plates 23a and 23b having a plurality of airflow passage holes fixedly attached to the upper and lower sides of the ozone removal filter 23 are shown in FIGS. 2C and 2G, respectively. The shutters 12a and 12b in which the positions of the airflow passage holes are complementary to the airflow diffusion plates 23a and 23b are shown in FIGS. 2D and H. The process of selecting two air flow paths by opening and closing the shutter is symbolically shown by the left-pointing arrow shown in FIGS. 2D and H. At this time, the upper and lower shutters 12a and 12b are driven by the shutter through the shutter support portion 12 connecting the two. It is driven simultaneously by the mechanism 13. Switching between the sterilizing air blowing mode using the filter passing air flow path and the ozone-containing sterilizing air blowing mode using the filter detour air flow path, which is an important invention in the present application, is performed by using the shutter mechanism described here.

(Estimation of sterilization rate and setting of device parameters)
Sterilization with the device of the present application is carried out by ultraviolet sterilization in the space inside the sterilization box that is invisible to the human eye or ozone sterilization in a moving body without human eyes. Therefore, the intensity of ultraviolet rays can be increased as needed and the ozone concentration can be increased as needed, and the sterilization efficiency can be significantly improved. In order to estimate the sterilization efficiency, the sterilization performance is quantitatively estimated using the long sterilization box model of FIG. 3 in which ultraviolet LEDs 100 are attached to both ends of the sterilization box. Another advantage of using the sterilization box 25 is that the inner surface is mirror-finished so that ultraviolet reflection is repeated, so that there is an effect of enhancing the sterilization efficiency by increasing the effective irradiation intensity. If the reflectance is x%, the enhancement rate is 1 / (1-0.01x). For example, the irradiation intensity is increased 10 times at a reflectance of 90% and up to 5 times at a reflectance of 80%. Moreover, since the ultraviolet rays are irradiated in the direction of the air flow, the enhanced ultraviolet rays continue to be irradiated to the same infection source for the same time as the air flow passing time of the sterilization box.

Next, given the available UV light output and sterilization box volume, the feed meets the UV irradiation dose (unit mJ / cm ² ) required for a particular sterilization rate (eg 99.9%). Estimate the upper limit of air volume. The smaller the amount of air blown, the longer the staying time in the sterilization box, and the higher the sterilization efficiency. However, since the amount of sterilized air per unit time decreases, the air circulation speed in the moving body slows down, which hinders rapid infection prevention. Therefore, the upper limit of the amount of air blown that can maintain the target amount of ultraviolet irradiation is important. Regarding the amount of ultraviolet irradiation (unit: mJ / cm ² ), data on various viruses and bacteria corresponding to 99.9% inactivation rate (sterilization) with a mercury lamp having a wavelength of 254 nm, for example, has been released (). Non-Patent Document 8). According to it, Escherichia coli, Shigella, Vibrio cholerae, etc. are around 10 mJ / cm ² . Influenza virus is 7 mJ / cm ² and rotavirus is 24 mJ / cm ² . The amount of UV irradiation for the new coronavirus is unknown, but in this application, the median value of the two viruses is taken and 15 mJ / cm ² is assumed.

Assuming that a sterilization box having a volume of V (cm ³ ) is used and the amount of air blown by the blower is v (cm ³ / sec), the time for air to pass through the sterilization box is V / v seconds. Assuming a long and slender sterilization box, assuming that the length of the sterilization box is L and the cross section is S, V = LS. Here, assuming that the light output of one deep ultraviolet LED attached to the end face of the sterilization box is Q (mW = mJ / sec) as shown in FIG. 3, when the enhancement rate due to specular reflection is M, the light output of MQ is the length of the sterilization box. Emitted in the direction. Since the cross-sectional area of the sterilization box is S, the amount of ultraviolet irradiation to the infection source during the air passage time in the sterilization box is as follows.

When the sterilization rate is 99.9%, the upper limit of the amount of air blown is estimated [Equation 3] under the condition [Equation 2] that the above-mentioned ultraviolet irradiation amount is equal to the irradiation amount q required for 99.9% sterilization of the new coronavirus. Given.

In [Equation 3], Q, V (= LS), M, and q are given constants, and L and S are design parameters. Then, when the volume V of the sterilization box is constant, the amount of air blown v can be increased as much as possible by increasing the length L of the sterilization box and reducing the cross-sectional area S. That is, the longer the sterilization box is, the more the same sterilization efficiency can be maintained even if the amount of air blown is large. However, the relationship between the reflectance and M is the irradiation enhancement constant when light is reflected infinitely with the same reflectance while repeating vertical incident and reflection on two opposing mirror surfaces, and an LED with a wide irradiation angle in an elongated box. In the case of, the irradiation direction deviates from the longitudinal direction of the box and side reflection occurs. Therefore, when L becomes large, M is attenuated. In that case, the irradiation amount LMQ / v shown in [Equation 1] is not simply proportional to L, and evaluation for LM is required. However, here, it is simply assumed that the elongated sterilization box contributes to the sterilization efficiency, and in the device performance estimation work, the L dependence of M is ignored and M = (1 / (1-0.01x)).

If you enter a specific number here,
M = 10 (the reflectance of the inner wall was estimated to be 90%),
Q = 50mW (maximum output of commercially available deep UV LED),
L = 150 cm (assuming elevators and passenger cars),
S = 250cm ² (used to calculate the wind speed inside the sterilization box),
q = 15mJ / cm ² (99.9% bactericidal irradiation dose was between influenza and rotavirus)
Then, from [Equation 3], the upper limit air flow amount v is given by the following.

For example, the interior space of a passenger car is about 3 m ³ , and at 0.3 m ³ / min, it takes 10 minutes to replace the total amount of air, so the amount of air blown is insufficient to prevent initial infection. Since the upper limit air flow rate increases in proportion to the light output Q from [Equation 4], if 10 deep ultraviolet LEDs are attached to the sterilization box, 10 times the above upper limit air flow rate is allowed, so the upper limit air flow rate is 3 m ³ /. It will be a minute. The air inside the passenger car is circulated in 1 minute, and in the case of a passenger car, the upper space is narrow (see FIG. 5), so that the downward air supply of the air around the human face is performed in the range of 10 to 20 seconds with the same air flow rate. In the case of an elevator, assuming a 2m square and a height of 2.2m, the space capacity is ^8.8m3 . If four sterilization boxes of the same type are mounted in the four corners of the elevator (see Fig. 4), the air volume will be 12 m ³ / min, so the air circulation in the elevator will be completed in 44 seconds. In addition, since the air in the upper third part is exchanged in about 15 seconds, the exhaled breath in the 50 cm range around the human face moves downward in 10 seconds, greatly reducing the probability of droplet infection. Here, when the wind speed in each sterilization box is estimated, when the cross section is 250 cm ² , the wind speed is 2 m / sec, which is about a breeze, and it is considered that the problem of blowing noise does not occur. However, if the cross-sectional area of the joint between the sterilizer box, blower, filter box, air diffuser pipe, and air collecting pipe is much smaller than that of the sterilizer box, the problem of blown noise is unavoidable, so the cross-section of each part can be made. It is desirable to make it as large as possible. Next, an example of a mobile sterilizer will be described, including the problems associated with this air volume.

Illustration

As an example of mounting the mobile sterilizer, the case of an elevator is shown in FIG. 4, and the case of a passenger car is shown in FIG. Considering that the internal space capacity of the two is significantly different, four mobile sterilizers are installed in the case of an elevator, and one is installed in the case of a passenger car. The maximum amount of sterilized air blown by one mobile sterilizer is 3 m ³ / min, which is larger than the maximum amount of air blown by the current strongest hair dryer, but it is about the weak wind of a household room air conditioner. If the area is designed well, noise problems such as ventilation noise can be avoided. Therefore, it is desirable to make the thickness of the joint connecting the sterilizer box, the blower, the filter box, the air diffuser pipe connected to the exhaust port, and the air collecting pipe connected to the intake port as large as possible.

Here, we consider the airflow, which is an important component of the present application, and call attention to its implementation with respect to the two examples. First, regarding the elevator shown in FIG. 4, the risk of infection is primarily the air brought in from the outside without infection control when opening and closing the door, and this air is quickly lowered below the height of the human face. You need to send air. In the present application, the maximum air volume is estimated assuming that this is performed in about 10 seconds. If you have a habit of refraining from talking in the elevator, the blast after this initial operation may be gentle and a risk-free environment is ensured by the downward movement circulation of sterile air. In this way, the air inside the elevator and the inner surface of the elevator are constantly sterilized by air sterilization when the moving body is operating and ozone sterilization when the moving body is not operating, so that the elevator becomes a sterilized and safe place.

Next, regarding the passenger car shown in FIG. 5, as with the elevator, the risk of infection is considered to be the highest when a person gets in, so the maximum ventilation will be used. However, unlike elevators, cars have a narrow space above, so the time required to replace only that space with sterile air can be shortened. After the car is in constant operation, the amount of air blown can be reduced as long as the conversation is quiet. In FIG. 5, an air diffuser pipe is attached to the upper ceiling of the driver's seat side door, and an air collecting pipe is placed on the lower floor of the door on the opposite side, and the air flow circulates in the car in a sloppy manner. In this case, the uniformity of air circulation in the vehicle is not always guaranteed, but this pipe arrangement is also an option from the viewpoint of driver protection such as taxi. The air-dissipating pipe and the air-collecting pipe are branched at the exhaust port and the intake port, and each of them is a plurality of pipes consisting of two systems. Circulating airflow uniformity is more guaranteed. Further, the outer shape of the sterilizing box and the long housing for accommodating the sterilizing box is not the same as that shown in FIG. Since the equipment of the present application has the same performance regardless of its shape as long as the cross section is the same, a model of a curved long housing or a sterilization box that matches the curve of the ceiling can be considered.

For the elevators and passenger cars shown as examples, the capacity of the internal space was set to specific values and the amount of air blown and the internal space circulation time were shown, but since the internal space capacity of both is different for each object. It is also necessary to optimize the shape and performance of the mobile body sterilizer to be equipped according to the specifications such as the target space capacity and sterilization speed. At that time, the mathematical formulas presented in the present application, [Equation 1] to [Equation 4], may be used as the basis of the design, and the same calculation as in the actual example may be performed.

Elevators and passenger cars, which are used most frequently among compact moving objects from the viewpoint of infection prevention, are selectively described as examples in this application, but other examples of compact moving objects include cable cars and ropeways. , Amusement park vehicles, minibuses, small airplanes, helicopters, submersible boats, spacecraft, etc. The same calculation as the actual example may be performed and the product may be manufactured for each corresponding case.

(Competition and harmony with ventilation)
The device of the present application uses airflow control as a means of preventing droplet infection and competes with ventilation in the moving body. This is because ventilation brings in an external source of infection and ventilation flow is a disturbing factor in the airflow control of the device of the present application. Therefore, it is desirable to operate the apparatus of the present application under the condition without ventilation. In the first place, it is recommended as one of the avoidance methods of infection in the three honey state in all aspects where people gather, such as restaurants, shops, cars, and event venues. However, new problems such as the problem of conflict with air conditioning and the problem of increased noise, such as window ventilation, will also arise. The invention of the present application, which is premised on the circular airflow joining between a closed space and a sterilization box, is, so to speak, a technique opposite to the ventilation method. However, the harmony between the ventilation method and the closed circular airflow joining method of the present application can be considered. By designing the airflow inside the moving body including both the ventilation flow and the closed circular airflow, adjusting the wind direction from the air diffuser of the device of the present application, and devising a way to concentrate the sterilized air around the human face in the moving body. be. For that purpose, advanced fluid dynamics calculation considering the internal structure and the arrangement of people in the moving body is necessary, but the airflow calculation simulation by the supercomputer has begun to spread widely and can be easily executed.
As an example of actively utilizing the ventilation method to prevent infection in a moving body, there is an example in which it is used for air circulation in an airplane (Non-Patent Document 9). Since the altitude of the outside air at which an airplane flies is considered to be almost sterile, the outside air is taken into ventilation. However, a HEPA filter is also used as a sterilizer for ventilation on the ground. Among them, when ventilating, the downdraft from above is said to be effective in preventing droplet infection. Therefore, in this application, "prevention of droplet infection by downdraft from above" is treated as publicly known, and the specific airflow velocity and airflow area are defined. Incorporating the uniqueness of the device of the present application.

(Competition and harmony with air conditioning)
In addition to ventilation, there is air conditioning as a mechanism to generate airflow inside the moving body. For example, passenger cars and the like are always equipped with air conditioning for comfort, and it is unavoidable to use them in combination with the device of the present application. In that case, it is necessary to position the device of the present application in consideration of the in-vehicle airflow obtained by actual measurement or simulation when using air conditioning, and to design the air volume and direction of the downdraft. This can also be easily performed by using the airflow calculation simulation by the supercomputer, which has begun to spread widely.
The simplest harmonization when equipping an existing mobile body with air-conditioning with heating and cooling is to use both of them alternately to avoid a collision of the functions of both devices. Also, the most perfect harmonization of the competition between the two devices is to integrate the two devices. Air conditioners that have been sterilized are already on the market, but they are not quantitative and have little effect. As already mentioned, the air volume used by the device of the present application is about the same as that of the home room air conditioner, so the two can be integrated. That is, a sterilization box is provided before, after, or between the blower of the air conditioner equipped on the moving body and the heat exchanger, and the existing air supply / discharge mechanism is used to efficiently disperse and collect air. It can be executed by modifying the air pipe mechanism.

The device of the present application is equipped on a compact moving body such as an elevator or a passenger car that easily forms three honey states, and quickly sterilizes infection sources such as viruses and bacteria floating in the internal air with ultraviolet rays and sterilizes the air flow. It is widely used as a public health infrastructure to prevent viral and bacterial infections by blocking infection routes such as airborne infections, droplet infections, and contact infections through control.

10 Mobile sterilizer 11 Long housing 12 Shutter support 12a Exhaust side shutter 12b Intake side shutter 13 Shutter drive mechanism 15 Air diffuser pipe 16 Air collecting pipe 20 Sterilizing box inner space 21 Exhaust port 22 Filter box 22a Filter passing air flow path 22b Filter detour air flow path 23 Filter 23a Exhaust side diffuser 23b Intake side diffuser 24 Filter box-Sterilization box joint 25 Sterilization box 26 Sterilization box-Blower joint 27 Blower 28 Intake port 100 Ultraviolet LED

A seventh aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in any one of the first or second inventions, the inner wall is mirror-finished, and the sterilization box has a reflectance of 50% or more of the mirror-finished inner wall. It is a mobile sterilizer.

Claims (7)

In a long housing equipped inside a moving body, a long air diffuser pipe is connected to one side at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and a long air collection pipe is connected to the opposite side.
A blower for sending air and a sterilizing box for accommodating an ultraviolet source are built in the long housing, and the air in the moving body and the air in the long housing are separated into the air diffuser pipe and the air by the blower of the blower. Circular airflow is joined through the air collecting pipe,
Viruses and bacteria floating in the air guided to the sterilization box by the constantly operating blower are sterilized by ultraviolet rays radiated from the ultraviolet source attached to the sterilization box.
The sterilized air rides on the blower airflow and is sent to the long air diffuser pipe installed on the upper part of the moving body, and moves from above to downward from the plurality of air diffusers drilled in the air diffuser pipe. Dissipated in the body,
Prevents droplet infection by sending the infection source gas in the moving body downward by the divergent downdraft.
The downdraft including the source of infection is collected by the long air collecting pipe installed under the moving body in accordance with the circular airflow joining principle.
It is sent to the sterilization box again and undergoes the same sterilization process as described above to circulate and sterilize the air inside the moving body to prevent air infection.
A mobile sterilizer characterized by that. The air diffuser pipe, the blower, the sterilization box, and the air collecting pipe to be airflow-coupled are provided with a filter box containing a filter for ozone removal between them.
The mobile sterilizer according to claim 1. The filter box is provided with two air flow paths for guiding the air leaving the sterilization box, one is an air flow path that passes through the filter for ozone removal and the other is an air flow path that detours.
Equipped with a shutter mechanism that allows selection of either of the two airflow channels depending on the situation.
In the operating status of the moving body, select the air flow path that passes through the filter.
By selecting the air flow path that bypasses the filter in the non-operating state of the moving body,
Ozone removal sterilized air is supplied to the mobile body to prevent droplet infection when the mobile body with people is in operation.
When the mobile body is not in operation without people, ozone generated by UV irradiation is supplied to the moving body to sterilize the surface of the moving body wall and internal installations to prevent contact infection.
The mobile sterilizer according to claim 2. The air collecting pipe has a plurality of air collecting ports through which air passes, and the air collecting pipe has a plurality of air collecting ports through which air passes.
By adjusting the size of those mouths from the root of the pipe toward the end, the location of the downdraft discharged into the moving body is ensured.
The mobile sterilizer according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the mobile sterilizer is characterized by the above. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the ultraviolet source has one or a plurality of ultraviolet LEDs that generate ultraviolet rays having a central wavelength in any one of the wavelength ranges of 180 nm to 379 nm. Mobile sterilizer. The blower is electrically controlled in the amount of air blown and has the ability to circulate the entire amount of air in the moving body once in the range of 30 seconds to 1 hour.
The mobile sterilizer according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the mobile sterilizer is characterized by the above. The sterilization box has a mirror-finished inner wall having a reflectance of 50% or more.
The mobile sterilizer according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the mobile sterilizer is characterized by the above.

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