KR100622261B1 - Air Sterilization Cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

An air sterilization and purification apparatus for sterilizing and purifying polluted air by using a cyclone-type fluid flow and a sterilizing power by an ultraviolet light source and a photocatalyst material is provided.

The air sterilization device is a hollow cylindrical reactor body coated with a photocatalytic material on an inner wall thereof, an air inlet pipe connected in a tangential direction to a circumferential surface of the reactor body to make spiral air flow into the spiral flow, the reactor A cyclone reactor having an air discharge pipe connected to the main body to discharge purified air, and a pollutant discharge pipe to discharge pollutants dropped by its own weight; An ultraviolet lamp unit disposed in the center of the reactor body in a vertical direction and having an ultraviolet lamp for activating the photocatalyst material by supplying a light source to the photocatalyst material; Blowing means connected to an air inlet pipe or an air discharge pipe of the cyclone reactor to generate a flow of air; And a dust collector communicating with the pollutant discharge pipe to collect the pollutants.

According to such an air sterilizing device, it is possible to obtain an effect of obtaining an air sterilizing device having excellent purifying ability and sterilizing ability.

Air Sterilization, Air Purification, Filter, Cyclone, Ultraviolet Light, Photocatalyst

Description

Air Cleaner for Sterilizing Polluted Air

1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cyclone reactor of the air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the cyclone reactor of the air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100 pretreatment filter 200 cyclone reactor

210.Air inlet tube 220 ... Reactor body

221 Slope plate 230 Air discharge line

240 Pollutant discharge line 250 Photocatalytic material

260 ... Turning force generating means 300 ... Ultraviolet lamp part

UV lamps 320,330 lamp support means

400.Blowing means 500 ... Post-treatment filter

600 ...

The present invention relates to an air sterilization and purification apparatus for sterilizing and purifying contaminated air, and more particularly, to sterilizing and purifying contaminated air by using a cyclone-type fluid flow and a sterilizing power by an ultraviolet light source and a photocatalyst. It relates to a purification device.

In general, various air purification devices are used in homes or industrial sites. For example, in an incinerator or a chimney of a factory, an air purifier is used to remove harmful substances and dusts contained in exhaust gas. In addition, the air purifier is used to maintain a clean environment in the home, and is equipped with various filters to purify the air even in the air conditioner, fan heater, vacuum cleaner.

For example, in a room that requires very clean air quality, such as a clean room or a laboratory, a filter-type air cleaner is used to remove pathogenic bacteria or fine dust suspended in indoor air.

As the filter of the air cleaner, HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor) filters or electrostatic precipitating filters are used.

However, when only the filter is used, the removal efficiency of fine dust is excellent and a large part of bacteria attached to the particles can be filtered out. However, it is difficult to sterilize the bacteria itself and sterilization under strict standards. There was a problem in that there was a limit in implementing efficiency.

As the necessity of sterilization of bacteria contained in the air increases, the necessity for not only removing microparticles but also sterilizing bacteria or viruses is increasing.

To this end, a method of generating a bactericide such as ozone has been proposed. However, in the case of using such a method, some degree of bactericidal effect can be expected, but there is a concern that a reaction generated by a drug such as oxidation and corrosion is particularly difficult to use when a person stays indoors. In particular, when ozone is used, unreacted ozone is rather harmful to the human body, so special care is required in use, and it is difficult to maintain a pleasant indoor environment because it causes a peculiar smell of disinfectant.

In order to solve this problem, an air sterilizer using an ultraviolet (UV) lamp alone, an air sterilizer using an ultraviolet (UV) light source and a titanium oxide photocatalyst, and the like have been proposed.

However, in case of applying sterilization technology through UV irradiation alone, sterilization efficiency is good for the bacteria in the air close to the ultraviolet (UV) light source. There is a problem.

On the other hand, in the air sterilization technique using ultraviolet (UV) light and photocatalyst, a photocatalyst such as titanium oxide is coated on a mesh filter or the like, but as the filter continues to be used, bacteria and fine particles collected on the filter accumulate on the surface of the photocatalyst. There is a problem that sterilization efficiency through the photocatalytic material is sharply lowered.

That is, although the sterilization effect is relatively significant at the beginning of operation, there is a problem that sterilization efficiency is significantly reduced due to contamination of the photocatalytic material as the use period elapses.

In addition, in the case of sterilizing the bacteria in the contaminated air, since the bacteria are sterilized by a kind of chemical reaction between the bacteria and the sterilizing substance having oxidizing power, sufficient reaction time is required between the bacteria and the sterilizing substances. In this case, the contact time between the sterilizing material and the bacteria is extremely short, so there is a problem in that the sterilization efficiency can be increased.

Therefore, not only can the suspended solids in the contaminated air be efficiently removed, but also the air can effectively sterilize the bacteria in the contaminated air by preventing the contamination of the photocatalytic material and increasing the contact time and the number of collisions between the sterilizing agent and the bacteria. There is an increasing need for sterile purification devices.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, not only to filter the contaminated air sufficiently to obtain clean air, but also to increase the contact time of bacteria and germicidal substances and / or ultraviolet light source efficiently contaminated air An object of the present invention is to provide an air sterilization and purification apparatus capable of sterilizing and purifying.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air sterilization and purification apparatus that can sterilize not only a portion close to an ultraviolet light source but also air far from the ultraviolet light source.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air sterilization and purification apparatus that can increase the lifespan and sterilization efficiency of the photocatalyst material by preventing contamination of the photocatalyst material.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, the hollow cylindrical reactor body is coated with a photocatalytic material on its inner wall, connected in a tangential direction to the circumferential surface of the reactor body to make the introduced air into a spiral swirl flow A cyclone reactor having an air inlet pipe, an air discharge pipe connected to the reactor body to discharge purified air, and a pollutant discharge pipe to discharge pollutants dropped by its own weight; An ultraviolet lamp unit disposed in the center of the reactor body in a vertical direction and having an ultraviolet lamp for activating the photocatalyst material by supplying a light source to the photocatalyst material; Blower means connected to the air inlet pipe or the air discharge pipe to generate a flow of air; And a dust collector communicating with the pollutant discharge pipe to collect the pollutant; It provides an air sterilization device comprising a.

Preferably, the reactor body is provided with a plurality of inclined plate inclined downward on the inner wall, the photocatalyst material may be coated on the surface of the inclined plate.

Also preferably, the air sterilization device may be fixed to the inner surface of the cyclone reactor to generate a spiral force flow of the air introduced from the air inlet pipe into a spiral air flow; It may further include.

On the other hand, the photocatalyst material is preferably made of a material that can be activated by ultraviolet rays such as titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO ₂ ).

Preferably, the air sterilization device is a pre-treatment filter for filtering coarse particles in the contaminated air flowing into the air inlet pipe; Further comprising or after-processing filter unit for additionally filtering the air discharged from the air discharge pipe; It may further include, the post-treatment filter unit may be provided with a HEPA (HEPA) filter.

In addition, the blowing means is preferably driven to provide a rated air flow in the range of 1 to 20 m ³ / min.

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

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cyclone reactor of the air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 3 is an air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention Longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of a cyclone reactor.

As shown in Figure 1, the air sterilization device according to the present invention is a cyclone reactor 200 to make the inlet air into a swirl flow and the photocatalyst material is coated on its inner wall, an ultraviolet lamp functioning to activate the photocatalyst material The unit 300, a blower means 400 is connected to the cyclone reactor 200 to generate a flow of air and a dust collector 600 for collecting the pollutants discharged from the cyclone reactor 200. .

First, the cyclone reactor 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The cyclone reactor 200 includes a reactor body 220, an air inlet pipe 210, an air discharge pipe 230, and a contaminant discharge pipe 240.

1 and 2, the reactor body 220 is preferably a hollow cylindrical shape, the photocatalyst material 250 is coated on its inner wall.

The photocatalytic material 250 is made of a material which can be activated by ultraviolet rays such as titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO ₂ ), and performs a function of sterilizing air in contact with bacteria. Done.

As shown in FIG. 2, the air inlet pipe 210 is connected to the upper end of the side of the reactor body 220, and in particular, the air is introduced in a tangential direction to the circumferential surface of the reactor body 220. Make spiral spiral flow.

This swirl flows down along the inner wall of the reactor body 220 and descends, whereby contaminated air is sterilized while contacting the photocatalytic material 250 coated on the inner wall of the reactor body 220. . As such, the reaction time between the contaminated air and the photocatalytic material 250 may be increased by displacing the contaminated air while descending.

The air discharge pipe 230 extends through the upper portion of the reactor body 220 to the inside of the reactor body 220, preferably the air introduced from the air inlet pipe 210 is the air discharge pipe ( In order to prevent direct outflow through the 230, the air inlet pipe 210 is disposed to extend downward to allow only the purified air from the reactor body 220 to flow out.

On the other hand, the contaminant discharge pipe 240 is installed through the lower portion of the reactor body 220 to discharge the pollutant dropped by its own weight.

Preferably, in order to increase the reaction area of the bacteria and the photocatalytic material 250 in the cyclone reactor 200, the reactor body 220 may be provided with a plurality of inclined plates 221 on the inner wall.

At this time, the inclined plate 221 is preferably inclined in the direction of gravity, that is, downward so that the pollutants fall by their own weight in order to prevent the accumulation of pollutants.

As shown in the enlarged portion of FIG. 3, when the air having a centrifugal force flows spirally between the inclined plates 221, the rotation radius of the air is reduced and the angular velocity is increased to effectively collect and kill small bacteria or particles. There is an advantage to this.

That is, the contact area and the contact time of the bacteria and the photocatalytic material 251 can be increased through the inclined plate 221.

Preferably, the photocatalyst material 251 made of a material that can be activated by ultraviolet rays such as titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO ₂ ) is coated on the surface of the inclined plate 221.

Also preferably, the cyclone reactor 200, as shown in Figure 3, may further include a turning force generating means 260 for making the air flowing from the air inlet pipe 210 into a spiral air flow. have.

The turning force generating means 260 may be a known turning force generating means for inducing a helical air flow, for example, made of vanes of vane shape, or a spiral blade is fixed on the shaft. It may be.

The turning force generating means 260, as shown in Figure 3, through the upper portion of the reactor body 220 and extends to the lower side of the air inlet pipe 210 and the reactor main body opposite thereto It is preferable to be fixed to the inner surface of the 220, it may be arranged to perform the role of the lamp support means (330 of FIG. 1) for supporting the ultraviolet lamp 310 as described below.

In addition, the rotational force generating means 260 may be configured to generate the swirl flow by rotating by the power drive, it will be preferable to be fixed to the inner surface of the reactor body 220 to simplify the structure.

By further increasing the centrifugal force of the swirl flow generated in the air inlet pipe 210 through the swirl force generating means 260, the contact time between the photocatalytic material 250 coated on the inner wall of the reactor body 220 and the air is further increased. You can increase it.

Next, the ultraviolet lamp unit 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

The ultraviolet lamp unit 300 includes an ultraviolet lamp 310 disposed vertically at the center of the reactor body 220 to supply the light source to the photocatalytic material 250 to activate the photocatalytic material 250. .

In addition, the ultraviolet lamp unit 300 includes lamp support means 320 and 330 for supporting the ultraviolet lamp 310 from above and below so that the ultraviolet lamp 310 is located in the reactor body 220. .

In this case, as described above, the turning force generating means 260 of FIG. 3 may be arranged to serve as the lamp supporting means 330.

Meanwhile, the ultraviolet lamp 310 provides a light source for activating the photocatalytic material 250 to perform sterilization, and directly sterilizes air flowing around the ultraviolet lamp 310. By performing the role, there is an advantage that can be sterilized for both the near and far portions of the ultraviolet lamp 310.

In addition, the air sterilization purification apparatus according to the present invention includes a blowing means 400 is connected to the air inlet pipe 210 or the air discharge pipe 230 to cause the flow of air.

The blower 400 may be generally a fan driven by a motor, but any device may be used as long as it generates a blower.

In general, in the cyclone-type dust collector, the blowing means 400 is used to be connected to the air discharge pipe 230 side, but may be used to be connected to the air inlet pipe 210 if it can maintain the flow of swirl flow.

In addition, in order to use the air purifying sterilizer in the home air purifier, it is preferable to generate the air volume required for the indoor atmosphere, for this purpose, the blowing means 400 is the rated air flow in the range of 1 to 20 m ³ / min Can be configured to work with

On the other hand, the air sterilization device according to the present invention as shown in Figure 1 includes a dust collector 600 in communication with the pollutant discharge pipe 240 to collect the pollutants.

In this case, the dust collecting container 600 is preferably detachably installed from the air sterilizing device so that the pollutant in the dust collecting container 600 can be treated at a predetermined time, and inside the dust collecting container 600. It may be possible to have filters to prevent the spreading of contaminants.

In addition, the air sterilization apparatus according to the present invention may further include filters for filtering contaminants, as shown in FIG.

That is, the after-treatment filter unit 500 further includes a pre-treatment filter 100 for filtering coarse particles in the contaminated air introduced into the air inlet pipe 210 or additionally filtering the air discharged from the air discharge pipe 230. ) May be further included.

In this case, the pretreatment filter 100 filters coarse particles in the inflowed air to prevent coarse particles from being introduced into the cyclone reactor 200, thereby increasing processing efficiency of the cyclone reactor 200 as well as to be described later. As such, when the post-treatment filter is used, it serves to increase the life of another filter.

In addition, the post-treatment filter unit 500 serves to additionally filter the air discharged from the air discharge pipe 230.

The aftertreatment filter unit 500 may be provided alone or in combination with various types of filters suitable for design specifications such as hepa filter, activated carbon filter, low temperature catalyst filter.

Preferably, the post-treatment filter unit 500 may include a high-performance high-efficiency HEPA filter (HEPA) capable of removing 99% or more of contamination of 0.3 μm, such as fine dust, mites, and molds, which are harmful to a human body by strong adsorption force. Can be.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 2, the filter 235 is also mounted on the inner surface of the air discharge pipe 230 may be configured to filter the air flowing out of the cyclone reactor 200.

The operation of one embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

When the suction force is generated through the air discharge pipe 230 in the cyclone reactor 200 by the blowing means 400, the air containing contaminants is cyclone through the air inlet pipe 210 of the cyclone body 200 After being sucked in the tangential direction with respect to the reactor 200, it descends while turning along the inner wall surface of the reactor body 220.

At this time, air and contaminants are subjected to different centrifugal forces due to their weight differences.

Accordingly, the relatively heavy contaminants flow down the inner wall surface of the reactor body 220 by centrifugal force to be discharged to the dust collector 600 through the contaminant discharge pipe 240, and the air is relatively small in weight. Is rotated to a small radius, and is discharged to the outside of the cyclone reactor 200 through the air outlet pipe 230, the suction force is generated.

In this case, the air, which has little weight, rises while forming an upward airflow along the center of the reactor body 220 by hitting the bottom surface of the cyclone reactor 200 by the suction force generated through the air discharge pipe 230. By being discharged to the cyclone reactor 200 through the air discharge pipe 230.

The swirl flow descending along the wall surface of the reactor body 220 is in contact with the photocatalyst material 250 coated on the inner surface of the reactor body 220, the photocatalytic material 250 activated by the ultraviolet lamp 310 By this, bacteria contained in the swirl flow are sterilized.

That is, bacteria and bacteria that reach the wall surface of the reactor body 220 are oxidized and destroyed by OH radicals and active oxygen generated by the photocatalytic reaction to fall to the bottom of the cyclone reactor 200 together with the dust particles. do.

In this case, since the air in the cyclone reactor 200 descends while turning along the inner wall of the reactor body 220, the photocatalyst material 250 and air have sufficient contact time, thereby effectively sterilizing.

Particularly, when the inclined plate 221 is provided on the inner surface of the reactor body 220, the swirl flow introduced between the inclined plate 221 is increased in angular velocity while the rotation radius decreases, thus allowing the inclined plate 221 surface and the Sufficient reaction with the photocatalytic materials 250 and 251 coated on the inner surface of the reactor body 220 may maximize the sterilization effect.

On the other hand, the air flowing immediately before being discharged to the air discharge pipe 230 by the blowing means 400, or the air descending while turning at a small radius passes through the UV lamp 310, the UV lamp 310 Direct sterilization will take place.

That is, since the far away from the ultraviolet lamp 310 through the photocatalytic material activated by the ultraviolet light, the sterilization is performed by direct irradiation of the ultraviolet light near the ultraviolet lamp 310, the entire cyclone reactor 200 Through this, there is an advantage that a sufficient sterilization effect can be expected.

In addition, while the introduced air is rotated, contact and collision with the photocatalytic material 250 coated on the inner wall of the reactor body 220 are maintained for a sufficient time to maximize sterilization effect, and the contact is introduced by introducing an inclined plate 251. Since the time and the contact area can be sufficiently secured, the sterilization effect can be sufficiently obtained.

On the other hand, since the inner wall of the reactor body 220 is inclined in the vertical direction and the swirl flow is continuously passed, the cyclone reactor 200 does not directly accumulate bacteria and dust particles that have been successfully sterilized on the surface of the photocatalytic material 250. ) Will fall to the bottom.

Therefore, according to the present invention, compared to the conventional photocatalytic mesh filter, it is possible to significantly reduce the contamination of the photocatalytic material 250 due to the dust particles, thereby maintaining a continuous sterilization performance.

In addition, the air introduced into the cyclone reactor 200 or the air purified and discharged to the outside passes through the pretreatment filter 100 and the post-treatment filter unit 500, and particles introduced into the reactor are sterilized. By stacking the dust collector 600, it is possible to implement excellent air purification performance.

As described above, according to the present invention, not only the contaminated air can be sufficiently filtered using various filters to obtain clean air, but also the contact time between bacteria and the sterilizing substance and / or the ultraviolet light source is made using a cyclone-type fluid flow. There is an advantageous effect that it can increase and sterilize contaminated air efficiently.

In addition, the cyclone-type descending swirl flow and the rising air flow in the center, and the far part from the ultraviolet light source uses the sterilizing power of the photocatalytic material activated by the ultraviolet light source, and the rising air near the ultraviolet light source is the ultraviolet light source. By using the sterilizing force acting directly, there is an advantageous effect that the sterilization efficiency is excellent not only in the near part but also in the far part from the ultraviolet light source.

Furthermore, there is an advantageous effect that the life and sterilization efficiency of the photocatalytic material can be significantly increased by preventing contamination of the surface of the photocatalytic material by the swirling flow and gravity descending in the cyclone reactor.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to particular embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. I want to make it clear.

Claims (9)

A hollow cylindrical reactor body coated with a photocatalytic material on an inner wall thereof, an air inlet pipe connected in a tangential direction to the circumferential surface of the reactor body to create spiral swirl flow, and connected to and purified from the reactor body. A cyclone reactor having an air discharge pipe for discharging air and a contaminant discharge pipe for discharging contaminants dropped by its own weight; An ultraviolet lamp unit disposed in the center of the reactor body in a vertical direction and having an ultraviolet lamp for activating the photocatalyst material by supplying a light source to the photocatalyst material; Blowing means connected to an air inlet pipe or an air discharge pipe of the cyclone reactor to generate a flow of air; And A dust collector communicating with the pollutant discharge pipe to collect the pollutants; Air sterilization and purification apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, The reactor body is air sterilization device, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of inclined plate inclined downward on the inner wall. The method of claim 2, Air sterilization device characterized in that the surface of the inclined plate is coated with a photocatalytic material. The method of claim 1, A turning force generating means fixed to an inner surface of the cyclone reactor to make the air introduced from the air inlet pipe into a spiral air flow; Air sterilization device characterized in that it further comprises. The method according to claim 1 or 3, The photocatalyst material is an air disinfection device, characterized in that made of a material that can be activated by ultraviolet light such as titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO ₂ ). The method of claim 1, A pretreatment filter for filtering coarse particles in the contaminated air flowing into the air inlet pipe; Air sterilization device characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, A post-treatment filter unit which additionally filters the air discharged from the air discharge pipe; Air purification sterilization apparatus comprising a further. The method of claim 7, wherein The post-treatment filter unit air purifying sterilization device, characterized in that it comprises a HEPA (HEPA) filter. The method of claim 1, The air blowing sterilizing device is characterized in that it is operated to provide a rated air flow in the range of 1 to 20 m ³ / min.

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