JPH0518629B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field Subject to the Invention] This invention relates to an electronic air cleaner.
In particular, it concerns the improvement of discharge sound during dust collection operation.

[Prior art]

In general, this type of electronic air cleaner basically consists of an ionization section 2 and a dust collection section 3, as shown in Figure 3.
It consists of

The ionization section 2 is composed of plate-shaped electrode plates 5, 5 arranged in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval, and a linear positive electrode 6 located between these electrode plates. 6 is linear, so the surrounding potential gradient becomes large. As a result, electrodes 5, 6
When a high voltage is applied between them, a corona discharge occurs near the positive electrode 6.

On the other hand, electrons that are randomly present in the air are subjected to force and accelerated in the direction of the ionizer line, which is the positive electrode, due to the high voltage gradient. These accelerated electrons collide with air molecules as they travel to the ionizer line, thereby ejecting the electrons from the air molecules and positively ionizing them. The electrons ejected from the air molecules then collide with other air molecules. In this way, when the airflow passes through the ionization section 2, a huge amount of positive ions are generated. These positive ions collide with particles, or dust, in the airflow,
Become one with that particle. This causes the particle to have a positive charge.

These positively charged particles are then sent to a dust collection section. In this dust collecting section, a plurality of metal plates are arranged in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval, and a positive high voltage is applied to every other metal plate. As a result, a uniform electric field is formed between each metal plate. When positively charged dust in this electric field enters, it is attracted to and comes into contact with the metal plate that forms the negative electrode within the metal plate. The dust that comes into contact with the negatively charged metal plate loses its positive charge, but after that the bond is maintained by the intermolecular force between the metal plate and the dust. Dust is collected through this process.

[Problems to be solved by this invention]

However, when the amount of dust that accumulates on the surface of the metal plate exceeds a certain level, the distance between the metal plates becomes narrower.
When new dust enters between the metal plates, an electric discharge occurs, and the electric discharge is accompanied by a strong impact sound, especially giving the user a sense of fear.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention takes into consideration the problems of the prior art, and is designed to:
The purpose is to attenuate impact noise caused by discharge between electrodes.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the object, this invention detects the leakage current between the electrodes that occurs as the amount of collected dust increases, and reduces the voltage applied between the electrodes in inverse proportion to this leakage current. This weakens the discharge between the electrodes and reduces the unpleasant noise caused by this discharge.At the same time, the display section indicates when the amount of accumulated dust has reached a predetermined value.

〔Example〕

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

That is, in an air passage 1 shown in FIG. 1, an ionization section 2 and a dust collection section 3 are arranged. The ionization section 2 is composed of first electrodes 5, 5 facing each other and a second electrode 6 located between these electrodes, and this electrode is connected to a high voltage generation section 7. Note that this high voltage generating section can be constituted by a well-known switching regulator type high voltage generator used in high voltage generators such as televisions.

Further, the dust collecting section 3 is located at the rear stage in the air passage 1, and the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 facing each other are connected to the high voltage generating section 7. This high voltage generator is connected to an AC power source 10. Further, a leak current detection section 11 is connected between the high voltage generation section 7 and the dust collection section 3. This leakage current detection section detects the leakage current flowing between the dust collection electrodes 9, 9 of the dust collection section 3. Furthermore, the output end of this leakage current detection section is connected to a reference power supply 12 that generates a reference voltage for the high voltage generation section 7. As is well known, this reference power supply is used to switch the high voltage generation circuit 7 with a certain threshold value by feeding back the output voltage of the high voltage generation section 7. It is also controlled by the output. That is, the output voltage of the high voltage generating section 7 is controlled by the output of the leakage current detecting section 11, and thereby the voltage between the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 is changed. The voltage between the dust collecting electrodes is controlled so as to be approximately inversely proportional to the increase in the amount of dust 13 accumulated between the electrodes. That is, as the amount of accumulated dust 13 increases, the voltage applied to the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 decreases.

In addition, the output end of the leakage current detection unit 11 indicates that the amount of dust 13 accumulated between the dust collection electrodes 9 has reached a predetermined value and that it is time to clean the dust collection electrodes 9. A display unit 15 is connected to the display unit 15.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the amount of dust 13 accumulated between the dust collecting electrodes 9 and the voltage applied between the dust collecting electrodes 9. In this figure, the voltage applied between the dust collection electrodes 9 and 9 is initially E ₁ , and the dust 1
3, that is, the amount of collected dust is between 0 and _Q1 , the value of _E1 is supplied as the specified voltage region. Further, when the amount of dust collected between the dust collection electrodes 9 increases, a leakage current flows through the dust 13 between the electrodes.
This leak current is detected by the leak current detection section 11 as described above. Then, this leakage current detection section outputs a detection signal to the reference power supply 12. This reference power source controls the high voltage generator 7 so as to generate a voltage that is approximately inversely proportional to the leakage current.
That is, when the amount of collected dust is between _Q1 and _Q2 , the voltage applied to the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 gradually decreases from _E1 to _E2 in the proportional region. This value remains almost constant even if the amount of collected dust increases from Q ₂ to Q ₃ . This is because when the applied voltage is lowered further than E ₂ , the dust collection ability decreases. Therefore, when the amount of collected dust reaches Q ₂ , that is, the applied voltage reaches E ₂ , the display section 15 is activated to display the dirt on the dust collection cell including the dust collection electrodes 9 , 9 . By cleaning the collection cell at this point, it can be reapplied to full voltage.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention has the leakage current detection section 11 as described above.
detects the leakage current between the dust collection electrodes 9, 9, controls the reference voltage of the high voltage generator 7 based on the output of the detection part, and when the leakage current reaches a predetermined value, the dust collection electrodes 9, 9 Since the voltage applied between them is reduced in almost inverse proportion to the leakage current, it is possible to prevent unpleasant impact noise from occurring during the dust collection operation, and furthermore, the display unit 15 indicates that the amount of collected dust has reached a predetermined value. The amount reached is displayed, so you can know when it is time to clean the air cleaner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the electronic air cleaner according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between applied voltage and amount of dust collected, and Fig. 3 is a basic diagram of the electronic air cleaner. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Air passage, 2... Ionization part, 3... Dust collection part, 5... First electrode plate, 6... Second electrode,
7... High voltage generation section, 9... Dust collection electrode, 10...
AC power supply, 11... Leak current detection section, 12...
Reference power supply, 13...Dust, 15...Display section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Consisting of an ionization section 2 disposed in an air passage and ionizing dust in the air, and dust collection electrodes 9 connected to a high voltage generation section 7, this ionization section is installed at a stage subsequent to the ionization section 2. and a leakage current detection section 11 that detects leakage current between the dust collection electrodes 9, 9, and a leakage current detection section 11 that is activated by the output of this detection section. , a display section 15 for displaying that the amount of dust accumulated between the dust collection electrodes 9 has reached a predetermined value, and the reference voltage of the high voltage generation section 7 is determined by the leakage current detection section 11. The voltage applied between the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 by the high voltage generating section 7 is reduced in approximately inverse proportion to the leakage current, and at the same time, the voltage applied between the dust collecting electrodes 9, 9 is controlled by the display section 15. An electronic air cleaner characterized by displaying the cleaning time.