JPH0994427A - Air cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air cleaner capable of efficiently purifying the indoor air. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a gas sensor 11 for detecting the contamination of the indoor air, a storing means 13 for storing the specified data, and a switching level updating means 14 for updating a reference level based on the output of the gas sensor 11 and also narrowing the deviation, when the distance between the specific data of the storing means 13 and the reference level is large, and broadening the deviation, when the distance is small to change the switching level, thus the device reacts sensitively to the contamination of the indoor air, even when the output of the gas sensor 11 is high, and the operation can be started.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air purifier that reacts sensitively to dirt in room air and automatically operates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional air purifiers of this type are known to operate as shown in FIG. That is, for example, in addition to the reference level G, a low level L with a small degree of dirt, a medium level M with a medium dirt level, and a high level H with a severe dirt level are set. When the indoor air becomes dirty due to smoking or the like and the gas sensor output reaches the low level L, the fan is started with a weak air volume. Then, as the output rises to the medium level M and the high level H, the fan also changes to the medium air volume and the strong air volume to purify the indoor air. After that, the fan air volume decreases in accordance with the purification, and the fan is operated for a predetermined time and then stopped.

After stopping, a new reference level G is set on the basis of the output of the gas sensor at that time, and the switching level is also shifted to match this. Then, the fan starts when the output reaches the low level L again, and the same operation as described above is repeated.

[0004]

By the way, in the gas sensor described above, the output greatly changes when the degree of dirt is small as shown in FIG. 6, and the output changes little when the dirt is severe. That is, the gas sensor has a characteristic that its sensitivity decreases as the contamination of indoor air progresses. Furthermore, even if the switching level of the conventional air cleaner shifts up or down,
The deviations from the reference level G to the low level L and from the low level L to the intermediate level M were all unchanged.

Taking these into consideration, when the operation is stopped because the indoor air is not sufficiently removed, or when the gas component which is not removed by the equipment reacts with the gas sensor and the output does not drop, the sensitivity is low, and therefore the contamination is lower than this. Unless the condition progresses significantly, the operation cannot be started, and even after the operation is started, the air volume does not switch to medium air volume or strong air volume. Therefore, there are problems that the purification of the indoor air is delayed and the purification is not sufficiently performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an air purifier capable of efficiently purifying indoor air by reacting sensitively to dirt in the indoor air. It is in.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a gas sensor for detecting the degree of contamination of indoor air, a storage means for storing at least predetermined data, and a reference level based on the output of the gas sensor. With updating
When the deviation between the predetermined data in the storage means and the reference level is large, the deviation is narrowed, and when the deviation is small, the deviation is widened and the switching level is updated to update the switching level, and the fan is controlled based on the output of the switching level and the gas sensor. And a control means for controlling.

[0008]

With the above configuration, when the output of the gas sensor is high, the deviation of the switching level is set to be narrow, so it is possible to start operation by reacting sensitively to the dirt in the indoor air, and the fan air volume can also be swiftly increased. Will be able to move to.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a casing, which is provided with an intake port 2 for taking in indoor air on the front surface and an exhaust port 3 for the upper part. Reference numeral 4 denotes a dust collecting mechanism provided adjacent to the downstream side of the intake 2, and a dust collecting electrode 5 provided in parallel at a predetermined interval and a discharge electrode held at an intermediate position of the dust collecting electrode 5. It consists of 6. A fan 7 is provided in the air guide body 8 that communicates with the discharge port 3, and is driven by the motor 9.

Reference numeral 10 is a high-voltage generator for applying a high DC voltage between the electrodes of the dust collecting mechanism 4, and 11 is a gas sensor for detecting the degree of contamination of the indoor air. The gas sensor 11 here uses a semiconductor gas sensor that reacts particularly with hydrogen and carbon monoxide, mainly for the purpose of removing cigarette smoke. Reference numeral 12 is a control board, which updates the reference level G based on the output of the storage means 13 for storing at least the predetermined data and the gas sensor 11, and when the difference between the predetermined data in the storage means 13 and the reference level G is large. Various means such as a switching level updating means 14 for updating the switching level by widening the deviation when the deviation is narrow and a small distance and a control means 15 for controlling the motor 9 based on the output of the switching level and the gas sensor 11 are configured. ing. The predetermined data in the storage means 13 corresponds to a level on the clean side of the assumed reference level G.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. The switching level updating means 14 is provided for the gas sensor 11 while the operation is stopped.
The reference level G is sequentially updated only when the output of the output signal is decreasing. That is, to explain with reference to FIG. 3, a new reference level G is set because there is a tendency to decrease between A and B, and there is no change between B and C with the reference level G at the time point B remaining unchanged.
During the second period, the reference level G is newly set again.

In addition to such updating, the switching level is also updated based on the reference level G. In a specific example, when the gap between the predetermined data in the storage means 13 and the reference level G is large, the gas sensor sensitivity is low, so that the deviation of the switching level is narrowed and the gap is reversed as shown in part c of FIG. When small,
The switching level is updated by widening the deviation as shown in FIG. When determining the deviation, a method of setting the deviation from the distance or a method of setting the ratio based on the distance and then multiplying the reference level G by this ratio to obtain the deviation is used. It

Now, if smoking is performed while the switching level as shown in part a of FIG. 4 is set, hydrogen and carbon monoxide will increase in the room, so the gas sensor 1 will gradually increase.
The output of 1 rises. Then, when the low level L is finally reached, the fan 7 is started by the control means 15 with a weak rotation, and the dust collection mechanism 4 functions by the output of the high pressure generator 10. Therefore, the malodorous components flowing in through the intake port 2 are removed by the dust collecting mechanism 4, and clean air is exhausted through the exhaust port 3. After the operation is started, as the output of the gas sensor 7 rises to the medium level M and the high level H, the air volume of the fan 7 also increases and the indoor air is gradually purified.

If the output of the gas sensor 7 stops increasing due to the purification of the indoor air, a predetermined time (for example, 4
The operation stops after 0 minutes. This is because gases such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide that react with the gas sensor 7 are not removed by the dust collection mechanism 4, so even if the malodorous components contained in the smoke are removed, the output does not drop and the operation may continue for a long time. Because there is.

When the reference level G is at a high level after the operation is stopped, a switching level with a narrow deviation is set as shown in part b of FIG. Therefore, when smoking is performed again, even if the sensitivity of the gas sensor 7 is low, the low level L
Then, the middle level M and the high level H can be quickly reached. That is, the problem of delaying purification of indoor air, which is a conventional defect, is solved.

On the other hand, for example, when ventilation is performed and the reference level G is suddenly lowered as shown in part d of FIG. 4, a switching level having a wide deviation is set. Even if the deviation is widened in this way, since the sensitivity of the gas sensor 7 is sufficiently high on the clean side, there is no delay in the start of operation or the increase in the fan air flow.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the gas sensor 7 is described as reacting with hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Of course, the present invention is not limited to this. Also,
There are three switching levels: low level L, medium level M, and high level H.
Although explained in stages, it goes without saying that any number of stages is acceptable as long as it is plural.

[0018]

As described above, since the deviation of the switching level is set to be narrow when the output of the gas sensor is high, the air purifier of the present invention starts the operation by reacting sensitively to dirt in the room air. Since the fan air volume also rapidly shifts to a strong air volume, it is possible to provide a high-performance air purifier that can efficiently purify indoor air.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an air cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of an air cleaner of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating updating of a reference level.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an output of the gas sensor of the present invention and a switching level.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an output of a conventional gas sensor and a switching level.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the sensitivity of a gas sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Fan 11 Gas Sensor 13 Storage Means 14 Switching Level Updating Means 15 Control Means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gas sensor for detecting the degree of contamination of indoor air, a storage means for storing at least predetermined data, and a reference level updated based on the output of the gas sensor.
When the deviation between the predetermined data in the storage means and the reference level is large, the deviation is narrowed, and when the deviation is small, the deviation is widened and the switching level is updated to update the switching level, and the fan is controlled based on the output of the switching level and the gas sensor. An air purifier having control means for controlling.