JPH1111909A - Ozone generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an ozone generator capable of preventing a decrease in ozone generation efficiency due to generation of nitrogen oxides (particularly ammonium nitrate) and facilitating visual observation of discharge. SOLUTION: An insulating tubular body 1, terminals 3 and 4 respectively fixed to both ends of the tubular body 1, and one end is attached to the terminal 3 while being stretched inside the tubular body 1 and the other end. A metal wire (discharge side electric field forming electrode) 2 attached to the terminal 4, a non-discharge side electric field forming electrode 9 provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body 1,
A fluid control means is provided for switching air and water from one side (right side) to the other side (left side) of the cylindrical body 1. By periodically flowing water into the cylinder 1, the inside of the cylinder 1 is washed, the inner wall of the cylinder 1 is prevented from becoming cloudy, and a good ozone generation state is stably maintained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ozone generator used for purposes such as sterilization and deodorization.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ozone generator has, for example, a structure as shown in FIG. The ozone generator shown in FIG. 3 has an insulating cylindrical body 21 made of glass or the like, and a tube 2 which is stretched obliquely and linearly in the cylindrical body 21 and has flexible ends 2 at both ends.
3, a metal wire (discharge-side electric field forming electrode made of copper, iron, tungsten, etc.) 22 and a non-discharge-side electric field forming electrode (e.g. ). A lead wire 25 is connected to one end of the metal wire 22, and a lead wire 26 is connected to the non-discharge side electric field forming electrode 24.

In this ozone generator, when a high voltage is applied between the electrodes 22 and 24, ions are generated by discharge from the metal wire 22 in the cylinder 21 and the ions in the cylinder 21 come into contact with the air. Then, ozone is generated, and this ozone is taken out of the cylinder 21. Usually, when ozone is generated, air is supplied from one side of the cylinder 21 and ozone is recovered from the other side.

[0004]

However, as described above,
Ozone generators use ozone in the atmosphere as a raw material
When generating, the reaction between NO and ozone contained in the atmosphere
Nitrogen oxides (NO _X) Is produced and its nitrogen oxidation
Especially nitrates (ammonium nitrate: NH_FourNO _Three)When
And the inner wall of the cylinder 21 on the ozone outflow side is attached as cloudy
To wear. Ammonium nitrate adheres to the inner wall of the cylinder 21
Ion generation capacity is reduced, resulting in poor ozone generation efficiency.
It becomes. When the inner wall of the cylinder 21 becomes cloudy, the cylinder 21
As a result, it becomes difficult to see the discharge,
You will not be able to check the status of zoning.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and has been developed by using nitrogen oxides (particularly ammonium nitrate).
To prevent the ozone generation efficiency from decreasing due to the generation of
An object of the present invention is to provide an ozone generator in which discharge is easily visually observed.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ozone generator comprising: an insulating cylinder; terminals respectively fixed to both ends of the cylinder; A metal wire (discharge-side electric field forming electrode) having one end attached to one terminal and the other end attached to the other terminal, and a non-conductive member provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder. It is characterized by comprising an electric field forming electrode on the discharge side and fluid control means for switching air and water from one side to the other side of the cylinder to flow.

In this ozone generator, air and water are switched and flow into the cylinder by the fluid control means. That is,
When ozone is generated, air is sent from one side of the cylinder toward the other side, and the generated ozone is collected from the other side. When nitrogen oxides (especially ammonium nitrate) adhere to the inner wall on the other side of the cylinder in a cloudy state with the generation of ozone, water flows from one side of the cylinder to the other side. Since ammonium nitrate is water-soluble, it elutes in water and flows out from the other side, so that cloudiness on the inner wall of the cylinder can be removed. After the washing is completed, for example, air is flowed to dry the inside of the cylinder and the fluid path, and then discharge is started again to generate ozone.

[0008] Since it is not necessary to wash the water frequently,
What is necessary is just to let water flow into a cylinder for a fixed period at a fixed period. Also, the water flowed by the fluid control means is not only room temperature water,
Also includes cold and hot water. The ozone generator according to claim 5, the insulating transparent cylinder, the terminals respectively fixed to both ends of the cylinder, the tensioner is stretched inside the cylinder, and one end is attached to one terminal, The other end is provided with a metal wire (discharge-side electric field forming electrode) attached to the other terminal and a non-discharge-side electric field forming electrode made of a transparent conductive film provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body. And

In this ozone generator, since the cylindrical body and the electric field forming electrode (transparent conductive film) on the non-discharge side are transparent, the discharge in the cylindrical body can be visually observed and the state of ozone generation can be easily determined. Not only can it be confirmed, but the whitening of the inner wall of the cylinder can be visually recognized. In the present invention, the material of the insulating cylinder is not particularly limited as long as it is insulating (and preferably heat resistant), and examples thereof include glass (for example, Pyrex glass), quartz, ceramic, and plastic. You.
Further, it is preferable that the cylindrical body is transparent so that the generation state of ozone can be confirmed.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a partially broken longitudinal sectional view of the ozone generator according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. In this ozone generator, a metal wire 2 as an electric field forming electrode on the discharge side is linearly stretched in an insulating and transparent cylindrical body 1 made of the above-mentioned material. Here, the metal wire 2 may be the above-mentioned copper, iron, tungsten, or the like, but it is preferable to use tungsten that has been subjected to a special surface treatment.
This tungsten wire includes black tungsten wire, electro-polished tungsten wire, mirror-polished tungsten wire,
There is a tungsten oxide wire (black wire, electrolytic wire, mirror electrolytic wire), a gold-plated tungsten wire, and a platinum clad tungsten wire.

The black tungsten wire is obtained by attaching a carbon layer to the surface and smoothing the wire through a wire drawing die.
The electropolished tungsten wire is one in which the carbon layer and the oxide layer are removed by electrolytic polishing, the mirror-finished electropolished tungsten wire is one in which the dice mark on the wire surface is removed by strong electrolytic polishing, and the tungsten oxide wire is a normal processing. The wire is specially treated to form a thin oxide layer on the surface.A gold-plated tungsten wire is a 0.3-1.5 μm gold-plated tungsten wire that has been electropolished. The wire is a wire obtained by cladding 15 to 30 wt% of pure platinum on a tungsten wire and drawing.

At both ends of the cylindrical body 1, T-shaped terminals (connectors) 3, 4 made of, for example, stainless steel are locked. The terminal 3 is a thin plate and has a hole 3 a for attaching the metal wire 2. The terminal 4 has substantially the same shape as the terminal 3, and has a hole 4a for attaching the metal wire 2. Since the terminals 3 and 4 have a thin plate shape, even if they are attached to both ends of the cylindrical body 1, there is no problem in inflow of air and water into the cylindrical body 1 and outflow of ozone and water generated from the cylindrical body 1.

One end of a coil spring 5 as a tension member is locked in the hole 3a of the terminal 3, and the other end of the coil spring 5 is attached to one end of the metal wire 2 by soldering.
, One end of the metal wire 2 is attached to the terminal 3 via the coil spring 5. On the other hand, one end of a coil spring 7 as a tension member is similarly locked in the hole 4a of the terminal 4, and the other end of the coil spring 7 is locked by a metal fitting 8 attached to the other end of the metal wire 2 by soldering. Thereby, the other end of the metal wire 2 is attached to the terminal 4 via the coil spring 7. Therefore, the metal wire 2 is pulled from both ends by the coil springs 5 and 7 and is constantly urged to a tensioned state. In addition,
The tension member may be any member other than the coil spring, as long as it can maintain the metal wire 2 in a tensioned state and is not oxidized by ozone.

A non-discharge side electric field forming electrode 9 is provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body 1 over a range of length L in FIG. The electrode 9 is a tubular body made of, for example, a copper plate as in the related art, and the copper plate may be wound around the outer periphery of the cylindrical body 1 and fixed. preferable. In this case, since the conductive film is transparent, it is preferable that the cylindrical body 1 is also transparent as described above.

As the transparent conductive film provided on the cylindrical body 1, for example, trade name: SP-2001, manufactured by Colcoat Co., Ltd.
It is preferable to use SP-2002. This SP-200
1. SP-2002 is an extremely stable aqueous solution containing ultra-fine particles of a conductive metal oxide. This aqueous solution is applied to a base material to form a conductive thin film, and the electric insulating material is subjected to a conductive treatment. be able to. By the way, SP-200
1. The composition of SP-2002 is as shown below.

SP-2001 SP-2002 Resin-based olefin polyester Active ingredient (%) 25 25 PH 9.3 5.5 Solvent Water Water As a method for forming SP-2001 and SP-2002 on a conductive film, a usual coating method is used. Any of spin coating, spray coating, gravure roll coating, reverse roll coating, brush coating, dip coating, and the like may be appropriately selected according to the shape, size, and surface state of the cylindrical body 1. The transparent conductive film preferably has good thermal conductivity in consideration of the following cooling fins 10.

In this embodiment, a cooling fin 10 as a heat radiating member is mounted on the non-discharge side electrode 9 (ie, the transparent conductive film) on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body 1. Here, eleven cooling fins 10 are attached at equal intervals, but this is merely an example, and various forms are conceivable. For example, the shape of the cooling fin 10 itself may be any shape, such as a circular shape or a rectangular shape, as long as the heat dissipation area can be increased and heat dissipation can be performed efficiently. The heat generated by the discharge is transmitted from the cylindrical body 1 to the cooling fins 10 through the electrodes 9 and is radiated from the cooling fins 10 into the air.

Further, a lead wire 11 is connected to the electrode 9 on the non-discharge side.
Are connected by soldering. Although a lead wire is not shown in the terminal 3 or 4 connected to the metal wire 2 which is an electrode on the discharge side, a lead wire may be connected to the terminal 4 by soldering, for example. On the other hand, the fluid control means for switching the air and the water to flow from one side (here, the right side in the drawing) of the cylindrical body 1 to the other side (the left side) has a configuration as shown in this embodiment. That is, supports 12 and 13 each having a three-way valve function are hermetically attached to the right end and the left end of the cylindrical body 1 by screws or the like.
By switching the valve No. 3, air or water is caused to flow into the cylinder 1. An elbow 14 is attached to a first flow path (for example, a water flow path) of the support 12, and a pipe (or tube) 15 is connected to the elbow 14. Second
Although nothing is shown in the figure, a pipe or the like is connected to the flow path (air flow path) 16. Similarly, an elbow 17 is attached to the first flow path (water flow path) of the support 13, and a pipe (or tube) 18 is connected to the elbow 17.
A pipe or the like (not shown) is provided in the second flow path (air flow path) 19.
Are linked.

The water for washing includes pipe 15, elbow 14,
Flow in the order of the cylinder 1, the elbow 17, and the pipe 18 (arrows A,
C), the air flows in the order of the flow path 16, the cylindrical body 1, and the flow path 19 (see arrows B and D). The switching between the inflow and outflow of water and air is automatically performed by switching the valves of the supports 12 and 13. Further, since it is not necessary to wash the water frequently, the water may be caused to flow through the cylindrical body 1 for a certain period of time at a certain period, for example, the water may be washed only once an hour. That is, after continuously generating ozone for 55 minutes, 5
Rinse for minutes. However, after washing with water, it is preferable to start discharge after drying the inside of the cylindrical body 1 by sending air.

In the ozone generator configured as described above, while the air is fed into the cylindrical body 1 through the flow path 16 by the fluid control means, the gap between the metal wire (discharge side electrode) 2 and the non-discharge side electrode 9 is increased. High voltage (for example, 7 to 10K at 25KHz)
When V) is applied, ions are generated in the cylinder 1 by the discharge from the metal wire 2, and the air in the cylinder 1 comes into contact with the ions to generate ozone. The generated ozone is collected together with air from the left side of the cylinder 1 through the flow path 19 and used for a desired application.

With the generation of ozone, the inner wall of the cylinder 1 (particularly, the inner wall on the left side of the cylinder 1 because air flows from the right side to the left side), as described above, contains NO and ozone in the atmosphere during discharge. The reaction causes nitrogen oxides (particularly ammonium nitrate) to adhere as turbidity. However, when the discharge is performed for a certain period of time, after the application of the high voltage and the sending of the air are temporarily stopped, the water is flowed into the cylinder 1, so that the ammonium nitrate attached to the inner wall of the cylinder 1 is dissolved in the water, It flows outside body 1. Therefore, the inner wall of the cylinder 1 is cleaned, and the transparency of the cylinder 1 returns to the original state.

Next, air is sent into the cylinder 1 and the interior of the cylinder 1 is dried. After that, a high voltage is applied again between the metal wire 2 and the electrode 9, and the generation of ozone is started.
Here, since the inside of the cylindrical body 1 is washed by water washing, the ability to generate ions does not decrease, and a good ozone generation state is stably maintained. On the other hand, since the cylinder 1 is transparent and the conductive film serving as the electrode 9 is also transparent, the discharge generated in the cylinder 1 can be visually observed. Also, since the inside of the cylinder 1 can be visually checked,
The white turbidity of the inner wall can also be easily visually recognized, and the switching between air and water may be manually performed arbitrarily by using this.

On the other hand, depending on the material of the metal wire 2, the temperature of the metal wire 2 becomes high when ozone is generated, and its length increases due to thermal expansion. However, since the metal wire 2 is pulled from both ends by the coil springs 5 and 7, the extension is absorbed by the coil springs 5 and 7 and the metal wire 2 maintains a tensioned state without sagging. Accordingly, the ion generating ability does not decrease due to the slack of the metal wire 2 and ozone is always generated stably. In addition, when the temperature changes, the metal wire 2 expands and contracts, and the wire 2 becomes tensed or loosened. In addition, the degree of loosening becomes large or small even in the relaxed state, and the generation of ozone becomes unstable. However, since the metal wire 2 is always in a tensioned state by the coil springs 5 and 7,
This does not occur, and ozone is generated stably.

Further, the temperature of the cylinder 1 becomes high at the time of discharge, but this heat is radiated from the cooling fins 10 through the electrodes 9 (transparent conductive film), so that the heat radiation of the cylinder 1 is good. In the above embodiment, the supports 12 and 13 having the three-way valve function are used as the fluid control means.
A pipe (or tube) may be directly connected to each end of the cylindrical body 1, and air or water switched by a separately provided switching valve or the like may flow through the cylindrical body 1. In addition, water flows in the flow paths of arrows A and C, and air flows in the flow paths of arrows B and D. However, water flows in the flow paths of arrows B and D, and air flows in the flow paths of arrows A and C. You may make it flow. Alternatively, the air and water are made to flow from the right side to the left side in the figure, but may flow from the left side to the right side.

In the above embodiment, both ends of the metal wire 2 are attached to the terminals 3 and 4 via the coil springs 5 and 7, however, only one end may be attached to the terminal via the coil spring. Further, the shapes of the terminals 3 and 4, the connection between the one end of the metal wire 2 and the terminal 3, the connection between the other end of the metal wire 2 and the terminal 4, and the like are not limited to those illustrated. .

[0026]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since water is caused to flow into the cylinder by the fluid control means, the reaction between NO in the atmosphere and ozone at the time of discharge causes the inner wall of the cylinder to flow. Nitrogen oxides (especially ammonium nitrate) adhering to the surface of the cylinder as water turbidity are washed with water, thereby preventing clouding in the cylinder. As a result, the ability to generate ions does not decrease, and a good ozone generation state can be stably maintained.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the metal wire is maintained in a tensioned state by the tension member, even if the length of the metal wire increases due to thermal expansion due to high temperature during generation of ozone, the metal wire is not relaxed. First, stay nervous. Therefore, the generation capacity of ions does not decrease, and the generation of ozone is stabilized. Further, even if the temperature changes, the tension of the metal wire is maintained, so that ozone is generated stably.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, heat generated when ozone is generated is efficiently radiated by the heat radiating member. According to the invention of claim 5, since the cylindrical body and the electric field forming electrode (transparent conductive film) on the non-discharge side are transparent, the discharge in the cylindrical body can be visually observed, and the generation state of ozone can be easily determined. Not only can it be confirmed, but the whitening of the inner wall of the cylinder can be visually recognized, and the frequency and time of water washing can be arbitrarily adjusted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken longitudinal sectional view of an ozone generator according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the ozone generator.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an ozone generator according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cylindrical body 2 Metal wire (discharge side electric field formation electrode) 3, 4 Terminals 5, 7 Coil spring (tensile member) 9 Non-discharge side electric field formation electrode 10 Cooling fin (radiation member) 12, 13 Support

Claims (5)

[Claims] An insulative tubular body, terminals respectively fixed to both ends of the tubular body, and stretched inside the tubular body, one end of which is attached to one terminal and the other end of which is connected to the other terminal. An attached metal wire (discharge side electric field forming electrode), a non-discharge side electric field forming electrode provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder, and air and water being switched from one side to the other side of the cylinder. An ozone generator comprising: a fluid control unit. 2. The ozone generator according to claim 1, wherein said fluid control means causes water to flow through the cylinder at a constant cycle for a fixed time. 3. The ozone generator according to claim 1, wherein at least one end of said metal wire is attached to a terminal via a tension member. 4. The ozone generator according to claim 1, wherein a heat radiating member is provided on an outer periphery of said cylindrical body. 5. An insulative transparent cylindrical body, terminals respectively fixed to both ends of the cylindrical body, and stretched inside the cylindrical body, one end of which is attached to one terminal and the other end of which is the other. An ozone generator comprising: a metal wire (discharge-side electric field forming electrode) attached to a terminal; and a non-discharge-side electric field forming electrode formed of a transparent conductive film provided on an outer periphery of a cylindrical body. .