JP4492386B2 - Ion generator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ion generator for supplying and attaching ions to an object to be adhered such as hair.

  Some portable beauty devices used for hair care such as hair dryers, brushes, and irons have an ion generation unit that generates negative ions, as shown in Patent Document 1, for example. The ion generation unit includes a discharge electrode, a counter electrode opposite to the discharge electrode, and a voltage application unit. A voltage is applied between the discharge electrode and the counter electrode by the voltage application unit to generate a corona discharge and generate negative ions. Can be generated. This product can be attached to the hair that tends to be positively charged by drying by spraying negative ions of the opposite polarity having moisture generated in the ion generating part. The rate can be kept high, the hair can be moist and smooth, and the hair quality can be improved.

By the way, in the ion generating device such as a portable beauty device including the ion generating unit of Patent Document 1, the ion generating unit is controlled based on a preset control. Therefore, the ion generation part cannot be controlled according to the amount of charge of the hair, and the discharged amount of the hair is repelled from the ions previously attached to the hair, making it difficult to adhere. Despite the fact that a large amount of ions are supplied to the hair from the ion generation part, or a small amount of ions are supplied from the ion generation part even though the charge amount of the hair is small, the ions are efficiently supplied to the hair. There is a problem that the hair cannot be formed or the charge amount of the hair becomes too large and ions attached to the hair repel each other and the hair spreads.
JP 2004-55351 A

  The present invention has been invented in view of the above-described conventional problems, and can appropriately control the ion generation unit according to the charge amount of the attached object to which ions are attached, so that ions can be efficiently applied to the attached object. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ion generating apparatus that can supply the charge amount of the object to be deposited and can set the charge amount of the object to be adhered to a desired charge amount.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the ion generator according to the present invention applies a voltage of one polarity between the discharge electrode 18, the counter electrode 19 facing the discharge electrode 18, and the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19. An ion generator 14 having a voltage application unit 20 for generating a charge is provided, and an ion generator that supplies and adheres ions generated by the ion generator 14 to an object to be adhered is measured. a charge amount detection portion 29 of the contact type for detecting the charge amount Te, the control unit 27 for controlling the ion generating unit 14 is provided on the basis of the detection result of the charging amount detecting section 29, the control unit 27, attachment target When the charge amount of the battery is larger than the first predetermined value, the applied voltage of the voltage application unit 20 is switched to the low level voltage value VOL, and the charge amount of the object to be attached is smaller than the first predetermined value. Two predetermined values Characterized in that when also becomes small is intended to switch the voltage applied to the voltage applying unit 20 to a high level voltage value VOH. As described above, by controlling the ion generation unit 14 based on the detection result of the charge amount detection unit 29 by the control unit 27, appropriate control of the ion generation unit 14 according to the charge amount of the attached object can be realized.

The ion generation unit 14 includes a liquid supply unit that supplies a liquid to the discharge electrode 18, and is supplied to the discharge electrode 18 by applying a voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 by the voltage application unit 20. The electrostatic atomizer 15 which produces | generates ion mist by electrostatic atomizing a liquid may be sufficient. Ion mist generated by electrostatic atomization having good diffusibility, high permeability to the object to be adhered, and deodorizing effect can be adhered to the object to be deposited. Further, since the electrostatic atomizer 15 can be controlled by the control unit 27 based on the detection result of the charge amount detection unit 29, for example, when the charge amount of the attached object is large, the generation amount of ion mist can be suppressed, In this case, the service life of devices such as electrodes can be extended, and the trouble of refilling the liquid tank can be reduced.
The voltage application unit 20 preferably applies a voltage that generates negative ions between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19.

  In the present invention, the ion generation unit can be controlled in accordance with the charge amount of the object to be attached, and ions can be efficiently supplied to the object to be attached, and the charge amount of the object to be attached can be set to a desired charge amount.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, an example in which the technology of the present invention is applied to a hair dryer is shown. However, the ion generator is not limited to this, and is a portable beauty device such as a brush or an iron. Also good.

  The hair dryer 1 shown in FIG.1 and FIG.2 has comprised the main body with the main body part 4 of the substantially horizontal cylinder shape which formed the suction inlet 2 in the end of a longitudinal direction, and formed the blower outlet 3 in the other end. In the following, one end side in which the suction port 2 in the longitudinal direction of the main body part 4 is provided is referred to as the front side a, the other end side in which the air outlet 3 is provided is referred to as the rear side b, and one direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the main body part 4 is provided. In the following description, the lower side C and the opposite side are defined as the upper side D.

  The main body portion 4 is a cylindrical portion 5 having a front portion formed in a cylindrical shape, and a rear portion is a spherical portion 6 formed in a substantially spherical shape. The cylindrical portion 5 is a central portion of the front surface of the spherical portion 6. Projecting forward from the front.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an air flow path 7 that connects the suction port 2 and the air outlet 3 to each other is formed inside the main body 4. The air flow path 7 includes an upstream portion formed by a space portion formed inside the spherical portion 6 and a downstream portion formed by a space portion formed inside the cylindrical portion 5.

  An air blowing unit 12 including a fan is provided in the upstream portion of the air flow path 7. By driving the air blowing unit 12, air outside the main body unit 4 can be sucked from the suction port 2 and blown forward from the air outlet 3. It is like that. In addition, a heating unit 13 including a heater for heating the air in the flow channel is provided in the downstream portion of the air flow channel 7, and the air heated by the heating unit 13 by operating the heating unit 13 and the air blowing unit 12 at the same time. Can be blown out as hot air from the air outlet 3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a grip portion 23 is integrally projected from the spherical portion 6 of the main body portion 4 toward the lower side, and a power switch 24 is provided on the grip portion 23. By operating the power switch 24 to “ON”, the air blowing unit 12 and the heating unit 13 are simultaneously operated as described above so that warm air can be blown out from the air outlet 3.

  The main body 4 of the hair dryer 1 is provided with an ion generator 14 that generates ions. The ion generators 14 are positioned on the left and right outer sides of the air flow path 7, that is, the ion generators 14 are provided at two locations with a gap in the circumferential direction of the main body 4. The ion generator 14 includes an electrostatic atomizer 15 that electrostatically atomizes a liquid (water in this example) to generate negatively charged ion mist (charged fine particle water). Detailed description.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electrostatic atomizer 15 includes a liquid tank 17 for storing the liquid to be atomized, a discharge electrode 18 made of a rod-shaped porous ceramic long before and after the tip (front end) is pointed like a needle. A voltage application comprising a counter electrode 19 positioned in front of the discharge electrode 18 at a predetermined interval and facing the tip of the discharge electrode 18, and a high voltage generating circuit for applying a high voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 Part 20.

  The discharge electrode 18 is held in the liquid tank 17 while being inserted into the liquid tank 17 so that the base end side is in contact with the liquid stored in the liquid tank 17, whereby the liquid in the liquid tank 17 is removed from the porous ceramic. The discharge electrode 18 can be transported to the discharge portion 21 which is the tip of the discharge electrode 18 by the force of the capillary action of the discharge electrode 18. That is, in this example, the liquid tank 17 is a liquid supply means for supplying a liquid to the discharge electrode 18. The counter electrode 19 is formed with a hole 25 that opens forward in the center of the front view. The counter electrode 19 and the liquid tank 17 are respectively held at the front end and the rear end of the case 26 disposed in the cold air flow path 10.

  The voltage application unit 20 is electrically connected to the control unit 27, and the control unit 27 can switch whether the voltage application unit 20 applies a voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19. When a voltage is applied between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 by the voltage application unit 20, the discharge electrode 18 side becomes a negative electrode, and charges are concentrated on the discharge unit 21 of the discharge electrode 18, thereby supplying from the liquid tank 17. The liquid held in the discharge part 21 of the discharge electrode 18 jumps out toward the counter electrode 19 and repeats Rayleigh splitting while drifting in a high electric field in the air, and finally the ion mist having a nanometer size particle size As a result, an electrostatic atomization phenomenon occurs, and ion mist is blown out from the hole 25 of the counter electrode 19 toward the front of the main body 4. The presence or absence of voltage application by the voltage application unit 20 is switched in conjunction with the operation of the power switch 24 described above. That is, when the power switch 24 is set to “ON”, the blower unit 12 and the heating unit 13 is operated and hot air is blown out from the blower outlet 3, and at the same time, ion mist generated by each electrostatic atomizer 15 is attracted to the wind blown out from the blower outlet 3 and blown out. The ion mist blown out on the body can be supplied to the object to be attached and attached to the object to be attached such as human hair.

  In the front portion of the spherical portion 6 of the main body portion 4 of the hair dryer 1 (that is, the surface facing the ion mist emission direction of the hair dryer 1), the hair is positioned at a position immediately above the cylindrical portion 5 in front view. A charge amount detection unit 29 is provided for detecting the charge amount of the object to be attached made up of and the like. The charge amount detection unit 29 is a non-contact type that induces and outputs a static voltage based on the same principle as the electrostatic induction of a general capacitor, and the output voltage increases as the charge amount of the attached object to be detected increases. It has the property to become high. The spherical portion 6 of the main body 4 is provided with a notification unit 11 including a notification buzzer. The notification unit 11 and the above-described charge amount detection unit 29 are electrically connected to the control unit 27.

Then, the control unit 27 is set to control each of the voltage application unit 20 and the notification unit 11 of the electrostatic atomizer 15 based on the output that is the detection result detected by the charge amount detection unit 29 as shown in FIG. Has been. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 27 applies a voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 continuously from the voltage application unit 20 when the power switch 24 is in the “ON” state. When the power switch 24 is changed from “OFF” to “ON”, the applied voltage of the voltage application unit 20 is set to the high level voltage value VOH, and the ion mist generation amount per unit time is set to a predetermined value. Charging amount of attachment target to continue this state is gradually increased, until the output voltage of the charge amount detection portion 29 is set in advance the charge amount of attachment target becomes more than the first predetermined value The high level is higher than the predetermined value VIH. Thus, when the output voltage of the charge amount detection unit 29 becomes higher than the high level predetermined value VIH, the control unit 27 sets the applied voltage of the voltage application unit 20 to a preset low low level voltage value VOL (high The value is lower than the level voltage value VOH), the amount of ion mist generated per unit time is reduced, and at the same time, a sound is emitted from the notification unit 11, and the charge amount of the object to be adhered to the user is greater than the predetermined amount. Inform you. If this state is continued, the charge amount of the attached object gradually decreases, and finally, the charge amount of the attached object becomes smaller than the second predetermined value, and the output voltage of the charge amount detecting unit 29 is set in advance. It is lower than the low level predetermined value VIL (a value lower than the high level predetermined value VIH). When the output voltage of the charge amount detection unit 29 becomes lower than the low level predetermined value VIL in this way, the control unit 27 switches the applied voltage of the voltage application unit 20 to the high level voltage value VOH again, and unit time Increase the amount of ion mist generated per hit. Thereafter, the same control is repeated, and when the power switch 24 is switched to “OFF”, the voltage application unit 20 stops applying the voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19. The notification by the notification unit 11 may be performed only for a certain time from the start of notification, or when the output voltage of the charge amount detection unit 29 is lower than the low level predetermined value VIL or the high level predetermined value VIH after the notification start. You may go up.

  In this way, the control unit 27 generates the amount of ion mist per unit time generated by the electrostatic atomizer 15 so that the charge amount of the attached object becomes constant based on the detection result detected by the charge amount detection unit 29. Can be automatically controlled, whereby the charge amount of the object to be adhered can be kept constant within a predetermined range. Therefore, a large amount of ions from the electrostatic atomizer 15 is generated despite the fact that the ion mist released due to the large amount of charge of the object to be adhered repels the ion mist adhering to the object to be adhered earlier and is difficult to adhere. It is possible to prevent the mist from being supplied to the hair, and conversely, only a small amount of ion mist can be supplied from the electrostatic atomizer 15 even though the charged amount of the attached object is small. The ion mist can be efficiently supplied from the apparatus 15 to the object to be adhered. In addition, when the charge amount of the object to be attached is large as described above, the generation amount of ion mist is suppressed, so that the life of devices such as electrodes is extended, and the trouble of replenishing liquid to the liquid tank 17 is reduced. Further, by controlling the electrostatic atomizer 15 based on the detection result of the charge amount detection unit 29, the charge amount of the hair is set to a value that does not cause the hair to spread due to repulsion between ion mists attached to the hair. This can suppress the spread of the hair and give a sense of unity.

  Further, since the charge amount detection unit 29 is a non-contact type that can detect the charge amount of the attached object without bringing the charge amount detection unit 29 into contact with the attached object, the usability of the hair dryer 1 is good.

  In addition, since the notification unit 11 is controlled based on the detection result of the charge amount detection unit 29, the user can grasp the charge amount of the object to be attached. In particular, in this example, the charge amount of the object to be attached exceeds a predetermined amount. In this case, the notification buzzer informs the user that the ion mist has excessively adhered to the object to be adhered, so that the user notices a change in the operating state of the electrostatic atomizer 15 and electrostatic fog. It is possible to prevent misunderstanding that the converter 15 has failed.

  Next, an ion generator of another example different from the above is shown in FIG. In addition, in this example, the same number is provided about the same structure as the ion generator of the said example, and description is abbreviate | omitted about the overlapping description.

  The charge amount detection unit 29 shown in FIG. 5 is a contact type that can detect the charge amount of the adhesion target object by measuring the charged charge flowing from the adhesion target object in contact with the adhesion target object. The contact-type charge amount detection unit 29 is provided on the outer surface of the grip portion 23 that is a portion that is gripped by the hand when the hair dryer 1 is used, and is electrically conductive to some extent when the grip portion 23 is used. It is possible to detect the charge amount of hair, which is an attachment object, indirectly through a human body. Thus, by making the charge amount detection unit 29 a contact type, it is possible to remove the charge excessively stored in the adhesion target.

In any of the above embodiments, the ion generating unit 14 is the electrostatic atomizer 15, but the ion generating unit 14 includes the discharge electrode 18, the counter electrode 19 facing the discharge electrode 18, the discharge electrode 18, and the counter electrode 18. A corona discharge device including a voltage application unit 20 that generates corona discharge by applying a voltage between the electrodes 19 to generate ions (preferably negative ions) may be used. Further, when a liquid is present in the liquid tank 17 of the electrostatic atomizer 15, the voltage is applied between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 in the same manner as described above to generate electrostatic atomization to generate ion mist. when the liquid is not present in the liquid tank 17 by causing a corona discharge by applying a voltage between the discharge electrode 18 and the counter electrode 19 ions (preferably negative ions) may be allowed to generate, in this case Can generate ions even when no liquid is present in the liquid tank 17. The ion mist generated by the electrostatic atomizer is sent to the object to be attached together with the hot air, but may be sent to the object to be attached together with the cold air that is not heated by the heating unit 13. In addition, the hair dryer 1 is configured so that warm air composed of air heated by the heating unit 13 and the unheated cold air can be discharged simultaneously from the air outlet 3, and the ion mist is attached to the object to be attached together with the warm air and / or the cold air. It may be sent. Further, an electrostatic atomizer 15 may be provided in the air flow path 7.

The hair dryer of an example of embodiment of this invention is shown, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a side view. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG.1 (b). It is the same control flow. It is a time chart which shows the output voltage of a charge amount detection part same as the above, and the applied voltage of a voltage application part. The hair dryer of another example is shown, (a) is a perspective view, and (b) is a side view.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hair dryer 14 Ion generation part 18 Discharge electrode 19 Counter electrode 20 Voltage application part 27 Control part

Claims (3)

An ion generating unit is provided that includes a discharge electrode, a counter electrode facing the discharge electrode, and a voltage application unit that generates ions by applying a voltage of one polarity between the discharge electrode and the counter electrode. In the ion generator for supplying and adhering the deposited ions to the object to be adhered, a contact-type charge amount detection unit for measuring the charge amount of the object to be adhered and detecting the charge amount, and the detection result of the charge amount detection unit A control unit for controlling the ion generation unit based on the voltage applied to the voltage application unit when the charge amount of the object to be adhered exceeds a first predetermined value; And the applied voltage of the voltage application unit is switched to a high level voltage value when the charge amount of the object to be attached is less than a second predetermined value which is less than the first predetermined value. Ion generator.   The ion generator includes liquid supply means for supplying a liquid to the discharge electrode, and electrostatically atomizes the liquid supplied to the discharge electrode by applying a voltage between the discharge electrode and the counter electrode by the voltage application unit. The ion generator according to claim 1, wherein the ion generator is an electrostatic atomizer that generates ion mist. The ion generator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the voltage application unit applies a voltage for generating negative ions between the discharge electrode and the counter electrode.

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