JP4676400B2 - Humidifying device and electrical equipment equipped with the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a humidifying device that vaporizes water and humidifies it, and an electric device equipped with the humidifying device.

As a conventional humidifier, the one described in Patent Document 1 is known. This humidifier is equipped with a humidifying tray having a water receiving tank that temporarily stores water, a humidifying filter that is vaporized and humidified with water, and water from the water receiving tank is pumped up by a pump and sprayed from above the humidifying filter. And a blowing means for blowing air to the humidifying filter, and the water dropped from the humidifying filter is returned to the water receiving tank section.
JP-A-2003-106578

  However, in the humidifier configured as described above, the humidification amount does not change much even if the air volume of the blower is increased, and further improvement in humidification efficiency has been demanded.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a humidifying device capable of increasing the humidifying efficiency without complicating the structure and an electric device equipped with the humidifying device.

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, the water pumped up by the pump is supplied to the humidifying filter, and in the humidifying device that vaporizes and humidifies the water supplied to the humidifying filter , the pump is driven during the humidifying operation, After the moisture reaches the humidifying filter, the pump is stopped, and the moisture adhering to the humidifying filter evaporates or flows downward, increasing the surface area of the humidifying filter contributing to moisture vaporization and increasing the amount of humidification in advance. The pump is driven again after the elapse of time, and the pump is driven intermittently during the humidifying operation.

  According to the said structure, it becomes possible to suppress that a humidification filter will be in the state which gets wet too much with water, and it becomes possible to increase the vaporization amount of water, and, thereby, humidification efficiency can be improved.

  The reason why the humidification efficiency is improved by intermittently driving the pump is considered as follows. That is, as the humidifying filter of the humidifying device, a filter having a large surface area is used in order to increase the amount of water vaporized. Further, in the conventional humidifier, in order to prevent the humidifying filter from being in a water-deficient state, the pump is always driven, whereby excess water is supplied to the humidifying filter.

  However, when excess water is supplied to the humidifying filter, the minute gaps and irregularities formed in the humidifying filter are covered with water to increase the surface area, and the surface area where water contacts the air in the humidifying filter is reduced. This was considered to be the cause of hindering the improvement of humidification efficiency.

  Therefore, in the humidifying device according to the present invention that alternately repeats driving / stopping of the pump, excessive water adhering to the humidifying filter flows down or vaporizes while the pump is stopped. The surface area of the filter increases and the amount of water vaporization also increases.

  The humidifying device can be provided with a blowing means for blowing air to the humidifying filter, whereby the amount of water vaporized from the humidifying filter can be increased. In this case, the air blowing means is preferably driven continuously during the humidification operation regardless of the driving / stopping of the pump, and this can further increase the humidification efficiency.

  The humidifying device according to the present invention can also be mounted on other electric devices. In this case, in addition to the original function of the electric device, it is possible to add a humidifying function. As an example applicable to an electric apparatus, an air cleaner, an air conditioner, an electric heating apparatus, a refrigerator, a fan heater, a microwave oven, a sterilizer, etc. can be mentioned.

  Of these, in particular, if a humidifier is installed in an electrical device equipped with a heating element that heats air, such as an air conditioner or an electric heating device, it becomes possible to make warm air contact the humidifying filter, thereby vaporizing water. The amount can be further increased.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the pump for supplying water to the humidification filter is intermittently driven, it is possible to suppress the humidification filter from being excessively wet with water and to prevent water from flowing. It becomes possible to increase the amount of vaporization, thereby increasing the humidification efficiency.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electric heating device equipped with a humidifier according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the front side of an electric heating device equipped with a humidifier, FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded perspective view of the front side, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the back side of the electric heating device, and FIG. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the flow of the air seen from the side surface of heating equipment.

  The apparatus main body 1 of the electric heating apparatus in the present embodiment is formed in a box shape as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. A blower outlet 3 for releasing warmed or humidified air to the outside of the device is formed in the lower front portion of the device main body 1, and a water storage tank storage portion for storing the water tank 4 is formed above it. The tank 4 can be detachably stored by opening the tank cover 2 on the front side.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an air suction port 5 is formed in the upper portion of the apparatus main body 1, and an air passage 6 is formed from the air suction port 5 to the front air outlet 3. 6, a humidifying filter body 8 provided with a humidifying filter 7, a ceramic heater 9 as a heating body for heating air passing through the passage 6, and a blower as a blowing means for sending air to the humidifying filter body 8 and the ceramic heater 9 10 are arranged.

  As described above, the electric heating device according to the present embodiment includes the heating device including the ceramic heater 9 that heats the passing air and the blower 10 that sends air to the ceramic heater 9, and the humidification including the water tank 4 and the humidifying filter 7. The device is the main functional component. In addition, the air blower 10 functions also as a ventilation means of a humidifier. That is, the electric heating device of the present embodiment can be operated not only as a single operation of the heating operation but also as a combined operation of the heating operation and the humidifying operation, or as a single operation of the humidifying operation. Even when the humidification operation is performed independently, the blower 10 is driven to blow out the humidified air from the outlet 3.

  The ceramic heater 9 is controlled so as not to be used as much as possible during operation of the humidifier, and to be driven when it is desired to accelerate the rise of humidification or when a large amount of humidification is generated.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the humidifier includes a water tank 4, a humidifying tray 11 that receives water supplied from the water tank 4 and stores water at a constant water level therein, and a humidifying filter 7 that absorbs water. A humidifying filter body 8 including water, a watering means for spraying water from the humidifying tray 11 to the humidifying filter 7, and a blower 10.

  The water tank 4 is formed by integrally forming a tank body 4a and an extension pipe 4b extending downward from the bottom surface of the water tank 4, and the extension pipe 4b is stored in the apparatus body 1. Is set to a length such that the tip of the humidifying tray 11 is submerged in water.

  The watering means comprises a pumping pump 12 installed in the water in the humidifying tray 11, a humidifying box 13 installed so as to cover the top of the humidifying filter body 8, and a connecting pipe 14 connecting the pump 12 and the humidifying box. Is done. A plurality of water spray holes (not shown) are formed on the entire bottom surface of the humidification box 13, and water is uniformly supplied to the entire humidification filter 7 from the water spray holes.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the humidifying filter body 8 includes a humidifying filter 7 and a frame body 15 on which the humidifying filter 7 is mounted and held. The humidifying filter 7 is a zigzag formed by continuously folding a non-woven fabric having a predetermined thickness with water absorption as viewed from above into a W shape. I try to vaporize the water.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the frame body 15 has a horizontally-long rectangular parallelepiped box shape with the front and rear direction and the upward direction opened, and the left and right side surfaces and the bottom surface are closed surfaces. In this state, the folded curved surface of the filter 7 faces the open surface of the frame 15.

  Next, the operation of the above-described electric heating device will be described. The electric heating equipment is provided with a control device composed of a microcomputer, and when each switch of the operation unit 16 described below is pressed, the blower 10, the ceramic heater 9 and the pump 12 are controlled in response to the signal. ing.

  First, the operation of the heating device will be described. When the power switch 21 of the operation unit 16 shown in FIG. 7 is turned “ON” and the heating switch 22 is pressed to select the automatic operation mode, the automatic heating operation starts. When the heating switch 22 is sequentially pushed, the heating operation mode of “automatic” → “off” → “weak” → “strong” → “automatic” is selected, and the heating operation is performed in the selected heating operation mode.

  In the heating automatic operation mode, a signal from a temperature sensor (not shown) is input, and automatic operation is performed by controlling the ceramic heater 9 and the blower 10 so that the room temperature becomes a set temperature (for example, 22 ° C.).

  In the “strong” operation mode other than the automatic heating operation, the ceramic heater 9 is continuously operated at a maximum of 1200 W regardless of the room temperature. In the “weak” operation mode, the ceramic heater 9 is continuously operated at 600 W regardless of the room temperature. The air sucked from the blower 10 passes through the ceramic heater 9, is heated, and is discharged from the outlet 3.

  Next, the operation of the humidifier will be described. First, the tank cover 2 of the device body 1 is opened, and the water tank 4 is set in the device body 1. Then, when the power switch 21 of the operation unit 16 is set to “ON” and the humidification switch 23 is pressed to select the automatic operation mode, the humidification automatic operation starts. When the humidification switch 23 is sequentially pushed, the humidification operation mode of “continuous” → “moisture” (automatic) → “off” is selected, and the humidification operation is performed in the selected humidification operation mode.

  The humidification operation of the “humidified” automatic humidification operation mode automatically humidifies the humidification amount according to the difference between the detected humidity and the set humidity by combining the output of the ceramic heater 9 and the air volume of the blower 10. Be controlled.

  Further, the “continuous” humidification operation performs the continuous humidification operation regardless of the humidity. During this humidification operation, a large amount of moisture can be released from the humidification filter 7 by warming the sucked air with the ceramic heater 9 and allowing the air having a high temperature to pass through the humidification filter 7. , Can release air with much moisture.

  As described above, normally, when the humidification operation is performed alone in the automatic mode, the ceramic heater 9 is not driven, but when the operation with a large amount of humidification (continuous operation) is performed or when the heating switch 22 is turned on. Since the ceramic heater 9 is driven, the usability is good and the usability is improved.

  During the humidifying operation, the pump 12 is driven intermittently. That is, after driving for a predetermined time, the pump 12 stops for a predetermined time and repeats this alternately. Thereby, humidification efficiency can be improved. Note that the blower 10 is continuously driven during the humidifying operation.

  About the time which drives the pump 12, what is necessary is just to select suitably the time required for a water | moisture content to spread over the whole filter 7 suitably. Specifically, about several minutes are desirable. The time for stopping the pump 12 varies depending on the filter 7 to be used, but can be determined by experiment using the same time as the pump driving time as a guide.

  The state of the humidifier when the pump 12 is driven intermittently will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the pump 12 is driven, water W is pumped up to the humidification box 13 through the connection pipe 14. The pumped water W is uniformly sprayed to the lower humidifying filter 7 through the watering holes formed in the bottom surface of the humidifying box 13, and the water flowing down the filter 7 returns to the humidifying tray 11 again. As a result, moisture spreads throughout the humidifying filter 7, but the surface area of the filter 7 that contributes to moisture vaporization is reduced by covering the humidifying filter 7 with excess moisture.

  Next, when the pump 12 is stopped, the moisture adhering to the humidifying filter 7 is vaporized or flows downward, thereby increasing the surface area of the filter 7 that contributes to the vaporization of moisture. Therefore, the amount of humidification is increased and the humidification efficiency (humidification amount per unit time) is improved as compared with the case where the pump 12 is continuously driven.

  An evaluation test was performed on the amount of humidification when the humidifying operation was performed using the electric heating device having the above-described configuration. The contents of the test include those equipped with a humidifier that intermittently drives the pump 12 in the electric heating device (product of the present invention) and those equipped with a humidifier that continuously drives the pump 12. (Conventional product) and compared the amount of humidification.

  As the product of the present invention, three types in which the pump drive-stop time was changed were used. Specifically, the pump drive time-stop time was 2 minutes-2 minutes, 2 minutes-3 minutes, and 2 minutes-4 minutes. The result is shown in the graph of FIG.

  From FIG. 8, the humidification amount (the amount of vaporized water is displayed as the volume of the liquid) is clearly increased in the three types of the present invention products in which the driving time and the stop time of the pump are changed as compared with the comparative product. It was confirmed. In addition, although the humidification amount was almost the same level in the three types of the present invention products, it was found that the humidification amount was the highest when the drive time-stop time was slightly 2 minutes-3 minutes.

  Table 1 shows the amount of humidification of the product of the present invention (driving time-stop time: 2 minutes to 3 minutes) in FIG. 8 and the comparative product in a tabular format. From this table, while the pump 12 is driven, the humidification amount of the present invention product and the comparative product is the same as 8 ml. However, when the pump 12 is stopped in the present invention product, the humidification amount is 1 minute after the stop. It was found that the amount of humidification per minute increased to 9 ml, and further 2 to 3 minutes after stopping, the amount of humidification per minute increased to 10 ml. The accumulated humidification amount after 1 hour was 540 ml for the product of the present invention, and the humidification amount was increased by 12.5% compared to 480 ml for the comparative product, confirming that the humidification efficiency was high.

The schematic perspective view of the front side of the electric heating equipment which concerns on this invention 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view of FIG. The schematic perspective view of the back side of the electric heating apparatus in FIG. Schematic block diagram seen from the side of the electric heating equipment in FIG. Schematic view of the assembled state of the humidification filter and humidification box from the front side Perspective view of humidification filter body seen from the front side Schematic diagram of the operation unit in FIG. Graph showing the relationship between humidification amount and time when the humidifier is operated

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus main body 2 Tank cover 3 Air outlet 4 Water tank 5 Air inlet 6 Air passage 7 Humidification filter 8 Humidification filter body 9 Ceramic heater 10 Blower 11 Humidity tray 12 Pump 13 Humidification box 14 Connection pipe 15 Frame body 16 Operation part 21 Power supply Switch 22 Heating switch 23 Humidification switch W Water

Claims (4)

In a humidifier that supplies the water pumped up to the humidification filter and vaporizes the water supplied to the humidification filter, the pump is driven during the humidification operation , and the pump is stopped after moisture reaches the humidification filter. The time when the moisture adhering to the humidification filter evaporates or flows downward, the surface area of the humidification filter contributing to the vaporization of the moisture increases and the humidification amount increases is determined in advance, and the pump is restarted after this time has elapsed Thus, the humidifier which drives the pump intermittently during the humidification operation. The humidifying device according to claim 1, further comprising a blowing unit for blowing air to the humidifying filter, wherein the blowing unit is continuously driven during the humidifying operation regardless of the intermittent operation of the pump . An electric device comprising the humidifying device according to claim 1. The electric device according to claim 3, further comprising a heating body that heats air.

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