KR20230139038A - Uv led module and air conditioner having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode (LED) module and an air conditioner equipped with the same. More specifically, the present invention provides an UV LED module which can be easily combined with a UV LED with a sterilization function to a conventional fine dust filter for air purification, and provides an air conditioner equipped with the UV LED module, so that pathogens that cannot be removed by a conventional air conditioner equipped with a fine dust filter alone can be sterilized and removed, thereby converting contaminated air into clean air.

Description

UV LED module and air conditioner equipped with it {UV LED MODULE AND AIR CONDITIONER HAVING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a UV LED module and an air conditioner equipped with the same, and more specifically, to a UV LED module that can easily combine a UV LED with a sterilizing function with a conventional fine dust filter for air purification. A device that converts polluted air into clean air by providing an air conditioner equipped with it, thereby sterilizing and removing pathogens that cannot be removed by an air conditioner equipped with only a fine dust filter. is to provide.

An air conditioner (AC) refers to a device that exchanges fresh outdoor air on the outdoor side with polluted indoor air containing a large amount of carbon dioxide on the indoor side to maintain comfortable temperature and humidity of indoor air. , a heat exchange element is installed on the inside to increase energy efficiency, and a filter device consisting of a pre-filter and a HEPA filter is provided to collect and collect fine dust or bacteria contained in the incoming outdoor air and to deodorize bad odors. It is done.

One conventional example of such an air conditioner has the same configuration as Figure 1. An inlet (1) through which air flows in and an outlet (2) through which cold air is discharged are installed on one side, and a blowing fan (4) sucks in the air flowing in through the inlet (1) and discharges it through the blowing fan. A heat exchanger (5) for conditioning the introduced air; It includes a fine dust filter 3 that is provided at the inlet 1 and includes a pre-filter and a HEPA filter to remove foreign substances and fine dust.

However, in recent years, in addition to simply purifying polluted air, there has been a demand for a function that can sterilize and remove pathogens such as various bacteria and viruses floating in the air due to the emergence of new viruses. In particular, the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has caused many people to become infected and die around the world, and has undergone several mutations and is still ongoing.

Accordingly, there is a demand for a filter unit that can provide the function of sterilizing pathogens such as various bacteria and viruses in addition to simply purifying the air.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems, by providing a UV LED module that can easily combine a UV LED with a sterilizing function with a conventional fine dust filter for air purification, and providing an air conditioner equipped with the same. The goal is to provide a device that can convert polluted air into clean air by sterilizing and removing pathogens that cannot be removed by air conditioners equipped with only fine dust filters.

Other objects, specific advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

A UV LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a fine dust filter mounted in an air conditioner to remove foreign substances contained in the air; A square-shaped UV LED mounting frame in which a plurality of rows of mounting bars are arranged at intervals from each other, and a UV LED mounting frame in which a plurality of fastening holes for fitting with fasteners of mounting brackets are formed on both sides of the square shape; And it is formed in a U-shape consisting of a lower side, an upper side, and a side side, and a guide piece extending from the side side is further formed, and a fastener is formed to protrude from a central part of the lower side toward the upper side to correspond to the fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame. A plurality of mounting brackets each including; wherein the fine dust filter is inserted and supported between the upper side and the guide piece of the mounting bracket, and the UV LEDs installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame are, It is installed in the direction toward the fine dust filter, and is arranged to be offset from each other in the row position with the UV LED in the adjacent row.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the UV LEDs arranged in a row adjacent to any one row of the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame are positioned at a position corresponding to the midpoint between the UV LEDs arranged in any of the rows. It is characterized by being placed in .

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the distance between the lower side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece is longer than the distance between the upper side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the end of the fastener of the mounting bracket is elastically deformed and fixedly fitted into the fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame, and the mounting bracket is integrally formed by injection molding. Do it as

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the number of UV LEDs installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame is set according to the distance between one surface of the fine dust filter and the LED surface.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the UV LED mounting frame is characterized by being a metal PCB with a heat dissipation function. In addition, the metal PCB is characterized by being composed of a copper foil layer, an insulating layer, and an aluminum layer for heat dissipation.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, an air conditioner equipped with a UV LED sterilization module according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the UV LED mounting frame of the UV LED sterilization module is disposed on the front side of the air inlet, The UV LED is installed to face the fine dust filter.

According to the present invention, by providing a UV LED module that can easily combine a UV LED with a sterilizing function with a conventional fine dust filter for air purification, and providing an air conditioner equipped with the same, an air conditioner equipped with only a fine dust filter can be provided. By sterilizing and removing pathogens that cannot be removed, polluted air can be converted into clean air.

1 is a diagram showing an example of an air conditioner according to the prior art,
Figure 2 is an exemplary overall configuration of a UV LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is an exemplary view of a UV LED mounting frame according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the irradiation range of UV LED,
5 is a diagram illustrating a mounting bracket according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 7 is an example diagram for explaining the arrangement direction of the UV LED module in the embodiment of Figure 6.

Hereinafter, embodiments disclosed in the present specification will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. However, identical or similar components will be assigned the same reference numbers regardless of reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Additionally, in describing the embodiments disclosed in this specification, if it is determined that detailed descriptions of related known technologies may obscure the gist of the embodiments disclosed in this specification, the detailed descriptions will be omitted. In addition, the attached drawings are only for easy understanding of the embodiments disclosed in this specification, and the technical idea disclosed in this specification is not limited by the attached drawings, and all changes included in the spirit and technical scope of the present invention are not limited. , should be understood to include equivalents or substitutes.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Figure 2 is an exemplary overall configuration of a UV LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention. The UV LED module 10 consists of a fine dust filter 100, a UV LED mounting frame 200, and a plurality of mounting brackets 300.

The fine dust filter 100 may include a pre-filter, a HEPA filter, etc. to remove fine dust, and may be a filter unit that stacks and maintains these filters. The fine dust filter 100 is inserted and supported between the upper side 310 and the guide piece 340 of the mounting bracket 300.

The UV LED mounting frame 200 is a square-shaped frame in which a plurality of rows of mounting bars 230 are arranged at intervals from each other. Referring to FIG. 3, which shows the UV LED mounting frame 200 in more detail, UV LEDs 210 for sterilizing pathogens are placed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars 230 arranged at intervals from each other. It is placed.

Ultraviolet rays (UV) used in sterilization devices are classified into UV-A, B, and C depending on the wavelength, as shown in Table 1 below, and their effects are also different.

Properties of different types of ultraviolet rays (UV) type wavelength Usage UV-A 320~400nm Photochemical reaction, special lighting UV-B 280~320nm Hardening, inspection equipment, medical use UV-C 100~280nm Sterilization, ozone generation, deodorization

As seen above, ultraviolet rays are divided into UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C depending on the wavelength. The UV-A LED type does not have much sterilizing effect and only provides optical effects. For example, it is mainly used to make fluorescent materials emit light or to quickly harden UV adhesives. UV-C LEDs with short wavelengths were developed for sterilization effects and have short lifespan and are quite expensive. In addition, the plasma ions generated from the UV-C LED are Influenza A virus (H1N1), feline calicivirus, highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1_Influenza A subtype), avian influenza (H7N9_Avian Influenza), Zika virus (ZIKA Virus), and In addition to antiviral performance to treat coronavirus (human coronavirus), it has been verified by various verification agencies to have antibacterial and deodorizing properties. The UV LED 210 in this embodiment is a UV-C LED for sterilization of pathogens. Although it is preferable to use UV-A LED and UV-C LED together depending on the purpose of use and environmental requirements, such as when optical use is required.

As shown in FIG. 2, the UV LEDs 210 installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars 230 of the UV LED mounting frame 200 are installed in a direction toward the fine dust filter 100. By doing this, it has the effect of sterilizing pathogens in the air and preventing the fine dust filter from becoming contaminated.

In addition, the UV LEDs installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars 230 of the UV LED mounting frame 200 are arranged to be offset from the UV LEDs of adjacent rows in row positions. As shown in FIG. 4, this is to ensure that UV-C wavelengths can be effectively irradiated across the entire surface of the fine dust filter, taking into account the radiation angle of the UV LED device, which is 110 to 130 degrees. More preferably, as in the illustrated embodiment, the UV LEDs disposed in the columns adjacent to any one column are disposed at a position corresponding to the midpoint between the UV LEDs disposed in the column, that is, in a zigzag format. is placed as With this arrangement, the air passing through the fine dust filter and module can be effectively sterilized.

As a specific example, if the distance between the fine dust filter and the UV LED surface is 100mm, the UV-C LEDs that started mounting at 100mm intervals with a space of about 50mm from one end of the square-shaped mounting frame are installed at one end in the next row. It is mounted at 100mm intervals with a space of approximately 100mm from the top. This arrangement forms an exact zigzag arrangement and allows the UV-C wavelengths emitted by the UV LED to be irradiated to the fine dust filter without a margin. Depending on the distance between the fine dust filter and the UV LED surface, the number of UV LEDs to be mounted or the gap between the UV LEDs to be mounted may be adjusted.

Referring again to FIG. 3, a plurality of fastening holes 220 are formed on both sides of the square-shaped UV LED mounting frame 200 and are fitted with fasteners of the mounting bracket. The fasteners 350 of a plurality of mounting brackets are fitted into the fastening holes 220 and maintained as one module.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the UV LED mounting frame 200 uses a metal PCB made of aluminum and having a heat dissipation function to control heat generated from the mounted UV LED. The metal PCB is composed of a copper foil layer for circuit construction, an insulating layer that prevents electricity from flowing between the circuit and aluminum for heat dissipation, and aluminum for heat dissipation. In a specific embodiment, a metal PCB with a heat dissipation function is provided, including aluminum with a thickness of at least 1.5 mm and an insulating layer and a copper foil layer combined to have a thickness of at least 1.6 mm.

Referring to Figure 5, which shows an embodiment of the mounting bracket, the mounting bracket 300 according to this embodiment is formed in a U-shape consisting of a lower side 330, an upper side 310, and a side side 320, A guide piece 340 extending from the side is further formed, and the fastening is formed to protrude from a central portion of the lower side 330 toward the upper side 310 to correspond to the fastening hole 220 of the UV LED mounting frame 200. Includes nine (350).

As described previously, the number of UV LEDs mounted or the gap between the mounted UV LEDs changes depending on the distance between the fine dust filter and the UV LED surface. The distance between the fine dust filter and the UV LED surface can be adjusted by the size of the mounting bracket that combines and supports the UV LED mounting frame on which the fine dust filter and UV LED are mounted as a single module. Since the fine dust filter is maintained by the upper side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece, and the UV LED mounting frame is mounted by the fastener on the lower side of the mounting bracket, the distance between the lower side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece The distance between the UV LED surface and the fine dust filter is determined according to the dimensions. Preferably, the distance between the lower side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece is longer than the distance between the upper side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece.

In one embodiment, the mounting bracket and fastener are integrally formed by plastic injection molding. The fastener end of the mounting bracket is slightly larger than the size of the fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame, and is elastically deformed when fitted and fixed into the fastening hole, so that it can be fixedly fitted into the fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame. .

Figure 6 shows an example of an air conditioner (AC) installed with a UV LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The UV LED module 10 is installed at the inlet portion of the air conditioner (AC), and a plurality of UV LEDs for sterilization are located in the front part of the fine dust filter 100, so that it acts as a fine dust filter as shown in FIG. 7. Pathogens in the incoming air are sterilized, and ultraviolet rays (UV) are irradiated to the front part of the fine dust filter, where foreign substances are filtered, to sterilize pathogens in the filtered foreign substances and the fine dust filter 100.

The large amount of ozone ions generated from the UV-C LED binds to and inactivates harmful substances such as germs, bacteria, and fine dust floating in the air, and the inactivated substances sink to the bottom or are stored in the air conditioner (AC). It flows into the furnace inlet, is filtered by the fine dust filter 100, and is sterilized by ultraviolet rays (UV) irradiated from the UV LED 210.

The large amount of ozone ions generated from the UV-C LED converts germs, bacteria, and fine dust floating in the air into inactive substances, thereby improving the ability to remove fine dust and sterilize pathogens.

In the above, specific preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the technical field to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the patent claims. Anyone skilled in the art can make various modifications, and such modifications fall within the scope of the claims.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems, by providing a UV LED module that can easily combine a UV LED with a sterilizing function with a conventional fine dust filter for air purification, and providing an air conditioner equipped with the same. The goal is to provide a device that can convert polluted air into clean air by sterilizing and removing pathogens that cannot be removed by air conditioners equipped with only fine dust filters.

Claims (8)

A fine dust filter installed in the air conditioner to remove foreign substances contained in the air;
A square-shaped UV LED mounting frame in which a plurality of rows of mounting bars are arranged at intervals from each other, and a UV LED mounting frame in which a plurality of fastening holes for fitting with fasteners of mounting brackets are formed on both sides of the square shape; and
It is formed in a U-shape consisting of a lower side, an upper side, and a side side, and a guide piece extending from the side side is further formed, and a fastener is formed to protrude from a central portion of the lower side toward the upper side to correspond to a fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame. It is made to include a plurality of mounting brackets including,
The fine dust filter is inserted and supported between the upper side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece,
The UV LEDs installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame are installed in a direction toward the fine dust filter and are arranged to be offset from the UV LEDs of adjacent rows in row positions. According to paragraph 1,
The UV LED disposed in a row adjacent to any one row of the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame is disposed at a position corresponding to the midpoint between the UV LEDs disposed in any of the columns. module. According to paragraph 1,
UV LED module, characterized in that the distance between the lower side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece is longer than the distance between the upper side of the mounting bracket and the guide piece. According to paragraph 1,
The end of the fastener of the mounting bracket is elastically deformed and fixedly fitted into the fastening hole of the UV LED mounting frame,
A UV LED module, wherein the mounting bracket is integrally formed by injection molding. According to paragraph 1,
A UV LED module, wherein the number of UV LEDs installed on the plurality of rows of mounting bars of the UV LED mounting frame is set according to the distance between one surface of the fine dust filter and the LED surface. According to paragraph 1,
A UV LED module, wherein the UV LED mounting frame is a metal PCB with a heat dissipation function. According to clause 6,
A UV LED module characterized in that the metal PCB is made of a copper foil layer, an insulating layer, and an aluminum layer for heat dissipation. An air conditioner equipped with a UV LED module according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a UV LED mounting frame of the UV LED module is disposed on the front side of the air inlet, and the UV LED is connected to the fine dust filter. An air conditioner characterized in that it is installed facing.