Air Treatment System For Cleaning Room Air

Abstract

The present invention concerns an air treatment system for purifying room air, including an elongate carrier body, in particular a tube, of a predetermined carrier body length, wherein the carrier body is so designed that a passage extends with a passage diameter from an inlet side to an outlet side, and a ventilator unit adapted to convey room air through the passage of the carrier body from the inlet side to the outlet side with a predetermined air flow rate capacity, and an air treatment unit adapted to generate ozone in an ozone section within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ozone section with the generated ozone and which is adapted to ionize the room air in an ionization section within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ionization section by means of ionization.

Claims

1. An air treatment system (100) for purifying room air including an elongate carrier body (110), namely a tube, having a predetermined carrier body length (s), wherein the carrier body is constructed so that a passage with a passage diameter (d) extends from an inlet side (112) to an outlet side (114), a ventilator unit (120) adapted to convey room air through the passage of the carrier body from the inlet side to the outlet side at a predetermined air flow rate capacity, and an air treatment unit (130) adapted to generate ozone (O.sub.3) in an ozone section (136) within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ozone section with the generated ozone, wherein the ozone section is established by a predetermined ozone maximum concentration (O.sub.3,max) and a predetermined ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end), wherein the ozone concentration of the generated ozone decreases from the ozone maximum concentration (O.sub.3,max) along the carrier body length in the direction of the outlet side to the ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end), and the air treatment unit (130) is adapted to ionize the room air in an ionization section (138) within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ionization section by means of ionization, wherein the ionization section is established by a predetermined first and second ionization intensity, and the predetermined carrier body length of the carrier body is so established and/or designed in dependence on a predetermined air conveyor time, wherein the air conveyor time describes a period of time that the air being conveyed through the passage requires to be conveyed from the inlet side of the carrier body to the outlet side of the carrier body by means of the ventilator unit and the air conveyor time is established and/or adapted in dependence on the ozone end concentration and the predetermined ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end) 1 does not exceed a predetermined value, and/or the air treatment unit (130) has a UV lamp (134) for continuous ionization of the room air, wherein the UV lamp is adapted to generate UVC light by means of electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range of 200 nm through 280 nm, in particular in a wavelength of 254 nm.

2. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the predetermined carrier body length (s) of the carrier body (110) is established in dependence on the ozone section and the predetermined ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end) is present directly at the outlet side (114).

3. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the passage diameter (d) of the carrier body is larger than 0.2 m, preferably in a range of 0.2 m through 2 m, in particular 0.37 m or 0.5 m, and/or the carrier body length (s) of carrier body is larger than 1 m, preferably in a range of 1 m through 20 m, in particular 5 m or 7.5 m.

4. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the ozone maximum concentration (O.sub.3,max) is greater than 0.2 ppm, preferably in a range of 1 ppm through 2 ppm and the ozone concentration along the carrier body length in the direction of the outlet decreases to an ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end) of less than 0.15 ppm, preferably to an ozone end concentration in a range of 0.01 ppm through 0.15 ppm.

5. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the air treatment unit (130) includes an ozone lamp (132) for continuously generating the ozone, wherein the ozone lamp being adapted to generate ozone by means of electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range of 175 nm through 195 nm, in particular with a wavelength of 185 nm.

6. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the ventilator unit (120) is arranged within the elongate carrier body (110) or at the elongate carrier body (110) at the inlet side and is preferably an axial ventilator.

7. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the ventilator unit (120) has an air flow capacity which is greater than 500 m.sup.3/h, preferably in a range of 1,000 m.sup.3/h through 20,000 m.sup.3/h.

8. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the ventilator unit (120) is adapted for permanent operation, in particular for continuous or pulsating permanent operation, and/or the air treatment unit (130) is adapted for permanent operation, in particular for continuous or pulsating permanent operation to convey room air cyclically through the air treatment system.

9. An air treatment system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the carrier body (110) has fixing means (140) for fixing the air treatment system to a wall and/or to a ceiling, wherein the fixing means is preferably in the form of a suspension means, in particular a tube suspension means.

10. A method of purifying air in a closed room including the steps: providing an air treatment system (100) including an elongate carrier body (110), namely a tube, having a predetermined carrier body length, wherein the carrier body is constructed so that a passage with a passage diameter extends from an inlet side to an outlet side, a ventilator unit (120) adapted to convey room air through the passage of the carrier body from the inlet side to the outlet side at a predetermined air flow rate capacity, and an air treatment unit (130) adapted to generate ozone (O.sub.3) in an ozone section within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ozone section with the generated ozone, wherein the ozone section is established by a predetermined ozone maximum concentration (O.sub.3,max) and a predetermined ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end), wherein the ozone concentration of the generated ozone decreases from the ozone maximum concentration along the carrier body length in the direction of the outlet side to the ozone end concentration, and the air treatment unit is adapted to ionize the room air in an ionization section within the passage in order to purify the room air being conveyed through the passage in the ionization section by means of ionization, wherein the ionization section is established by a predetermined first and second ionization intensity, mounting the air treatment system to a ceiling of the closed room or in an upper region to a wall of the closed room in order to mount the air treatment system in a region with an accumulation in climate-control aspects of harmful gases or harmful substances, preferably in an upper third of the closed room, and purifying the room air with the air treatment system.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 characterised in that the carrier body length is established in dependence on the predetermined ozone end concentration at the outlet side, and/or is established in dependence on an air conveyor time of the ventilator unit.

12. A method as claimed in claim 10 characterised in that the air treatment system is designed as claimed in claim 1.

Description

[0062] The present invention will now be described in greater detail by way of example by means of embodiments with reference to the accompanying Figures, with the same references being used for identical or similar assemblies.

[0063] FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a perspective view of an embodiment of an air treatment system,

[0064] FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic perspective view of two air treatment systems arranged in a closed room, and

[0065] FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic view of characteristic curves along a carrier body length of an air treatment system in an embodiment.

[0066] FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a perspective view of an air treatment system 100 for purifying room air in an embodiment, with which for example room air in a closed room can be purified, like for example the room 200 in FIG. 2.

[0067] The air treatment system 100 is provided for purifying room air. The room air is indicated by arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2, the direction thereof being intended to illustrate the flow direction. The air treatment system 100 has an elongate carrier body 110 in the form of a round tube which is of a passage diameter d which can also be interpreted as the inside diameter. The air or room air can flow through the tube 110 or round tube, more specifically from the inlet side 112 over the entire carrier body length s to the outlet side 114.

[0068] A ventilator unit 120 conveys the room air through the passage in the carrier body 110 from the inlet side 112 to the outlet side 114, more specifically with a predetermined air flow rate capacity. The flow rate capacity of the ventilator unit is established in that respect in dependence on the size of the room and the desired number of air circulations per unit of time. The ventilator unit 120 is in the form of an axial ventilator and is arranged within the tube 110. The ventilator unit 120 conveys a constant air flow through the passage that the tube forms. The ventilator unit 120 is designed for permanent operation. The ventilator unit 120 is driven by a drive device 122, for example an electric motor. That is optimized for a predetermined rotary speed for permanent operation in order to operate as energy-efficiently as possible. The air flow rate capacity is established, for example at 12,500 m.sup.3/h, by way of the rotary speed and the structural configuration of the ventilator unit.

[0069] An air treatment unit 130 generates ozone within the passage in order to purify the room air conveyed throught the passage with the generated ozone. In that respect the air treatment unit is only diagrammatically shown from the exterior and is illustrated in the form of a box which is fixedly mounted to the carrier body 110. The air treatment unit 130 has an ozone lamp 132, in which respect the rectangle 132 does not illustrate the ozone lamp but indicates the region where the ozone lamp 132 is arranged. The ozone lamp is arranged in the interior of the tube 110 (not shown) and emits UV light of a given wavelength, namely 185 nm. The air treatment unit 130 therefore generates ozone by means of the ozone lamp within the tube or in the passage. After being generated the ozone reacts with the room air flowing through the tube so that pollutant loadings in the air like organic loadings are bound and thus removed from the flowing air.

[0070] The air treatment unit 130 also ionizes the room air being conveyed through the passage by means of ionization. For that purpose in addition to the ozone lamp the air treatment unit 130 has a UV lamp 134, the rectangle 134 not showing the UV lamp but indicating the region where the UV lamp 134 is arranged. The UV lamp 134 is also arranged in the interior of the tube 110 (not shown) and emits UV-C light, although at a different wavelength from the ozone lamp 132. The UV lamp is in the form of a low-pressure UV mercury vapor lamp and irradiates the flowing air with a wavelength of about 254 nm, more specifically 253.7 nm. The pollutant loadings in the air are oxidized by the radiation so that they are reduced or decreased.

[0071] The air treatment unit 130 is accordingly to be viewed as a kind of combination device adapted to simultaneously implement two different kinds of air purification, namely with the ozone lamp 132 and with UV lamp 134. In that way it is possible to provide for particularly efficient air purification and in addition no ozone passes into the room as it reacts within the tube with the air being conveyed therein and is no longer present at all at the outlet side or is only still present there to a very low degree.

[0072] In addition a power supply 131 in FIG. 1 is used to supply the air treatment system 100 with power, like for example the ventilator unit 120 and the air treatment unit 130.

[0073] In addition the air treatment system 100 has three fixing elements 140 with which the tube 110 can be suspended from a ceiling or in an upper wall region.

[0074] FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows a perspective view of two air treatment systems 100 arranged in a closed room for the purification of room air, as shown for example in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3.

[0075] The air treatment systems 100 in this case are mounted to the ceiling of the room 200 with a plurality of fixing elements 140 which are in the form of a tube suspension means. It is thus provided that a plurality of air treatment systems 100 are also to be mounted in a room to increase the air purification rate. The two air treatment systems 100 provide for air circulation in the room 200, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2. The room air in the room 200 is correspondingly cyclically conveyed through the two air treatment systems 100. The air treatment systems 100 are arranged with tube suspension means 140 in a ceiling region or in the upper third of the room 200. This arrangement and the cyclic circulation of the room air correspondingly provides for ongoing air purification and efficient air purification without the ozone passing into the room, as described hereinbefore.

[0076] As a specific example the room 200 is of a room volume of 37,500 m.sup.3. The air flow rate capacity of the two ventilator units is 12,500 m.sup.3/h. That means that the complete room air is purified every 1.5 hours or, calculated per day, the complete room air is purified 16× per day.

[0077] FIG. 3 schematically shows a diagram with two schematic characteristic curves K1 and K2 and an air treatment system 100 as shown for example in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2.

[0078] The characteristic curve K1 describes an ozone concentration ([O.sub.3 per m.sup.3] or ppm) in the room air being conveyed along the carrier body length s, that is to say along a path within the passage of the air treatment system 100. The air treatment system 100 has an air treatment unit 130 having an ozone lamp 132 and a UV lamp 134 as described for example hereinbefore with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0079] As can be seen from the characteristic curve K1 the ozone concentration within the tube forms a maximum which is referred to as the ozone maximum concentration (O.sub.3,max). The maximum is formed approximately where the ozone lamp 132 which generates the ozone is arranged within the tube 110. When the air flows further along the carrier body length s the ozone concentration of the generated ozone steadily decreases within the tube as the ozone reacts with the air and is thereby progressively broken down. After some time or after a given travel distance the ozone concentration is reduced to the ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end). That can be established for example as being 0.08 ppm. The length section 136 which is between the ozone maximum concentration and the ozone end concentration is identified as the ozone section. It is in that longitudinal section that substantially a reaction of the ozone with the room air being conveyed occurs. The carrier body length s of the air treatment system 100 in that case is at least so long that the ozone end concentration (O.sub.3,end) is reached. In order for example to save on tube material the carrier body or the tube length s can also coincide with the point at which the ozone end concentration O.sub.3,end occurs. That is illustrated with the broken-line fixing element 140 in FIG. 3. In that way the tube is sufficiently long that the ozone is degraded, but it is at a maximum short.

[0080] The characteristic curve K2 describes an ionization intensity with which the room air being conveyed is ionized along the carrier body length s within the passage of the air treatment system 100. That can also be viewed as the radiation rate or radiation strength.

[0081] As can be seen from the characteristic curve K2 the ionization intensity forms within the tube a maximum which is identified as the maximum radiation intensity Int,.sub.max. The maximum radiation intensity is formed approximately where the UV lamp 132 is arranged within the tube 100. The length section 138 which is between a first ionization intensity Int,1 and a second ionization intensity Int,2 is referred to as the ionization section as it is in that section that the air is substantially ionized or irradiated. When the room air being conveyed flows along the carrier body length s through the ionization section the pollution charges in the air are oxidized by the radiation so that they are reduced. The two points Int,1 and Int,2 are accordingly the points at which irradiation with UV light within the passage begins and ends.

LIST OF REFERENCES

[0082] 100 air treatment system

[0083] 110 carrier body

[0084] 112 inlet side

[0085] 114 outlet side

[0086] 120 ventilator unit

[0087] 122 drive device

[0088] 130 air treatment unit

[0089] 131 power supply

[0090] 132 ozone lamp

[0091] 134 UV lamp

[0092] 136 ozone section

[0093] 138 ionization section

[0094] 140 fixing element

[0095] d passage diameter

[0096] s carrier body length

[0097] O.sub.3,max ozone maximum concentration

[0098] O.sub.3,end ozone end concentration