AIR PURIFIER

Abstract

A method for sterilising an internal surface of an air purifier or filter media in an air purifier by subjecting said internal surface or filter media to an ion cloud.

Claims

1-7. (canceled)

8. A method for sterilizing filter media in an air purifier comprising a step of subjecting said filter media to an ion cloud wherein the air purifier comprises an ioniser configured to create an ion cloud onto said filter media and further wherein said ioniser comprises a corona discharge tip disposed within 15 cm from said filter media.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein said air purifier comprises a removable particulate or gas filter, an air flow generator, a means for controlling said air flow generator, a first air flow setting with an air filtration air flow speed and a second air flow setting which correlates with sterilization of an internal surface of the air purifier and/or removable particulate or gas filter.

10. The method according to claim 9 wherein the air purifier comprises a removable filter medium, an air flow generator and an ioniser, said purifier comprising at least one air flow setting and a further setting wherein said ioniser is activated in the absence of air flow or in combination with an air flow setting and said filter medium is subjected to from 0.1 to 1.2 cms.sup.−1 air flow.

11. An air purifier comprising a removable filter medium, an air flow generator and an ioniser configured to create an ion cloud onto said filter and wherein said ioniser comprises a corona discharge tip disposed within 15 cm from said filter media.

12. The air purifier according to claim 11 wherein the air purifier further comprises a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.

13. The air purifier according to claim 11 wherein the air purifier captures microbes and pollution caught in air flow.

14. The air purifier according to claim 11 wherein the air purifier further comprises a fan or impellar.

15. The air purifier according to claim 14 wherein a fan is present and is a bladeless fan, axial fan or radial fan.

16. The air purifier according to claim 13 wherein the air purifier further comprises a sensor that indicates particulate is being removed from the air flow.

Description

[0054] Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the following in which FIG. 1 shows a cross section of an embodiment.

[0055] In detail, FIG. 1 shows an air purifier (1) comprising a housing (2) and a fan (3) contained in a volute (4). The fan (3) is shown in simplified form with no attempt made to describe its physical characteristics or placement. The volute (4) comprises an outlet (5) through which air is passed from the fan (3) to the filters (6). The filters (6) are connected at their top edges (7) to form an apex. The volute outlet (5) also comprises an ion emitter (9) and a ion receiver (8) for generating an ion filed (not shown) which extends towards the filters (6).

[0056] In use, air passes from ambient into the purifier through air inlets (10) which are secured with pre-filters (12) which act as an initial filter preventing large items entrained in the air flow from entering and blocking the internal mechanics of the device but also acting as a poke guard.

[0057] An air flow is then generated by the fan (3) and the air passes through the volute and towards the filters (6) where it is cleaned.

[0058] The air then passes out through the outlets (13). Similarly, the outlets (13) are also secured with a pre-filter (11).

[0059] FIG. 2 is a schematic showing how the ion filed generated by the ioniser arrangement bathes the filters in an ion stream in use. Shown is the volute (4) and a corona discharge tip (9) which generates an ion stream between the tip (9) and the receiving electrodes (8) when an appropriate voltage is applied to the tip (9).

[0060] The ion cloud (20) extends away from the tip (9) and bathes the filters (6) and provides a sterilisation effect.

EXAMPLE 1

[0061] The following experiment sets out to assess the impact of ionisation alone on micro-organism viability on a substrate, in this case a particulate filter. The ioniser was subjected to −5kV in order to emit an ion stream.

[0062] The air flow applied to the substrate in this experiment was zero.

[0063] The micro-organisms used were Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the incubation period to generate the biofilm was 5 days.

[0064] Results:

TABLE-US-00001 Exposure time (h) 1 h 2 h 4 h Log reduction microbes 0.48 0.78 1.16

TABLE-US-00002 Distance (cm) 5 10 15 Log reduction microbes 0.75 0.5 0.28

[0065] Conclusion:

[0066] The closer the ioniser emitter to the substrate the better the impact on micro-organism viability. Further, a burst of ionisation around 2 hours performs most optimally.