Device And Use Thereof For The UV Treatment Of Fluids

Abstract

A device for the treatment of fluids has a flow-through housing, a cover, an inlet, a reactor chamber with inner walls, an outlet and UV LED radiation sources directed into the reactor chamber, and also a power supply. The device achieves a high purifying performance with less technical complexity and less installation space and needs only little electrical power. The interior of the reactor chamber has a flow-related design. The radiation sources are arranged in the fluid on or in an inner wall and a rotating fluid vortex is imparted to a fluid flowing through by the flow-related design. The radiation sources radiate radially from the outside inward and/or laterally onto the fluid vortex. At least a partial stream of the fluid in the fluid vortex passes a number of times by the radiation sources before leaving the reactor chamber.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A device for treating fluids, the device comprising: a flow-through housing with a cover, an inlet, a reactor chamber with inner walls and an outlet; UV LED radiation sources directed into said reactor chamber and a power supply for said radiation sources; said reactor chamber defining a free interior space and having inner walls surrounding said interior space and having a flow-related design configured to impart a rotating fluid vortex to a fluid flowing therethrough; radiation sources arranged in the fluid on or in an inner wall and directed to radiate radially from the outside inward and/or laterally onto the fluid vortex, and wherein at least a partial stream of the fluid in the fluid vortex passes by said radiation sources a plurality of times before leaving said reactor chamber via said outlet.

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-related design comprises fluid-guiding surfaces in at least one of said inlet or said outlet.

18. The device according to claim 16, wherein said cover is formed to cover said reactor chamber said cover is arranged parallel or tangential to a circumferential surface of the fluid vortex on or against said flow-through housing, and said radiation sources are fixed on or in said cover, and said cover forms partial surfaces of said inner walls.

19. The device according to claim 16, wherein one or more radiation sources are arranged on individual plug-in cards, said flow-through housing and/or said cover are formed with slots for receiving said plug-in cards, and said slots contain contacts for supplying power to said radiation sources.

20. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-through housing is a sealed housing, and wherein said housing and said cover have mating external and internal threads and also seals and sealing surfaces, and said housing and said cover are screwed to one another in a pressure-tight and liquid-tight manner.

21. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-related design features or parts of a surface of said reactor chamber are coated with, or consist of, a material selected form the group consisting of aluminum, PTFE and titanium dioxide and said material produce an ongoing photocatalytic self-cleaning during operation.

22. The device according to claim 16, which comprises measuring sensors for measuring liquid quality parameters disposed in said reactor chamber.

23. The device according to claim 22, wherein said measuring sensors are connected to a computer-controlled domestic electrical and plumbing system and said UV radiation sources are selectively operated by said computer-controlled domestic electrical and plumbing system.

24. The device according to claim 23, wherein said UV radiation sources are selectively operated with or without active fluid through-flow and with constant, different or changing radiation intensities.

25. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-through housing has an exterior shape selected from the group consisting of a cube and a cylinder.

26. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-through housing comprises a plurality of identical cubes or cylinders.

27. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-through housing comprises a plurality of cubes or cylinders combined with treatment elements selected from the group consisting of activated carbon, particle filters and ion exchangers, and forming cuboids or cylinders of an increased length/height.

28. The device according to claim 16, wherein said flow-through housing is disposed under or on a tabletop directly at an end-user point such as a drinking water removal point at a “point of use” or forms a part of an outlet fitting.

29. The device according to claim 16, which comprises a connection for introducing fluid treating substances into said reactor chamber.

30. The device according to claim 29, wherein the fluid treating substances to be supplied through said connection are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide and ozone.

31. The device according to claim 16, which further comprises a solar cell disposed on an upwardly and/or outwardly directed free surface of said flow-through housing or said cover.

32. The device according to claim 16, wherein at least one electrical energy storage device for supplying energy to said radiation sources is arranged in said flow-through housing or in said cover.

33. The device according to claim 16, which further comprises indicating devices for displaying an operating state of the device disposed in said flow-through housing and/or in said cover.

34. A method of treating a fluid, the method comprising: providing a device according to claim 16; introducing the fluid into the reactor chamber and imparting a vortexing motion to the fluid in the reactor chamber; and causing at least a partial amount of the fluid to pass a plurality of times in a vicinity of the radiation sources before the fluid reaches the outlet.

Description

[0020] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is described in more detail below on the basis of a drawing, in which:

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a basic diagram of a 1st variant of the device in section,

[0022] FIG. 2 shows a basic diagram of a 2nd variant of the device in section,

[0023] FIG. 3 shows a basic diagram of the device with a solar cell and a rechargeable battery in a partial section, and

[0024] FIG. 4 shows a basic diagram of the device integrated in an outlet fitting.

[0025] The device shown for the treatment of fluids consists of a flow-through housing 1; 11, which is cubic or cylindrical here but may also be cuboidal or can be configured in any desired outer spatial form, with a cover 2; 12, and also with an inlet 3; 13 from below and, in the 1st variant, an outlet 6 angled away from the inlet through 90° or, in the 2nd variant, with a downwardly directed outlet 16 and inner walls 5; 15, there being arranged in the fluid UV LED radiation sources 7 that are in the cover 2; 12, directed inwardly into the reactor chamber 4; 14 and placed on plug-in cards 11, which are individually exchanged and only by way of example are of approximately the size of commonly used SD cards at 24×32×2 mm.

[0026] Behind the inlet 3; 13 and in front of the outlet 6; 16, the device is equipped with fluid-directing surfaces 9, 10; 19; 20, which in the reactor chamber 4 of the 1st variant produce a horizontally lying fluid vortex 8 and in the reactor chamber 14 of the 2nd variant produce a vertical fluid vortex 18, it being possible for the fluid itself to be liquid or gaseous and drinking water preferably being provided as the liquid; but other liquid foods, cosmetics or oil-containing media may also be treated, as well as gaseous fluids such as exhaust air, supply air or ambient air, which are in particular disinfected.

[0027] In the case of a vertically lying fluid vortex 8 of the 1st variant, shown in FIG. 1, with fluid removal transversely to its axis of rotation, it is similarly conceivable also to carry out a fluid removal coaxially in the direction of an axis of rotation of the fluid vortex 8, as shown for instance in FIG. 2 for the 2nd variant, the removal, as it is shown in FIG. 1, taking place over the fluid-directing surface 10 arranged in front of the outlet 6, from a part of the fluid vortex 8 that is flowing tangentially or parallel to the inner wall 5, and diverted therefrom through 180°, in order subsequently to be directed once again through 90° back into the outlet 6.

[0028] In the case of the cylindrical reactor chamber 14 of the 2nd variant, the fluid is fed in tangentially over a fluid-directing surface 19 in the region of the bottom and a vertical fluid vortex 18 is produced, this vortexes about a tubular fluid-directing plate 20 arranged axially in the center of the fluid vortex and directs the fluid first in the upper region, there through into the outflow 16, before however it is made to pass a number of times under the UV radiation sources in the cover 12, which are placed directly in the fluid and radiate at the end faces into the reactor chamber 14. Here, too, it is alternatively or additionally possible to use UV radiation sources radiating radially or else from the opposite end face, which however are not shown in the drawings.

[0029] The flow-related design features in the form of fluid-directing surfaces 9; 10; 19; 20 may in this case be designed as simple inserts in the flow-through housing 1; 11 configured as a cube or cylinder, which consist of aluminum, PTFE or titanium dioxide, or else are coated therewith.

[0030] The 90° arrangement of the inlet 3 and the outlet 4 for the fluid of the flow-through housing 1 of the 1st variant allows multiple cubes to be combined with one another, for instance in order to increase the amount of fluid to be treated and/or in order to combine different treatment steps, it being possible for example for cubes with activated carbon or particle filters to be connected one behind the other in series, as shown in FIG. 4. The flow-through housing 1 of the inventive device then forms a main cube, which is equipped with a power supply, to which there may be connected further cubes, which do not require a power connection of their own.

[0031] Similarly, multiple active flow-through housings 1; 11 can be arranged one behind the other or one next to the other, those of the 2nd variant having cylindrical reactor chambers 14 but likewise being able to have cuboidal outer dimensions and therein correspondingly guided inlets 13 and outlets 16, so that the flow-through housings 11 of the 2nd variant can also be put together with one another or with other flow-through housings of supplementary treatment steps.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 3, the cover 2; 12 of a flow-through housing 1; 11 is provided on an upwardly directed free surface with a solar cell 25, and similarly electrical energy stores for supplying energy to the radiation sources 7 are arranged in the cover 2; 12.

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a combination of three flow-through housings 1; 11 to be arranged above a tabletop with an indicating device 27 for the operating state of the device arranged in a flow-through housing 1; 11.