Abstract:
An air purification system ( 800 ), comprising a first casing ( 801 ) and a second casing ( 802 ) mutually combined and forming the entirety or part of the housing of the air purification system ( 800 ); an air inlet ( 920 ) and an air outlet ( 910 ) are respectively disposed on the first casing ( 801 ) and the second casing ( 802 ); a filter ( 912 ) is received within the housing, and comprises a filter frame ( 9121 ) and filter element material ( 9122 ) provided inside the filter frame ( 9121 ); the air purification system ( 800 ) further comprises an air leak preventing sealing edge ( 913 ); a part of the air leak preventing sealing edge ( 913 ) is attached to one side ( 9123 ) of the filter frame ( 9121 ) facing toward the air inlet ( 920 ), and/or one side ( 9124 ) facing toward the inner side wall of the housing, and can withstand wind pressure coming from the air inlet ( 920 ) and pressing against the air leak proof sealing edge ( 913 ) against the filter frame ( 9121 ); and the other part of the air leak preventing sealing edge ( 913 ) is sandwiched in the junction of the first casing ( 801 ) and the second casing ( 802 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    Pollutants in air exist in two major physical forms, one is the particulates matters with larger particles size, such as dust, bacteria or mildew. The particulate matters are formulated by the combination of different substances or components and have rather complicated chemistry structures. They have a size ranging from 0.01 to 1 microns meter in dimension. Another type of pollutant is chemical molecules, such as gas, odor, volatile organic compounds, etc, it has a simple chemical structure and has a small physical dimension in the ranges from 0.1 to 1 nanometers. 
         [0002]    To treat any form of pollutants, the chemical and physical features of the pollutants will be concerned and different types of filtering materials or filters will be employed. Fan will be used to drive the air containing the pollutants to flow through the filtering materials or filters during purification. 
         [0003]    In the case when the filtration method does not require the polluted air to reside within the filters or the filtering materials for a long time, generally speaking, the greater the airflow volume of the fan and the fast the airflow rate, the fast of decreasing of the concentration of pollutants. Therefore, an air purification system with a higher airflow volume will be more preferable when purifying a large volume of the polluted air. For example, in order to filter the air which contains the particulate matters such as PM2.5/PM10 pollutants, those air purification device or system which can provide higher airflow rate and airflow volume is preferable. According to the US AHAM standard, the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) is higher for the air purification system having a higher airflow volume. These air purification systems can be employed for large area, or at the place where the pollutants levels are high, or a situation that a quick and effective purification is desired. 
         [0004]    For the air Purification system with high airflow volume, the power consumption thereof is relatively increased. Nevertheless, the air purification efficiency of the air purification system may not be necessarily proportional to the respective energy consumption. In most case, for the conventional air purification equipment of system, when the air flow volume is increased to increase the amount of air purification, the system has not yet reached its limitation, and the performance often fails to meet expectations. For example, an amount of the purified air for the purification system at a lower air flow volume is about 5 units polluted air (the air which contains the pollutants) per joule. When airflow volume is doubled, and the energy consumption is also doubled, nevertheless, the amount of polluted air to be purified is 7 units per joule, rather than the expected 10 units per joule. The main reason for this is due to a gap existed between the filter and the casing of the air purification system. Generally, in order to enable the air purification system to easily replace the filter and to avoid size error between the new filter and the old one during the replacement, the existence of this gap is inevitable. However, this gap may also lead to the “leakage” of the air purification system. 
         [0005]      FIG. 1 a    and  FIG. 1 b    show the side views of a conventional air purification system. The conventional air purification system includes a casing  100 , the fan  11  and a filter  12 . Filter  12  is equipped at the upstream position ( FIG. 1 a   ) or the downstream position ( FIG. 1 b   ) of the fan  11 . The housing  100  comprises an air inlet  200  and an air outlet  300 . 
         [0006]    The front side  400  of the filter  12  is defined as an area which the polluted air enters, the reverse side  500  is the side opposite to the front side  400  of the filter. The peripheral of the front side  400  ( FIG. 1 b   ) or the peripheral of the reverse side  500  ( FIG. 1 a   ) of the filter frame  12  is provided with sponge or gasket  13 , clip(s) or clasp(s)  14  and/or the like, to buckle the filter  12  securely within the casing  100 . 
         [0007]    When the fan  11  is in operation, the air containing pollutants  501  will enter the air purification system  300  from the air inlet  501 . It is then brought to the front side  400  of the filter  12  ( FIG. 1 a   ) or drawn to the front side  400  of the filter  12  from ( FIG. 1 b   ). An unavoidable gap  600  exists between the filter  12  and the casing  100  of the air purification system, and the air containing pollutants  501  may therefore bypass the filter  12  through the gap  600  and is discharged without purification, which results in such “air leakage”. Owing to the “air leakage”, certain power consumption of the fan  11  is wasted. 
         [0008]    The adding of gasket seal or sponge  13 , along with other components such as clips or clasp  14  and the like to buckle the filter  12  to the casing  100  will increase the complexity of manufacturing the air purification system, and the gap causing “air leakage” may not be completely eliminated. In addition, the intensity of clips  14  for buckling is hard to be fine-tuned during production. Too loose the buckling will not solve the “air leakage” problem. Too tight the buckling will cause the filter  12  to subject partial pressure. When the airflow volume is increased, the filter  12  may be deformed, thus wasting more energy due to the “air leakage” caused by the gap. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    To solve the above addressed problems, a particularly designed and cost-effective air purification system is provided herein, which can force the pollutants in the air to enter the filter for a completed purification, while the air purification effectiveness is maintained at least power consumption. 
         [0010]    An air purification system includes: a first housing and a second housing, wherein a combination of the first housing and the second housing form a whole or partial of casing of the air purification system; said first and second housings are both provided with an air inlet and an air outlet, respectively; a filter is accommodated within the casing; the filter comprises a filter frame and a filter materials disposed within the filter frame; characterized in that the air purification system further comprises a sealing strap configured to prevent air leakage; one portion of sealing strap is attached to one side of the filter frame facing the air inlet and/or facing an inner sidewall of the casing; said portion of sealing strap is capable of withstanding an air pressure from the air inlet and is pressed against the filter frame by the air pressure; another portion of the sealing strap is sandwiched between the first and the second housings. 
         [0011]    In one of the embodiments, the sealing strap is made of flexible material. 
         [0012]    In one of the embodiments, the flexible material is polyethylene film. 
         [0013]    In one of the embodiments, the system further includes a fan located at a side of the air inlet and configured to blow air toward the filter. 
         [0014]    In one of the embodiments, the filter is accommodated within a storage space of the first housing. 
         [0015]    In one of the embodiments, the filter is accommodated within a storage space of the second housing. 
         [0016]    In one of the embodiments, one portion of filter is accommodated within a storage space inside the first housing and another portion of the filter is accommodated within a storage space inside the second housing. 
         [0017]    In one of the embodiments, the first and second housings are provided with serration surfaces at a junction thereof engaging each other. 
         [0018]    In one of the embodiments, the sealing strap and the filter frame are bonded together via adhesive. 
         [0019]    In one of the embodiments, the sealing strap is bonded to the first housing and the second housing via adhesive. 
         [0020]    In one of the embodiments, the adhesive is adhesive with low to medium level of adhesiveness. 
         [0021]    In one of the embodiments, the system further includes a reinforcement component configured to reinforce the combination of the first housing and the second housing. 
         [0022]    In one of the embodiments, the reinforcement component is located at an outer side of the casing. 
         [0023]    When the airflow rate or airflow volume of the air purification system is increased, the positive air pressure exerts toward the filter will be increased. For the conventional air purification system, the increasing positive air pressure will increase the risk of air leakage, thereby causing the polluted air to bypass the filter. However, according to the embodiment of the air purification system, the positive air pressure will cause the sealing strap to be more firmly attached to the filter frame, thus further strengthening the effect of the sealing. The risk that the polluted air to be leaked and/or bypassing the filter before purification will not be increased due to the increase of the airflow volume. On the contrary, the polluted air to be prevented from “leaked” or bypassing the filter, thereby forcing the polluted air to pass through the filter, and a 100% effective filtration process is achieved. In addition, since the junction between the first and the second housings dose not withstand the airflow pressure, neither deformation nor air leakage problem will be occurred due to the increasing of the airflow volume. 
         [0024]    The air purification system described above can be applied to any purification relating filtration, adsorption, or purification of chemical reaction. While helping to improve air quality, the filter material is 100% utilized. Furthermore, all the electrical power for driving the motor for the fan in the air purification system is ensured to be used for air purification, thus a maximum air purification efficiency is achieved. 
         [0025]    The filter can be filinly attached to the air purification system without using soft glue, sponge, clips, or clasps, which are used by the manufacturers of the conventional air purification system. The filter cartilage materials of the filter will not subjected to localized pressure and will not be deformed. More importantly, when the airflow volume is increased, the sealing strap will play a more important role to prevent the air leakage by filinly attaching the filter, thus lowering the risk of air leakage. The present system can make sure the polluted air entirely passes through the filter, thus it is superior over the conventional system in which soft glue, sponge, clips, or clasps are used. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0026]      FIGS. 1 a  and 1 b    are schematic views of a conventional air purification system where a filter is installed inside the air purification system; 
           [0027]      FIGS. 2 to 7  are schematic views illustrating a plurality of embodiments of the air purification system, where a sealing strap is employed to prevent the polluted air from being leaked and bypassing the filter; 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  is a schematic view illustrating a wrong application of sealing strap, which causes the polluted air bypassing the filter; and 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  is performance chart illustrating purification efficiency to particulate pollutant between the air purification system of the present invention and the air purification system of the same type before and after increasing of the airflow volume. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]      FIG. 2  illustrates a side view of one embodiment of an air purification system. The air purification system  800  includes a first housing  801  and second housing  802 ; a first housing  801  and second housing  802  may be combined to form a whole or a partial casing of the air purification system  800 . An air inlet  910  and air outlet  920  are provided respectively at first housing  801  and second housing  802  of the air purification system  800 . 
         [0031]    The air purification system  800  further comprises a fan  911 , a filter  912  and a sealing strap  913 , which is used to prevent air leak. The first housing  801  or the second housing  802  is further provided with a supporting frame  803  to support the filter  912 . 
         [0032]    The filter  912  comprises a filter frame  9121  and a filter material  9122 . The filter material  9122  is surrounded and protected by the filter frame  9121 ; the filter  912  is accommodated within the casing, which is formed by the combination of the first housing  801  and the second housing  802 . The filter  912  is located at downstream of the fan  911 . A front side  9400  of the filter  912  is defined as a side facing the polluted air  9501 . When the fan  911  is turned on, the air  9510  which containing pollutants will enter the air purification system  800  from the air inlet  920  and blow into the front side  9501  of the filter  912 . 
         [0033]    The sealing strap  913  is a long flat strip with a certain thickness or an annular sealing strip. When the filter frame  9121  is in a quadrilateral shape, the sealing strap  913  can be an elongated shape, which is constituted by at least four sealing strap  913  connecting together to completely surround and attach the quadrilateral filter frame  9121 . The connection points of the sealing straps are located at four corners of the filter frame  9121 , and the sealing straps overlaps with each other at the four corners of the filter frame  9121 , so as to prevent the polluted air from bypassing the filter  912 . When the filter frame  9121  is in a circular shape, the sealing strap  913  will be in a corresponding circular shape. 
         [0034]    A portion of the sealing strap  913  is attached to a side of the filter frame  9121  facing to the air inlet, which is the forward side  9131  of the filter frame  9121  and a peripheral side face  9124  of the filter frame  9121  facing an inner side of the casing. One side of the sealing strap  913  attached to the front side  9123  of the filter frame  9121  is referred as a forward side  9131  of the sealing strap  913 , while the other side of the sealing strap  913  opposite to the forward side  9131  is referred as a rear side  9132 . The forward side  9131  of the sealing strap is provided with some adhesive, by which the sealing strap  913  can be attached the filter frame  9121  of the filter  912 . The adhesive is adhesive with low to medium level of adhesiveness, such that the repeat attaching and detaching of the sealing strap  913  from the filter frame  9121  will not leave any residues on the filter frame  9121 . 
         [0035]    Another portion of the sealing strap  913  is sandwiched between the first housing  801  and second housing  802 , thus forming a “sandwich” structure  880 . In the sandwich structure, one side of the sealing strap  913  facing the second housing  802  is defined as the forward side  9131 A, and the other side of the sealing strap facing the first housing  801  is defined as the rear side  9132 A. 
         [0036]    The forward side  9131 A and rear side  9132 A of the sealing strap  913  are provided with adhesive with low to medium level of adhesiveness; when the “sandwich” structure  880  is detached, there will be not residues left on the first housing  801  and the second housing  802 . 
         [0037]    When the air purification system  800  is started, the air  9501  blows toward the front side  9400  of filter  912 . The air pressure  9600  generated by the air flow is exerted onto the rear side of  9132  of the sealing strap  913 , such that the sealing strap  913  attached to the front side  9123  of the filter frame  9121  is more firmly pressed against the front side  9123  of the filter frame  9121 . On another hand, by the configuration of the “sandwich” structure  880 , the bypassing of the polluted air  9501  through the peripheral of the filter  912  can therefore be completely avoided. 
         [0038]    In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 2 , the filter  912  is accommodated within a storage space of the first housing  801 . In this case, the sealing strap  913  is attached to the front side  9123  and/or the side face  9124  of the filter frame  9121 . The sealing strap  913  is in the form of Z shape. 
         [0039]    In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 3 , one portion of the filter  912  is accommodated within the storage space of the first housing  801  and another portion of the filter  912  is accommodated within the storage space of the second housing  802 . In this case, the sealing strap  913  is attached to the front side  9123  and/or the side face  9124  of the filter frame  9121 . The sealing strap  913  is in the form of Z shape. 
         [0040]    In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 4 , the filter  912  is accommodated within the storage space of the second housing  802 . In this case, the sealing strap  913  is attached to the front side  9123  of filter frame  9121 . The sealing strap  913  is in the form of “-” shape. 
         [0041]    In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , one portion of the filter  912  is accommodated within the storage space of the first housing  801  and another portion of the filter  912  is accommodated within the storage space of the second housing  802 . In this case, the sealing strap  913  is attached to the side face  9124  of the filter frame  9121 . The sealing strap  913  is in the form of L shape. 
         [0042]    No matter which position the filter  912  is placed in the casing, the rear side  9132  of the sealing strap  913  must be the side to withstand the air pressure. 
         [0043]    In the above described embodiment, the first housing  801  and the second housing  802  can be regarded as a front housing and a rear housing, or an upper housing and a lower housing, depend on the installation method of the filter  912 . 
         [0044]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , based on the embodiments as described previously, the fan  911  is located within the storage space of the second housing  802 , i.e. at a downstream position of the filter  912 . 
         [0045]    Referring further to  FIG. 7 , in all of the above-described embodiments, the first housing  801  and the second housing  802  are provided with serration surfaces at a junction thereof engaging each other. A recessed surface  8015  of the serration surfaces of the first housing  801  is corresponding to a protruded surface  8016  of the serration surfaces of the second housing  802 . The sealing strap  913  is made of flexible material, such as polyethylene film, etc., such that it can be clamped between the first housing  801  and the second housing  802 . 
         [0046]    It should be understood that, in order to enhance sealing, other engaging manner similar to the serrations can be employed. In addition, other components such as the outer clip and clasps can be employed to further reinforce the combination of the first housing  801  and the second housing  802 . 
         [0047]    When the airflow rate or airflow volume of the air purification system is increased, the positive air pressure exerts toward the filter will be increased. For the conventional air purification system, the increasing positive air pressure will increase the risk of air leakage, thereby causing the polluted air to bypass the filter. However, according to the embodiment of the air purification system, the positive air pressure will cause the sealing strap to be more firmly attached to the filter frame, thus further strengthening the effect of the sealing. The risk that the polluted air to be leaked and/or bypassing the filter before purification will not be increased due to the increase of the airflow volume. On the contrary, the polluted air to be prevented from “leaked” or bypassing the filter, thereby forcing the polluted air to pass through the filter, and a 100% effective filtration process is achieved. In addition, since the junction between the first and the second housings dose not withstand the airflow pressure, neither deformation nor air leakage problem will be occurred due to the increasing of the airflow volume. 
         [0048]    The air purification system described above can be applied to any purification relating filtration, adsorption, or purification of chemical reaction. While helping to improve air quality, the filter material is 100% utilized. Furthermore, all the electrical power for driving the motor for the fan in the air purification system is ensured to be used for air purification, thus a maximum air purification efficiency is achieved. 
         [0049]    The filter can be filinly attached to the air purification system without using soft glue, sponge, clips, or clasps, which are used by the manufacturers of the conventional air purification system. The filter cartilage materials of the filter will not subjected to localized pressure and will not be deformed. More importantly, when the airflow volume is increased, the sealing strap will play a more important role to prevent the air leakage by firmly attaching the filter, thus lowering the risk of air leakage. The present system can make sure the polluted air entirely passes through the filter, thus it is superior over the conventional system in which soft glue, sponge, clips, or clasps are used. 
         [0050]    It should be noted that, referring to  FIG. 8 , when the forward side  9131 ,  9131 A of the sealing strap  913  (i.e. the side of the sealing strap attached the filter frame  9121 ) is to withstand the air pressure generated directly by the operation of fan  911  of the air purification system (i.e. one side of the forward side of the sealing strap  913  facing the polluted air  9501 ), it cannot help to filinly attach the sealing strap  913  to the filter frame  9121 . This feature is not included in any embodiment of this invention. And this will not help to prevent polluted air  9501  from bypassing the front side of the filter or leakage through the peripheral position. If the air pressure is increased, instead of having the sealing strap attached thinly to the filter, a gap can easily be created, which will increase the risk of air leakage, and the polluted air will bypass the filter. 
         [0051]      FIG. 9  is performance chart illustrating a purification efficiency to particulate pollutant between the air purification system of the present invention and the air purification system of the same type before and after increasing of the airflow volume. In a room having a floor area of 100 m 2 ×4 meters height, a lighted cigarette is used to create an environment with a fine particulate matter (PM2.5) reach to a level of 5mg/m 3  (milligram per cubic meter). 
         [0052]    If the air purification system as shown in  FIG. 1 a    (or  FIG. 1 b   ) is used, at an air flow rate of 300 m 3 /hr (cubic meters/hour), the PM2.5 level can be reduced from 5 mg/m 3  to 4 mg/m 3  within 10 minutes (i.e. the filter is able to reduce the PM2.5 by 1 mg/m 3  in 10 minutes); however, when the airflow rate is doubled to 600 m 3 /hr, it can only reduce the PM2.5 from 5 mg/m 3  to 3.75 mg/m 3  within 10 minutes, instead of 3 mg/m 3 . 
         [0053]    If the air purification system as shown in  FIG. 2  is employed, when the air flow rate reaches 600 m 3 /hr, the level of PM2.5 can be reduced from 5 mg/m 3  to 1.8 mg/m 3  within 10 minutes, which exceeds the expected 3 mg/m 3 . According to the method employed in the present invention, the greater the air flow volume, the better performance of the sealing strap to be attached to the filter, thus preventing the “air leakage”, and 100% of the polluted air is completely forced to pass through the filter. 
         [0054]    A fluid pumping system is provided, which includes a first housing and a second housing, wherein a combination of the first housing and the second housing form a whole or partial of casing of the fluid pumping system; the said first and second housings are both provided with a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, respectively; a main function element is housed within the casing; the main function element comprises a frame; characterized in that the fluid pumping system further comprises a sealing strap configured to prevent leakage; one portion of sealing strap is attached to one side of the frame facing the fluid inlet and/or facing an inner sidewall of the casing; said portion of sealing strap is capable of withstanding an fluid pressure from the fluid inlet and is pressed against the frame by the fluid pressure; another portion of the sealing strap is sandwiched between the first and the second housings. 
         [0055]    The fluid pumping system can be water treatment systems, kitchen ventilation systems, etc, or other system where an enhanced performance by prevent leakage is desired. The main function element can be operated along with the sealing strap of the present invention, thus a maximum performance of the operation can be achieved. 
         [0056]    Although the invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention.