Patent Publication Number: US-2022218861-A1

Title: Air purifier combined with aromatizing device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is related to an air purifier, and more particularly to an air purifier combined with an aromatizing device. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Nowadays, the air quality in most of the countries around the world is hardly satisfactory. In particular, the problem of air pollution is quite severe in developing countries. Hundreds of pollutants and toxic substances floating in the air are impairing the human health. Especially, the COVID-19 pandemic has broken forth since the end of 2019. This novel coronavirus is found to invade the human body through the respiratory system. Thus far the COVID-19 pandemic situation has been deteriorating ever since the outbreak of the pandemic. The world would have to face other unknown contagious diseases that would jeopardize the whole human race. Hence, air purifiers are essential for the sterilization and disinfection of air. 
     The deterioration of outdoor air quality is partly owing to the combustion of fossil fuel (such as coal) used for generating electricity and exhaust discharged from factories, foundries, and vehicles. These would generate a large quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon oxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter 2.5, dust, smog, and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) that can negatively affect the human health. 
     Moreover, the household furniture can incessantly emit various kinds of toxic compounds, and the toxic air pollutants from the outdoor environment can enter the house, office, hotel, and shopping mall through windows and ventilation system. As a result, the toxic substance can be mixed with bacteria, funguses, or organic compounds, which would in turn cause the concentration of the toxic air pollutant in the indoor air to be higher than the concentration of the toxic air pollutant in the outdoor air. Thus, the air purifier is significantly important to the daily life. 
     The air purifier has become a must-have appliance for families. The air purifier can remove dust mites and toxic substances, and help people alleviate allergic reactions and lower the possibility of having respiratory disease. If an aromatizing device is combined with an air purifier, people can breathe purified and aromatized air in the indoor environment. This can comfort people and effectively elevate the air quality by sterilizing and aromatizing the air. 
     Hence, it is necessary to develop an air purifier combined with an aromatizing device. The invention can meet this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view thereof, an object of the invention is to provide an air purifier combined with an aromatizing device for aromatizing air while purifying air, thereby discharging purified and aromatized air. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, an air purifier combined with an aromatizing device is provided, which includes: at least one air purifying unit having a lower housing, an upper housing, a fan, a filter, a filter cover, an aromatizing device, and a bottom cover, wherein: 
     the lower housing is a hollow housing having a lower accommodating space provided with a lower opening, such that the lower accommodating space is configured to receive the filter and the aromatizing device. The bottom surface of the lower housing is provided with air inlets that are spaced apart from each other on one side thereof for allowing the external air to enter the air purifying unit; 
     the upper housing is a hollow housing having an upper accommodating space and provided with a switch located on a top surface thereof. The switch is used to turn on or off the air purifying unit. The top surface of the upper housing is provided with air outlets that are spaced apart from each other on one side thereof for discharging purified and aromatized air; 
     the fan is mounted within the upper accommodating space of the upper housing for blowing the purified and aromatized air to the air outlets; 
     the filter is a hollow and cylindrical filter body having a hollow space for filtering the external air; 
     the filter cover is an annular body disposed between the lower side of the filter and the lower opening of the lower housing; 
     the aromatizing device is composed of an aromatizing piece and a mounting seat, both of which are disposed within the hollow space of the filter for aromatizing the purified air from the filter to generate purified and aromatized air; 
     the bottom cover is used to seal the hollow portion of the filter cover. 
     The air purifying unit further includes a first extension connector mounted on the top surface of the upper housing and a second extension connector mounted on the bottom surface of the lower housing. The first extension connector and the second extension connector are mated in a male-to-female configuration, such that the air purifying unit can be used solely, or jointly by vertically cascading a multiplicity of the air purifying units. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the upper housing includes a control circuit board mounted therein and connected to the switch, the first extension connector, the second extension connector, and the fan. The control circuit board is mounted on the bottom surface of the switch, and the fan is mounted below the control circuit board and is close to the air outlets. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control circuit board can select the aromatizing mode of the air purifier through an application (app) of a mobile device by network transmission signals. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the filter is made up of a filter material selected from the group consisting of a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, an ultra low penetration air (ULPA) filter, nano photocatalysts, an active carbon filter, and an electrostatic filter. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the top surface of the mounting seat is provided with a round groove for allowing the aromatizing piece to be mounted therein. The bottom surface of the mounting seat is provided with a multiplicity of legs extending downwardly. The top surface of the bottom cover is provided with a multiplicity of hollow cylinders extending upwardly for receiving the legs of the mounting seat to secure the mounting seat. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a lucid ring body is mounted between the upper housing and the lower housing. Also, a light-emitting diode (LED) is electrically connected to the control circuit board and is disposed on the inside of the lucid ring body. 
     Next, a preferred embodiment will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings to describe the invention in detail. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an exploded view of the air purifier combined with an aromatizing device according to the invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross-sectional view of the air purifier combined with an aromatizing device according to the invention, in which the switch of the air purifier is not depressed. 
         FIG. 3  shows cross-sectional view of the air purifier combined with an aromatizing device according to the invention, in which the switch of the air purifier is depressed such that the air purifier is working. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing the air purifier combined with an aromatizing device being controllable by a mobile device. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing the air purifier being implemented by cascading a multiplicity of air purifying units. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A preferred embodiment of the invention will be given below. Please refer to  FIGS. 1-3 , in which  FIG. 1  shows an exploded view of the air purifier according to the invention. As shown, the inventive air purifier includes at least one air purifying unit  100  having a lower housing  11 , an upper housing  12 , a fan  13 , a filter  14 , a filter cover  15 , an aromatizing device  16 , and a bottom cover  17 . 
     The lower housing  11  is a hollow housing having a lower accommodating space  111  provided with a lower opening  112 , such that the lower accommodating space  111  is configured to receive the filter  14  and the aromatizing device  16 . The bottom surface of the lower housing  11  is provided with air inlets  113  that are spaced apart from each other on one side thereof for allowing the external air to enter the air purifying unit  100 . 
     The upper housing  12  is a hollow housing having an upper accommodating space  121  and provided with a switch  123  located on a top surface thereof. The switch  123  is used to turn on or off the air purifying unit  100 . The top surface of the upper housing  12  is provided with air outlets  122  that are spaced apart from each other on one side thereof for discharging purified and aromatized air. 
     The fan  13  is mounted within the upper accommodating space  121  of the upper housing  12  for blowing the purified and aromatized air to the air outlets  122 . 
     The filter  14  is a hollow and cylindrical filter body having a hollow space  141  for filtering the external air. 
     The filter cover  15  is an annular body disposed between the lower side of the filter  14  and the lower opening  112  of the lower housing  11 . 
     The aromatizing device  16  is composed of an aromatizing piece  161  and a mounting seat  162 , both of which are disposed within the hollow space  141  of the filter  14  for aromatizing the purified air from the filter  14  to generate purified and aromatized air. 
     The bottom cover  17  is used to seal the hollow portion  151  of the filter cover  15 . 
     The air purifying unit  100  further includes a first extension connector  181  mounted on the top surface of the upper housing  12  and a second extension connector  182  mounted on the bottom surface of the lower housing  11 . The first extension connector  181  and the second extension connector  182  are mated in a male-to-female configuration, such that the air purifying unit  100  can be used solely, or jointly by vertically cascading a multiplicity of the air purifying units  100 . 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the upper housing  12  includes a control circuit board  19  mounted therein and connected to the switch  123 , the first extension connector  181 , the second extension connector  182 , and the fan  13 . The control circuit board  19  is mounted on the bottom surface of the switch  123 , and the fan  13  is mounted below the control circuit board  19  and is close to the air outlets  122 . 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control circuit board  19  is controllable to select the aromatizing mode of the air purifier or the aromatizing effect of the air purifying unit  100  (for example, by adjusting the air discharge volume) through an application (app)  210  of a mobile device  200  by network transmission signals  220 . The network transmission signals  220  may be Wi-Fi signals, Bluetooth signals, or Zigbee signals. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the filter  14  is made up of a filter material selected from the group consisting of a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, an ultra low penetration air (ULPA) filter, nano photocatalysts, an active carbon filter, and an electrostatic filter. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the top surface of the mounting seat  162  is provided with a round groove  163  for allowing the aromatizing piece  162  to be mounted therein. The bottom surface of the mounting seat  162  is provided with a multiplicity of legs  164  extending downwardly. The top surface of the bottom cover  17  is provided with a multiplicity of hollow cylinders  171  extending upwardly for receiving the legs  164  of the mounting seat  162  to secure the mounting seat  162 . 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a lucid ring body  125  is mounted between the upper housing  12  and the lower housing  11 . Also, a light-emitting diode (LED)  126  is electrically connected to the control circuit board  19  and is disposed on the inside of the lucid ring body  125 . The LED  126  is used as an indication of the power of the air purifying unit  100 . When the switch  123  is depressed to turn on the air purifying unit  100 , the LED  126  will illuminate such that light is emitted through the lucid ring body  125 . 
     The operation of the air purifying unit  100  is described with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , in which  FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the air purifier with the switch  123  not being depressed and  FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the air purifier with the switch  123  being depressed. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the switch  123  is depressed and thus the LED  126  illuminates, such that the light is emitted through the lucid ring body  125 . In the meantime, the fan  23  starts to operate. The air enters the air purifying unit  100  through the air inlets  113 , as indicated by the arrow-headed lines A 1  and A 2 . The air is filtered by the filter  14  into purified air, which would pass through the aromatizing device  16  disposed in the hollow space  141  of the filter  14 , such that the purified air is aromatized by the aromatizing piece  161  to generate purified and aromatized air. The fan  13  is used to blow the purified and aromatized air toward the upper housing  12 , as indicated by the arrow-headed lines B 1  and B 2 . Afterwards, the purified and aromatized air is discharged to the outside through the air outlets  122  of the air purifying unit  100 , as indicated by the arrow-headed lines C 1  and C 2 . In this way, the air purifying unit  100  can aromatize the air while purifying the air to generate purified and aromatized air, in order to disinfect, sterilize, and aromatize the indoor air of the place where the air purifying unit  100  is located. In brief, the invention can provide an air purifier with high portability and easy-to-operation characteristics. Thus, the invention possesses potentiality to contain the pandemic of virus. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , in which  FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing the air purifier combined with an aromatizing device being controllable by a mobile device. As shown, the air purifying unit  100  can be used solely. As the air purifying unit  100  includes a filter  14  and an aromatizing device  16 , a single purifying unit  100  is adequate for the purification and aromatization of the fir. Also, as the air purifying unit  100  includes a control circuit board  19 , the user may use a mobile device  200  to execute an application (APP)  210  installed in the mobile device  200  to control the operation of the air purifying unit  100  through the selection of different aromatizing mode for the air purifier by network transmission signals  220 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 3-5 , in which  FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing the air purifier being implemented by cascading a multiplicity of air purifying units. As shown, the air purifying unit  100  further includes a first extension connector  181  mounted on the top surface of the upper housing  12 , and a second extension connector  182  mounted on mounted on the bottom surface of the lower housing  11 . Hence, the inventive air purifier can be implemented by a single air purifying unit  100  as shown in  FIG. 3  or implemented by a multiplicity of air purifying units  100   a - 100   d  that are vertically cascaded as shown in  FIG. 5 . In  FIG. 5 , each of the air purifying unit  100   a - 100   d  includes a first extension connector  181  mounted on the top surface of the upper housing and a second extension connector  182  mounted on mounted on the bottom surface of the lower housing, such that all of the air purifying unit  100   a - 100   d  can be electrically interconnected when they are cascaded. The user may use the application  210  of the mobile device  200  to select a desired aromatizing mode by sending the related messages to the air purifying unit  100   a - 100   d  by network transmission signals  220 . 
     In this embodiment, each aromatizing device  16  of the air purifiers  100   a - 100   d  may be implemented by a specific kind of aromatizing piece  161 . For example, the aromatizing piece  161  may be a bergamot oil aromatizing piece, a geranium oil aromatizing piece, a cedarwood oil aromatizing piece, or a lavender oil aromatizing piece. Therefore, the user may select the aromatizing mode through the application  210  of the mobile device  200 . For example, when one of the air purifying units is selected, the selected air purifying unit can generate purified air with a single aroma. When two or more air purifying units are selected, the selected air purifying units can generate purified air with a mixed aroma. In this embodiment, the number of the air purifying units is set to four. However, the number of the air purifying units may be set to any arbitrary number. 
     Although the structure and the operation of the inventive air purifier combined with aromatizing device have been described herein, it is to be noted that those of skill in the art will recognize that various modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention as further defined in the appended claims.