Patent Publication Number: US-2012024408-A1

Title: Apparatus for jetting compressed air, and method for manufacturing same

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an apparatus for jetting compressed air and a method of manufacturing the apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for jetting compressed air, which amplifies and discharges received compressed air, and a method of manufacturing the apparatus. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Various apparatuses for jetting compressed air using the Coanda effect have been disclosed. In such apparatuses, an air intake pipe and an amplifying unit are generally combined to each other. The air content and speed of the compressed air flowed in through the air intake pipe increase as the compressed air passes through the amplifying unit, and the compressed air may be discharged in such an amplified state. 
     Since a cross section of the air intake pipe is circular, a surface of the air intake pipe combined to the amplifying unit is curved. However, a surface of the amplifying unit combined to the air intake pipe is flat. In other words, since the surfaces of the air intake pipe and the amplifying unit have different shapes, it is difficult to uniformly contact and connect the surfaces. 
     Accordingly, the contact between the surface of the air intake pipe and the surface of the amplifying unit becomes uneven. Such uneven contact causes the compressed air to be unevenly jetted and the amount and speed of the compressed air discharged through the amplifying unit to be decreased, thereby deteriorating jetting efficiency of the compressed air. Moreover, due to the difference between the shapes of surfaces, there is a limit to combining the surfaces and filling a space between the surface via welding or the like, and a gap may still exist after the combining. 
     DISCLOSURE 
     Technical Problem 
     The present invention provides an apparatus for jetting compressed air, where jetting efficiency of the compressed air is increased since an air intake pipe and amplifying unit are uniformly combined to each other without a gap, and a method of manufacturing the apparatus. 
     Technical Solution 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for jetting compressed air, the apparatus including: an air intake pipe having a discharge hole, through which compressed air received from outside the apparatus is discharged, formed on an outer surface having a curved or multilateral shape; and an amplifying unit having a contact surface combining to the outer surface by having a curved or multilateral shape corresponding to the outer surface, and including an inlet portion wherein an inlet hole corresponding to the discharge hole is formed on the contact surface, and an outlet portion for amplifying and discharging the compressed air received through the inlet hole on the contact surface. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an apparatus for jetting compressed air, the method including: preparing an air intake pipe having a discharge hole, from which compressed air received from outside the apparatus is discharged, on a outer surface having a curved or multilateral shape; preparing an amplifying unit including an inlet portion wherein an inlet hole corresponding to the discharge hole is formed on a contact surface, and an outlet portion for amplifying and discharging the compressed air received through the inlet hole on the contact surface; molding the contact surface of the inlet portion to have a curved or multilateral shape corresponding to the outer surface of the air intake pipe so that the contact surface of the inlet portion contacts and is combined to the outer surface of the air intake pipe; and integrally forming the outer surface and the contact surface as one body by sealing and binding the outer surface and the contact surface without any gap via welding, bonding, screwing, or pressing. 
     Advantageous Effects 
     According to the apparatus for jetting compressed air, and the method of manufacturing the apparatus of the present invention, the contact surface of the amplifying unit and the outer surface of the air intake pipe can be closely and uniformly bound by forming the contact surface to have a curved or multilateral shape to correspond to the outer surface of the air intake pipe. Accordingly, the compressed air flowed into the amplifying unit through the air intake pipe can uniformly flow on the contact surface and the compressed air can be prevented from being lost to outside the apparatus. Thus, the jetting efficiency of the compressed air discharged through the amplifying unit can be increased while instantly discharging a large amount of air by discharging the compressed air with the surrounding air. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of an apparatus for jetting compressed air, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1  when a cover portion is removed; 
         FIG. 3  is a combined diagram of a front view and cross-sectional view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken along a line IV-IV of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a right side view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a plan view of the cover portion of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the cover portion where a top of an outer wall is curved to surround an outer edge of the cover portion. 
     
    
    
     BEST MODE 
       FIG. 1  is a plan view of an apparatus  100  for jetting compressed air, according to an embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 2  is a plan view of the apparatus  100  of  FIG. 1  when a cover portion  129  is removed, and  FIG. 3  is a combined diagram of a front view and cross-sectional view of the apparatus of  100   FIG. 1 , wherein a left view is the front view and a right view is the cross-sectional view based on a center line.  FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken along a line IV-IV of  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5  is a right side view of the apparatus  100  of  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 6  is a plan view of the cover portion  129  of  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the cover portion  129  where a top  125   a  of an outer wall  125  is curved to surround an outer edge  128   b  of the cover portion  129 , and FIG. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 3  through  5 , the apparatus  100  includes the air intake pipe  110  and an amplifying unit  120 . Compressed air flows into the air intake pipe  110  from outside the apparatus  100 , and the flowed in compressed air may be discharged toward the amplifying unit  120 . Accordingly, the air intake pipe  110  includes a discharge hole  111  from which the compressed air is discharged and formed on an outer surface having a curved or multilateral shape. Here, referring to  FIGS. 8A through 8F , a cross section of the air intake pipe  110  has a general circular or multilateral shape, and the outer surface  112  also has a corresponding circular or multilateral shape.  FIG. 8A  shows the air intake pipe  110  having a circular shape and  FIGS. 8B through 8F  show air intake pipes  110   b  through  110   f  having multilateral shapes, i.e., respectively having a pentagonal shape, hexagonal shape, octagonal shape, and tetragonal shape. The air intake pipe  110  of  FIGS. 1 through 4  has the circular shape having a curved surface as shown in  FIG. 8A , but referring to  FIGS. 8B through 8F , the shape of the air intake pipe  110  is not limited thereto. 
     Meanwhile, the amplifying unit  120  is where the compressed air is flowed in through the discharge hole  111  of the air intake pipe  110 , and the flowed in compressed air is amplified and discharged to outside the apparatus  100 . The amplifying unit  120  includes an inlet portion  121  and an outlet portion  126 . 
     First, the inlet portion  121  has a contact surface  122  contacting the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110 . In other words, referring to  FIG. 1 , the contact surface  122  has a curved shape (for example, a concave shape if the air intake pipe  110  is circular) corresponding to the shape of the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  (for example, a convex shape if the air intake pipe  110  is circular), and thus may closely and uniformly contact and be combined to the outer surface  112 . Here, if the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  has a multilateral shape as shown in  FIGS. 8B through 8F , the contact surface  122  has a multilateral shape corresponding to the outer surface  112 . Meanwhile, an inlet hole  123  corresponding to the discharge hole  111  of the air intake pipe  110  is formed on the contact surface  122  of the inlet portion  121 . 
     As described above, since the outer surface  112  having the convex shape and the contact surface  122  having the concave shape may closely and uniformly contact each other, a flow of the compressed air flowed into the amplifying unit  120  through the air intake pipe  110  may be constant and the compressed air may be prevented from being lost to outside the apparatus  100 , and thus straightness of the compressed air with respect to a flowing direction may be improved. In other words, such uniform contact increases jetting efficiency of the compressed air discharged through the amplifying unit  120  later. Alternatively, if contact between the outer surface  112  and the contact surface  122  is not uniform, an amount and speed of the compressed air discharged through the amplifying unit  120  later are decreased, and thus the jetting efficiency of the compressed air may be deteriorated. 
     Meanwhile, in order to increase the jetting efficiency of the compressed air, the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  and the contact surface  122  of the inlet portion  121  may be integrally sealed and bound as one body via welding, bonding, screwing, or pressing so that there is no gap therebetween, i.e., so that there is no gap throughout the sealed and bound regions. However, the outer surface  112  and the contact surface  122  may be sealed and bound via a method other than those described above. If the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  and the contact surface  122  of the inlet portion  121  are not sealed properly, principles of the Coanda effect may not be effectively used, and thus it is clear that Coanda effects may be remarkably reduced if the sealing is perfectly performed. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the amplifying unit  120  further includes a combinable wing portion  130  bolted to the air intake pipe  110  so as to improve and supplement characteristics of the sealing and binding (welding, bonding, screwing, or pressing) by subsidiarily combining the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  and the contact surface  122  of the amplifying unit  120 . For example, the combinable wing portion  130  may include a subsidiary plate  131  protruding from an outer side of the inlet portion  121  corresponding to a top of the air intake pipe  110  and parallel to the air intake pipe  110 , a combining hole  132  formed by penetrating through the subsidiary plate  131  up and down, and a bolt  133  combined to the air intake pipe  110  through the combining hole  132 . Here, the combinable wing portion  130  and the air intake pipe  110  may be combined via a well known method, such as welding or clamping, aside from the bolting. 
     The outlet portion  126  included in the amplifying unit  120  is a portion where the compressed air flowed in through the inlet hole  123  of the contact surface  122  is amplified and discharged. Such amplifying and discharging is performed by using the Coanda effect, and will be described later in detail. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , two air intake pipes  110  may be disposed in parallel to each other respectively at sides of the amplifying unit  120 . Here, two inlet portions  121  are respectively disposed at the sides of the amplifying unit  120  according to the number of air intake pipes  110 , and thus the sides of the amplifying unit  120  are settled on the two air intake pipes  110 . 
     In other words, the compressed air flowed into the two inlet portion  121  through the two air intake pipes  110  may be amplified and discharged by one outlet portion  126 . When the numbers of air intake pipes  110  and inlet portions  121  are each two, more compressed air may be simultaneously flowed in than when the numbers are each one, and thus more compressed air may be amplified and discharged at once at a high speed. 
     Here, two air supply portions (not shown) for supplying air to the two air intake pipes  110  may be disposed according to the number of air intake pipes  110 , so that the air intake pipes  110  individually receive the air from the air supply portions. Alternatively, one air supply portion may be branched and connected to the two air intake pipes  110 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an air outlet hole  127  penetrating through the outlet portion  126  up and down may be formed to discharge the amplified compressed air. Here, a diameter of an upper side A of an inner circumferential surface of the air outlet hole  127  may increase upward so as to connect to a top B of the outer edge of the outlet portion  126  in a curved shape. Also, the inlet portion  121  surrounds the outer edge of the outlet portion  126 , and includes the inlet hole  123  in an up-and-down direction on a region facing the discharge hole  111  of the air intake pipe  110 . The inlet portion  121  includes the outer wall  125  having inner jaws  124  having a height higher than the top B of the outer edge of the outlet portion  126 . 
     Here, the amplifying unit  120  includes the cover portion  129  for covering the top of the amplifying unit  120 . Referring to  FIG. 6 , the cover portion  129  includes a through hole  128   a  at the center communicating with the air outlet hole  127 , and a perimeter portion  128  at the outer side substantially forming a cover surface. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  3 , and  4 , a communicating space  10  is formed in a circumferential direction between the top B of the outer edge of the outlet portion  126  and a bottom surface of the perimeter portion  128  as the perimeter portion  128  of the cover portion  129  covers and is spaced apart from the top of the outlet portion  126  by being spaced on the inner jaws  124 . In other words, the communicating space  10  has an approximately donut shape when viewed from a plane. Here, a space between the top B of the outer edge of the outlet portion  126  and the bottom surface of the perimeter portion  128  may be minute, from about 0.4 to about 0.6 mm. In other words, the compressed air flowed in through the inlet hole  123  is amplified and discharged according to the Coanda effect by passing through the communicating space  10  having a minute height, and thus is amplified and discharged toward a lower side (indicated by an arrow) of the air outlet hole  127  while sucking surrounding air. The apparatus  100  before the cover portion  129  is placed on is shown in  FIG. 2  to be compared with the apparatus  100  with the cover portion  129  of  FIG. 1 . Here, the communicating space  10  is a gap constant along the circumferential direction of the top B of the outer edge of the outlet portion  126 , and the Coanda effect is increased if a jetting speed of the compressed air under a high pressure is equal to or above a supersonic speed of 100 to 400 m/sec through such a gap. Also, the compressed air may be jetted at a same amount in the circumferential direction, and when the compressed air is jetted, surrounding air may be also discharged according to principles of an ejector. 
     Here, referring to  FIG. 7 , the cover portion  129  placed on the inner jaws  124  of the inlet portion  121  may be stably fixed since the top  125   a  of the outer wall  125  of the inlet portion  121  has an inward curved shape to surround the outer edge  128   b  of the cover portion  129 . Here, the top  125   a  of the outer wall  125  may be curved inward by using any well known method, such as pressurizing. 
     A method of manufacturing the apparatus  100  will now be simply described with reference to  FIGS. 1 through 7 . First, the air intake pipe  110  having the discharge hole  111 , through which the compressed air flowed in from outside the apparatus  100 , formed on the outer surface  112  having a curved or multilateral shape is prepared. Then, the amplifying unit  120  including the inlet portion  121  wherein the inlet hole  123  corresponding to the discharge hole  111  is formed on the contact surface  122 , and the outlet portion  126  for amplifying and discharging the compressed air received through the inlet hole  123  of the contact surface  122  is prepared. 
     Next, the contact surface  122  of the inlet portion  121  is molded to have a curved or multilateral shape corresponding to the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110  so that the contact surface  122  of the inlet portion  121  contacts and is combined to the outer surface  112  of the air intake pipe  110 . For example, when the air intake pipe  110  having a circular shape has a convex surface, the contact surface  122  is flat before being molded, but may be molded to a concave surface via a separate process so that the outer surface  112  and the contact surface  122  uniformly contact each other. Here, any well known method may be used to mold the contact surface  122 . Then, the outer surface  112  and the contact surface  122  having the corresponding shapes are integrally tightly sealed and bound without any gap via welding, bonding, screwing, or pressing. Then, the combinable wing portion  130  and the air intake pipe  110  are combined via bolting, welding, or clamping. 
     Each component of the amplifying unit  120  described above may be manufactured via aluminum casting and mechanical processing. According to the mechanical processing, the compressed air may be uniformly jetted, and the circumferential direction of the cover portion  129  may be uniformly sealed later. 
     While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     According to the present invention, since the compressed air is discharged through the amplifying unit along with the surrounding air at the same time, the apparatus  100  may be used to effectively eliminate pollutants adhered to a filter.