Patent Publication Number: US-2006000360-A1

Title: Indoor air circulation sterilizing device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates generally to an indoor air circulation sterilizing device, and more particularly to a sterilizing device that is installed to a return air inlet on a ceiling. When the air passes through a separator plate, the flow path becomes longer and the flow speed becomes slower, thereby sterilizing the air by employing a sterilizing light set.  
      In order to rapidly cool down an indoor space with relatively more economic power consumption, most of the modern buildings are designed as air closed. Therefore, the airflow that passes through an air outlet of an air conditioner often contains a huge amount of malign bacteria. Once such bacteria are flown into an indoor space, it is often difficult to be exhausted within a short amount of time. People staying in such an environment are easily infected by the bacteria and bring such bacteria back to infect their family members, thereby widely spreading out such a contagious disease.  
      Conventional indoor air circulation device, as shown in  FIG. 1 , is disposed on a return air inlet on a ceiling. The conventional indoor air circulation device includes a frame  10   a  and a filter web  20   a  formed on the frame  10   a . When an air conditioner blows cold air from an air outlet, the cold air is flown into a room. The cold air can absorb heat in the room and flow into the ceiling through the frame  10   a  and the filter web  20   a , so as to circulate and cool the air in the room.  
      However, the conventional indoor air circulation device employs only the filter web  20   a  to filter out particles and the contagious bacteria. This can not completely eliminate the contagious bacteria in the air. On the other hand, when the air conditioner is off, the hot air adjacent the ceiling will flow down to the room. The malign bacteria hidden on the ceiling will be brought down to the room, thus severely damaging one&#39;s health.  
      Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devoted himself based on his many years of practical experiences to the development of a indoor air circulation sterilizing device that can resolve the problem discussed above.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is to provide an indoor air circulation sterilizing device. The sterilizing device employs a sterilizing lamp set and the formation of penetration holes on separator plates to provide a longer path for air to flow therethrough with slower flowing speed, thereby sufficiently sterilizing the air and killing the malign bacteria in the air.  
      In order to achieve the above and other objectives, the sterilizing device of the present invention includes a frame body, at least three separator plates and a sterilizing lamp set. The frame body is composed of a first frame and a second frame. The first frame includes a plurality of containing grooves intermittently disposed thereon. The containing grooves can provide the separator plates to be disposed thereon. Several penetrating holes are formed on the separator plates. Each two adjacent separator plates are so disposed that the penetrating holes are mutually shifted. The sterilizing lamp set is disposed on the separator plates and is connected with the frame body. Therefore, the objectives mentioned above can be achieved. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a conventional indoor air circulation device.  
       FIG. 2  is an explosive view of an indoor air circulation sterilizing device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the sterilizing device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the sterilizing device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the sterilizing device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, installed on a ceiling.  
       FIG. 6  schematically illustrates the combination of a first frame and a second frame, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a sectional view of a sterilizing device in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to better understanding the features and technical contents of the present invention, the present invention is hereinafter described in detail by incorporating with the accompanied drawings. However, the accompanied drawings are only for the convenience of illustration and description, no limitation is intended thereto.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , the explosive view, the perspective view and the sectional view of an indoor air circulation sterilizing device of the present invention are illustrated. The sterilizing device includes a frame body  10 , at least three layers of separator plate  20 , and a sterilizing lamp set  30 .  
      The frame body  10  includes a first frame  11  and a second frame  12 . The first frame  11  is composed of four side plates. Each side plate includes an inwardly extended extension plate  111  from the bottom rim of the side plate. The extension plate  111  provides a grating support member  13  to be disposed thereon. A filter web  14  is disposed on the support member  13 . The filter web  14  can be an active carbon type or a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter type. On the other hand, a plurality of containing grooves  112  is intermittently formed on the front plate of the first frame  11 . A plurality of fastening plate  112  is protrusively formed on the inner side of the left and right side plates. A plurality of grooves  114  is formed on the fastening plate  113 . The grooves are located corresponding to the containing grooves  112 . A first ear  115  is formed on the outer side bottom rim of the right side plate. The second frame  12  is a hollow rectangular frame (not shown) or a trapezoid frame composed of four side plates. In this particular embodiment, the second frame  12  is a trapezoid frame. A second ear  121  is formed on the bottom rim of the right side plate. The second ear  121  and the first ear  115  are located corresponding to each other, each including a hole for penetrating a latch therethrough. A plurality of protrusive pillars  122  is formed on the periphery of the second ear  121 . The protrusive pillar  122  includes a screw hole for fastening a knob  123  on the protrusive pillar  122  by means of a screw, for example. Furthermore, a plurality of tunneling paths  124  is formed on the top portion of the second frame  12 . Four rectangular protrusive edges  125  are formed extending from the bottom rim of the second frame  12 .  
      The separator plate  20  can be made of metallic materials. The separator plate  20  includes two first separator plates  21  and a second separator plate  22 . Each of the separator plates  21 ,  22  includes a penetrating hole  23  formed thereon. The penetrating hole  23  can be in circular, rectangular or various other geometrical shapes. In this particular embodiment, the penetrating hole  23  is in rectangular shape. The first separator plate  21  is disposed in the containing groove  112  of the first frame  11  and the groove  114  of the fastening plate  113 . The second separator plate  22  is sandwiched between the two first separator plates  21 . The penetrating holes  23  of the first separator  21  and the second separator  21  are so disposed that they are mutually shifted.  
      The sterilizing lamp set  30  includes a lamp holder and a lamp tube  32 . The lamp holder  31  is disposed on the first frame  11 , as shown in  FIG. 7 , or on two ends of the second frame  12 . In this particular embodiment, the lamp holder  31  is disposed on the second frame  12 . The lamp holder  31  provides a lamp tube  32  to be disposed thereon. The lamp tube in this particular embodiment is an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp, wherein the wavelength of the ultraviolet light emitted is preferably between 240 to 260 nm. In this particular embodiment, the UVC254 sterilizing lamp tube is employed.  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , a sectional view of the sterilizing device of the present invention is illustrated. The sterilizing device of the present invention is installed on the ceiling  40  of an indoor space, namely a room. The ceiling is composed of a plurality of vertically and horizontally arranged steel bars, thereby forming a rectangular return air inlet  42 . The return air inlet  42  provides the protrusive edge  125  of the second frame  12  to be disposed thereon. When an air conditioner blows cold air toward an air outlet, the cold air starts absorbing heat in the room. After the heat absorption process, the air spontaneously flows up via convection and into the filter web  14  of the frame body  10 . The air then enters into the penetrating holes  23  of the separator plates  20 . Since the first separator plate  21  and the second separator plate  22  are so disposed that they are mutually shifted, there is provided a longer path for the air to flow in the separator plates with a slower flowing speed. The bacteria in the air can thus be exposed to the ultraviolet light from the sterilizing lamp set  30  with sufficient amount of time. In addition, since the penetrating holes  23  are so disposed that they are mutually shifted, the ultraviolet light emitted from the sterilizing lamp set  30  can thus be blocked from entering the room, thereby preventing people from being hurt. Moreover, a fan  50  and/or a return air tube  60  can be disposed on the tunneling path  124  of the second frame so as to enhance the suction of air for achieving better sterilizing effect.  
      Referring to  FIG. 6 , a combination of the first frame and the second frame is schematically illustrated. Once the intensity of the ultraviolet light emitted from the ultraviolet lamp tube  31  is below 40 uw/cm*cm, the sterilizing effect can never be achieved regardless of how much time the air is exposed. Therefore, a lamp tube monitoring device  70  can be disposed on one side of the second frame  12  so as to detect the intensity of the ultraviolet light. The monitoring device  70  is electrically coupled to the circuitry of the sterilizing lamp set  30 . Once the intensity of the ultraviolet light is below the value given above, it indicates that the lamp tube  31  needs to be replaced. Therefore, when such occasion occurs, the monitoring device  70  emits a lamp replacement signal. One can turn the knob  123  at the bottom rim of the second frame  12  about the first ear  115  (referring to  FIG. 2 ) of the first frame  11 , so as to perform the replacement of the lamp tube  31 .  
      In summary, the sterilizing device of the present invention indeed contains patentable subject matter that is consistent with the utility, novelty and non-obviousness requirements as set forth in the patent law. Therefore, a grant of letters patent for the present invention is respectively requested.  
      Since, any person having ordinary skill in the art may readily find various equivalent alterations or modifications in light of the features as disclosed above, it is appreciated that the scope of the present invention is defined in the following claims. Therefore, all such equivalent alterations or modifications without departing from the subject matter as set forth in the following claims is considered within the spirit and scope of the present invention.