Patent Publication Number: US-2021162327-A1

Title: Directional airflow device and air cleaner with same

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0158513, filed Dec. 2, 2019, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present disclosure relates generally to an air cleaner and, more particularly, to an air cleaner that discharges filtered air in all directions of 360 degrees. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     In general, an air cleaner is configured to purify an indoor space such as a home or an office. According to the air cleaner in the related art, there is a problem in that the capacity thereof is limited, and thus purification of air in the entire indoor space is limited. Therefore, while air around the air cleaner is purified, air in a space far from the air cleaner is difficult to purify. 
     In order to solve this, efforts have been made to improve the performance of a fan provided in the air cleaner. However, noise generated from the fan increases as a blowing amount of the fan increases, resulting in a problem in that the reliability of a product is deteriorated. 
     Consequently, due to the limited capacity of the air cleaner, the air cleaner is required to be moved by a user in order to purify air in a desired space, which is inconvenient. 
     In an effort to solve this problem, a cylindrical air cleaner has been disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2018-0000285 (Patent Document 1). 
     The air cleaner of Patent Document 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape to purify indoor air in all directions of 360 degrees. In detail, indoor air is suctioned through a first suction portion  102  and a second suction portion  202 , and filtered air is discharged to a first discharge portion  105  and a second discharge portion  205  as a first blowing device  100  and a second blowing device  200  are driven. 
     The second blowing device  200  includes a flow conversion device  300  so that a directional airflow that rotates independently and causes filtered air to be discharged in a specific direction may be formed, thereby delivering air in a specific direction in which air pollution is severe. 
     Meanwhile, the first blowing device  100  discharges air in all directions of 360 degrees, but does not form a directional airflow having straightness in a specific direction. Therefore, there is a problem in that a space for installing a separate motor and fan for forming such a directional airflow is not secured. 
     The first blowing device  100  includes a first air guide device  170  for guiding a flow of air. The first air guide device  170  includes a plurality of guide ribs  175  arranged in a spaced apart relationship to guide filtered air upward. However, the guide ribs  175  also serve only to guide air upward, and thus do not form a directional airflow that delivers air in a specific direction. 
     The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art. 
     Documents of Related Art 
     (Patent document 1) Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2018-0000285 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present disclosure has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the related art, and an objective of the present disclosure is to provide an air cleaner that forms a directional airflow without requiring the provision of a separate driving device, while maintaining a cylindrical shape. 
     In order to achieve the above objective, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a directional airflow device, including: a cylindrical fan accommodating portion including a fan assembly that is configured to generate a flow of air; and a cylindrical guide accommodating portion integrally formed on the fan accommodating portion, and including an airflow forming member that is configured to discharge air suctioned by the fan assembly and guided to an airflow forming space, through a discharge port, wherein the airflow forming member may be configured such that at least two helical bodies having different pitches may be arranged in the airflow forming space along a circumferential direction of the guide accommodating portion, so that a part of the helical bodies may form a directional airflow having straightness, and a remaining part may discharge air radially. 
     The airflow forming space of the guide accommodating portion may be isolated from a central motor accommodating chamber by a partition wall. 
     Each of the helical bodies may have the same width as that of the airflow forming space. 
     The helical bodies may include: a first helical body extending in a strip shape along a circumferential direction of the airflow forming space, and formed in a helical shape to face the discharge port; and a second helical body extending from the same starting point as that of the first helical body and formed on an upper surface of the first helical body so as to be relatively steeper than the first helical body, the second helical body extending along the circumferential direction of the airflow forming space and being formed in a helical shape to be oriented toward the discharge port. 
     The air may flow along a lower end surface of the first helical body to form the directional airflow having straightness, and may flow along an upper end surface of the second helical body to be discharged in all directions through the discharge port. 
     The second helical body may be configured to compensate for a height difference caused by a step between the second helical body and the first helical body. 
     The first helical body may extend to have a central angle of 250 to 290 degrees with a center of the airflow forming space as an origin, and the second helical body may extend to have a central angle of 80 to 100 degrees with the center of the airflow forming space as the origin. 
     The first helical body may be configured to have a pitch of 110 to 120 mm, and the second helical body may be configured to have a pitch of 340 to 360 mm. 
     A rotary motor may be accommodated in the motor accommodating chamber, and the rotary motor may be configured to rotate a blowing fan of the fan assembly provided under the guide accommodating portion. 
     In the directional airflow device and the air cleaner with the same according to the present disclosure, the following effects may be obtained. 
     According to the present disclosure, since the air cleaner may include the directional airflow device that imparts directionality and straightness to filtered air without requiring the provision of a separate driving device, the air cleaner may discharge the filtered air in all directions of 360 degrees and purify indoor air in a specific area, while maintaining a cylindrical shape. 
     According to the present disclosure, since the first helical body of the directional airflow device may allow air to be discharged with directionality, designers and users may predict the direction in which air will be discharged. Therefore, it may be possible to deliberately set the direction so that a directional airflow may be discharged to an indoor area with high pollution, and thus, more effective indoor air purification may be possible. 
     According to the present disclosure, the second helical body of the directional airflow device may prevent air separated from the first helical body from stagnating in the airflow forming space and may guide the air to be discharged in all directions of 360 degrees. Therefore, the straightness of the directional airflow may be improved, and the air discharge amount in all directions of 360 degrees may be increased. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other objectives, features, and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating an outer appearance of an air cleaner according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating an internal configuration of the air cleaner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are respectively a transparent front view and a transparent perspective view illustrating a directional airflow device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is a top view illustrating the directional airflow device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  is a transparent perspective view illustrating airflow inside the directional airflow device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is a top view illustrating airflow of the directional airflow device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating airflow from the exterior of the air cleaner illustrated in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the illustrative drawings. Regarding the reference numerals assigned to the components in the drawings, it should be noted that the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components. Also, in the description of embodiments, detailed descriptions of known functions or structures may make the gist of the present disclosure unclear, the detailed descriptions of the known functions or structures will be omitted. 
     Further, when describing the components of the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), or (b) may be used. Since these terms are provided merely for the purpose of distinguishing the components from each other, they do not limit the nature, sequence, or order of the components. In a case where it is described that any component is “connected” or “coupled” to another component, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other component. However, it will be understood that another component may be “connected” or “coupled” between the components. 
     Exemplary embodiments of a directional airflow device and an air cleaner with the same according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the air cleaner  10  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include blowing devices  100  and  200  for generating airflow and a flow conversion device  300  for converting a discharge direction of the airflow generated by the blowing devices  100  and  200 , and may have a cylindrical appearance. 
     The blowing devices  100  and  200  may include a first blowing device  100  and a second blowing device  200  for generating airflow. 
     The flow conversion device  300  may be provided on the second blowing device  200 , and the first blowing device  100  may be provided under the second blowing device  200 , so that the first and second blowing devices  100  and  200  and the flow conversion device  300  may be arranged in a vertical direction. The first and second blowing devices  100  and  200  may respectively suction in air in an indoor space, and then perform filtering to filter out pollutants, and finally discharge air resulting from the filtering (hereinafter, filtered air). 
     The first blowing device  100  and the second blowing device  200  may have a substantially cylindrical shape similar to that of the air cleaner  10 , which may make it possible to suction in indoor air and discharge filtered air, in all directions of 360 degrees. Here, all directions refer to directions radial with respect to the air cleaner  10 . 
     Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the second blowing device  200  may include the flow conversion device  300  so that the second blowing device  200  may blow filtered air to a specific area where indoor air is contaminated. However, the first blowing device  100  may include no flow conversion device  300 . However, the first blowing device  100  may include an airflow forming member  170  which will be described below, so that filter air is blown to a specific area. Therefore, in the present disclosure, main parts are provided in the first blowing device  100 , and thus, detailed descriptions of other structures, i.e., the second blowing device  200  and the flow conversion device  300 , will be omitted. 
     The first blowing device  100  may include a casing  101  and a discharge grill  102  that define an outer appearance thereof. The casing  101  may be formed in a substantially cylindrical shape. In detail, the shape thereof may be a truncated cone shape close to a cylindrical shape. The casing  101  may be detachably coupled to the first blowing device  100 , so that when maintenance work such as repair or filter replacement is required, the maintenance work may be performed by separating the casing  101 . 
     The discharge grill  102  may be attached to an upper portion of the casing  101 . The discharge grill  102  may have a mesh shape and may close an open portion of the casing  101 . Since the discharge grill  102  may have a mesh shape, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , filtered air may exit through a discharge port  103  and spread to the indoor space. 
     A suction grill  110  may be installed at a lower portion of the first blowing device  100 . The suction grill  110  may be formed on an outer surface of the casing  101  or installed at a lower end of the first blowing device  100  to suction in air present close to a bottom surface thereof. The suction grill  110  may serve as a passage through which indoor air is suctioned and introduced to an inside of the air cleaner  10 , and the shape thereof is not particularly limited. However, the suction grill  110  may be formed evenly along a circumferential direction of the first blowing device  100  to suction in indoor air in all directions of 360 degrees. In addition, the suction grill  110  is preferably formed close to a filter  120  of the first blowing device  100 . 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating the appearance after separating the casing  101  of the air cleaner  10  according to the present embodiment. When the casing  101  of the first blowing device  100  is removed, there is a configuration including the filter  120  and a directional airflow device  130  installed inside of the casing  101 . 
     The filter  120  may be disposed at a position corresponding to the suction grill  110 , and the directional airflow device  130  may be installed on the filter  120 . The filter  120  may remove pollutants (e.g., dust, odor, etc.) present in indoor air suctioned through the suction grill  110  and convert the same into filtered air. The filter  120  may be disposed in a circumferential direction to conform to the shape of the air cleaner  10 . Therefore, the filter  120  may remove all pollutants of indoor air suctioned in all directions through the suction grill  110 . The filter  120  may be maintained in the arrangement in the circumferential direction through a separate support device (not illustrated). 
     The directional airflow device  130  may be installed on the filter  120  to directly generate airflow. The directional airflow device  130  may include a housing  131  defining an outer appearance thereof, and a motor accommodating chamber  132  formed therein. 
     The housing  131  may be located on the filter  120  and may have a substantially cylindrical shape. A partition wall  133  may be formed in the housing  131  in a circumferential direction at a position spaced inward apart from an outer surface of the housing  131  by a predetermined distance. 
     By the partition wall  133 , the motor accommodating chamber  132  may be formed inside of the housing  131 . The motor accommodating chamber  132  may be gradually reduced in diameter toward the filter  120  and then completely sealed, and the partition wall  133  may also be formed to conform to the shape of the motor accommodating chamber  132 . 
     A rotary motor  134  may be installed on the bottom of the motor accommodating chamber  132 . The rotary motor  134  may include a rotary shaft  135 . The rotary shaft  135  may pass through the bottom of the motor accommodating chamber  132  and may be coupled to a fan assembly  150  which will be described later. When the rotary motor  134  generates torque, the torque may be transmitted to the fan assembly  150  through the rotary shaft  135 . 
     The housing  131  of the directional airflow device  130  may be divided into a fan accommodating portion  140  and a guide accommodating portion  160 . The fan assembly  150  may be installed in the fan accommodating portion  140 . The fan assembly  150  may be coupled to the rotary motor  134  to directly generate a flow of air, and to deliver the air to the guide accommodating portion  160 . 
     The fan assembly  150  may include a blowing fan  151  installed toward the filter  120 . When the blowing fan  151  rotates, indoor air may be introduced into the suction grill  110  and then may pass through the filter  120 , thereby becoming filtered air from which pollutants are removed. 
     The blowing fan  151  may be formed on a fan hub  152 . The fan hub  152  may define an outer appearance of the fan assembly  150 , and may include a blowing path  153  formed inside thereof to guide filtered air having passed through the filter  120  to the guide accommodating portion  160  through the blowing path  153 . The fan hub  152  may be formed to conform to the shape of the motor accommodating chamber  132  of which the cross-sectional area may be gradually reduced downward. That is, the fan hub  152  may be formed in parallel with an outer surface thereof spaced apart from the partition wall  133  by a predetermined distance. Therefore, the blowing path  153  may be formed to be inclined upward to face the guide accommodating portion  160 . 
     A shaft coupling portion  154  may be formed in a center of the fan hub  152 . The rotary shaft  135  protruding through the partition wall  133  in the motor accommodating chamber  132  may be coupled to the shaft coupling portion  154 . More precisely, the blowing fan  151  formed on the fan hub  152 , and the rotary shaft  135  may be rotatably coupled to each other through the shaft coupling portion  154 . Therefore, the fan hub  152  may not be rotated by the torque of the rotary motor  134 , but the blowing fan  151  formed on the fan hub  152  may rotate to generate a flow of air. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5 , the guide accommodating portion  160  may include an annular airflow forming space  161  extending in the longitudinal direction of the housing  131 . The airflow forming space  161  and the motor accommodating chamber  132  may be isolated from each other by the partition wall  133 , and the airflow forming space  161  may be formed at a position surrounding the motor accommodating chamber  132 . The guide accommodating portion  160  may discharge filtered air delivered from the fan assembly  150  of the fan accommodating portion  140  to the indoor space. 
     An airflow forming member  170  may be formed in the guide accommodating portion  160 . When the airflow forming member  170  delivers filtered air delivered to the guide accommodating portion  160  through the blowing path  153  to the indoor space, the airflow forming member  170  may guide the filtered air to be biased and discharged in one direction. The airflow forming member  170  may allow the filtered air not to simply pass through the guide accommodating portion  160  and be discharged above the discharge port  103 , but to flow along a flow path conforming to the shape of the airflow forming member  170 , so that the flow rate of the filtered air may be increased and a biased flow of filtered air may occur. That is, the airflow forming member  170  may discharge the filtered air in all directions of 360 degrees through the discharge port  103 , while simultaneously forming and discharging a directional airflow biased toward one side. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the airflow forming member  170  may include a first helical body  171  and a second helical body  172 , and may be formed in the airflow forming space  161 . 
     The first helical body  171  may be formed in a helical shape to be oriented toward the discharge port  103  along the longitudinal direction of the directional airflow device  130  in the airflow forming space  161 . The first helical body  171  may be configured to have the same width as that of the airflow forming space  161  so that filtered air may flow along a lower end surface of the first helical body  171 . 
     In detail, the first helical body  171  may have a strip shape. The first helical body  171  may be formed along a circumferential direction of the airflow forming space  161 . The length of the first helical body  171  may be defined by drawing an arc having a central angle of 250 to 290 degrees with the center of the airflow forming space  161  as an origin, and preferably drawing an arc having a central angle of 260 to 280 degrees. In addition, the first helical body  171  may be configured to have a pitch of 110 to 120 mm. The size of the width of the first helical body  171  may be determined according to that of the airflow forming space  161 . When the first helical body  171  does not have a sufficient length, a biased flow of filtered air may be reduced with the result that a directional airflow having a sufficient intensity may not be formed. In addition, when the first helical body  171  is formed excessively long at an angle of equal to or greater than 360 degrees, airflow that may spread in all directions of 360 degrees other than the directional airflow may not be formed. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the direction in which a tip end of the first helical body  171  is oriented is the same as the direction in which the directional airflow is discharged to the indoor space. The filter air may flow along the lower end surface of the first helical body  171  as the flow rate thereof gradually increases, and may be discharged in the direction in which the tip end of the first helical body  171  is oriented. This may be the same action as the action that an object rotating around the origin flies in a direction of a point of contact of a circle centered on the origin by centrifugal force generated when coupling force with the origin is released. Since the filtered air is a fluid, the filtered air may not advance only in the direction in which the tip end of the first helical body  171  is oriented. However, by creating a biased blow of filtered air in a specific direction as described above, a directional airflow having straightness may be generated. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the second helical body  172  may be formed on an upper surface of the first helical body  171 . As in the case of the first helical body  171 , the second helical body  172  may be formed in a helical shape to be oriented toward the discharge port  103  along the longitudinal direction of the directional airflow device  130  in the airflow forming space  161 . The second helical body  172  may configured to have the same width as that of the airflow forming space  161 , so that filtered air that has passed through the first helical body  171  may flow along an upper end surface of the second helical body  172 . 
     In detail, the second helical body  172  may have the same starting point P as that of the first helical body  171 , and may be formed along the circumferential direction of the airflow forming space  161 . The length of the second helical body  172  may be defined by drawing an arc having a central angle of 80 to 100 degrees with the center of the airflow forming space  161  as an origin, and preferably drawing an arc having a central angle of 90 degrees. In addition, the second helical body  172  may have a pitch of 340 to 360 mm, so that the second helical body  172  may be formed relatively steeper than the first helical body  171 . Therefore, a step  173  may be formed between the second helical body  172  and the first helical body  171 , resulting in a height difference. The second helical body  172  may have a strip shape similar to that of the first helical body  171 , but may be formed to compensate for a gap caused by the step  173 , the gap corresponding to the height difference. The size of the width of the second helical body  172  may be determined according to that of the airflow forming space  161 . 
     Since the second helical body  172  may be formed steeper than the first helical body  171 , the second helical body  172  may serve to block a part of the flow path of filtered air, thereby preventing spreading of the filtered air discharged in the direction of the tip end of the first helical body  171  to thereby enhance the directional airflow. That is, the straightness of the directional airflow may be improved. At the same time, since the second helical body  172  may have a helical shape with an inclination, the second helical body  172  may guide air that has not yet exited through the discharge port  103  to continue to flow along the upper surface of the second helical body  172  without stagnating in the airflow forming space  161 . The air flowing along the upper surface of the second helical body  172  may be further reduced in flow velocity by the step  173  and may be discharged in all directions of 360 degrees. 
     Next, a process in which indoor air is suctioned and discharged by the first blowing device  100  will be described. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , when the rotary motor  134  provided in the directional airflow device  130  rotates, torque may be transmitted to the blowing fan  151  by the rotary shaft  135  so that the blowing fan  151  may be rotated in conjunction with the rotation of the rotary motor  134 . As the blowing fan  151  rotates, contaminated indoor air outside the air cleaner  10  may be suctioned into the air cleaner  10  through the suction grill  110  of the casing  101 . 
     The indoor air suctioned into the air cleaner  10  may pass through the filter  120 , thereby becoming filtered air from which pollutants such as odor molecules and dust are removed, and then the filtered air may move from the inside of the filter toward the fan assembly  150 . 
     The filtered air that has reached the fan assembly  150  may pass through the blowing path  153  and reach the airflow forming space  161  of the directional airflow device  130 . The filtered air may move toward the discharge port  103  while helically rotating along the lower end surface of the first helical body  171 . Due to a relatively narrow space compared to the blowing path  153  provided in the fan accommodating portion  140  and a shape in which the flow path is partially blocked by the first helical body  171 , the flow velocity of the filtered air may be increased. 
     The filtered air which has reached the tip end of the first helical body  171  while rotating helically may form a directional airflow by centrifugal force and inertia in the direction in which the tip end of the first helical body  171  is oriented and may be discharged through the discharge port  103 . The direction in which the directional airflow is formed may be controlled according to the shape of the first helical body  171 , so that the filtered air may be discharged in a direction desired by a user. At this time, the second helical body  172  may prevent the filtered air having passed through the first helical body  171  from spreading, thereby improving the straightness of the directional airflow. 
     Meanwhile, filtered air that has not yet been discharged by the directional airflow may continue to flow toward the discharge port  103  along the upper surface of the second helical body  172  having a helical shape with an inclination. Therefore, the filtered air flowing along the upper surface of the second helical body  172  may not stagnate in the airflow forming space  161 , but may be discharged through the discharge port  103  in all directions of 360 degrees. 
     In the present embodiment described above, the airflow forming member  170  may be provided only in the first blowing device  100 . However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and it will be understood that the airflow forming member  170  may be installed in the second blowing device  200 . 
     Hereinabove, even though all of the components of an embodiment of the present disclosure are coupled into one body or operate in a combined state, the present disclosure is not limited to this embodiment. That is, all of the components may operate in one or more selective combinations within the range of the purpose of the present disclosure. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise”, “include”, “have”, etc. when used in this specification, specify one or more corresponding components may exist and, unless specifically described to the contrary, do not exclude but may include additional components. Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. The terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. 
     Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure are not to limit but are merely to describe the technical spirit of the present disclosure. Further, the scope of the technical spirit of the present disclosure is not limited by the embodiments. The scope of the present disclosure should be determined on the basis of the descriptions in the appended claims, and all equivalents thereof should belong to the scope of the present disclosure.