Patent ID: 6951582

Claim:
An air purifier device comprising: a housing made of an electrically conductive material, and formed with an air inlet and an air outlet; a fan unit mounted in said housing and disposed adjacent to said air inlet for drawing ambient air into said housing via said air inlet; a dust-collecting member made of an electrically conductive material, mounted in said housing, and disposed adjacent to said air outlet; a negative ion generating unit mounted in said housing and including an ionizing member that is spaced apart from said dust-collecting member, said negative ion generating unit being operable to apply a drive voltage to said ionizing member so that air around said ionizing member is ionized to form negative ions; a detecting unit mounted in said housing and having a signal input end that is coupled electrically to said dust-collecting member and said housing, and a signal output end, said detecting unit being operable so as to provide a control signal at said signal output end in response to at least one of a change in electrical characteristics of said housing due to body contact with said housing, and a change in electrical characteristics of said dust-collecting member due to excessive accumulation of dust on said dust-collecting member; and a power control unit coupled electrically to said negative ion generating unit and said signal output end of said detecting unit, said power control unit being operable to supply electric power to said negative ion generating unit and being responsive to the control signal from said detecting unit to interrupt supply of the electric power to said negative ion generating unit.