Patent ID: 8448883

Claim:
An electrostatically atomizing device comprising: an emitter electrode; an opposed electrode disposed in an opposed relation to said emitter electrode; a liquid supply means configured to supply a liquid to said emitter electrode; and a high voltage generating means which applies a high voltage across said emitter electrode and said opposed electrode to develop an electrical discharge between said electrodes in order to electrostatically charge said liquid on said emitter electrode, thereby discharging charged minute liquid particles from a discharge end of said emitter electrode, wherein a detecting means is provided to detect a discharge condition developed between said emitter electrode and said opposed electrode, and a controller is provided to control said high voltage generating, means to regulate its high voltage output in order to maintain a predetermined discharge between said electrodes based upon the detected discharge condition, wherein said liquid supply means for supplying water to said emitter electrode is a cooler said configured to cool said emitter electrode to condense thereon water out of surrounding air moisture, and wherein said detecting means is configured to detect a discharge current flowing between said emitter electrode and said opposed electrode, and said controller is configured to give a feedback control of controlling said high voltage generating means to keep the detected discharge current at a target value.