Patent ID: 7381381

Claim:
An air treatment apparatus comprising: a housing having an elongated shape, the housing extending along a longitudinal axis, the housing having: (a) an air inlet portion; (b) an air outlet portion positioned in a downstream direction relative to the air inlet portion, the air inlet portion and the air outlet portion being positioned on a lateral axis which intersects with the longitudinal axis; (c) an emitter electrode support; (d) a collector electrode support, the collector electrode support having at least one housing wall which defines an elongated slot extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis; and (e) an interstitial electrode support; at least one wire-shaped elongated emitter electrode supported by the emitter electrode support; a collector electrode unit having: (a) a base portion spaced apart from a top portion, the top portion having a handle, the base portion being configured to be slidably inserted into the elongated slot; and (b) a plurality of elongated, plate-shaped collector electrodes, each one of the elongated, plate-shaped collector electrodes having: (i) one end coupled to the base portion; (ii) another end coupled to the top portion; (iii) an elongated body extending between the ends; and (iv) a first edge and a second edge, the second edge being positioned in the downstream direction relative to the first edge when the base portion of collector electrode unit is inserted into the elongated slot of the housing; a voltage generator, electrically coupled to the emitter electrode and the collector electrodes to create a flow of air in the downstream direction; and at least one elongated interstitial electrode supported by the interstitial electrode support, the interstitial electrode being located between at least two of the collector electrodes, said interstitial electrode having: (a) a plurality of spaced-apart ends, the ends being positioned along an axis which is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis; and (b) a portion positioned in the downstream direction relative to the first edges of the two collector electrodes when the base portion of collector electrode unit is inserted into the elongated slot of the housing.