A small personal appliance is wholly contained within a unitary housing that is fully supported by its contact blades being plugged into a wall outlet. The housing includes needles for ionizing the ambient atmosphere and a carbon foam pad for collecting the ionized air. A drive circuit generate cyclically recurring pulses having a voltage which is high enough to ionize the air and low enough to preclude a formation of ozone.

Patent
   RE34346
Priority
May 31 1989
Filed
May 31 1989
Issued
Aug 17 1993
Expiry
Aug 17 2010
Assg.orig
Entity
Large
11
13
EXPIRED
6. An ionizer comprising a generally elongated housing having a pocket formed therein and at one end thereof with holes formed in said housing at a point that is remote from said pocket, said pocket having an opening extending along a part of each of two opposing sides and a front thereof for receiving a collector pad, and a frame for supporting the edges of the bottom of said collector pad, whereby substantially the entire bottom of said collector pad and at least part of each of three sides of said pad are exposed to ambient air, and means for generating a stream of negative ions emanating from said holes, said collector pad being biased by a positive potential.
7. A small personal appliance which is totally self contained within a housing having a pair of contact blades mounted thereon that may be plug-in mounted on a wall outlet, needles needle means in said housing for driving only negative charged ionized air out of said housing and into the ambient air, collector means at an opening in said housing for collection collecting said negatively charged ions from said ambient air, and drive means for cyclically applying a negative potential to said needles needle means and a positive potential to said collector means, the voltage difference between said positive and negative potentials being high enough to ionize the air and low enough not to form ozone.
1. An ionizer comprising a small and light weight housing with a pair of conventional electrical power plug contact blades extending therefrom, whereby the housing may be mounted by pressing the blades into a wall outlet, a pocket formed in the housing for receiving an electrically conductive collector pad while exposing a substantial surface of said collector pad to the ambient air, at least one opening formed in the housing at a location which is remote from said collector pad, at least one ion needle located at the opening and positioned to direct a stream of ions out of said opening, drive means for cyclically applying drive pulses to said needle to energize them with a negative potential which is high enough to create negative ions, but which is not high enough to create ozone, and mean for applying a positive voltage to said collector pad.
2. The ionizer of claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of said openings and needles, said housing and said needles having a physical relationship that causes substantially all ions to pass out of said openings and into the ambient air while preventing the needles from touching a person who may encounter the housing.
3. The ionizer of claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of said needles which are physically positioned to drive substantially all of said ions through said openings and out into the ambient air in a direction which is away from the collector pad, whereby said ions are dispersed throughout said ambient air before they are eventually collected by the pad.
4. The ionizer of claim 1 wherein said collector pad is a cellular carbon impregnated foam pad.
5. The ionizer of claim 1 wherever said drive means is an oscillator for generating a train of cyclically recurring square or spike wave form pulses.
8. The appliance of claim 7 wherein said housing contains a pocket for receiving and supporting said collector means, said collector means being a conductive sponge pad whereby said pad may be removed for cleaning simply by pulling it out of said pocket.
9. The appliance of claim 8 wherein said sponge pad is a carbon foam sponge pad.

This invention relates to ionizers and more particularly to ionizers which are small, easy to install, and easy to clean.

FIGS. 1-5 show various views of the inventive ionizer which has a housing 10, with the contact blades 12, 14 of a conventional power plug projecting from the back and, on the top, openings 18-28 for six ionization needles. A pocket 30 is formed in the bottom of the housing to receive an electrically conductive collector pad or sponge 32; preferably, it is a cellular carbon sponge. The shape of the pocket 30 may be understood by comparing its appearances in FIGS. 3-5. The pocket exposes a substantial amount of sponge surface area to an ion collection. In greater detail, on each of two sides, a portion of the sponge 32 is exposed, as shown at "x". The entire front of the sponge is exposed, as shown at "y" FIGS. 4 and 5 show how a partial frame holds the sponge to expose most of its surface. Finger wells 34 are formed on opposite sides of the housing to facilitate a manipulation, thereof.

It should be noted that the ionizer housing is small and has been given a fairly pleasing, but not an attention getting, external appearance. Also, the housing is very small and is used at wall outlets which are often positioned to be behind a curtain or partially concealed by a piece of furniture. Therefore, the inventive ionizer may be used in the best of fine decors without attracting an undue amount of attention.

It should now be apparent that the inventive ionizer may be installed simply by pressing the power contact blades 12, 14 into a conventional 120 V. wall outlet. The electronic circuit within the housing drives the needles to emit negatively charged ions that the holes 18-28. The positively charged collector pad 32 attracts these ions which must pass through the ambient air as they travel from the holes 18-28 to pocket 30. There is a phenomenon wherein the ions behave somewhat as a "wind", whereby a draft of ions is blown out of the holes to circulate through the atmosphere before returning to the pad. Therefore, after the ionizer has operated for some period of time, the ions should be diffused over a fairly wide area.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of a fragment of a housing to reveal the ion needle location. Primarily for aesthetics purposes, the housing has a raised somewhat domed shaped area 36 partially surrounding the tip of a sharp needle 38 which projects far enough into the hole 18 to insure a free flow of ions into the ambient atmosphere. Yet, the needle is buried deeply enough under the exterior surface of dome 36 to protect people who may touch the housing so that they will not be scratched by the tip or shocked by the high negative potential on the needles.

The electronic drive circuit shown in FIG. 7 is a relaxation oscillator. The terminals 40, 42 are connected through the contact blades 12, 14 (FIGS. 2-5) to a conventional wall outlet of a commercial power system. Two coupling resistors 44, 46 limit current and prevent a short circuit across the line. The capacitor 48 charges until the resulting voltage built upon its reaches a potential for firing SIDAC 54, which is somewhat similar to back two back-to-back zener diodes that break down at a certain voltage. When the SIDAC 54 fires, it discharges the capacitor 48. Thereafter, capacitor 48 recharges over a period of time. The result is that a train of square or spike wave pulse forms are applied at 49 to the primary of an autotransformer.

Gas tube 50 is an indicator which lights to show that the ionizer is "on". Resistor 52 limits current to a level which fires and sustains the gas tube 50.

The autotransformer 58 greatly increase the voltage of the square or spike wave voltage which is applied to its primary side. The two capacitors 60, 62 and two diodes 64, 66 are coupled into a network which doubles the voltage at the secondary side of the autotransformer 58. The diodes are polled to apply a negative voltage through terminal 67 to the needles 38 and a positive voltage through terminal 69 to the pad 32. Resistors 69, 70 provide a coupling and limit current to the needles 38 and the collector pad 32.

The operation should now be clear. Initially, SIDAC 54 is off, and no current reaches the autotransformer. The voltage built upon capacitor 48 reaches a level which causes an avalance within SIDAC 54 to switch it on and discharge the capacitor 48. This impresses a square or spike wave oscillating wave form on the primary of autotransformer 58. The output of the transformer 58 is a high voltage that is doubled at network 60-66. The resulting voltage at terminals 67, 68 is high enough to emit electrons from the needles 38, FIG. 6, but is not high enough to create ozone.

The electrons escaping through holes 18-28 negatively ionize the air. Those ions are attracted to the continuously positive collector pad 32. As the ions move through the air they attract contaminates which are then deposited on the collector pad 32. When the pad 32 is dirty, it is pulled out of pocket 30, and washed or replaced.

Those skilled in the art will readily perceive how modifications may be made within the scope and spirit of the invention. Therfore, the appended claims should be construed to cover all equivalent structures.

Hilger, Ronald O., Foster, Jr., Robert W.

Patent Priority Assignee Title
5535089, Oct 17 1994 Jing Mei Industrial Holdings Limited Ionizer
5707429, Sep 25 1996 LEWIS LINT TRAP, INC Ionizing structure for ambient air treatment
5757012, Sep 07 1995 Micromass UK Limited Charged-particle detectors and mass spectrometers employing the same
5903002, Sep 07 1995 Micromass UK Limited Charged-particle detectors and mass spectrometers employing the same
6464754, Oct 07 1999 Kairos, L.L.C.; KAIROS, L L C Self-cleaning air purification system and process
6471752, Oct 16 2000 Lewis Lint Trap, Inc. Ionizing structure for ambient air treatment
6810832, Sep 18 2002 Kairos, L.L.C. Automated animal house
9353966, Mar 15 2013 IAIRE L L C System for increasing operating efficiency of an HVAC system including air ionization
D373416, Oct 17 1994 Jing Mei Industrial Holdings Limited Plug-in ionizer
D374713, Oct 17 1994 Jing Mei Industrial Holdings Limited Plug-in ionizer
D434523, Feb 29 2000 Kairos, L.L.C.; KAIROS, LLC Self-cleaning ionizer
Patent Priority Assignee Title
2264495,
2589463,
2974747,
3108865,
3936698, Mar 20 1970 Ion generating apparatus
4083073, Mar 31 1976 Devices for neutralizing electrostatic charges and removing dust and particles from recording discs and the like
4232355, Jan 08 1979 Santek, Inc. Ionization voltage source
4253852, Nov 08 1979 YOUNG, PETER Air purifier and ionizer
4255776, Mar 22 1978 Fiat Srl Apparatus for neutralizing electrostatic charges and for removing dust from various objects
4569684, Jul 31 1981 Electrostatic air cleaner
4652988, Apr 04 1985 TRION, INC , A CORP OF PA Plug-in power module for electrostatic air cleaner
4689715, Jul 10 1986 Westward Electronics, Inc. Static charge control device having laminar flow
4698074, Feb 09 1987 AEREON, INC Air cleaning apparatus
////////
Executed onAssignorAssigneeConveyanceFrameReelDoc
May 01 1989FOSTER, ROBERT W JR ASSOCIATED MILLS INC ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST 0050860675 pdf
May 01 1989HILGER, RONALD O ASSOCIATED MILLS INC ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST 0050860675 pdf
May 31 1989Pollenex Corporation(assignment on the face of the patent)
Jan 31 1992ASSOCIATED MILLS, INC , A CORP OF ILPollenex CorporationCHANGE OF NAME SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS EFFECTIVE ON 02 06 19920061440014 pdf
Apr 30 1993POLLENEX CORPORATION, A MISSOURI CORP Pollenex CorporationASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS 0074360835 pdf
Jan 09 1998Pollenex CorporationRIVAL COMPANY, THEASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS 0098930334 pdf
Feb 05 1999RIVAL COMPANY, THEBANKBOSTON, N A , AS AGENTPATENT COLLATERAL ASSIGNMENT AND SECURITY AGREEMENT0099680802 pdf
May 06 2004FLEET NATIONAL BANKThe Rival CompanyRELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST RECORDED AT REEL 009968 FRAME 08020150650091 pdf
Date Maintenance Fee Events
Oct 15 1996REM: Maintenance Fee Reminder Mailed.
Jan 21 1997M184: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 8th Year, Large Entity.
Jan 21 1997M186: Surcharge for Late Payment, Large Entity.
Jan 24 1997ASPN: Payor Number Assigned.
Mar 09 1997EXP: Patent Expired for Failure to Pay Maintenance Fees.
May 04 2000M185: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 12th Year, Large Entity.


Date Maintenance Schedule
Aug 17 19964 years fee payment window open
Feb 17 19976 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Aug 17 1997patent expiry (for year 4)
Aug 17 19992 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4)
Aug 17 20008 years fee payment window open
Feb 17 20016 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Aug 17 2001patent expiry (for year 8)
Aug 17 20032 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8)
Aug 17 200412 years fee payment window open
Feb 17 20056 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Aug 17 2005patent expiry (for year 12)
Aug 17 20072 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12)