Method of and apparatus for cleaning air by irradiation of ultraviolet rays

Abstract

A method of and an apparatus for cleaning the air by irradiating the air with ultraviolet rays to electrically charge the fine particles therein, and thereafter removing the charged fine particles from the air are disclosed. The cleaning method of the air (50) has the following steps: irradiating a photo-electron discharge member (21) with ultraviolet rays (22), electrically charging the above mentioned fine particles by using the photo-electrons generated due to this irradiation, and removing the fine particles charged by the photo-electrons from the air (50) by electrostatic filters (10, 24). The apparatus for practicing the method has an ultraviolet ray irradiation portion (9), photo-electron discharge portions (21) and a charged fine particle-collecting portion (10) on an air flow passage from an air intake port to an air exhaust port.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.