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US 5,296,019 AGranted
Dust precipitation from air by negative ionization
AssigneeNeg-Ions (North America) Inc.
InventorsClive C. Oakley, Reginald R. Robertson
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AssigneeNeg-Ions (North America) Inc.
InventorsClive C. Oakley, Reginald R. Robertson
Estimating the term…
A system of precipitating dust includes providing a screen arrangement either in the form of a ceiling with walls or in the form of a canopy with the screen being penetrable by air. Inside the screen and particularly adjacent edges of the screen or the canopy there are provided negative ion emitters positioned in rows so as to generate a curtain of ions precipitating the dust from the air onto the ground for collection. Within the screen can be defined either a clean zone or the screen can be used to confine a dust producing process so as to precipitate the dust immediately adjacent the process to prevent it spreading to other areas. Emitters are provided in the form of a carbon fiber yarn which projects outwardly through openings in a channel member with the yarn being doubled back upon itself in some cases to provide a highly directional emission.
An emitter of charged ions for releasing to the air comprising an elongate tubular pipe having an elongate hollow interior therealong surrounded by an elongated peripheral wall and extending from a first end to a second end, a first conductor mounted within the hollow interior and extending from the first end to the second end, means defining a plurality of openings in the peripheral wall at longitudinally spaced positions along the peripheral wall, a second conductor formed of a fibrous yarn extending from said first end through one of said openings, such that at least a portion of the second conductor is exposed on an outer surface of the peripheral wall, through a second of said openings to said second end, and connector means for connecting a high voltage to the first conductor and the second conductor in parallel such that the exposed portion of the second conductor generates ions in the air surrounding the peripheral wall.
An emitter of charge ions for releasing into the air comprising an elongated tubular pipe defining an elongated peripheral wall surrounding an elongate hollow interior, the peripheral wall having at least an outside thereof formed from an electrically insulating material, conductor means extending along the tubular pipe and supported thereby, the conductor means including at least a portion thereof extending outwardly of the outside surface such that said portion of the conductor is exposed outside of said outside surface of the peripheral wall for the emission of ions therefrom, connector means for connecting a high voltage to the conductor means such that the exposed portion generates ions in the air surrounding the outside surface, means defining a plurality of openings in the peripheral wall at longitudinally spaced positions along the peripheral wall, and, means for supplying air into the pipe, the pipe being arranged for transmission of the air along the pipe and for escape of the air through at least some of said openings such that the air escaping from said openings generates an air stream moving away from the pipe.
An emitter of charged ions for releasing into the air comprising an elongated member defining an elongate wall formed from an electrically insulating material, conductor means extending along the elongate member and including portions thereof extending outwardly of the elongate wall such that said portions of the conductor are exposed outside of said elongate wall, said elongate members including at least a portion thereof forming a tubular pipe portion arranged at at least one end thereof, connector means for connecting a high voltage to the conductor means such that the exposed portions generate ions in the air surrounding the outside surface, said connector means including a high voltage cable for communicating the high voltage from a generator to said conductor means, conduit means for housing the high voltage cable and a connector element having surfaces thereon arranged to directly engage with the pipe portion and the conduit means.
An emitter of charged ions for releasing into the air comprising an elongate tubular pipe defining an elongate peripheral wall surrounding an elongate hollow interior, the peripheral wall having at least an outside surface thereof formed from an electrically insulating material, conductor means extending along the tubular pipe and including portions contained within said insulating material outside surface, the conductor means including at least portions thereof extending outwardly of the outside surface such that said portions of the conductor are exposed outside of said outside surface of the peripheral wall, connector means for connecting a high voltage to the conductor means such that the exposed portions generate ions in the air surrounding the outside surface, the conductor means comprising a cylindrical conductive layer received within said outer surface of the peripheral wall and substantially coaxial therewith and a plurality of transversely extending elongate conducting elements penetrating the outer surface of the peripheral wall and engaging the conductive layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Constructional details or accessories or operation thereof: housings
Electrode constructions: ionising-electrodes
By separation, e.g. by filtering: by electrical means, e.g. by applying electrostatic fields or high voltages
Apparatus for generating ions to be introduced into non-enclosed gases
Term ended 22 Mar 2011 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to a system for dust precipitation from air using negative ionization of the air.
The concept and prospective commercialization of negative ionization techniques has been around for decades with very little progress due to the lack of credibility arising from inappropriate, largely unsuccessful applications and clouded by exaggerated unsubstantiated claims.
At the same time the effectiveness of the technique suffered because the equipment to generate and distribute the required volumes of negative ions was initially bulky, expensive, requiring constant maintenance and was generally unreliable. These circumstances meant that the effectiveness of applications deteriorated rapidly and became totally suspect in operation.
FIG. 1 is an isometric view showing a screen system defining a zone for separation from the remainder of building and including ionization generating elements mounted within the zone.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the zone of FIG. 1 showing the location of the ion emitters.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified arrangement of screen assembly defining a zone within a building.
In FIGS. 1 and 2 is illustrated a zone defined by a surrounding wall structure generally indicated at 10 within which is mounted a machine 11 which is illustrated schematically and is wholly enveloped by the surrounding wall structure defining the zone.
The wall structure comprises two side walls 12 and 13 together with end walls 14 and 15 each of which includes an opening 16 and a slidable closing door 17. Across the top of the walls is provided a ceiling 19. The height of the walls is arranged to be approximately equal to the minimum working height of the order of eight feet and up to a maximum of the order of ten feet so that the ceiling 19 is generally positioned beneath the roof or ceiling structure of the building and is separate from the lighting, duct work and other utilities which are often provided in structural buildings of an industrial type.
This critical area or zone is enclosed using a slotted metal structure as the main supportive framework, housing panels covered with perforated screen material of a type which is permeable to air and light but is resistant to the passage of dust or other fine particles. One example of material which can be used is known as TAK Barrier Screening. The TAK Barrier Screening is a fine gauge fabric, treated with a special tacky resin. This Barrier screening is electronically compatible with negative ion presence and works harmoniously to create a dust free enclosure, trapping large particles, yet allowing the zone to breathe without any increase in air speeds across the fabric.