Air treatment unit

Abstract

An air treatment device (1) for treating room air is proposed, wherein the air treatment device (1) comprises a housing (2), a cleaning station (3) with a filter (4) for cleaning the air of dirt particles or the like, a humidification station (5) for humidifying the air with water, a flow path (6) for allowing the air to flow through the cleaning station (3) and / or the humidification station (5), a fan (7) for pumping the air through the cleaning (3) and / or humidification station (5), and a control unit (8) for controlling the fan (7), the ventilation flow (9) generated by the fan, and the cleaning (3) and humidification station (5), wherein the cleaning station (3), the humidification station (5), the fan (7), and the flow path (6) are housed in the housing (2), which is more versatile.According to the invention, this is achieved by making the humidification station (5) and / or the cleaning station (3) removable from the flow path (6).

Description

The invention relates to an air treatment device for treating air according to the preamble of claim 1.Prior ArtFrom the prior art, for example, DE 10 2020 112 867 A1 discloses a compact air treatment device in which functions such as, for example, air moistening, cleaning, cooling, dehumidifying or the like are carried out by different function modules.Object and Advantages of the InventionIn contrast, it is the object of the invention to propose an air treatment device for treating room air, which provides a cost advantage in production, but which can also be advantageous for the user in conjunction with initial costs and the storage space.This object is achieved, starting from an air treatment apparatus of the type mentioned in the introduction, by the features of claim 1. By means of the measures mentioned in the dependent claims, advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are possible.The air treatment device according to the invention for treating room air comprises a housing, a cleaning station with a filter for cleaning the air from dirt particles or the like, a moistening station for moistening the air with water, a flow path for letting the air flow through the cleaning station and / or the moistening station, a fan for pumping the air through the cleaning and / or moistening station as well as a control unit for controlling the fan, the ventilation flow generated by the fan and the cleaning and moistening station. The cleaning station, the humidification station, the fan, and the flow path are all accommodated in the housing. This is therefore a compact device and not an air conditioning system distributed in the building at various points in a room.The air is introduced into the housing through an air inlet and discharged again via an air outlet. Cleaning station and humidification station are examples of functional stations that may be used in an air treatment apparatus, as well as drying stations or ionizers if disinfection or odor removal is desired. For example, the functional stations are designed in modular form as functional modules.Accordingly, an air treatment device according to the invention is distinguished in that the moistening station and / or the cleaning station can be removed from the flow path. The user of the air treatment appliance can thus control which functions of the cleaning appliance are intended to act on the air flowing through, that is to say whether it is intended to be cleaned only or only humidified, for example, or whether the air is intended to be cleaned and additionally humidified. For example, the air flow can flow within the housing around the removed functional station. In this way, a separate device for air treatment can be saved. It is often undesirable, in particular in summer, in contrast to winter, to additionally wet the warm air, because a moist-hot environment is undesirable; i.e., the moistening function can be omitted in summer.In this respect, in an apparatus according to the invention, no complicated modification has to be carried out, in which individual structural units have to be mounted separately. The user is thus free from the possibility of complicated mounting and removing of a station and does not have to provide an additional storage space for the removed station module. The changeover, i.e. the switching on or off of a functional station, can be effected by pressing a button.It is also conceivable for the functional station to be removed completely or else only partially from the housing. By partially removing the functional station, the space requirement for storage is reduced in comparison with previous variants from the prior art, since only a part of the functional station is stored outside the housing.Preferably, the moistening station and / or the cleaning station is or are designed to be removable in such a way that the flow path is not interrupted after the removal. The flow path within the housing should continue to be conducted to the provided outlets when one or more functional stations are removed from the flow path, in order that the purpose of the air treatment device is fulfilled further and the treated air can pass out of the housing.The principle of action of cold evaporation, which is fundamentally used in the present air treatment device, is the absorption of energy, in particular the increase of the kinetic energy. If sufficient kinetic energy is present, the water can more easily transition into the gaseous state. Thus, in the air during cold evaporation, preferably very small droplets are present. Preferably, however, no droplet deposition in the housing is promoted even when a functional station module is removed.It is particularly preferred in the present air treatment device that the fine water drops remain in the air and do not leave the device. The droplets should also not deposit outside the appliance and thus possibly cause damage to the floor (carpet, laminate, parking lot.Preferably, the control unit is designed to be switchable in order to switch between the operation of the functions cleaning by the cleaning station and / or air moistening by the moistening station and / or joint operation of cleaning station and moistening station. It is conceivable that the air is conducted through the function modules, for example, but the functions are switched off, so that the air is not treated here.Preferably, when the cleaning station and the moistening station are operated together, both stations, cleaning station and moistening station are connected in series. Thus, not only is a portion of the air cleaned or humidified in each case, but the entire air volume of the air flow is both cleaned and humidified, so that the air treatment effect is maximized.Ideally, the control unit is designed to switch over the flow path, in particular to remove the moistening station from the flow path. The control unit is correspondingly designed to direct the air flow through an alternative channel in order to bypass or bridge one or more functional stations. For example, in summer, the humidification station can be bypassed if the air already has a relatively high air humidity from the outset. In this way, energy and resources can be conserved, since the functional stations do not have to be driven unnecessarily.Preferably, the moistening station is designed replaceable by an empty section. The empty section is designed as a flow path in which no additional functional station is present. The empty section can be designed as an alternative flow path, but can also be formed by the existing flow path in which the functional station, for example the moistening station, is removed from the flow path, in particular also from the housing. The empty path can be designed in such a way that the flow path is shortened, so that treated air can emerge from the housing more quickly. For example, a blocking element can be provided, which, depending on the position and desired air treatment, fixes the flow path and blocks other paths. The blocking element can be controlled by the control unit, for example.Advantageously, the moistening station comprises a rotary roller for cold evaporation, wherein in particular the rotary roller and / or the moistening station is / are designed to be removable. The rotary roller can be removed separately, for example only from the moistening station or else, for example, completely from the housing. The air treatment device is designed in such a way that, when the rotary roller and / or moistening station is removed, its functionality is not restricted any further except for the air moistening function. This has the advantage that the air treatment device is more versatile in use.Preferably, a motor drive for driving the rotational movement of the rotary roller is provided, which can be switched off by the control unit during the changeover, wherein in particular the motor drive is arranged outside the moistening station and cannot be removed with the moistening station and / or the rotary roller, or is integrated in the moistening station and can be removed together with the latter. The motor drive can be designed, for example, in such a way that different rotational speeds can be set. For example, the control unit can control that the rotary roller rotates at a predetermined speed, depending on the desired degree of moistening.Advantageously, the moistening station comprises a water basin which can be removed for filling and / or emptying, wherein the water basin is in particular mounted separately from the rotary roller and / or can be detached from the rotary roller. The user can easily fill, dispose of or replace the water basin in this way. The cleaning of the water container can also be made simple in this way, in particular if the rotary roller can be detached from the water basin.DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURESExemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and are explained in more detail below with the specification of further details and advantages. In detail, the following show: FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an air treatment device according to the invention with a cleaning station and moistening station in the flow path, FIG. 2 : shows a schematic illustration of an air treatment device according to FIG. 1 without moistening station in the flow path, FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment of the air treatment device according to the invention with cleaning station and moistening station; and FIG. 4 : shows a schematic illustration of an air treatment device according to FIG. 3 without moistening station in the flow path.Fig. 1 schematically shows an air treatment apparatus according to the invention. An air inlet 13 and an air outlet 14 are arranged on the housing 2 of the air treatment device 1. Between the air inlet 13 and the air outlet 14, a flow path 6 is present within the housing 2, through which air can be conducted. The air is pumped by a fan 7 from outside the air processing device 1 through the air inlet 13 into the flow path 6, along the flow path 6 and finally through the air outlet 14 back out of the housing 2.Along the flow path 6, the air flows past or through different locations at different functional stations 3, 5 in order to be processed. As examples of functional stations 3, 5, a cleaning station 3 and a moistening station 5 are shown, which are present in the flow path 6.In this embodiment, the cleaning station 3 is formed with a filter 4 through which the air is passed and thus cleaned, for example, from dirt particles such as dust or pollen.The moistening station 5 has a water basin 12, in which water is stored, and a rotary roller 10, wherein the rotary roller 10, which partially protrudes into the water, rotates driven by a motor drive 11 and thus periodically partially dips into the water and is moved out of the water again. Alternatively, it can also be moved permanently segment by segment in the water. By means of cold evaporation, moisture is released to the air in contact between the air which passes the moistening station 5 along the flow path 6 and the wetted surface of the rotary roller 10.FIG. 2 shows the air treatment device 1 according to FIG. 1, but the moistening station 5 is removed from the housing 2 and thus removed from the flow path 6. The air continues to be directed along the flow path 6, but is not humidified due to the lack of the humidification station 5.In Fig. 3 an alternative embodiment of the air treatment apparatus 1 according to the invention is schematically shown with cleaning station 3 and moistening station 5. In the region between the cleaning station 3 and the moistening station 5, a branch of the flow path 6 is shown, which serves as an empty path 9. A blocking element 15 can be moved via a control unit 8, which depending on the air treatment provided directs the air flow either through the moistening station 5 or via the parallel path, so that although the moistening station 5 remains contained within the housing 2, it is removed from the flow path 6 of the air, as shown in FIG. 4.In a further development of the invention, no individual switch such as the blocking unit 15 is arranged between two functional stations, but a bypass switch is provided for each functional station, so that each individual functional station can be bypassed. The user then has the options:Cleaning AND moisteningonly cleaningonly moistening.List of reference characters1 Air treatment device 2 Housing 3 Cleaning station 4 Filter 5 Moistening station 6 Flow path 7 Fan 8 Control unit 9 Empty section 10 Rotary roller 11 Motorized drive 12 Water basin 13 Air inlet 14 Air outlet 15 Blocking elementReferences included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Patent Literature citedDE 10 2020 112 867 A1

[0002]

Claims

An air treatment apparatus (1) for treating room air, the air treatment apparatus (1) comprising: a. a housing (2), b. a cleaning station (3) with a filter (4) for cleaning the air of dirt particles or the like, c. a moistening station (5) for moistening the air with water, d. a flow path (6) for letting the air flow through the cleaning station (3) and / or the moistening station (5), e. a fan (7) for pumping the air through the cleaning (3) and / or moistening station (5) and f. a control unit (8) for controlling the fan (7), the ventilation stream (9) generated by the fan and the cleaning (3) and moistening station (5), g. wherein the cleaning station (3), the moistening station (5), the fan (7) and the flow path (6) are accommodated in the housing (2), i.e. characterized in that the moistening station (5) and / or the cleaning station (3) can / are removable from the flow path (6).Air treatment appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the moistening station (5) and / or the cleaning station (3) is / are designed to be removable in such a way that the flow path (6) is not interrupted after removal.Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control unit (8) is designed to be switchable in order to switch between the operation of the following functions: a. cleaning by the cleaning station (3) and / or b. air moistening by the moistening station (5) and / or c. joint operation of the cleaning station (3) and moistening station (5).Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, during the joint operation of the cleaning station (3) and the moistening station (5), both stations, the cleaning station (3) and the moistening station (5), are connected in series.Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control unit (8) is designed to switch over the flow path (6), in particular to remove the moistening station (5) from the flow path (6).Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the moistening station (5) is designed to be replaceable by an empty section (9).Air treatment appliance (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the moistening station (5) comprises a rotary roller (10) for cold evaporation, wherein in particular the rotary roller (10) and / or the moistening station (5) is / are designed to be removable.Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a motor drive (11) for driving the rotational movement of the rotary roller (10) is provided, which drive can be switched off by the control unit (8) during the changeover, wherein in particular the motor drive (11) is arranged: a. outside the moistening station (5) and cannot be removed with the moistening station (5) and / or the rotary roller (10), or b. integrated in the moistening station (5) and can be removed with the latter.Air treatment device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the moistening station (5) comprises a water basin (12), which can be removed for filling and / or emptying, wherein the water basin (12) is in particular mounted separately from the rotary roller (10) and / or can be detached from the rotary roller (10).

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