Microbial liquid collecting apparatus using liquid spray and demister

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microbial liquid collecting apparatus, which converts microbes aerosolized in the air into liquid droplets by using a spray nozzle and then induces the microbes to be collected in a liquid phase by using a demister. Therefore, the present invention comprises: a main body (100) provided with an inlet (121) through which air is introduced, and provided with a fan (111) for air suction through the inlet (121); a demister (200) provided at the inlet (121), so that while the introduced air passes through the demister, droplets containing microbes fall naturally, and the gas, from which a liquid component containing microbes are removed, passes through the demister; and a water tank (300) in which the droplets naturally falling through the demister (200) are accommodated.

Description

Microbial liquid collection device using liquid spray and demister

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid-phase microorganism collection device that uses a spray nozzle to convert microorganisms that are aerosolized in the air into droplets and then uses a demister to capture them in a liquid phase.

[0002] In general, a demister is a filter device installed in air conditioning equipment used in various public facilities, commercial facilities, or industrial facilities such as factories to separate and remove droplets or dust from the air.

[0003] Meanwhile, in the air both indoors and outdoors, there are various microorganisms such as fine dust, bacteria, fungi, and viruses that can infect humans and animals through the respiratory system and cause diseases.

[0004] These airborne microorganisms are associated with environmental diseases and infectious diseases, so the development of technology capable of detecting the concentration of airborne microorganisms in real time is required to create a safe living environment.

[0005] However, in the past, there were various attempts to measure the concentration of microorganisms in the air. In the case of the electrostatic precipitation method using high voltage and dust collecting plates, there are safety hazards for general users due to the principle of collecting dust using high voltage, and in the case of the cyclone method, a compressor is required to create a high flow rate, and the resulting loud noise makes it difficult to use in daily life.

[0006] In addition, in the past, there were problems such as the long time required from capture to analysis of results for measuring the concentration of airborne microorganisms in various public facilities, commercial facilities, and industrial facilities such as factories, making it difficult to take immediate measures to confirm and reduce exposure.

[0007] The present invention is intended to solve the problems of the past, and the purpose is to provide a liquid spray and demister-based microorganism collection device that is applied to air conditioning equipment and uses a demister to collect microorganisms in the form of droplets in the air in a tank, and increases the collection efficiency by installing a spray nozzle on the air inlet side to increase the size of the aerosol.

[0008] To solve this purpose, the present invention;

[0009] A body having an inlet for air intake and a fan for sucking air through the inlet;

[0010] A demister provided on the inlet side, which allows liquid droplets containing microorganisms to fall naturally as the incoming air passes through, and allows gas from which liquid components containing microorganisms have been removed to pass through;

[0011] A liquid spray and demister-based microbial liquid collection device is provided, characterized in that it comprises a tank that receives liquid droplets that fall naturally through the demister.

[0012] According to the present invention, the time required from capture to result analysis for measuring the concentration of airborne microorganisms is reduced, and immediate confirmation and immediate action for exposure reduction are enabled, and in particular, small microorganisms such as viruses can be captured in a liquid state without a motor drive as the bioaerosol in the air is turned into droplets through the spray nozzle, and this has the effect of increasing efficiency because it is possible to omit the additional process of re-liquefying for molecular diagnosis and immunodiagnosis, which are essential means for analyzing the captured microorganisms in the existing dry-type capture method.

[0013] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of Figure 1.

[0015] Figure 3 is an operating state diagram of a microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to the present invention.

[0016] Figures 4 and 5 are graphs showing examples of a microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to the present invention.

[0017] The characteristics of the microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to the present invention can be understood through the following detailed examples with reference to the attached drawings.

[0018] Meanwhile, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in various embodiments within the scope of the technical field to which the invention belongs, and are not particularly limited to the embodiments described herein.

[0019] In addition, in order to clearly explain the present invention, repetitive descriptions of identical or similar components throughout the specification have been omitted, and parts unrelated to the description in relation to the drawings have been omitted, and when describing common components, drawing symbols for them have been omitted.

[0020] Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0021] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a microbial liquid collection device, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the microbial liquid collection device, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the operation concept of the microbial liquid collection device.

[0022] The microbial liquid collection device (1) according to this is configured to include a main body (100) provided with an inlet (121) for introducing air and a fan (111) for sucking air into the inlet (121); a demister (200) provided on the side of the inlet (121) so that liquid droplets containing microorganisms fall naturally as the introduced air passes through and gas from which liquid components containing microorganisms have been removed passes through; and a tank (300) for receiving liquid droplets that fall naturally through the demister (200).

[0023] Below, each of the above-described components is described in detail.

[0024] First, the main body (100) allows indoor and outdoor air to be introduced to measure the concentration of microorganisms in the air, and can be installed and utilized in a location for measuring the concentration of microorganisms.

[0025] Meanwhile, the main body (100) further includes a chamber (110) having an internal space and a fan (111) provided at the bottom; a conduit (120) coupled to the upper portion of the chamber (110) and having an inlet (121) connected to the internal space of the chamber (110).

[0026] According to FIG. 1, the chamber (110) is formed in a form having an internal space that is a passage through which air moves inside, and a conduit (120) is connected to the upper part of the chamber (110), and a fan (111) is provided at the lower part.

[0027] At this time, the fan (111) is connected to the motor, and the rotation operation can be controlled by a separate control device, and as the fan (111) rotates, air is introduced into the inner space of the chamber (110) through the inlet (121) of the conduit (120), thereby forming an air flow that discharges the air introduced through the fan (111).

[0028] The conduit (120) is in the form of a tube having an air inlet (121), and a lower part of the conduit (120) is inserted and connected from the upper side of the chamber (110) to the inside of the chamber (110), thereby connecting the inlet (121) and the internal space of the chamber (110) to form an air flow path.

[0029] In this case, the pipe (120) and chamber (110) of the main body (100) are positioned in a vertical direction, thereby inducing an inertial collision effect on the demister (200), and a microorganism capture mechanism that allows droplets containing microorganisms in the air passing through the demister (200) to fall freely toward the water tank (300) can be easily implemented.

[0030] In addition, the main body (100) further includes a sprayer (130) that sprays fine droplets into the air before passing through the demister (200) to induce aerosolization.

[0031] According to FIG. 2, the sprayer (130) is provided to penetrate the side of the pipe (120) toward the inlet (121) so as to inject microdroplets into the air inlet portion before passing through the demister (200) to induce aerosolization of the incoming air, and the sprayer (130) has a tube (131) connected to the water tank (300) to utilize the water contained in the water tank (300).

[0032] Here, the sprayer (130) is an electric pump type electric sprayer, which can control the droplet size, and more specifically, when microorganisms that have been formed into droplets in the air are captured in a tank (300) using a demister (200), the droplet size of the sprayer (130) is controlled based on data obtained by analyzing the microorganisms captured in the tank (300), thereby enabling capture of even small microorganisms such as viruses.

[0033] In addition, one or more sprayers (130) are provided in the pipe (120) so that the spray amount of fine droplets can be controlled. Preferably, one or more sprayers (130) can be provided, and the spray amount of fine droplets is controlled based on data obtained by analyzing microorganisms captured in the tank (300) using one or more sprayers (130), so that the saturation state of the aerosol is appropriately maintained.

[0034] In addition, the main body (100) further includes a lower cover (140) on which a demister (200) is installed inside and which allows the demister (200) to be replaceably connected to the lower part of the conduit (120).

[0035] The lower cover (140) has a structure that is fitted into the lower part of the pipe (120), and the upper part of the lower cover (140) is open and the lower part has a bottom plate in which a number of holes (141) are formed so that air can pass through the demister (200) when the demister (200) is installed on the upper inner side.

[0036] In this case, the demister (200) can be easily replaced by separating and combining the lower cover (140) from the conduit (120).

[0037] At this time, the lower cover (140) has a fastening part (142) for detachably connecting to the pipe (120), and the fastening part (142) may be formed of a screw fastening type, a protruding fastening type, etc.

[0038] And the demister (200) is positioned vertically between the tank (300) and the lower part of the pipe (120) of the main body (100) to capture microorganisms from the introduced air.

[0039] According to FIG. 2, the demister (200) is replaceably provided at the bottom of the conduit (120) by the lower cover (140) of the main body (100), and when air aerosolized by the sprayer (130) passes through the demister (200), the droplets containing microorganisms naturally fall toward the tank (300) by the principle of inertial collision, and the air from which liquid components including microorganisms have been removed passes through and is discharged through the fan (111) of the main body (100).

[0040] And the tank (300) receives droplets that fall naturally through the demister (200) and is used to measure the concentration of microorganisms contained in the received droplets.

[0041] Meanwhile, the tank (300) is formed in a form having an upwardly opened receiving space, and liquid droplets separated from the air through the demister (200) are received and collected in the receiving space of the tank (300), and the collected liquid droplets contain airborne microorganisms, so that the concentration of microorganisms can be measured by utilizing them.

[0042] At this time, the water tank (300) is provided at the lower part of the pipe (120) inside the chamber (110), and a part of the lower part of the pipe (120) is inserted into the water tank (300) to a certain depth so that a gap (310) is formed between the pipe (120) and the water tank (300), and the air that passes through the demister (200) through this gap (310) passes through the water tank (300) and is discharged through the fan (111).

[0043] Hereinafter, an example of the operation of a microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to the present invention will be described.

[0044] According to FIG. 3, the microbial liquid collection device (1) having the structure described above causes air to be introduced through the inlet (121) of the conduit (120) while the fan (111) operates, and the sprayer (130) sprays fine droplets into the introduced air.

[0045] The air introduced by the sprayer (130) is aerosolized and introduced into the demister (200), thereby increasing the efficiency of microbial capture using the demister (200). The aerosol introduced into the demister (200) is separated into droplets by the demister (200), and naturally falls toward the tank (300), where droplets containing microorganisms are captured.

[0046] Meanwhile, the gas from which droplets including microorganisms have been removed through the demister (200) passes through the demister (200) and moves to the fan (111) through the gap (310) between the tank (300) and the pipe (120) and is discharged to the outside. By repeating this capturing mechanism, it is utilized to measure the concentration of microorganisms in the air.

[0047] Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, an example of a microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister according to the present invention will be described.

[0048] According to this, Fig. 4 is a graph showing an example of virus capture implementation, and Fig. 5 is a graph showing an example of bacteria capture implementation.

[0049] At this time, the analysis was performed by measuring using an aerosol particle size distribution measuring device. The aerosol particle size distribution measuring device uses SMPS and OPS. SMPS can analyze suspended matter of approximately 300 nm or less, and OPS can analyze suspended matter of 300 nm to 10 μm.

[0050] In this case, the microbial liquid collection device (1) of the present invention is connected to a specific space for spraying microorganisms, and while performing real-time monitoring using the measuring device, the distribution of microorganisms is shown in a state where the microorganisms are sprayed to a specific space, the spraying of microorganisms is stopped when the peak is reached on the graph, and the microbial liquid collection device (1) is operated.

[0051] As described above, the present invention has been expressed through the above description and drawings as a preferred embodiment, but the terms used to describe the present invention are not particularly limited, and the present invention can be variously changed or modified in embodiments at the level of a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs within the scope that does not deviate from the technical idea of ​​the present invention, and the present invention is not limited in the embodiments in the detailed description and claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A main body having an inlet for air intake and a fan for sucking air through the inlet; A demister provided on the inlet side, which allows liquid droplets containing microorganisms to fall naturally as the incoming air passes through, and allows gas from which liquid components containing microorganisms have been removed to pass through; A liquid microbial liquid collection device using a liquid spray and a demister, characterized in that it comprises a tank that receives liquid droplets that fall naturally through the demister.

2. In paragraph 1, The above body is a liquid spray and microbial liquid collection device using a demister, which further includes a sprayer that induces aerosolization by spraying fine droplets into the air before passing through the demister.

3. In paragraph 2, The above sprayer is a liquid spray and demister-based microbial liquid collection device characterized by the ability to control the droplet size.

4. In paragraph 2, A liquid microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister, characterized in that one or more of the above-mentioned sprayers are provided and the amount of fine droplets sprayed can be adjusted.

5. In paragraph 1, The above body has an internal space and a chamber having a fan provided at the bottom; A liquid microbial liquid collection device using a liquid sprayer and a demister, which is coupled to the upper part of the chamber and further includes a conduit having an inlet connected to the internal space of the chamber.

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