Humidifier Flow Path Layout for Clean Heated Mist Delivery
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional humidifiers face issues with cleanliness due to stagnant water and contamination from fine dust, leading to poor quality of humidified air, and inefficiencies in heating and humidification processes that result in high energy consumption and excessive temperature.
Innovation Solution
A humidifier design that separates and combines humidification and cleaning flow paths, optimizes air mixing, and integrates heating and humidification efficiently, using a fan and auxiliary fan to guide air flow and improve mist distribution, while minimizing flow resistance and enhancing the cleanliness and temperature control of the humidified air.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a monolithic flow path is used for humidified air, then the structure is simple, but the cleanliness of humidified air deteriorates due to contamination from fine dust and stagnant water
Solution Approach 1:
The flow path is divided into multiple separate paths: a first flow path for clean air intake and delivery, a second flow path for water reservoir access, and a third flow path for waste water removal. This segmentation prevents contamination between different air streams and eliminates the mixing of clean humidified air with dust-laden or stagnant water areas, thereby improving air cleanliness while maintaining manageable structural complexity.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a humidifier supplies heated humidified air with high temperature, then heating efficiency is improved, but energy consumption increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element operates intermittently rather than continuously, activating only when temperature sensors detect that the air or water requires heating. This periodic operation maintains adequate heating efficiency by heating only when necessary, while significantly reducing overall energy consumption compared to continuous heating operations.
3Productivity
If fine dust is present in blown air, then the humidifier can operate continuously, but the cleanliness of humidified air deteriorates due to dust deposition in water droplets
Solution Approach 1:
A filtration system is integrated into the air intake path to extract and remove fine dust particles from the air before it enters the humidification chamber. This extraction of harmful dust particles allows the humidifier to operate continuously without compromising air cleanliness, as the filtered air no longer contains the dust that would otherwise contaminate the water droplets.
4Duration of action of stationary object
If water remains in the water reservoir, then the humidifier maintains water supply, but the cleanliness of the device deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates automatic water level monitoring and a drainage mechanism that periodically removes stagnant water from the reservoir. When the water level drops below a certain threshold or when stagnation is detected, the system automatically activates a pump or gravity-driven drainage to remove the old water, thereby maintaining device cleanliness without requiring manual intervention, while still ensuring continuous water supply for operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides clean, efficiently heated, and humidified air with improved cleanliness and reduced energy consumption by optimizing the flow paths and integration of heating and humidification processes, addressing the contamination and inefficiency issues of conventional humidifiers.
Implementation Method 1
a fan disposed inside the outer case
Implementation Method 2
Ultrasonic humidifiers are equipped with a vibrator to create vibrations from ultrasonic waves, and convert water into fine particles using the vibrations from the vibrator and spray them
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a humidifier. A humidifier according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: an outer case with an intake opening; a discharge opening that opens to the outside of the outer case; an inner case spaced inward from the outer case; a fan disposed inside the outer case; a humidification assembly disposed inside the inner case and positioned downstream from the fan, that includes a humidification device internally having a space; a air flow path formed between the outer case and the inner case, that extends toward the discharge opening; and an inlet that branches off from the air flow path and allows a space between the outer case and the inner case and the internal space of the humidification device to communicate with each other. Thus, part of blown air can be admitted into the humidification device and then sprayed.