US-12622993-B2 - Space cleaning device

US12622993B2US 12622993 B2US12622993 B2US 12622993B2US-12622993-B2

Abstract

Space cleaning device includes: hypochlorous acid water generator; mixing bath storing a mixture of the hypochlorous acid water and water; hypochlorous acid water supply unit; water supply unit; water level sensor detecting a water level of the water mixture; humidifying purifier micronizing the water mixture and releases the water mixture micronized into air; and control unit controlling operations of hypochlorous acid water supply unit and water supply unit. Control unit is configured, after supplying the hypochlorous acid water and the water to fill mixing bath with the water mixture, controls an operation of hypochlorous acid water supply unit to supply a predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water to mixing bath once in every predetermined time period, and controls an operation of water supply unit to supply the water to mixing bath based on information related to the water level of the water mixture received from water level sensor.

Inventors

Yuki Mizuno
Shinji Yoshida
Tomohiro Hayashi
Takeshi Kinoshita
Yuichi KANBARA
Mayumi SASAI
Hiroshi Kohara

Assignees

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220224
Priority Date: 20210322

Claims (4)

1 . A space cleaning device comprising: a hypochlorous acid water generator comprising an electrolytic bath and an electrode configured to generate a predetermined amount of hypochlorous acid water; a mixing bath, being a container configured to store a water mixture of the hypochlorous acid water and water; a hypochlorous acid water supply unit comprising a pump and a pipe and configured to supply the hypochlorous acid water from the hypochlorous acid water generator into the mixing bath; a water supply unit for supplying the water to the mixing bath; a water level sensor for detecting a water level of the water mixture stored in the mixing bath; a humidifying purifier comprising the mixing bath, a humidification motor, and a humidification nozzle, the humidification motor being configured to rotate the humidification nozzle so that the water mixture stored in the mixing bath is micronized and released; and a control unit comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions, the control unit being configured to control, by executing the instructions, operations of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit and the water supply unit, wherein the control unit is configured, by executing the instructions, after supplying the predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water and supplying the water to fill the mixing bath with the water mixture, to execute each of a first control of intermittently controlling an operation of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit to supply the predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water to the mixing bath once in every predetermined time period, and a second control of controlling an operation of the water supply unit to supply the water to the mixing bath based on information related to the water level of the water mixture received from the water level sensor, and wherein the hypochlorous acid water generator is configured to start generating a new predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water when the predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water is supplied from the hypochlorous acid water generator to the mixing bath.
2 . The space cleaning device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to perform, by executing the instructions, the first control by a number of times within the predetermined time period, different from a number of times the second control is performed within the predetermined time period, based on a humidification demand amount determined by the control unit, the humidification demand amount being identified based on a difference in humidities between a target humidity and a humidity of a target space, the humidity of the target space is received from a sensor.
3 . The space cleaning device according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit is configured to control, by executing the instructions, the operations of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit and the water supply unit, when the humidification demand amount is equal to or greater than a first reference level, to perform the first control by the number of times being less than the number of times the second control is performed during the predetermined time period, and to control the operations of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit and the water supply unit, when the humidification demand amount is less than the first reference level, to perform the first control by the number of times being greater than the number of times the second control is performed during the predetermined time period.
4 . The space cleaning device according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolytic bath is configured to store brine and the electrode is configured to be energized so as to electrolyze the brine to generate the hypochlorous acid water, and the control unit is configured to adjust, by executing the instructions, a concentration of the hypochlorous acid water generated in the electrolytic bath by controlling a time for which the electrode is energized based on a humidification demand amount determined by the control unit, the humidification demand amount being identified based on a difference in humidities between a target humidity and a humidity of a target space, the humidity of the target space is received from a sensor.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2022/007479, filed on Feb. 24, 2022, which in turn claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-046753, filed on Mar. 22, 2021, the entire disclosures of which Applications are incorporated by reference herein. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a space cleaning device that micronizes water, blows out sucked air containing the micronized water, and causes a purifying component to be included in the micronized water and releases the micronized water containing a purifying component. BACKGROUND ART As a conventional space cleaning device, there is a known air conditioning system bringing air to be supplied indoors into contact with a gas-liquid contact member that contains a purifying component, and releasing the air, to sterilize a space where the air is supplied (see PTL 1, for example). In such a conventional space cleaning device, generally, not only the micronized water is released, but also purifying-component-containing water and the purifying component from the water (purifying-component-containing water) stored in the device are vaporized, and released into the space, with the micronization operation. CITATION LIST Patent Literature PTL 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2009-133521 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, in the conventional space cleaning device, the micronized purifying-component-containing water (hypochlorous acid water) does not vaporize very much in a condition in which the indoor space requires a small amount of humidification (in which a humidification demand amount is low), such as when the relatively humidity of the indoor air is high (e.g., at a temperature of 27° C. and a humidity of 70%) during the summer (particularly, during the rainy season). Therefore, the purifying component (hypochlorous acid) does not vaporize very much indoors, and the purifying component is not released to the indoor space very well. By contrast, micronized purifying-component-containing water vaporizes well in a condition in which there is a high demand amount of humidification, such as when the relatively humidity of the indoor air is low (e.g., at a temperature of 20° C. and humidity of 30%) during the winter. As a result, a large amount of purifying component is released into the indoor space. In other words, the conventional space cleaning device has a problem that the amount of the purifying component released into the indoor space (into the air) cannot be adjusted easily. An object of the present disclosure is to provide a space cleaning device capable of improving the adjustability of the amount of a purifying component released into the air. A space cleaning device according to the present disclosure includes: a hypochlorous acid water generator generating hypochlorous acid water; a mixing bath storing a water mixture of the hypochlorous acid water and water; a hypochlorous acid water supply unit supplying the hypochlorous acid water from the hypochlorous acid water generator into the mixing bath; a water supply unit supplying the water to the mixing bath; a water level sensor detecting a water level of the water mixture stored in the mixing bath; a humidifying purifier micronizing the water mixture stored in the mixing bath and releases the water mixture micronized into air; and a control unit controlling operations of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit and the water supply unit. The control unit is configured, after supplying a predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water and supplying the water to fill the mixing bath with the water mixture, to execute each of a first control of controlling an operation of the hypochlorous acid water supply unit to supply the predetermined amount of the hypochlorous acid water to the mixing bath once in every predetermined time period, and a second control of controlling an operation of the water supply unit to supply the water to the mixing bath based on information related to the water level of the water mixture received from the water level sensor. With the space cleaning device of the present disclosure, the amount of the purifying component released into the air can be adjusted easily. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a space purification system including a space cleaning device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit of the space cleaning device according to the first exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing temporal changes in the amount of water, the hypochlorous acid water concentration, and the hypochlorous acid concentration in the space cleaning device according to the first exemplary embodiment (during the winter). FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing temporal changes in the amo