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US-20260126202-A1 - AIR CLEANING SYSTEM UTILIZING OUTSIDE AIR PARAMETERS

US20260126202A1US 20260126202 A1US20260126202 A1US 20260126202A1US-20260126202-A1

Abstract

A system or method utilizes one or more outside sensors to measure one or more outside air parameters, and optionally one or more inside sensors to measure inside air parameters. A processor is configured to at least partially control the operation of an air cleaner based on at least one of the one or more outside air parameters, or a comparison of at least one of the one or more outside air parameters to at least of one of the one or more inside air parameters. The system and method may use artificial intelligence to provide additional information to the controller to assist in controlling the air cleaner.

Inventors

  • Timothy M. Bender
  • Perry Pauley
  • Brian Keith Roper
  • Todd K. Roper

Assignees

  • IONaer International Arizona, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20250527

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . An air cleaning system comprising: an air cleaner; a first outside sensor that measures an outside air temperature; a second outside sensor that measures an outside air speed; a third outside sensor that measures an outside air particulate level; one or more inside sensors; a processor in communication with the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, the third outside sensor, the one or more inside sensors, and the air cleaner; and a memory that stores historical data of the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, the third outside sensor, and the rate at which outside air will enter the inside air space, wherein at least one of the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, the third outside sensor, or at least one of the one or more inside sensors measures information indicative of a rate at which outside air enters an inside air space, wherein the memory communicates with the processor and provides the historical data to the processor, and wherein the processor operates the air cleaner based on the historical data.
  2. 2 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor: determines the rate at which the outside air enters into the inside air space based on at least one of the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor; and operates the air cleaner based at least in part on the rate at which the outside air enters into the inside air space.
  3. 3 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor operates the air cleaner at least in part based on a comparison of at least one measurement received from the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor to at least one measurement received from the one or more inside sensors.
  4. 4 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor operates the air cleaner at least in part based on a comparison of a plurality of measurements received from the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor to a plurality of measurements received from the one or more inside sensors.
  5. 5 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor operates the air cleaner at least in part based on a comparison of at least one measurement received from the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor.
  6. 6 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor operates the air cleaner at least in part based on a comparison of a plurality of measurements received from the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor.
  7. 7 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the air cleaner includes an air ionization unit and an ozone filter.
  8. 8 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the air cleaner utilizes at least one of: (a) a humidity greater than a humidity of the air being cleaned, (b) ultraviolet (UV) light, (c) heat, (d) a sanitizer, (e) an ionization unit, or (f) a filter.
  9. 9 . The air cleaning system of claim 8 , wherein the sanitizer comprises one or more of: hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, and methyl alcohol.
  10. 10 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more outside sensors that measure one or more of: (1) humidity, (2) the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), (3) the amount of volatile organic chemicals (VOC), (4) the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), (5) air temperature, (6) the amount of nitrogen oxide (NO), (7) particulate amount, (8) particulate size, (9) the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), (10) particulate type (such as virus or bacteria), (11) the amount of ammonia (NH 3 ), (12) the amount of ozone (O 3 ), (13) the amount of negative and/or positive ions, (14) the amount of carbon monoxide (CO), and (15) the amount of silane (SH 4 ), or (16) wind speed.
  11. 11 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more inside sensors measure one or more of: (1) humidity, (2) the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), (3) the amount of volatile organic chemicals (VOC), (4) the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), (5) air temperature, (6) the amount of nitrogen oxide (NO), (7) particulate amount, (8) particulate size, (9) the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), (10) particulate type (such as virus or bacteria), (11) the amount of ammonia (NH 3 ), (12) the amount of ozone (O 3 ), (13) the amount of negative and/or positive ions, (14) the amount of carbon monoxide (CO), or (15) the amount of silane (SH 4 ).
  12. 12 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more inside sensors include one or more sensors that measure when one or more doors or windows that separate the inside air space from an outside air space are opened.
  13. 13 . The air cleaning system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more inside sensors include one or more sensors that measure an amount by which the one or more doors or the one or more windows that separate the inside air space from the outside air space are opened.
  14. 14 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the memory: stores information indicative of an amount of filtering required to clean air having parameters similar or equal to the measured parameters of the outside air; stores information indicative of the amount of filtering required to clean air having parameters equal or similar to currently measured parameters of the outside air; and communicates the information to the processor.
  15. 15 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, or the third outside sensor and at least one of the one or more inside sensors communicate wirelessly with the processor.
  16. 16 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the memory stores information related to: (a) the time it takes for an amount of the outside air to enter the inside air space based on one or more of the outside air temperature, the outside air speed, the outside air particulate level, whether one or more windows or doors are open leading from the inside air space to the outside are opened, and a time and frequency at which the windows or the doors are opened, and (b) a past functioning of the air cleaner required to clean air with certain parameters.
  17. 17 . The air cleaning system of claim 16 , wherein the stored information is used by the processor to at least partially control the operation of the air cleaner.
  18. 18 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the inside air space is located in the interior of a building, a car, a train, a boat, a bus, or an airplane.
  19. 19 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the processor predicts a future air quality of the inside air space based on at least one of the first outside sensor, the second outside sensor, the third outside sensor, or the historical data.
  20. 20 . The air cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more outside air sensors send parameters to the processor via an Internet connection.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/675,909 filed on Feb. 18, 2022, now U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023-0266032 entitled “AIR CLEANING SYSTEM UTILIZING OUTSIDE AIR PARAMETERS.” The disclosure of the foregoing application is incorporated herein by reference (except for any subject matter disclaimers or disavowals, end except to the extent of any conflict with the disclosure of the present application, in which case the disclosure of the present application shall control). BACKGROUND Prior approaches to, and devices for, air cleaning (also referred to herein as air purification) operate based on time periods, manual control, constant operation, or by measuring some parameter of the air inside of the space (sometimes referred to herein as the “inside space” or “inside air space”) in which cleaned air is released. These systems do not take into account one or more parameters of the air outside of the inside space (sometimes referred to herein as the “outside air” or “outdoor air”). Some air outside of the inside space, particularly air outside of a building, eventually enters the inside space through gaps or spaces in the building, by doors and windows being opened, or in other ways. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Disclosed are systems and methods for cleaning air that include an air cleaning device, one or more inside sensors, one or more outside sensors, and a processor. The one or more inside (or indoor) sensors (or air sensors) and one or more outside (or outdoor) sensors (or air sensors) may each include one or more sensors that measure one or more of the following in/of the air: (1) the amount of particulates, (2) the amount of negative and/or positive ions, (3) the amount of ozone (O3), (4) the amount of carbon monoxide (CO), (5) temperature, (6) humidity, (7) the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), (8) the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2), (9) the amount of volatile organic chemicals (VOC), (10) the amount of nitrogen oxide (NO), (11) the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), (12) the amount of ammonia (NH3), (13) the size of particulates, (14) the amount of silane (SH4), (14) the type of particulates, such as whether the particulates are viruses or bacteria, and (15) wind speed. Other air parameters may also be measured and the one or more inside sensors need not be used. A processor (or controller) is any suitable device that can communicate with the one or more outside sensors and the one or more inside sensors and that at least partially controls, directly or indirectly, the operation of the air cleaner. The processor can preferably compare one or more of the parameters measured by the one or more outside sensors to one or more of the parameters measured by the one or more inside sensors, and the processor at least partially controls, directly or indirectly, the operation of the air cleaning device based on the comparison. For example, the processor may operate the air cleaner to decrease the level of cleaning, increase the level of cleaning, maintain the current level of cleaning, turn the air cleaner off, or turn the air cleaner on. The system may include a display that displays one or more of the measured parameters and/or functioning of the air cleaner. The system may provide an alert if a parameter is above a certain level and the alert may be one or more of a sound or a visual indicator on the display. The air cleaning device itself may be any suitable device, such as one that uses filters, ionization, ultraviolet (UV) light, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), humidity greater than the humidity of the air being cleaned, a combination of any of these, or any other air cleaning device. Disclosed herein is an exemplary ionization air cleaning device although this disclosure is not limited to an air ionization device. The outside air may be air outside of a building (or other structure such as a vehicle) or air inside of a building (or other structure such as a vehicle), but outside of the inside space into which the cleaned air is released. The following are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 12,173,927, 11,007,478, 10,350,451, 9,908,081, 9,907,874, and 9,908,082. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an air cleaning system according to this disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an air cleaning system with exemplary one or more outside sensors. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an air cleaning system with exemplary one or more inside air sensors according to this disclosure. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of air cleaner operation modes. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an air cleaning system according to this disclosure. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an air cleaning system according to this disclosure. FIG. 7 is an exploded view of an air ionization unit in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure. FIG. 8 is an assembled, perspective side view of the air ionization unit of FIG. 1. FIG. 9 is an assem