Electronic air purifier

Claim 2

In a portable dust precipitator, a housing having an opening for receiving a dust collector cell substantially within said housing, a manually insertable and removable dust collector cell in said opening, said cell comprising alternate high voltage positive and negative dust collecting plates vertically spaced from each other and assembled in a tier to provide gas passageways between the plates for precipitation of ionized dust particles carried by the gas upon the plates, a high voltage conductor wire mounted before said assembled plates and in contact with a high voltage supply carried by said plates for ionizing said gas passed into and through said cell, an electric motor driven fan means in said housing for drawing air to be purified flowing first in contact with said ionizing means and then over said plates, electrical circuit means drawing a household power supply of alternating current for actuating said fan means, a transformer means converting a portion of said power supply to high voltage, contact means from said high voltage power supply to the positive plates of said cell, and contact means completing the high voltage circuit separately to negative plates of said cell, both of said contact means being supported by said housing to separately engage positive and negative plates of said cell, said high voltage circuit being made and broken by positive and negative plates of said cell, engaging and disengaging said contact means upon manually inserting and removing said cell from said dust precipitator.

Claim 3

The dust precipitator as defined in claim 1 wherein a housing enclosing said fan and motor has an opening at one side through which said cell is manually inserted for engaging said contact means and an opening at an opposite side of said housing for passage of purified gas outward thereof, said fan being mounted with its impeller between said cell through which the air to be purified enters and said opposite side outlet for purified air, said fan having its impeller blades disposed substantially parallel to the air stream passing into and out of said housing.

Claim 4

The dust precipitator as defined in claim 2 wherein the fan impeller blades are positioned adjacent to the lower end of the cell, whereby the air after dust precipitation in said cell passes through said fan, then downward through said fan impeller blades, and thence outward through said opposite side of said housing.

Claim 5

The dust precipitator as defined in claim 3 wherein the housing has air outlet perforations both at the opposite side and a portion of the bottom adjacent to said opposite side, whereby the air after dust precipitation in said cell passes from said precipitator cell downward through said fan impeller blades and thence diagonally outward, a portion passing outward of said housing through said lower opposite side of said housing, and a portion through the bottom perforations adjacent to said perforated opposite side.

Claim 6

The dust precipitator as defined in claim 3 wherein the lowermost plate of said cell is arcuately cut away and said cell is positioned inward of said housing engaging said contacts with the innermost end of said cell disposed partially above said fan to subtend a substantial chord across the circular path of said fan therebeneath, and pOsitioned to flow purified air downward substantially into the center of the impeller of said fan.

Claim 7

Electronic dust precipitator as defined in claim 1 wherein the dust collector cell comprises positive and negative plates alternately assembled into a tier of parallel plates, each positive plate having an extended corner at one side of said tier for engaging a contact means, and being notched at its opposite corner for avoiding electrical contact, and each alternately disposed negative plate having a similarly extending corner at a side opposite to the extending corner of the positive plates, the negative plates being also notched at their opposite sides, whereby the extending corners of plates of one polarity of the tier are aligned with the notched corners of the plates of opposite polarity, the positive contact means supported by said housing being positioned to engage for electrical circuit contact only the extending positive plate corners, avoiding contact with the notched negative plate corners aligned therewith in the tier when said cell is inserted in operative position in the opening of said housing, the negative contact means supported by said housing being positioned at the opposite corner of said cell to engage for electrical circuit contact only extending negative plate corners, avoiding contact with the notched corners of the positive plate corners aligned therewith.

Claim 8

The electronic dust precipitator as defined in claim 6 wherein said high voltage contacts are resilient coiled springs supported vertically in said housing at opposite corners of said cell, each engaging the extended plate corners of opposite polarity and providing high voltage circuit contact to the tier of plates, said spring and plates being positioned and shaped to form a firm resilient electrical circuit contact between each of said spring contacts and a group of plates of the same polarity.

Claim 9

The device as defined in claim 6 wherein the extending corners of said plates are embossed to provide a vertical protuberance therein, frictionally engaging the resilient spring coils for firm, frictional, substantially compressed contact between said spring contact element and the extending embossed corners of a group of said plates.

Claim 10

The device as defined in claim 8 wherein the embossment in said plates comprises a dimple pressed into the surface of a plate at the extended end.

Claim 11

The electronic dust precipitator as defined in claim 1 including a separate delayed grounding contact positioned to maintain delayed circuit contact with the negative plates of said cell, whereby upon cell insertion into said housing the cell first engages said delayed grounding contact for immediate grounding of negative plates before other circuit completion is effected, and remains in grounding circuit with said grounding contact until after breaking of other circuit contacts when the cell is removed.

Claim 12

The device as defined in claim 6 wherein said cell has its upper negative plate corner extending a substantial distance inward of the other plates of said cell, the opposite corner of said plate being notched, a switch mounted in said housing near said extending plate corner and having a resilient arm, positioned for engagement by said plate corner upon insertion and removal of said cell into and from said housing, said resilient switch arm being in circuit with a ground lead whereby to intercept the extended corner of said top plate, grounding the same as it is moved into and out of high voltage contact with the high voltage circuit, whereby to ground the charge upon the negative plates both upon insertion and removal of said cell from contact with the high voltage current supply.

Claim 13

The device as defined in claim 11 including a switch having contacts bridged by said resilient switch arm in depressed position completing the power input to said dust collector cell, said switch arm extending resiliently outward of said circuit completing contacts and first engaging said extended edge of said tOp negative plate upon insertion of the said cell, said resilient arm being pressed by said extending edge inward to bridge said contacts as the cell is fully inserted in said housing and for completion of high voltage contact to its plates, said switch arm first effecting a grounding of said negative plates upon partial insertion of the cell by said resiliently extending arm and then effecting closure of the power supply circuit by bridging said contacts upon full insertion of said cell, and said switch arm first breaking said power supply circuit as the cell is partially removed, said arm resiliently continuing the grounding of said negative plates after the power supply circuit is broken.

Claim 14

A dust collector cell for a high voltage dust precipitator, said cell comprising alternate positive and negative plates vertically spaced from each other and assembled in a tier to provide gas passageways between the plates for precipitation of ionized dust particles carried by the gas upon the plates, said plates having their sides encased in supporting side pieces of di-electric material, a high voltage ionizing wire loop supported in tension between said di-electric side pieces and spaced before the leading edges of most of the plates comprising said tier of parallel plates, and contact means between one of the positive plates of said tier and said loop supplying an ionizing charge to said wire loop.

Claim 15

A dust collector cell for a high voltage dust precipitator, said cell comprising alternate positive and negative plates vertically spaced from each other and assembled in a tier to provide gas passageways between the plates for precipitation of ionized dust particles carried by the gas upon the plates, said plates having their sides encased in supporting side pieces of di-electric material, a high voltage ionizing wire loop supported in tension between said di-electric side pieces and spaced before the leading edges of most of the plates comprising said tier of parallel plates, and contact means between one of the positive plates of said tier and said loop supplying an ionizing charge to said wire loop.

Claim 16

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 13 wherein said side encasing dielectric material is resistant to carbon formation by high voltage arcing between plates.

Claim 17

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 14 wherein the dielectric material comprising said side pieces is formed of a polylower acrylate ester.

Claim 18

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 14 wherein the said dielectric side pieces are formed of polymethyl methacrylate.

Claim 19

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 14 wherein the inner ends of the plates of said cell are further reinforced by a vertical bracketing member of dielectric material extending from plate to plate of said tier and supporting each plate.

Claim 20

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 13 wherein the forward end of said tier of plates is encased in a protective grill contiguous with the top and bottom negative plates, one of said negative plates being extended forwardly and protectively of the plates to a point close to but not in contact with said grill, whereby any mechanical deformation of said grill in use of said cell at high voltage will being the grill only into contact with said negative plate.

Claim 21

Dust collector cell as defined in claim 15 wherein said plates and plastic side pieces are notched at their sides, and the plates after assembling in a tier aligned with the notched in their sides are fixed in aligned assembly by a plastic plug fitted into the notched sides.

Claim 22

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 13 wherein each positive plate has an extended corner at one side of said tier for engaging a contact means and being notched at its opposite corner for avoiding electrical contact, and each alternately disposed negative plate has a similarly extending corner at a side opposite to the extending corners of the positive plates, the negative plates being also notched at their opposite sides, whereby the extending corners of plates of one polarity of the tier are aligned with the notched corners of the plates of opposite polarity.

Claim 23

In a portable dust precipitator, a housing having a dust collector cell mounted therein, said cell comprising alternate high voltage positive and negative dust collecting plates vertically spaced from each other and assembled in a tier to provide gas passageways between the plates for precipitation of ionized dust particles carried by the gas upon the plates, a high voltage conductor wire mounted from side to side before said assembled plates in contact with a high voltage supply for ionizing gas passed into and through said cell, an electric motor driven fan means In said housing for drawing air to be purified first in contact with said conductor wire ionizing means and then over said plates, electrical circuit means drawing a household power supply of alternating current for actuating said fan means, transformer means converting a portion of said power supply to high voltage, and a doubler circuit in contact with the high voltage output of said transformer means doubling and rectifying said transformer output to double the current, and contact means mounted in circuit with said doubly high voltage power supply for separately engaging the positive and negative plates of said cell and energizing said high voltage ionizing conductor wire.

Claim 24

In a portable dust precipitator, a housing having a dust collector cell mounted therein, said cell comprising alternate high voltage positive and negative dust collecting plates vertically spaced from each other and assembled in a tier to provide gas passageways between the plates for precipitation of ionized dust particles carried by the gas upon the plates, a high voltage conductor wire mounted from side to side before said assembled plates in contact with a high voltage supply for ionizing gas passed into and through said cell, an electric motor driven fan means In said housing for drawing air to be purified first in contact with said conductor wire ionizing means and then over said plates, electrical circuit means drawing a household power supply of alternating current for actuating said fan means, transformer means converting a portion of said power supply to high voltage, and a doubler circuit in contact with the high voltage output of said transformer means doubling and rectifying said transformer output to double the current, and contact means mounted in circuit with said doubly high voltage power supply for separately engaging the positive and negative plates of said cell and energizing said high voltage ionizing conductor wire.

Claim 25

The portable dust precipitator as defined in claim 21 wherein said doubler circuit is encapsulated in plastic, reducing the tendency of its high voltage components from arcing contact with structural elements of said device.

Claim 26

The device as defined in claim 21 wherein said housing has an opening through which said cell may be manually inserted and removed, a pair of high voltage contacts in circuit with said high voltage doubler fixedly mounted to the walls of said housing at opposite ends of said cell, each in position to engage a group of plates of one polarity when said cell is emplaced within said housing, whereby, upon inserting said cell manually through said opening into said housing, the positive plates become frictionally contacted to complete their high voltage circuit to positive contacts and the negative plates of said cell become frictionally contacted to complete their high voltage circuit to the negative contact in said housing.

Claim 27

The dust precipitator as defined in claim 21 wherein said housing has an opening through which said cell may be manually inserted and removed, a pair of high voltage contacts in circuit with a high voltage doubler fixedly mounted to the walls of said housing at opposite ends of said cell, each in position to engage a group of plates of one polarity when said cell is emplaced within said housing, said dust collector cell comprising positive and negative plates alternately assembled into a tier of parallel plates, each positive plate having an extending corner at one side of said tier for engaging a contact means and being notched at its opposite corner for avoiding electrical contact, and each alternately disposed negative plate having a similarly extending corner at a side opposite to the extending corner of the positive plates, the negative plates being also notched at their opposite sides, whereby the extending corners of plates of one polarity of the tier are aligned with the notched corners of the plates of opposite polarity, the positive contact means supported by said housing being positioned to engage for electrical circuit contact only the extending positive plate corners, avoiding contact with the notched negative plate corners aligned therewith in the tier when said cell is inserted in operative position in the opening of said housing, the negative contact means supported by said housing being positioned at the opposite corner of said cell to engage for electrical circuit contact only extending negative plate corners, avoiding contact with the notched corners of the positive plate corners aligned therewith, whereby upon inserting said cell manually the positive plates become frictionally contacted to complete their high voltage circuit to one of said contacts and the negative plates of said cell are placed manually in frictional contact with the negative contact in said housing.

Claim 28

The device as defined in claim 24 wherein said contacts are springs mounted in tension at opposite sides of said housing and each are positioned to receive the notched corners of a group of plates, one for positive and the other for negative.

Claim 29

The device as defined in claim 24 wherein the extending ends of each plate for contact with said springs are each embossed to form a firm, frictional, resilient contact with each spring upon insertion of the collector cell into the housing.

Claim 30

In a portable dust precipitator, a housing having an opening at one side for receiving a dust collector cell substantially within said housing, and an outlet grill at an opposite housing side for exhaust of purified air, said dust collector cell comprising alternately assembled positive and negative plates and an ionizing wire positioned before said plates for ionizing gas passing to said plates, an electrical motor driven fan means in said housing, said cell being positioned in said housing opening before the impeller of said fan whereby said impeller draws air through said cell for ionization and precipitation of dust therefrom upon said plates through the impeller of said fan and thence outward through the outlet grill in said housing, electrical circuit means for actuating said fan motor including transformer means converting a portion of the current to high voltage and contact means for said high voltage to the positive plates of said cell, said housing being formed of metal and forming a grounding conductor for said circuit means, said fan impeller being encased in a metallic venturi whereby the air emitted from said cell passes through said venturi into the impeller of said fan and thence outward of said housing, and noise insulating means within said housing dampening vibrations of the metal thereof.

Claim 31

In a portable dust precipitator, a housing having an opening at one side for receiving a dust collector cell substantially within said housing, and an outlet grill at an opposite housing side for exhaust of purified air, said dust collector cell comprising alternately assembled positive and negative plates and an ionizing wire positioned before said plates for ionizing gas passing to said plates, an electrical motor driven fan means in said housing, said cell being positioned in said housing opening before the impeller of said fan whereby said impeller draws air through said cell for ionization and precipitation of dust therefrom upon said plates through the impeller of said fan and thence outward through the outlet grill in said housing, electrical circuit means for actuating said fan motor including transformer means converting a portion of the current to high voltage and contact means for said high voltage to the positive plates of said cell, said housing being formed of metal and forming a grounding conductor for said circuit means, said fan impeller being encased in a metallic venturi whereby the air emitted from said cell passes through said venturi into the impeller of said fan and thence outward of said housing, and noise insulating means within said housing dampening vibrations of the metal thereof.

Claim 32

The device as defined in claim 27 wherein the sound insulating means comprises a plastic collar fitted about said venturi opening to dampen metallic vibrations therein.

Claim 33

The device as defined in claim 27 wherein the sound insulating means comprises foamed plastic strips mounted upon the walls and in the joints of said housing whereby to dampen the vibrational noise thereof.

Claim 34

The dust collector cell as defined in claim 13 wherein a spring arm is rigidly fastened to one of said side pieces, said spring arm having ends resiliently extending outward thereof, said high voltage ionizing wire loop being passed over the outwardly extending ends of said spring arm and being secured at the center thereof for contact with one of the positive plates in said tier, said spring arm applying resilient tension to said wire loop.

Claim 35

In a portable dust precipitator, a low profile rectangular housing enclosing an air impeller centrally mounted between top and bottom for rotation in a plane parallel thereto, an electric motor drivingly connected to said impeller, an opening in one side of said housing for manually inserting a dust collector cell, a high voltage current supply in circuit with a pair of contacts supported by said housing on opposite sides of said opening, said cell comprising a high voltage ionizing wire supported in contact with positive plates of parallel alternate layers of closely spaced plates, each plate of one polarity being inserted in circuit with one of said contacts of the same polarity, and each alternate plate of opposite polarity being inserted in contact with the contact of its polarity upon manual insertion of said cell into said housing opening with the plates in circuit with said contacts and high voltage circuit, an air stream outlet grill on the housing side below and opposite to said housing opening, said cell extending through said opening with its plates terminating above said impeller, whereby said impeller draws air through the said opening passing into said housing through said parallel plates, precipitating suspended dust thereon, thence through said impeller and outward through the opposite housing side outlet grill in streamline flow.

Claim 36

In a portable dust precipitator, a low profile rectangular housing enclosing an air impeller centrally mounted between top and bottom for rotation in a plane parallel thereto, an electric motor drivingly connected to said impeller, an opening in one side of said housing for manually inserting a dust collector cell, a high voltage current supply in circuit with a pair of contacts supported by said housing on opposite sides of said opening, said cell comprising a high voltage ionizing wire supported in contact with positive plates of parallel alternate layers of closely spaced plates, each plate of one polarity being inserted in circuit with one of said contacts of the same polarity, and each alternate plate of opposite polarity being inserted in contact with the contact of its polarity upon manual insertion of said cell into said housing opening with the plates in circuit with said contacts and high voltage circuit, an air stream outlet grill on the housing side below and opposite to said housing opening, said cell extending through said opening with its plates terminating above said impeller, whereby said impeller draws air through the said opening passing into said housing through said parallel plates, precipitating suspended dust thereon, thence through said impeller and outward through the opposite housing side outlet grill in streamline flow.