JPS63259343A - Capacity control system for ultrasonic humidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the efficiency of a humidifier at the maximum by a method wherein the repeated period of ON-OFF is carried out in a range of 1-10 seconds and humidifying capacity is controlled at the rate of ON time. CONSTITUTION:An ultrasonic humidifier is controlled in its humidifying capacity at the rate of ON time in repeated period of ON-OFF by a switch. This repeated period ranges 1 to 10 seconds. When this repeated period is under 1 sec., atomization efficiency is not made sufficient and the efficiency is reduced. Even when the repeated period is 10 sec., or more, the efficiency can be kept maximum; however, when the period is extended like this, the operation approaches an ordinary interrupted one and this method is not considered to be practical as a capacity control method. As a result, by carrying out the repeated period in the range mentioned above sufficiently high efficiency can be maintained and the practical humidifying capacity can be controlled.

Description

【発明の詳細な説明】 （産業上の利用分野） この発明は、超音波加湿器の新規な加湿能力制御方式に
関する。DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a novel humidification capacity control method for an ultrasonic humidifier.

（従来の技術） 超音波加湿器は圧電効果を応用した振動子を水槽底部に
取り付け、この振動子を発振回路により駆動することで
水槽内の水中に強力な超音波の音場を作り、このエネル
ギが水面に水柱を立たせしめ、そこから霧状の細かい水
滴を飛散させるものである。霧化した水は気流により外
部に導かれ周囲の空気から熱をうばい蒸発するとともに
拡散し室内空気を加湿する。(Prior technology) Ultrasonic humidifiers are equipped with a piezoelectric effect vibrator attached to the bottom of the aquarium, and this vibrator is driven by an oscillation circuit to create a strong ultrasonic sound field in the water in the aquarium. The energy causes a column of water to stand on the surface of the water, from which fine water droplets in the form of mist are scattered. The atomized water is guided outside by air currents, absorbs heat from the surrounding air, evaporates, and diffuses to humidify the indoor air.

加湿器の加湿能力の制御は周囲の空気に接する霧の量を
制御することで行えるが、これは霧化する水の量を制御
することで達成でき、そのためには発振回路で作り出さ
れる超音波のエネルギーを制御するのが電気信号で制御
できるので簡便で適した方法だと言える。The humidification capacity of a humidifier can be controlled by controlling the amount of mist that comes into contact with the surrounding air, which can be achieved by controlling the amount of water that is atomized, and this can be achieved by using ultrasonic waves produced by an oscillator circuit. It can be said that this is a simple and suitable method because the energy can be controlled using electrical signals.

従来、超音波のエネルギを制御する方法として発振回路
のトランジスタのバイアス電圧を変化させる等、発振回
路内部で行っているものが多いがこの方法では、同時に
多数の発振回路を制御する場合、それが可能な専用の発
振回路とするか、発振回路と同数の制御回路を用意しな
ければならず、一般に入手可能な超音波加湿器用発振器
には応用が難しい。また、別の方法として発振回路によ
って発生する超音波のエネルギの大きさが発振回路の電
源電圧に左右される性質を利用して、トランジスタによ
る電圧制御や、サイリスクによる位相制御などによって
、発振回路に供給する電源の実効電圧を制御することで
加湿器の加湿能力を制御する方法も考えられる。この方
法によれば同時に多数の発振回路を制御することも容易
にできる。Conventionally, the energy of ultrasonic waves has often been controlled within the oscillation circuit, such as by changing the bias voltage of the transistors in the oscillation circuit. This requires a dedicated oscillation circuit or the same number of control circuits as oscillation circuits, making it difficult to apply to commonly available oscillators for ultrasonic humidifiers. Another method is to take advantage of the property that the amount of energy of the ultrasonic waves generated by the oscillation circuit is affected by the power supply voltage of the oscillation circuit. Another possible method is to control the humidifying capacity of the humidifier by controlling the effective voltage of the supplied power. According to this method, it is possible to easily control a large number of oscillation circuits at the same time.

（発明が解決しようとする問題点） ところが従来からあるこれらの発生する超音波のエネル
ギの大きさを制御する方法では水を霧化させるために必
要な音場を水中に作り出すために、発生した超音波のエ
ネルギの一部を消費するうえ、電気エネルギから超音波
のエネルギへの変換効率も変動してしまうため、第１図
にその一例を示すように、電源電圧の低下とともに霧化
の効率が低下し、電源電圧がある値より低くなったとき
、水を霧化しなくなってしまう。従って加湿器の能力制
御としてこれらの方法を採用することは効率が低くあま
り適した方法とは言えない。(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the conventional methods of controlling the energy level of the generated ultrasonic waves, in order to create a sound field in the water necessary for atomizing water, In addition to consuming a portion of the ultrasonic energy, the conversion efficiency from electrical energy to ultrasonic energy also fluctuates, so as an example of this is shown in Figure 1, the atomization efficiency decreases as the power supply voltage decreases. When the power supply voltage drops below a certain value, water will no longer be atomized. Therefore, adopting these methods for controlling the capacity of a humidifier is not a very suitable method as the efficiency is low.

そこでこの発明では、加湿器の能力を変化させても効率
が変化せず、常に最大の効率を維持する新規な制御方式
を提供するものである。Therefore, the present invention provides a new control method that does not change the efficiency even if the capacity of the humidifier is changed and always maintains the maximum efficiency.

（問題点を解決する為の手段） この為に本発明では、ＯＮ−ＯＦＦ制御でＯＮ−ＯＦＦ
のくり返し周期のうちのＯＮの時間の割合で加湿ｆｉヒ
カを制御する方式であって、くり返し周期が１〜１０秒
の範囲内で行われることを特徴とする。(Means for solving the problem) For this reason, in the present invention, the ON-OFF control
This method controls the humidification intensity based on the ON time ratio of the repetition period, and is characterized in that the repetition period is within a range of 1 to 10 seconds.

ＯＮ−〇ＦＦ制御は通常制御対象からの２位置信号によ
って装置を運転、あるいは停止させる最も簡単な制御方
法として使用されているが、その応用として第２図に見
るようにある周期でＯＮとＯＦＦを交互にくり返させこ
のくり返し周期のうちのＯＮの時間、あるいはＯＦＦの
時間、場合によっては周期も制御することで、くり返し
周期のうちのＯＮの時間の比率を変化させ装置の能力を
制御する方法が用いられる。この方法は制御する装置の
応答速度によりくり返し周期を適切に定める必要があり
、電気ヒーターのようにその熱容量の大きさゆえ応答速
度の遅い機器には、くり返し周期を長く設定でき、超音
波加湿器のように電源投入とともに、ただちに全能力運
転を開始し、電源開放とともに停止する装置では、くり
返し周期を長くすると、ＯＮ、ＯＦＦそれぞれの状態の
差が歴然と現れ、最悪の場合制御系のハンチングなどの
トラブルとなるため、通常くり返し周期は数分の１秒と
いった短い時間に設定した方が安定した動作が得られる
とされている。ON-FF control is normally used as the simplest control method to operate or stop a device using two-position signals from the controlled object, but its application is to control ON and OFF at a certain period as shown in Figure 2. By repeating this cycle alternately and controlling the ON time or OFF time, or in some cases the cycle, the ratio of ON time in the repetition cycle is changed and the capacity of the device is controlled. method is used. In this method, it is necessary to appropriately determine the repetition period depending on the response speed of the device to be controlled.The repetition period can be set longer for devices such as electric heaters, which have a slow response speed due to their large heat capacity, and ultrasonic humidifiers For devices such as those that immediately start operating at full capacity when the power is turned on and stop when the power is turned off, if the repetition cycle is lengthened, the difference between the ON and OFF states becomes obvious, and in the worst case, it may cause hunting in the control system. Since this can cause trouble, it is generally said that stable operation can be obtained by setting the repetition period to a short time such as a fraction of a second.

くり返し周期は動作の安定性から極力短くしたいが交流
商用電源を使用したいこと、ノイズ低減のためゼロ電圧
スイッチ方式を採用したいことなどの要望から、第３図
に示すように、交流の１サイクルごとにＯＮ−ＯＦＦさ
せ、さらにＯＮの状態をくり返し周期内に分散させる方
式として、くり返し周期が短い場合と近似の効果を得ら
れるようにし、加湿器の能力を調節したところ、予定通
り動作の安定性は得られたものの、その特性は第４図に
示すように、発振回路の電源電圧を制御した場合と同様
に、加湿器の能力を低下させるにつれて効率が低下する
ことを見い出した。We wanted to keep the repetition period as short as possible from the viewpoint of operational stability, but we also wanted to use an AC commercial power supply, and we wanted to use a zero-voltage switch method to reduce noise. By turning the humidifier on and off, and then dispersing the ON state within the repeating cycle, we created an effect similar to that obtained when the repeating cycle is short, and adjusted the humidifier's capacity. However, as shown in FIG. 4, it was found that the efficiency decreases as the capacity of the humidifier decreases, similar to when the power supply voltage of the oscillation circuit is controlled.

そこで発明者は、この現象が、電源投入直後発振回路が
発生する超音波のエネルギが水中に音場を形成するため
に消費され、十分な音場が形成された後、水の霧化が始
まることにより、くり返し周期が短くなると、この音場
の形成に要する時間の比率が大きくなることが原因であ
ると考え、また、超音波加湿器の動作そのものは早い応
答が良いが、霧化した水が周囲の空気中に蒸発拡散する
ためには数秒程度時間を要することに着目し、超音波加
湿器の能力制御として通常とは逆にくり返し周期を長く
することで、効率を向上させることを考えた。Therefore, the inventor believes that this phenomenon is caused by the energy of the ultrasonic waves generated by the oscillation circuit being consumed to form a sound field in the water immediately after the power is turned on, and after a sufficient sound field is formed, water begins to atomize. Therefore, as the repetition period becomes shorter, the ratio of time required to form this sound field increases. Focusing on the fact that it takes several seconds for humidifiers to evaporate and diffuse into the surrounding air, we considered increasing the efficiency of ultrasonic humidifiers by lengthening the repetition rate, contrary to the usual method of performance control. Ta.

第５図にくり返し周期０．２５秒、０．５秒および１秒
の３通りについてそれぞれ、くり返し周期中のＯＮの時
間の割合を変化させたときの能力変化の特性を示す。こ
れに見るようにくり返し周期が１秒に満たない短い時間
では、充分な能力を出すことができず効率が低下するが
、くり返し周期を１秒まで長くしたとき、その効率は能
力をいかに制御してもほぼ連続運転時の効率を維持する
ことができた。また、くり返し周期を１０秒以上として
も、効率を最大に維持することは可能であるが、このく
り返し周期を１０秒以上にまで長くすると通常の断続運
転に近くなり能力制御方式としては実用的でない。FIG. 5 shows the characteristics of the performance change when the ratio of ON time during the repetition period is changed for three repetition periods of 0.25 seconds, 0.5 seconds, and 1 second. As you can see, when the repetition period is short (less than 1 second), sufficient capacity cannot be produced and efficiency decreases, but when the repetition period is increased to 1 second, efficiency depends on how the capacity is controlled. Even during continuous operation, efficiency could be maintained. In addition, it is possible to maintain maximum efficiency even if the repetition period is set to 10 seconds or more, but if the repetition period is increased to 10 seconds or more, it becomes close to normal intermittent operation and is not practical as a capacity control method. .

（発明の効果） 叙上の如く本発明ではＯＮ−ＯＦＦ制御でＯＮ−ＯＦＦ
のくり返し周期のうちＯＮの時間の割合で加湿能力を制
御する方式とし、くり返し周期が１〜１０秒の範囲内で
行うようにしたから、充分に高い効率を維持して而も実
用的に加湿能力の制御を行うことができる大きな効果を
有する。(Effect of the invention) As mentioned above, in the present invention, the ON-OFF control
The humidification capacity is controlled by the percentage of ON time in the repetition cycle, and the repetition cycle is within the range of 1 to 10 seconds, so it maintains a sufficiently high efficiency and still provides practical humidification. It has the great effect of controlling abilities.

【図面の簡単な説明】[Brief explanation of drawings]

第１図は、超音波加湿器の発振回路電源電圧と水の電化
能力の関係例を示す図、第２図は夫々ＯＮ−ＯＦＦ制御
で能力制御を行う例の波形図、第３図は交流の１サイク
ルごとにＯＮ−ＯＦＦさせＯＮの状態をくり返し周期内
に分散させる方式の種々の例を示した波形図、第４図は
くり返し周期の短い場合の特性図、第５図はくり返し周
期を０．２５秒、０．５秒、１秒の夫々について比較し
た特性図である。 第３図 １．／σ２ ｂ　λ、ｒｚ ｄ、７．！１２’。 ｃ　ＪρＺ ｅ、　７１　％ Ｊ’：　ｔａａＺ 第４図 Ｊ電キ、二憇し くり逗ｌ１ｊＡFigure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the oscillation circuit power supply voltage of an ultrasonic humidifier and water electrification capacity, Figure 2 is a waveform diagram of an example in which capacity is controlled by ON-OFF control, and Figure 3 is an AC Waveform diagrams showing various examples of the method of dispersing the ON state within the repetition period by turning ON and OFF every cycle, Figure 4 is a characteristic diagram when the repetition period is short, and Figure 5 is the characteristic diagram when the repetition period is short. It is a characteristic diagram comparing each of 0.25 seconds, 0.5 seconds, and 1 second. Figure 31. /σ2 b λ, rz d, 7. ! 12'. c JρZ e, 71% J': taaZ Fig. 4 J electric, two-way system 1jA

Claims (1)

【特許請求の範囲】[Claims] ＯＮ−ＯＦＦ制御でＯＮ−ＯＦＦのくり返し周期のうち
のＯＮの時間の割合で加湿能力を制御する方式であって
、くり返し周期が１〜１０秒の範囲内で行われることを
特徴とする超音波加湿器の能力制御方式Ultrasonic waves are a system in which the humidification capacity is controlled by the ratio of ON time in the ON-OFF repetition period by ON-OFF control, and the repetition period is performed within a range of 1 to 10 seconds. Humidifier capacity control method